SAFEGUARDS IN LION-HUNTING. 219 



thick as ten sheets of paper. Nor is it quite 

 certain," he goes on to say, " that even if the heart 

 is pierced, the wound will at once prove mortal. 

 It is asserted, indeed, that a lion, after being shot 

 through that organ, has been known to tear a horse 

 to pieces before expiring." 



By all accounts, the lion is terrible in his death- 

 struggles, and it is then highly perilous to go near 

 him. " What is remarkable in the beast is this," 

 says Gerard, and all lion-hunters tell the same 

 Ftory, " that the nearer he is to death, the more 

 dangerous he becomes." It is, moreover, the 

 generally received impression with the natives at 

 least that the wounds he inflicts when in his dying 

 agonies are infinitely more difficult to cure than 

 those inflicted by him at other times. 



Dogs, and the more the better, are, I take it, a 

 great safeguard in lion-shooting. This was amply 

 shown in the case of Gordon dimming, who would 

 hardly have got off unhurt in his numerous duels 

 with the beast but for those valuable auxiliaries. 

 Their incessant attacks on the lion not only enable 

 a man to approach him unperceived, and thus fire 

 at a short distance, and with deliberation, but often, 

 in the event of his " charging," they divert his fury 

 from the hunter to themselves. Dogs, however, 

 should not be of too fierce and courageous a dispo- 

 sition, as such soon get killed ; mere curs, that 

 " give tongue" well, are the besr, for the purpose. 



But whether they are high-couraged, or the con- 

 trary, the consumption of " dog-flesh" in lion- 

 shootii g is ahvavs, 1 take it, considerable. Gordon 



