LION-HUNTING AND LIONS 295 



could, and the third took no notice whatever. This gave 

 the men time to reload, and a ball passed straight through 

 his shoulder blade. Then he thought he had better retire ; 

 but he had not gone very far before a bullet in his heart 

 put an end to him. 



Lions are fond of hunting in families, sometimes six 

 or eight at once, and in any country where game is 

 abundant lions may also be looked for. They will very 

 rarely molest a full-grown animal, if they can get hold of 

 a young one, and if a buffalo mother finds a lion trying 

 to carry off her calf a fearful fight takes place, in which, 

 if the lion is alone, he is pretty certain to get the worst 

 of it. ' One toss from a buffalo bull,' says Livingstone, 

 ' would kill the strongest lion that ever breathed.' Even 

 a number of lions have been known to be kept at bay 

 by an equal number of buffaloes, who put the little ones 

 and mothers carefully in the rear, and stood with their 

 horns steadily turned to the enemy. 



But, as old Topsel says, ' There is no creature that 



loveth her young ones better than the lioness, for both 



shepherds and hunters, frequenting the mountains, do 



oftentimes see how irefully she fighteth in their defence, 



receiving the wounds of many darts, and the strokes of 



many stones, standing invincible, never yielding till death ; 



yea, death itself were nothing to her, so that her young 



ones might never be taken out of her den. It is also 



reported, that the male will lead abroad the young ones, 



but it is not likely that the lion, which refuseth to 



accompany his female in hunting, will so much abase his 



noble spirit as to undergo the lioness' duty in leading 



abroad her young ones. In a mountain of Thracia,' he 



goes on to relate, ' there was a lioness which had whelps 



in her den, the which den was observed by a bear, the 



which bear on a day finding the den unfortified both by 



the absence of the lion and the lioness, entered into the 



same and slew the lion's whelps, afterward went away, 



and fearing a revenge, for her better security against the 



