CHAPTER XXVII. 



SOUTH AFRICAN LIONS. 



Now for the lordly King of Beasts ! As these wild African 

 Hunters found him, the grandeur of his ancestral name is 

 not a little heightened. There are some pictures of this 

 South African monarch of the wastes furnished as well by 

 the daring missionaries of the Christian Church in this 

 direction, which are quite as striking as those given by the 

 professional Hunters themselves. These we shall give after 

 first taking the general sketch of the habits of the animal 

 furnished by Gumming. 



The night of the 19th was to me rather a memorable one, 

 as being the first on which I had the satisfaction of hearing 

 the deep-toned thunder of the lion's roar. Although there 

 was no one near to inform me' by what beast the haughty 

 and impressive sounds which echoed through the wilderness 

 were produced, I had little difficulty in divining. There was 

 no mistake about it ; and on hearing it I at once knew, as 

 well as if accustomed to the sound from my infancy, that 

 the appalling roar which was uttered within half a mile 

 of me was no other than that of the mighty and terrible 

 king of beasts. Although the dignified and truly monarch- 

 ical appearance of the lion has long rendered him famous 

 among his fellow quadrupeds, and his appearance and habits 

 have often been described by abler pens than mine, never- 

 theless I consider that a few remarks, resulting from my 

 own personal experience, formed by a tolerably long acquaint- 

 ance with them both by day and by night, may not prove 

 uninteresting to the reader. There is something so noble 



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