The Lion 



56i 



than any other representative of the species. I may add that man-eating 

 lions seem to be commoner and more troublesome than in any other part of 

 Africa, and rival in their destructiveness the man-eating tigers of India. 

 The reason of this is, I think, not difficult to explain. In South Africa, 

 as soon as a lion takes to preying even on the cattle of the natives, let 

 alone themselves, the whole male population of the neighbourhood turn 

 out and hunt him down and kill him. Zulus, Swazis and kindred tribes 



were accustomed to do this with their spears only before firearms came 

 into their hands at all. Consequently the predatory habit, when turned in 

 this direction, was nipped in the bud. But many of the tribes of Central 

 Africa are either a more timid people, or, being few and scattered, lack 

 the cohesion necessary to carry out such a stamping-out policy. Hence 

 your man-eater, having once acquired the taste and overcome his natural 

 awe of human beings, perseveres in his evil course, getting bolder and 

 bolder, and becomes the terror of the country-side ; and it is possible 

 4 c 



