26 THE LION. 



perhaps because the Hottentot, being besmeared 

 with fat, always stinks,* and because, as he never 

 eats salt or spices, the juices of his body are not 

 so acrid." 



In certain parts of Southern Africa that have 

 been devastated and partially depopulated by bloody 

 intestine wars, lions have become so numerous and 

 daring, and from feeding on the bodies of the slain, 

 have acquired such a taste for human flesh, that the 

 remaining inhabitants, to escape their clutches, have 

 been necessitated to erect their huts in most ex- 

 traordinary situations. 



" Having travelled one hundred miles," says 

 Moffatt, " five days after leaving Morega we came 

 to the first cuttle outposts of the Matabele, when 

 we halted by a fine rivulet. My attention was 

 arrested by a beautiful and gigantic tree, standing 

 in a defile leading into an extensive and woody 

 ravine, between a high range of mountains. Seeing 

 some individuals employed on the ground under its 

 shade, and the conical points of what looked like 

 houses in miniature protruding through its ever- 

 green foliage, I proceeded thither, and found that 

 the tree was inhabited by several families of Bakoues, 

 the aborigines of the country. 1 ascended by the 

 notched trunk, and found, to my amazement, no 

 less than seventeen of these aerial abodes, and three 



* This hint, it is to be hoped, will not be altogether thrown away 

 by certain individuals of my acquaintance, not remarkable for their 

 cleanly habits, so that, when they next visit the African wilds, they 

 may be induced, if only in si'lf-difoncc, to take with them a, change 

 of linen and a good supply of soap. 



