The Man-Eater 43 



its measurements, made immediately after death : 

 total length, 9 feet 1 inch ; height of withers, 2 

 feet 11 inches; fore-leg, 1 foot 5 inches in circum- 

 ference. 



The child which the lion had carried off might 

 be fourteen years of age. He had been seized and 

 killed almost at the same moment. Felines never 

 carry off a prey which struggles, unless they are 

 taken by surprise. But our lion had had ample 

 time in which to kill its victim. The mother had 

 heard a cry, and had guessed the terrible truth ; 

 but her fright was so great that she had not had 

 strength to cry out immediately. When she went 

 outside it was too late, and when she aroused the 

 neighbourhood the child must have been already half- 

 way on the journey towards the river. 



We carried back to the village the bodies of the 

 two actors in this nocturnal tragedy. That of the 

 child bore deep bites, which had terribly mutilated 

 the neck and right shoulder, and one of his thighs 

 was damaged to the bone. As to the lion, when it 

 was carried by eight men into the village with its 

 feet attached to a pole, the whole population wished 

 to throw itself upon it with guns, arrows, and assagais. 

 It is customary in such a case to mutilate the body 

 of the animal with gunshots and knives until its skin 

 resembles a riddle. As this method of preparing my 

 hunting trophies did not at all suit me, I interposed, 

 and explained to the natives that I had killed the 

 lion for them, that I demanded its skin intact with 

 claws and head, and that afterwards I would leave 



