xvi THE LION 209 



A valuable instance is furnished by Dr. Ansorge. 

 In one of his journeys a lion had seized a sleeping- 

 porter by the thigh and was making off with him. 

 The watch raised an alarm ; the camp awoke and the 

 men seized burning brands and rushed into the bush. 

 The lion dropped the porter and made off. The injured 

 man told a remarkable story : 



" Though the lion had seized him and was carrying 

 him off, he was still asleep : our shouts woke him up 

 and to his horror he found that he himself was being 

 carried off by the lion, and then he clasped his arms 

 around the lion's neck and screamed." 



In this instance the porter owed his escape to the 

 fact that the lion ran against a strong projecting 

 branch of a tree, which severely scraped the skin and 

 hair from the animal's body. 



An incident which happened in the Rovuma valley 

 described by Weule supports this contention : 



" A native woman was sitting near the door of a hut 

 with her husband and child when an impudent lion 

 sprang on her in broad daylight and dragged her away. 

 The poor woman could be heard shrieking ' Nna kufa ! 

 Nna kufa ! ' (I die, I die) as the brute dragged hex- 

 through the wood and the voice grew fainter and 

 fainter, but none could help." 



There is a story current in British East Africa to 

 the effect that a lion seized a white hunter by the 

 shoulder, but whilst being dragged away, the hunter 

 had the presence of mind to draw the knife from his 

 belt, fatally stab the lion, and save his own life. Mr. 

 F. C. Selous informed me that this desperate adventure 

 is well authenticated. 



The settler dislikes the lion, and with good reason, 

 for it preys on the cattle and sheep, and destroys the 

 ostriches. Moreover, they cause the zebra to stampede, 

 and break the barbed wire around the farm. 



When zebras abound in a district, in order to prevent 

 them eating the young crops, the farmer surrounds 



