206 EASTERN ETHIOPIA xvi 



stories which illustrate this side of the brute's character 

 that it will be unnecessary to add to them. 



During my visit I was desirous to obtain first-hand 

 information concerning the ability of lions to inflict 

 crushing blows with their paws. For instance, Patterson 

 relates, in his absorbing account of the events around 

 a water-hole which he witnessed one night from a 

 thorn-shelter or boma, that a lion struck down a zebra 

 by a blow on the neck. The observer in this instance 

 was many yards from the scene of this midnight 

 encounter, and, although it was bright moonlight, we 

 must remember that the whole event is so quick that 

 it is difficult to be precise as to details. 



Two men riding in a cart drawn by two humped oxen 

 were suddenly surprised by a lion springing upon the 

 oxen and killing them : the lion then badly scratched 

 the driver and made off. The driver's companion 

 became insane. It was gravely asserted that the lion 

 killed the oxen with his paw. No further proof was 

 obtainable ; the evidence is inconclusive. I can readily 

 believe that, when a lion springs on the neck of a horse 

 and fastens on with his teeth, the long canine teeth 

 do occasionally penetrate the interspaces of the vertebrae 

 and injure the spinal cord in a very vital region and 

 prove instantly fatal. Roosevelt mentions a case 

 bearing on this, in connection with an adventure which 

 befell Captain Slatter : 



" The lion had sprung clean on the horse's back, his 

 fore-claws dug clean into the horse's shoulders, his hind- 

 claws cutting into its haunches, while the great fangs bit 

 at the neck. After going some sixty yards the lion's teeth 

 went through the spinal cord, and the ride was over." 



Homer knew it was the habit of lions to seize large 

 animals by the neck : 



As when the lordly lion seeks his food 



Where grazing heifers range the lonely wood, 



He leaps amidst them with a furious bound, 



Bends their strong necks and tears them to the ground. 



