HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 2OJ 



the following singular manner : observing a piece 

 of broken ground, with a precipitate descent on one 

 side, he sat down by the edge of it ; and found, to 

 his great joy, that the Lion also made a halt, and 

 kept at the same distance as before. As soon as it 

 grew dark, the Hottentot, sliding gently forward, 

 let himself down a little below the edge of the hill, 

 and held up his cloak and hat upon his stick, 

 making at the same time a gentle motion with it: 

 the Lion, in the mean while, came creeping softly 

 towards him, like a Cat; and mistaking the skin 

 cloak for the man himself, made a spring, and fell 

 headlong down the precipice : by which means 

 the poor Hottentot was safely delivered from his 

 insidious enemy. 



That the Lion does not always kill whatever 

 animal happens to be in his power, has already 

 been observed ; and this peculiarity in its temper is 

 remarkably obvious, with regard to the human 

 species. Of this there have been many instances. 

 At St. Catherine Cree's church, Leadenhall-street, 

 London, provision is made, under the will of Sir 

 John Gager, who was lord-mayor in the year 1646, 

 for a sermon to be annually preached on the i6th 

 of November, in commemoration of his happy 

 deliverance from a Lion, which he met in a desert, 

 as he was travelling in the Turkish dominions, 

 and which suffered him to pass unmolested. The 

 minister is to have 2os. for the sermon, the clerk 

 2S. 6d., and the sexton is. The sum of 8/. i6s. 6d. 

 is likewise to be distributed among the necessitous 

 inhabitants, pursuant to the will of Sir John. 

 Sparrman, among several instances of the same 

 nature, mentions a person who, though he was 

 thrown down by a Lion, and wounded by it in 



