THE LION IN SOUTH AFRICA 331 



I have heard these animals roaring upon hundreds of different 

 occasions, I can count the nights on the fingers of one hand 

 when, all unconscious of my near vicinity, a party of several 

 lions has roared freely within 100 yards of where I was lying. 

 Last year, whilst hunting with two companions in the neighbour- 

 hood of the Pungwe 'river, I don't think a single night passed 

 during the six weeks we remained in that part of the country 

 that we did not hear lions, and sometimes three different parties 

 of these animals were roaring round our camp at the same time. 

 But on no single occasion were they ever within a mile of where 

 we were sleeping, and as there are probably few parts of 

 Africa where lions are more plentiful than in this particular 

 district, I think it is quite possible to have had a very consider- 

 able experience of African travel and yet never to have heard 

 lions roaring freely at very close quarters. If ever experi- 

 enced, such a serenade can never be forgotten, for it is at once 

 magnificent yet calculated to fill the soul with awe. 



It is a fact I think which admits of no dispute that lions 

 only roar freely in countries where they have not been much 

 disturbed, and where they are practically the masters of the 

 situation, and as soon as a district in which these animals exist 

 is much hunted over, they become comparatively silent. Thus, 

 although lions are still fairly numerous in the neighbourhood 

 of the outlying mining camps in Mashonaland, where they con- 

 tinually make their presence disagreeably felt by killing the 

 donkeys, oxen and horses of the prospectors, they are seldom 

 heard to roar at nights, and I have noticed this same peculi- 

 arity in other newly settled districts. Loud roaring is usually, I 

 think, a sign of happiness and contentment, and is indulged in 

 very often when on the way down to drink, after a good meal. 

 Naturally, when hungry and on the look out for their prey, 

 lions do not roar, but remain perfectly silent, and when they 

 attack one's camp at night, the first intimation received of their 

 presence will be given by the cries and struggles of the animal 

 they seize. When standing at bay lions do not roar, but keep 



