xiv. DWARF LIONS. 205 



before \ve ascend the steps of the shady veraudah with its 

 convolvulus-clad trellis-work, we will pluck a fresh bough 

 for each of our little friends. These we will hang by a 

 string to the roof of the verandah ; and on them we will 

 leave our dwarf-lions, while we go within and refresh 

 ourselves after the chase. But first we will sprinkle the 

 boughs with water ; for chameleons are thirsty souls, and 

 love to suck the dew-like drops from the beaded leaves, 



What strange creatures they are ! Now that we have 

 washed away the stains of travel, and recruited ourselves 

 after the labours of capture, we may sit awhile on the sun- 

 sheltered verandah (stoep we called it at the Cape) and 

 see what our lions are like. Was there ever so slow and 

 methodical a walker? Compared with the chameleon's 

 gait the movements of even the sleepy sloth seem rapid. 

 Like the sloth he is at home among the branches, but 

 awkward and uncomfortable if forced to walk along the 

 level ground. We will no longer, therefore, call him a 

 ground-lion, but will accept the secondary meaning of the 

 first part of his name and speak of him as our dwarf-lion. 

 For, unlike the sloth which is a strict vegetarian, our 

 chameleon is a beast of prey. Insects are its food. See ! 

 a fly has settled on that bough, within six inches of our 

 largest lion. But what chance has the slow and sedate 

 chameleon, slowest and sleepiest of lizard-folk, what chance 

 has he of catching an active and wary fly ? His cone- 

 shaped swivel eyes are looking about aimlessly, each 

 seeming bent on some business of its own. Now one 

 glances lazily up while the other peers furtively down. 

 Now one is staring attentively backwards at its owner's 

 tail, while the other is ranging round the neighbourhood 

 of that wide-awake little fly, who is rubbing her front legs 

 together, or drawing her hind legs over her wings in utter 

 carelessness of the presence of so inanimate an enemy. 



