34 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA 



roar preparatory to lying up for the day. On dull, cool 

 mornings I have heard them up to 10 A.M. 



Various writers have expressed their opinions as to the 

 majesty or otherwise of the lion's roar. I suppose it 

 appeals to different people in different ways, and ac- 

 cording to the circumstances under which it is heard ; but 

 there can at least be no doubt that it is something 

 quite unique, and once heard cannot easily be for- 

 gotten. Personally I think nothing can be more im- 

 pressive in the dead of a night spent amid some desolate 

 African wilderness than the long-drawn cadence of the 

 opening note rising and falling, and then merging into 

 the succession of deep bass " woofs " which become 

 fainter and fainter until they are scarcely audible sighs. 

 When a number of lions roar in chorus the very earth 

 seems to vibrate with the volume of sound, and the 

 contrast with the dead stillness which follows is very 

 remarkable. There is no doubt that, after a certain 

 amount of practice, the ear learns to pick out the lion's 

 voice, however faint and far removed it may be, among 

 any number of conflicting noises and bush calls which, 

 from their nearness, would, it might be supposed, easily 

 drown it. 



CHAPTER IV 



THE LION 



(continued) 



LIONS, when disturbed during the day by human 

 beings, act according to their previous experience. 

 If they are unaccustomed to being hunted they give 

 place slowly, and, as it were, under protest, walking 

 away with frequent halts to look back, and increasing 

 their pace only when out of sight. But, where they have 



