THE LION 169 



A very interesting skin which I well remember 

 was one shown to me by my friend Captain 

 Lage, formerly the Commandant of the great 

 Barue district to the south of Tete. This, with 

 a well-developed mane of the so-called yellow 

 variety, had been taken from a full-grown male 

 lion which was discovered by natives quite 

 dead, fully 20 feet from the ground, and firmly 

 wedged between either two trees growing very 

 closely together or in the angle of a massive 

 fork. I was told that from the surrounding 

 indications it was clearly a case in which this 

 animal had aroused the resentment of a female 

 elephant, which had evidently seized him in her 

 trunk in a paroxysm of rage and hurled him 

 into the position in which he was found, whence 

 it had been impossible to extricate himself. 

 Both flanks were almost denuded of coat, showing 

 the frightful struggles he must have made to 

 escape ; but the trees or the branches held firmly, 

 and who amongst the cowering denizens of the 

 jungle should obey such a call for help as that ? 



It is, of course, very difficult by means of 

 generalities to afford any adequate basis of 

 comparison of the sizes of lions — or any other 

 animals, for the matter of that — existing in various 

 parts of the country, but the folloTsdng measure- 

 ments of a fine male which I shot in the district 

 we are considering in 1902 may give some clear 

 idea of the size to which they there attain. 

 This lion was a fine, well-developed beast in 

 perfect condition, whose mane, of grey-brown 

 and vellow under the chin, somewhat exceeded 



