10 HISTORY OF THE LION. 



His strength on these occasions is immense, and there 

 seems good authority for his being able to drag away a 

 heavy ox : a young heifer is carried off with ease. Spar- 

 man relates an instance o"f a lion, at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, " seizing a heifer in his mouth, and, though the legs 

 dragged upon the ground, yet he seemed to carry her off 

 with the same ease as a cat does a rat. He also leaped 

 over a broad dyke with her, without the least difficulty." 

 The smaller prey is generally thrown upon the shoulder, 

 and carried with perfect ease. Thompson, a recent 

 traveller in South Africa, saw a very young lion convey a 

 horse about a mile from the spot where he had killed him ; 

 and relates a still more extraordinary instance of strength, 

 which occurred in the Sneeuwberg. " A lion having car- 

 ried off a heifer of two years old, was followed on the track 

 for fully five hours, by a party on horseback, and through- 

 out the whole distance, the carcass of the heifer was only 

 once or twice discovered to have touched the ground." 



The most common and favorite prey of the lion, is the 

 various species of deer and antelope, which abound in the 

 plains of Africa and jungles of India. The zebra and 

 quagga, bullock and buffalo, are also frequent victims ; but 

 the latter often proves the victor. It is a common opinion 

 among the South African tribes, that the lion will prefer a 

 human prey to any other will single out the driver from 

 his cattle, and prefer the rider to his horse. This opinion 

 has gradually gained converts among the better informed ; 

 and in many of the colonies it is generally received as a 

 fact. Sometimes he will seize anything that he can ; but 

 animals are certainly his favorite luxury, and none more so 

 than a horse the pursuit of which, among other cattle, 

 has given rise to the idea, that the rider most attracted his 

 attention. In coroboration of this, Thompson relates an 

 inpident which befel a boor, who resided in the neighbor- 

 hood of his own farm in the colonies. 



" Lucas Van Vunsen, a boor, was riding across the open 



