72 AFRICAN NATURE NOTES CHAP. 



by a lion. On asking him if he had felt much pain 

 when the lion was biting him he had eleven deep 

 tooth wounds in the one thigh, besides others in the 

 left arm and hand, and described the lion as having 

 "chewed" him he answered, "Ja, ik at byung 

 sair gekrij " (" Yes, I felt much pain ") ; and some 

 Kafirs have also told me that they have suffered 

 much when being- bitten by lions. It is possible 

 that old Petrus Jacobs and my Kafir informants 

 did really feel some pain at the time when they 

 were being bitten, but in the case of Europeans, 

 at any rate, who probably possess very highly- 

 strung nervous systems, all the first-hand evidence 

 I have been able to gather goes to prove that the 

 bite of a lion or a tiger is practically painless. I 

 imagine that the reason of this is, that the tre- 

 mendous energy exerted by a lion in biting is 

 equivalent to a heavy blow, which produces such 

 a shock to the nervous system that all sensation is 

 for the time being deadened, as it would be by a 

 heavy blow from a sledge-hammer. I do not think 

 that any kind of wounds from either blows or 

 bullets or bites are likely to give any appreciable 

 pain if inflicted swiftly when the blood is up ; but 

 they become painful enough very soon afterwards. 

 When animals are killed quickly by lions, they too 

 probably suffer very little, if at all, but no one who 

 has listened, as I have done, to the bellowing of an 

 ox or a buffalo being killed by inches could possibly 

 say that such an animal's sufferings were not very 

 great. I once had a fine stallion donkey killed by 

 a hyrena within a short distance of my bivouac. It 

 had first been seized between the hind-legs by its 

 foul assailant, and its screams were perfectly heart- 

 rending, and haunted me for a long time afterwards. 

 My Kafirs and I ran to the poor brute's assistance 

 at once, but were too late to save it, as a great hole 

 had been torn in its belly, out of which half its 



