174 THE LION 



bolder than they are by day. In most cases he 

 leaps upon the roof, and in a surprisingly short 

 time claws a way through the thatch, which he 

 scatters in all directions. It seems amazing to 

 us that during this performance the inmates 

 should not have time to make good their escape 

 by the door ; but the African is a heavy sleeper, 

 and I suppose his first intimation of the dreaded 

 creature's visit is to find himself dragged forth in 

 its jaws. I have more than once seen the holes 

 made by lions in the act of entering by the roof 

 of a hut, and it affords striking evidence of the 

 enormous power with which these animals are 

 endowed. On other occasions the wall of the 

 hut is broken in by one or two tremendous blows, 

 but in practically every case the unfortunate 

 native seems to be either too paralysed with fear 

 or too sound asleep to become conscious in time 

 to prevent the catastrophe. 



When charging as the result of a wound or 

 of some act of provocation, a lion will often kill 

 his human aggressor by a tremendous blow of the 

 forepaw, the claws of which have been known 

 completely to pierce the skull ; but when hunting 

 human prey, be it on the native path or elsewhere, 

 it is the usual practice to seize the victim and carry 

 him off alive, a circumstance to which not a few 

 persons owe their lives. I remember when I was 

 living in Nyasaland some years ago, two Euro- 

 peans were hunting in a portion of the country 

 somewhat infested by lions, when, in the middle 

 of the night, one of these animals entered the grass 

 shelter in which they were sleeping, seized one by 



