8 THE LION*. 



in countries bordering on the torrid zone. In parts 

 of Southern Africa they are also very numerous, as 

 what follows will shew : 



" These rocks and vales and picturesque scenes," 

 says Moffatt, when describing one of his journeys 

 in the interior, " were often vocal with the lion's 

 roar. It was a country once covered with a dense 

 population ; on the sides of the hills and Kashan 

 Mountains were towns in ruins, where thousands 

 once made the country alive, amidst fruitful vales 

 now covered with luxuriant grass, inhabited by 

 game. The extirpating invasions of the Mantaties 

 and Matabele had left to beasts of prey the undis- 

 puted right of these lovely woodland glens. The 

 lion, which had revelled on human flesh, as if con- 

 scious there was none to oppose him, roamed at 

 large, a terror to the traveller, who often hears 

 with dismay his mighty roaring echoed back by the 

 surrounding hills." 



Elsewhere, when speaking of a wild and desolate 

 region that he was traversing, the worthy Mis- 

 sionary writes : " The number of lions hereabouts 

 may be easily accounted for, when it is remem- 

 bered how thinly scattered are the inhabitants ; 

 and, indeed, the whole appearance of the country 

 impresses the mind with the idea that it is only fit 

 for beasts of prey." 



And further on, when speaking of the Chuenyane 

 Mountains, he says : " The number of lions here 

 was fearful. . . . During the night we heard their 

 roar from every point of the compass " 



Then, again, we are told by M. Delegorgue, the 



