The Lion 549 



such circumstances, and the sportsman who faces him must " hold straight." 

 To follow a wounded lion into thick cover is a most dangerous proceeding, 

 and calls for the utmost coolness and nerve ; the animal invariably sees the 

 sportsman before he sees it, and in most cases charges. The lion's roar is 

 one of its most marked characteristics, and, when heard at night, pealing 

 through the forest, is inexpressibly grand, almost, if not quite, the most 

 sublime sound in nature. When several lions are roaring in concert, near 

 to the listener, the volume of sound is tremendous ; the air vibrates and 

 the very ground trembles. Heard amidst the uproar of a tropical night- 

 storm, when the withering lightning's flash tears the sky in twain, leaving 

 pitchy blackness behind, it is truly awe-inspiring, and causes the lonely 

 hunter to crouch closer to his half-drenched camp-fire, and grip his rifle 

 with a fierce energy born of the knowledge that " Fear" is abroad in the 

 jungle. 



Civilisation's steady march in South Africa during the past twenty years 

 has considerably limited the range of the lion. The vast herds of game upon 

 which he depended for food being swept away, he has been forced to retire 

 into remoter regions. From much of the South Africa of Gordon 

 Cumming he has vanished completely and for ever; many parts of Mashuna- 

 land and Matabeleland, and of the Transvaal "Low Country," will never 

 again resound with his mighty voice. A few still linger in Zululand 

 and Swaziland, in Amatongaland and the Libombo range. They are still 

 numerous in the wilder parts of Rhodesia, in Ngamiland, Khama's country, 

 along the Limpopo River, and in the Matamiri bush. In Umliwan's 

 country, along the Buzi River, in the Pungwi and Chiringoma districts, 

 P.E.A., particularly near Jakota, which is infested with them, they are 

 probably more numerous than in any other part of South Africa. Lions 

 drink once daily, either between 6 and 9 p.m. or between 3 and 6 a.m., 

 sometimes oftener in hot weather ; after a full feed at night they invariably 

 drink before seeking their lairs, and if the kill is near water, thev will 



