THE LION IN SOUTH AFRICA 315 



Yet, in spite of the total disappearance of the game in 

 certain districts, it would be a great mistake to say that there 

 is no more big game in Southern Africa ; for if we take, as I 

 think one fairly may, South Africa to mean all the country 

 south of the great Zambesi river, then with the single excep- 

 tion of the true quagga (Equus quaggd), which is undoubtedly 

 extinct, every wild animal encountered by travellers in the 

 early part of this century may still be met with ; for the great 

 square-mouthed rhinoceros (R. Simus] yet lingers in northern 

 Mashonaland ; elephants and black rhinoceros (R. bicornis) 

 are still numerous in certain districts ; whilst as for buffaloes, 

 zebras, and various species of antelopes, it is difficult to 

 believe that these animals ever existed in greater numbers in 

 Bechuanaland than may still be seen in South-Eastern Africa, 

 in the neighbourhood of the Pungwe river. Here, too, lions 

 are still numerous ; so much so that during a period of six 

 weeks spent by the writer in this district last year, 1892, not one 

 single night passed that they were not heard roaring, whilst upon 

 several occasions three or four different troops of them roared 

 round the camp at the same time. 



As it is impossible within the limits of a single chapter to 

 give a detailed account of all the rich and varied fauna of 

 South Africa, I will now proceed to say a few words concerning 

 the animal to which I have twice referred, and whose skin is 

 the trophy most coveted by sportsmen. I am often asked, ' Is 

 the lion a dangerous beast, or is he a cur ? ' This is a difficult 

 question to answer, for not only do lions differ much individu- 

 ally in character- one when encountered showing himself to be 

 an animal of a very cowardly nature, whilst another may prove 

 to be very bold and savage but it would even seem that the 

 disposition of lions, in general, varies in the different large areas 

 of country over which they range. Nothing has struck me more 

 than the different behaviour exhibited by lions encountered 

 in Eastern Africa during several years of travel by a friend of 

 my own and those which I have myself met with in South 

 Africa. My friend is a careful naturalist, an experienced 



