VOYAGE UP WHITE NILE 79 



more. Listening in the darkness, one realises the power 

 and majesty of the Lion, King of Beasts, strolling" forth 

 under the pall of night to devour whichever of his subjects 

 first suits his royal convenience. 



It has become a vogue to depreciate the lion and to 

 question his kingship. That is not fair, for no lion ever 

 set up such silly claim. Most men who see lions nowa- 

 days, see them not in natural conditions, but as ridden- 

 out by mounted Somalis, or mobbed from covert by a 

 crowd of beaters and dogs into the unaccustomed light 

 of day. The lion is not then apt to show himself to full 

 advantage. His main sentiment is one of annoyance at 

 being disturbed : his main object to gain some quieter 

 spot to sleep off his overnight meal in peace. Hence he is 

 not then "rampant" all teeth and toe-nails as depicted 

 in armorial bearings, trade-marks, or heraldic designs. 

 Hustle him too closely and not even in broad noontide 

 will the lion disgrace his overlordship. But after all the 

 lion is nocturnal, and it is then, when the mantle of night 

 overshadows the tropical forest, that a truer appreciation 

 of his majesty can be realised. 



Such ideas as a kingship among beasts are, of course, 

 purely poetic and imaginary. They are calculated, more- 

 over, unless clearly so understood, to foster utterly 

 erroneous impressions of wild-life in the wilderness. To 

 me they have a " cockney " savour, nor have they any place 

 outside a "Jungle-book," wherein animals speak and think 

 and so on. The untaught savage of Africa who reads 

 no rubbish but who lives his life among wild beasts, 

 intuitively assigns to each its due degree of danger in 

 truer proportion than some white men who write on such 

 subjects ; and he invariably gives the lion first place. 



