58 



THE LION. 



in his mouth, and though the legs dragged upon 

 the ground, he carried her off as easily as a Cat 

 does a Rat. Another conveyed a Horse about a 

 mile from the spot where he had killed it. An- 

 other that had carried off a two-year old Heifer, 

 was followed on the spoor or track, for five hours, 

 by horsemen, when it was found that throughout 

 the long distance the Heifer had touched the 

 ground only once or twice. 



To avoid these blood-thirsty beasts, whole vil- 

 lages are sometimes built in the upper branches 

 of trees. The African Lion generally lives upon 

 Cows, Calves, Antelopes, and such like animals. 



The Arabs in the north of Africa, and the Hot- 

 tentots in the south, live in equal dread of the 

 Lion. The Arabs, you know, dwell in tents ; and 

 when a number of these tents are put up near 

 each other, so as to make a little village, they call 

 it a douar. Well, every night a Lion will come 

 and attack one of Xhe^?,^. douars ; not always the 

 same, but sometimes one and sometimes another. 

 He makes his home in one of the neighboring- 

 mountains, perhaps twenty or thirty miles away. 

 A nice well-kept home it is, under the thickest 

 cover he can find ; and there he clears out several 

 pieces of ground for rooms or chambers, and will 

 not allow so much as a stone or a bit of stick to 

 litter the ground. 



Here he lies snug all day, and sleeps with his 

 wife and little ones ; but as sunset comes, he sall- 

 ies forth to find food for himself and his family, 

 Thirty or forty miles are only a nice walk for 

 him. Down he marches from his mountain hbme, 

 sometimes uttering a roar which is heard at an 

 immense distance ; and then all the animals be- 

 gin to fly, generally in the direction of the Arab 

 tents, wanting to find protection from man. 



This is not wise, however ; for the Lion, know- 



ing very well where he is likely to find the most 

 plentiful meal, makes directly for one of the 

 tent- villages. What confusion there is then ! 

 All the animals, — Horses, Oxen, Camels — come 

 rushing into the tents without ceremony, tramp- 

 ling upon y women and children, while the dogs 

 bark, the women scream, and the men light fires 

 all around, and toss about flaming torches, to try 

 and scare the Lion away. He minds them very 

 little. The thunder of his voice drowns all their 

 noise, and he walks straight on to the place where 

 he intends to make his choice, and will there 

 slaughter three or four Bulls or Oxen at once. 

 Sometimes he will drive one or two home before 

 him all the way to his den, where his Cubs are 

 no doubt expecting such welcome visitors. 



The Arabs very seldom fire on the Lion, be- 

 cause they have an idea that it is when made 

 angry that he is most likely to attack men ; so they 

 just let themselves be plundered and ruined at 

 his majesty's good pleasure. Some of them have 

 had the whole flocks and herds, in which their 

 wealth consists, carried off, till a man who was 

 once accounted rich finds himself a beggar. 



Some very dreadful stories are told about this 

 most terrible of animals when he is enraged by 

 any attempt to resist him. An Arab once 

 watched for him inside the hedge which enclosed 

 his tent-village, and fired just at the moment 

 when he was bounding across. Although the 

 Lion's shoulder was broken by the shot, this did 

 not prevent him from tearing the man to pieces 

 in a single moment. He then killed all who were 

 in the tent except one woman, who managed to 

 get out with her child in her arms, and reach 

 the top of a neighboring tent in safety, when 

 the Lion got hold of her by the leg, just as 

 she was drawing it up, and killed both herself and 



