SOUTH AFRICA FIFTY YEARS AGO 47 



the women are not to speak one word when at work in the 

 fields : if the rain fails, why of course the women spoke ! 



We travelled very slowly towards Mabotse, Livingstone's 

 station, and on our arrival there received every kindness and 

 attention from him and Mrs. Livingstone, guides to the country 

 to the north, with advice as to route, &c. Livingstone had 

 not long got over his lion mishap get over it altogether, in- 

 deed, he never did the overlapping end of the broken 

 humerus was visible enough when the body was brought home. 

 The story of the accident was fresh with him and the Kafirs 

 when we reached Mabotse. A lion had killed an ox near the 

 village, and the Ba-Katla turned out, as they always did when the 

 lion deserted his game, and attacked their herds. Each man, 

 as is usual in a hunt of this kind, carried two or three assegais 

 and a plume of ostrich feathers on a pointed six-foot stick. 

 The lion was tracked to his sleeping place, and the men made a 

 ring round it. gradually closing the space between man and man 

 as they advanced. Presently the quarry was roused and sat up, 

 and then a spearman, taking a few steps in advance, threw his 

 assegai. The thrower is generally charged, but the animal's 

 attention is immediately taken off by a second spearman and 

 second assegai, and so on until, poor beast, it is killed. 

 Accidents seldom occur in fairly open ground, as the men 

 support one another very coolly and effectively. In rocky 

 places the sport is dangerous ; sometimes, however, even in 

 favourable spots, the man is pressed closely by the beast, and 

 he then as he runs plants the stick with the plume firmly in 

 the ground and dodges away from it ; the lion, half-blinded by 

 rage, sees something before him, and springs at the ostrich 

 feathers, giving the man a chance of escape. In Livingstone's 

 case they had lost the lion after wounding it, and were looking 

 for it ; the dear old Doctor caught sight of its tail switching back- 

 wards and forwards. Up and off went a gun that would 

 hardly have killed a strong tomtit. Livingstone was spun 

 over eight or ten feet, and the lion was standing over him. 

 The brute took his arm in its mouth and put a heavy paw on 



