114- DEFENCE AGAINST ANIMALS OF 



ing an adventure with a lion, perhaps unparalleled 

 in the annals of hunting. 



Towards the close of the year 1823, in passing 

 over a common, I accidentally came upon two dogs. 

 One of them was a stout, ill-looking, uncouth brute, 

 apparently of that genealogy which dog-fanciers 

 term half bull and half terrier ; the other was an 

 insignificant female cur. The dog immediately 

 bristled up, and I had just time to take off my hat, 

 and hold it shieldwise in self-defence, when he came 

 on and made directly at it. I gave him a hearty 

 kick under the breast, which caused him to desist 

 for a moment. But he stoutly renewed the attack, 

 which was continued for above five minutes; he 

 always flying at the hat, and I regularly repeating 

 my kicks, sometimes slightly, sometimes heavily, 

 according to our relative situations. In the mean 

 time the female cur was assailing me from behind, 

 and it was with difficulty that I succeeded in keeping 

 her clear of me, by means of swinging my foot 

 backwards at her. At last, a lucky blow on her 

 muzzle from the heel of my shoe caused her to run 

 away howling, and the dog immediately followed 

 her, just at the moment when two masons were 

 coming up to assist me. Thus, by a resolute oppo- 

 sition I escaped laceration. But this little affair is 

 scarcely worth relating, except that it affords a proof 

 of the advantage to be derived from resisting the 

 attack of a dog to the utmost. 



And now for the feline tribe. The story which I 

 am about to recount, will show that nonresistance 

 was the only plan to be pursued when escape from 



