ss THE LION IN SOUTH AFRICA 319 
of night has come on, lions become bold and fearless, and 
often, when urged on by hunger, incredibly reckless and daring. 
It is by no means unusual for oxen to be seized at the yokes or 
horses to be killed inside a stable, or when tied to the wheel of 
a waggon ; whilst in Mashonaland alone four men were carried 
off and eaten by lions during the first two years of the occupa- 
tion of that country. - One of these unfortunates was a young 
man who was about to start a market-garden in the neighbour- 
hood of Umtali settlement. He had gone away with a cartand 
four oxen to buy some native meal at one of the Kafir kraals, 
and had outspanned for the night at a spot about six miles dis- 
tant from the little township. The oxen were tied up to the 
yokes, and Mr. Teale was lying asleep under the cart, alongside 
of a native, when a lion walked up, and, seizing him by the 
shoulder, carried him off and killed and ate him. This lion, be 
it noted, showed a refined taste in disregarding the oxen and 
the Kafir, and seizing the European. It is supposed that a 
lion and a lioness took part in the feast. The lioness was sub- 
- sequently shot, and the head and one of the feet of the unfor- 
tunate market-gardener recovered, but the lion escaped. 
As an example of much greater boldness, let me relate the 
following anecdote. In August 1892, Captain Graham, the 
resident magistrate of Umtali, visited Marauka’s kraal with a 
patrol of twelve mounted white men and a small native con- 
tingent. A large camp was formed at the foot of the hill on 
which Marauka’s village was situated, the horses were tied on 
a picket-line, and several large fires were lighted in different 
parts of the camp. In the middle of the night a lioness walked 
right past the outside fires, passed close by two white men 
who were covered by their blankets, and seized a native who 
4 ~ was lying alongside of a fire in the centre of the camp. She 
' caught him by the shoulder, dragged him past the outside fires, 
and then dropping him, gave him some terrible bites about the 
head and arm. The man had, of course, shouted out when he 
was seized, and he retained his presence of mind in a marvel- 
lous manner, for when some of the white men approached 
