146 THE LION. 



the lion is thus struck, he springs from his lair, and 

 bounds off as helpless as the stricken deer. The 

 work is done ! The shaft of death has pierced his 

 heart, without even breaking the slumbers of the 

 lioness, which may have been lyino- beside him. 



/ / o 



And in the course of a few hours, or even less (the 

 Bushmen knowing where to look for him) he is 

 found either dead, or in the agonies of death." 



Another expedient adopted by the natives of cer- 

 tain parts of Africa for the destruction of the lion, 

 or rather in aid thereof, which, from its singularity, 

 is deserving of notice, is thus related by Freeman, 

 at page 336 of his interesting work : 



After telling us "' that when the beast has become 

 accustomed to human flesh, he will not willingly eat 

 anything else ; and that when a neighbourhood has 

 been infested by a * man-eater,' the people form 

 themselves into a band, and proceed in search of 

 the royal foe, whom they beard in his very den," 

 he goes on to say, " Standing close by one another, 

 the lion would make his spring, every man ot course 

 hoping he might escape the attack, when instantly 

 others would dash for ward fnul wi;:r f/> /^v/.sf.s ia.il, 

 liftiiuj it HJ> close, tn flu 1 In 1 1/ with- <til their ndfjht, 

 thus not only astonixlthif} the animal, and absolutely 

 taking him off his guard, but rendering his effort s 

 powerless for the moment, whilst others, airain, 

 closed in with their spears, and at once stabbed the 

 monster through and through. All this was done," 

 Freeman adds, " not for the exciting pleasure of a 

 lion-hunt, nor as an exhibition of prowess, but to rid 

 the vicinitv of their villages of a dreadful eneniv. 



