Cotton swell 347 



Oswell says that the buffalo made a far more desperate 

 fight than Vardon's description would suggest ; that he 

 swung one lion completely off his legs, as you would 

 swing a child by his arms, and that had he been un- 

 wounded he would, even with the odds of three to one 

 against him, have probably worsted his assailants. 



The lion has suffered considerably in reputation since 

 he has been exploited by European hunters, and some 

 of them have expressed the supremest contempt for him 

 as a cowardly, sneaking brute a regular cur. But 

 Oswell does not join in such sweeping condemnation of 

 the lion. " As a rule," he says, " if you will take my 

 advice, you will hold as straight as you can when you 

 pit yourself against a lion ; and if you accept all chances 

 without picking and choosing, you'll now and again find 

 yourself in a warm corner. I do not think his rush is 

 so quick or so resolute as a tiger's, and he has a much 

 better head to hit ; still he looks ugly enough when, 

 with mane standing out as if electrified, and with a short 

 barking roar, he comes down to the charge. He will 

 not, except when hard pressed by hunger or when accus- 

 tomed to feed off human carcases lying about after 

 fights and raids, attack man in the daytime unprovoked. 

 A surly beast, awakened suddenly from sleep or dis- 

 turbed while feeding, might be nasty ; but he nearly 

 always retreats before man, for the fear and dread 

 of one of Noah's family are still a tradition with 

 wild beasts." 



It is not the lion, however, who is the king of beasts. 

 The monarch of the forest and plain is a far mightier 

 brute. Who and what he is Oswell describes in a 



