96 THE LION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



sits down and waits for them. Then the dogs sur- 

 round him, and rushing on him all at once, they com- 

 mence tearing him to pieces. They rarely give him 

 time to strike more than one or two blows with his 

 paws, each one of which, however, is sure and certain 

 death to two or three of his assailants. 



The natives sometimes dig pitfalls for lions, as care- 

 fully concealed as possible ; but it very rarely happens 

 that the cautious animal is caught therein. 



A traveller asserts that the following stratagem suc- 

 ceeded : " They place," says he, " the figure of a man 

 near to some guns, disposed in such a manner that 

 they will discharge themselves into the body of the 

 animal the moment he springs on the mannikin. As 

 this method is as easy as it is sure, and as they are not 

 particularly anxious to take the lions alive, the colonists 

 rarely put themselves to the trouble of laying pit-hole 

 traps for them." There are, however, not wanting 

 instances in which lions have discovered this mine. 



"A. lion," continues the same traveller, "had broken 

 through the bars of a gateway into a walled enclosure 

 in which the cattle were kept, and committed great 

 ravages there. The people of the farm, not doubting 

 but that he would return by the same way, bristled the 

 entry with loaded firearms attached to a cord stretched 

 across the gateway, and feeling quite satisfied that he 

 could not enter without disturbing them. The lion 



