THE LION 27 



to climb ; but a young and light lioness will get quite 

 a good way up a tree, especially if the trunk be slightly 

 aslant, and cubs can climb quite well. The latter often 

 take refuge thus from dogs. I have a clear recollection 

 of how I placed two little beasts of some six weeks old 

 for safety in an enclosure, while a cage was being con- 

 structed for them. The enclosure had corrugated iron 

 walls some ten feet high ; but on returning in half an 

 hour, I discovered one little wretch poised on the top, 

 while the other had disappeared never to be seen 

 again. He was traced over the river, which was three or 

 four feet deep where he had crossed, and had a fairly strong 

 current. Certainly the strength, intelligence and initiative 

 shown was most remarkable in so young an animal. 



Lions are great swimmers, and have little of the 

 rooted objection to water observable in domestic cats. 

 They constantly cross both the Sabi and the Olifants 

 Rivers, which are, both of them, deep and swift-running 

 streams. Two instances out of many occur to me. 

 One morning I left camp early, hearing two lions 

 roaring loudly one on each side of the Sabi. After a 

 fairly long walk I came on the tracks, and eventually 

 put two male lions out of the reeds by the river-side. 

 The one which I shot had evidently just crossed the 

 river, as the water was dripping from all over his body. 

 The stream here was deep in places, and the two, obviously 

 mates, had been hunting, one along each bank, for part at 

 least of the night. On another occasion Captain Slatter 

 and I were following the spoor of two lions, that eventu- 

 ally led us right down to the Sabi, which they had crossed 

 at a particularly wide and deep place, the river, more- 

 over, being in partial flood at the time. We ourselves had 

 to go more than a mile down stream before we could find 

 a possible crossing. As these animals were hours in 



