THE LION. 



115 



by the flexibility of the tail, the bones of which have no fewer than lour joints, but the pads of the 

 feet, already mentioned, are, at such times, of the most essential service. 



" The immense masses of muscle around the lions jaws, shoulders, and fore arms," says Dr. Living- 

 stone, "proclaim tremendous force. They would seem, however, to be inferior in power to those of the 

 Indian tiger. Most of those feats of strength that I have seen performed by lions such as the taking 

 away of an ox were not carrying, but dragging, or trailing the carcase along the ground. They have 

 sprung, on some occasions, on to the hind quarters of a horse; but no one has ever seen them on tin; 

 withers of a giraffe. They do not mount on the hind quarters of an eland even, but tiy to tear him down 

 with their claws." 



The description of the poet, written in Southern Africa, differs from this : 



" Heedless at the ambush'd brink 

 The tall giraffe stoops down to drink ; 

 Upon him straight the savage springs 

 With cruel joy ! The desert rings 

 With clanging sounds of desperate strife 

 For the prey is strong and strives for life ; 

 Now plunging, trie*, with frantic bound, 

 To shake the tyrant to the ground ; 

 Then bursts like whirlwind through the waste, 

 In hope to 'scape by headlong haste ; 

 While the destroyer on his prize 

 Rides proudly tearing as he 8ies. 

 For life the victim's utmost speed 

 Is muster'd in this hour of need; 

 For life for life his giant might 



He strains, and pours his soul in flight; 

 And mad with terror, thirst, and pain, 

 Spurns with wild hoof the thundering plain. 

 'Tis vain ; the thirsty sands are drinking 

 His streaming blood his strength is sinking; 

 The victor's fangs are in his veins 

 His flanks are streak'd with sanguine stains; 

 His panting breast in foam and gore 

 Is bath'd : He reels his race is o'er ! 

 He falls and, with convulsive throe, 

 Resigns his throat to the raging foe, 

 Who revels amidst his dying moans: 

 While gathering round, to pick his bones, 

 The vultures watch, in gaunt array, 

 Till the gorged monarch quits his prey." 



Livingstone gives a singular encounter, as described to him in a letter from Mr. Frank Vardon : 



" Oswell and I were riding along the banks of the Leinpopo, when a water-buck started in front 

 of us. I dismounted, and was following it through the jungle, when three buffaloes got up, and, after 

 going a little distance, stood still, and the nearest bull turned round and looked at me. A ball from 

 the two-ouncer crashed into his shoulder, and they all three made off. Oswell and I followed as soon 

 as I had reloaded, and when we were in sight of the buffalo, and gaining on him at every stride, three 

 lions leaped on the unfortunate brute ; he bellowed most lustily as he kept up a kind of running 

 fight ; but he was, of course, soon overpowered and pulled down. 



" We had a fine view of the struggle, and saw the lions on their hind legs tearing away with teeth 

 and claws in most ferocious style. We crept up within thirty yards, and, kneeling down, blazed 

 away at the lions. My rifle was a single barrel, and I had no spare gun. One lion fell dead almost 

 on the buffalo ; he had merely time to turn towards us, seize a bush with his teeth, and drop dead with 

 the stick in his jaws. The second made off immediately ; and the third raised his head, coolly looked 

 round for a moment, then went on tearing and biting at the carcase as hard as ever. We retired a 

 short distance to load, then again advanced and fired. The lion made off, but a ball that he received 

 oujhl to have stopped him, as it went clean through his shoulder-blade. He was followed up and killed, 

 after having charged several times. Both lions were males. It is not often that one bags a brace of 

 lions and a bull buffalo in about ten minutes. It was an exciting adventure, and I shall never forget it. 



" Such, my dear Livingstone, is the plain, unvarnished account. The buffalo had, of course, gone 

 close to where the lions were lying down for the day ; and they, seeing him lame and bleeding, thought 

 the opportunity too good a one to be lost." 



"When encountered in the daytime," says Dr. Livingstone, "the lion stands a second or two 

 gazing, then turns slowly round, and walks as slowly 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 rale, the smallest danger of lions, which are not molested, attacking man, nor even 

 on a clear, moonlight night, except when they possess the breeding oropyi) (natural affection) ; this 

 makes them brave almost any danger ; and if a man happens to cross to the windward of them, both 

 lion and lioness will rush at him, in the manner of a bitch with whelps. This does not often happen, 

 as I only became aware of two or three instances of it. In one case a man, passing when the wind 

 blew from him to the animals, was bitten before he could climb a tree; and, occasionally, a man on 



