THE LION OF SOUTH AFBICA. 75 



compel them to beat retreat. "I have heard from 

 a good source," says Spa-reman, " of a lion being 

 knocked down and trampled to death by a herd of 

 cattle which, pressed by hunger, he had dared to 

 attack in the daytime." 



It is scarcely fair, however, to exaggerate the rela- 

 tive weakness of this animal. He has been seen at 

 the Cape to seize a heifer and carry her off with the 

 legs trailing the ground, with as much ease as a cat 

 would carry a mouse, leaping without any difficulty 

 across a ditch, with his load in his mouth. 



Two farmers who were out hunting saw one of these 

 lions carrying away a buffalo from the plain over a 

 woody hillock ; certainly the animal had had the saga- 

 city to lighten the body by disembowelling it. 



How do they manage to share the plunder in these 

 expeditions made in common ? With a certain degree 

 of equity, one is compelled to think, since the habits 

 of association continue. When an old male conducts 

 the band, as he reserves to himself the chief part of 

 the work, he gives to the others his leavings ; and if 

 this- is not charitable, it is just. This is the way in 

 which the affair is managed, as described by a native: 



"When several lions together come upon some 

 game, the oldest of the troop crawls towards the ob- 

 ject of their covetousness, whilst the others lie down 

 quietly on the grass. If he succeeds in becoming 



