172 LARGE HERDS OF WILD ANIMALS. 



somewhat reckless in adventure, I feel certain that I 

 would n.t have attacked a lion, while merely armed with 

 an assagwi. 



The Becauanas have hut meagre conceptions of the value 

 of human life. The poor wretch who had suffered from the 

 mangling cla-rfs of the lion, was left to writhe upon the 

 ground the Ovher hunters evincing a 'sublime degree of 

 indifference. We were indignant as well as shocked, and 

 Mr. Barrill dismocnted to fulfil the office of humanity. He 

 wiped away the hlood, and, as soon as the wagons came 

 up, applied some bandages to the wounds, so that the poor 

 fellow was enabled to resume his ostrich parasol, and ac- 

 company his comrades back to their kraal. When I com- 

 pared these wild p<aople with the Indians of my native 

 plains, I ranked them far below in every respect. They 

 seemed almost destitute of those feelings which are common 

 to the rest of mankind. 



Crossing a ridge about ten miles from the spot where 

 we had witnessed the combat between the lion and the 

 Bechuanas, we found ourselves near a charming river, 

 and in the midst of vast herds of giraffe, antelope, buffaloe, 

 gnoos and zebras and in fact all the finest game of South 

 Africa seemed to have sent delegations to this enchant- 

 ing country. Along the banks of the clear, sparkling 

 stream, open forests of mimosa, acacia, camelthorn, and 

 willow, spread their rainbow foliage flowers of all hues, 



