THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 297 



him, so that at every village great crowds came begging his pro- 

 fessional services. 



Being in no special haste, he spent much of his time hunting 

 and studying the animal life which came under his observation. 

 He was somewhat astonished to learn, in dissecting the large 

 game which he killed, that it was subject to most annoying and 

 fatal diseases, not wholly unlike those from which our domestic 

 animals suffer. He saw several gnu, giraffes, buffaloes, harte- 

 beestes, etc., afflicted with a mangy disorder, from which they 

 died with a frothing at the nostrils. He saw one buffalo blind 

 from ophthalmy, andrhinoceri that were worried by worms which 

 infested the conjunction of the eyes. 



The carnivora, too, become diseased and mangy; lions grow 

 lean and perish miserably by reason of the decay of the teeth. 

 When, a lion becomes too old to catch game, he frequently takes 

 to killing goats in the villages ; a woman or child happening to 

 go out at night falls a prey, too ; and as this is his only source of 

 subsistence now, he continues it. From this circumstance has 

 arisen the idea that the lion, when he has once tasted human 

 flesh, loves it better than any other. A man-eater is invariably 

 an old lion ; and when he overcomes his fear of man so far as to 

 come to villages for goats, the people remark, "His teeth are 

 worn, he will soon kill men.*' They at once acknowledge the 

 necessity of instant action, and turn out to kill him. When 

 living far away from population, or when, as is the case in some 

 parts, he entertains a wholesome dread of the Bushmen, as soon 

 as either disease or old age overtakes him, he begins to catch 

 mice and other small rodents, and even to eat grass ; the latter 

 may be eaten as medicine, however, as is observed in dogs. 



When encountered in day time, the lion stands a second or 

 two gazing, then turns slowly round, and walks away for a dozen 

 paces, looking over his shoulder; then begins to trot, and when 

 he thinks himself out of sight bounds off like a greyhound. 

 By day there is not, as a rule, the least danger of lions which 

 are not molested attacking man, or even on a clear moonlight 

 night, except when breeding ; at such times they will brave 



