LION-SIIOOTLNG. 217 



weight, which is apt to make the haud unsteady, 

 and thus destroy the aim, it is perfectly certain that, 

 when the lion makes his rush, the sportsman, if 

 provided with one, would be knocked over by the 

 shock; and even supposing the vital parts to be 

 pierced, the man would, in all probability, be torn 

 to pieces by the infuriated beast before its life was 

 extinct. 



Pistols, in lion-shooting, I take to be nearly as 

 valueless as the bayonet ; and they are, moreover, 

 much in one's way whether mounted or on toot. As 

 Kotje-Dafel, a famous cliiitsenr in the Caffre 

 country, told Delegorgue, " It is not with needles 

 that the lion is killed. He is strong, and it requires 

 a strong dose to produce a rapid hemorrhage." 



The best point to aim at, when the lion is facing 

 you, and not too far distant, is between the eyes, 

 for, should the ball chance to penetrate the brain, 

 death is of course instantaneous. 



On one occasion, soon after my first arrival in 

 Africa, I may mention that when stalking 

 alone, and on foot, a gemsbok, a full-grown lion 

 suddenly sprang out of a bush within some forty or 

 fifty paces of me. The brute's unexpected appear- 

 ance somewhat startled me, but I had so often been 

 balked in my attempts to get a shot at lions, that 

 I only hesitated for a moment. Accordingly, the 

 beast having turned round to look at me, 1 took a 

 deliberate aim at his forehead, and fired, and, as 

 good luck would have it, with deadly effect. Indeed, 

 so accurate was my aim that the ball almost 

 split his skull in two, and, as a matter of course, 

 killed him on the spot. 



