THE LION IN SOUTH AFRICA 323 



mate, and the party probably consisted of an old lion and four 

 lionesses, as there were no cub spoors. The carcase of the 

 buffalo, from which almost all the meat had been eaten, had 

 been disembowelled in the usual neat and cleanly manner, and 

 at a distance of some ten yards off it stood two mounds, ap- 

 parently of earth and grass. I pointed these out to my young 

 friend, and said, ' The lions have buried the paunch and entrails 

 of the buffalo beneath those mounds.' This work had been 

 done most effectually, a space of several yards square having 

 been cleared of grass, all of which, together with a great deal of 

 earth, had been piled up on the two mounds. Wishing to sit 

 up that night and watch over the carcase, we did not at the 

 moment disturb the earth and grass-covered heaps or do any- 

 thing which might have aroused the suspicions of the lions, but 

 rode back to our waggon, and returning at once with some 

 Kafirs built a shelter at the foot of a tree, a few yards from the 

 carcase of the buffalo, in which Mr. Jesser Coope and myself 

 took up our positions for the night, the Kafirs returning to the 

 waggon. However, strange to say, the lions never put in an 

 appearance, and so our watch was in vain and we neither saw 

 nor heard anything more of them. On the following morning 

 I commenced to turn over the heaps in which I thought the 

 paunch and entrails were hidden, in order to get some of the 

 large horned dung beetles which are common in this part of 

 Africa, and I very soon found to my surprise that, though the 

 vegetable contents of the paunch and entrails had been hidden 

 from view, there was no animal matter there whatever, so that 

 I cannot but conclude that in this instance, at any rate, the 

 lions had eaten all the animal portions of the paunch and 

 entrails of a recently killed animal. 



Two instances have come under my notice of lions eating 

 the remains of one of their own species, and I think that when 

 hungry they would never be above such acts of cannibalism, but 

 they would probably prefer something else, just as a shipwrecked 

 sailor would prefer Polar bear to a steak off the comrade who 

 had drawn the fatal lot. But with lions, as with shipwrecked 



Y 2 



