I02 Wild Beasts 



rhinoceros is never assailed, although Delgorgue actually 

 refers to the latter, a beast second only to the elephant 

 in size and most formidably armed, as if it were commonly 

 destroyed. " Maintes fois trouvairje des rhinoceros de la 

 plus haute taille, que ni leur poids, ni leur force, ni leur 

 fureur, ri avaient preserver de la mort." If anything were 

 needed to set off this pleasant statement, it could be found 

 in Delgorgue's roundly declared opinion that lions are all 

 "abject cowards." 



But in Africa the lion constantly preys upon the buffalo, 

 and without going so far as Andersson in saying that he 

 principally lives on this species, the fact that it is continu- 

 ally killed is beyond question. Many famous hunters sup- 

 pose that an African buffalo is the most dangerous creature 

 to be found on the "Dark Continent." It is of immense 

 size and strength, active, brave, and fierce. 



No account is known to the writer of a single lion that 

 was seen to slay a full-grown buffalo, and several authori- 

 ties doubt whether this be possible. The latter have, how- 

 ever, often been shot while bearing the scars of combats 

 with one or more lions. According to the evidence as it 

 exists, the case stands in this way. One lion may attack 

 a buffalo, it is impossible to say whether he will or not ; 

 two of them certainly do so, and the battles that ensue 

 are of the most desperate description. It is known, also, 

 that these conilicts do not always end in favor of the 

 assailants. 



"The lion kills only for food," says Major Leveson, 

 meaning that in mature life he does not commit useless 

 murders, or show the same love of blood for its own sake 



