THE LION 188 



ceptible in the same way as Europeans to the 

 action of the poison with which the foul impurities 

 upon the lion's claws saturate them, but I have 

 sometimes thought not. An old native friend of 

 mine, a headman in one of the villages in Machin- 

 jiri, was clawed in three cleanly cut seams from 

 shoulder to waist on one occasion as he made his 

 narrow escape with a wild rush from the spring of 

 an attacking man-eater. He told me that al- 

 though the long lacerations did not bleed much 

 at the time of their infliction, they nevertheless 

 healed up without any untoward symptoms such 

 as usually accompany a lion's claw wounds. 

 Another case was that of a native in one of the 

 villages of Cheringoma. This man, whilst em- 

 ployed as a mail-runner between two adminis- 

 trative posts, was attacked by a lion one evening, 

 but managed, by presence of mind uncommon 

 enough in the black man, although badly clawed, 

 to escape with his life. The lion rushed upon him 

 from behind. With surprising resource he flung 

 his mail-bags at the animal's head, and in the 

 momentary confusion fired at and no doubt 

 wounded it. In any case, the lion went off, leaving 

 his intended victim to hobble as best he could to 

 the nearest habitation. The injuries sustained, 

 which he was rather proud than otherwise of 

 exhibiting, took the form of severe and deep 

 lacerations on the hips and buttocks ; but, he 

 informed me, in spite of their severity, he was 

 back at his work in little more than a month. 



But I cannot conclude my remarks upon the 

 king of beasts without sending to the printer the 



