166 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



the two do not flourish in the same parts of 

 Africa, the giraffe liking dry desert, where 

 water is too scarce for the comfort of lions, 

 they cannot often gratify their taste. Mr. 

 H. A. Bryden tells me that full-grown giraffes, 

 like other heavy game, sometimes manage to 

 dislodge lions that have leapt upon them by 

 brushing them off against the timber, and he 

 saw one giraffe, at any rate, which showed 

 unmistakable signs of such an encounter. 

 The most extraordinary case of escape from 

 lions was that of the giraffe seen by the great 

 hunter of the eighteen-fifties, Andersson. It 

 was attacked by no fewer than five lions at 

 once, but was rescued by his natives, who 

 drove the lions off. 



The African leopard has much the same 

 habits and appearance as its Indian namesake, 

 and, unless it be slightly smaller, may be 

 regarded as the same animal. It is, as in 

 India, the most destructive of all big game, 

 and kills sheep and goats for the sheer pleasure 

 of killing, and without any thought of eating 

 its victims. The natives therefore hate it even 

 more than they do the lion. A whole flock of 

 sheep may be found dead at daybreak, each 

 animal with a single bite in its throat and not 

 one of the number devoured, the marauder 

 having just slaked its thirst for blood and gone 



