THE LION OF SOUTH AFBICA. 91 



VI. 



THE natives hunt the lions with guns or lances, wmch- 

 ever of these weapons they may chance to possess. 

 Each of these arms was in use in the encounter which 

 we give below, and which nearly proved fatal to Dr. 

 Livingstone. 



" The Bakatla of the village Mabotsa were much 

 troubled by lions, which leaped into the cattle-pens by 

 night and destroyed their cows. They even attacked 

 the herds in open day. This was so unusual an 

 occurrence, that the people believed they were be- 

 witched ' given/ as they said, ' into the power of the 

 lions by a neighbouring tribe.' They went once to 

 attack the animals, but being rather a cowardly people, 

 compared to Bechuanas in general on such occasions, 

 they returned without killing any. 



" It is well known that if one in a troop of lions is 

 killed, the others take the hint and leave that part of 

 the country. So the next time the herds were at- 

 tacked, I went with the people in order to encourage 

 them to rid themselves of the annoyance by destroying 

 one of the marauders. We found the lions on a small 

 hill about a quarter of a mile in length, and covered 

 with trees. A circle of men was formed round it, and 

 they gradually closed up, ascending pretty near to 

 each other. 



