84 Wild Beasts 



sufficient to stand perfectly still, without attempting to 

 take one of the spears he carried in his left hand into the 

 other, and after a couple of minutes the brute walked 

 away, turning its head round every second to watch him. 



"This could not be attributed to the efficacy of the 

 human eye, as the man afterwards told me that he had not 

 dared to raise his from the ground. This lion before going 

 far met another native, who raised his spear, as if to throw 

 it ; upon which it instantly sprang upon him, and inflicted 

 such wounds that he died within half an hour. I have no 

 doubt that if this man had stood still, he would have been 

 perfectly safe." 



A still more striking example of the fact that lions, un- 

 less hungry, enraged or alarmed, often pass man by is 

 given by Drummond as follows : " A hunter of mine was 

 following the trail of a herd of buffalo through some dense 

 thickets, alone, and armed only with a single barrel. Sud- 

 denly a male lion rose out of one of them, and sitting on 

 his hind quarters, snarled at him ; he had hardly seen it 

 when another, about three-quarters grown, showed itself 

 within a few ya,rds on one side, while from behind he could 

 hear the low rumbling growl of a third. Partly turning so 

 as to watch them all, he saw that the latter was a lioness, 

 and that three cubs not much larger than cats were follow- 

 ing her. He had, unawares, got into the centre of a lion 

 family. Unfortunately, one of the cubs saw him, and with- 

 out exhibiting the least fear, ran up to him ; upon which 

 its mother, in terror for her offspring, rushed up, and, as 

 he afterwards described it,' fairly danced round and round 

 him, springing to within a yard of him, sideways, back- 



