578 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 
is dignified with the appellation of “man-eaters.” These 
are tigers which, having once tasted human flesh, show a 
predilection for the same, and such characters are very 
naturally famed and dreaded among the natives. Elderly 
gentlemen of similar tastes and habits are occasionally met 
with among the lions in the interior of South Africa, and 
the danger of such neighbors may be easily imagined. [ 
account for lions first acquiring this taste in the following 
manner: the Bechuana tribes of the far interior do not bury 
their dead, but unceremoniously carry them forth, and leave 
them lying exposed in the forest or on the plain, a prey to 
the lion and hyena, or the jackal and vulture; and I can 
readily imagine that a lion, having thus once tasted human 
flesh, would have little hesitation, when opportunity presented 
itstlf, of springing upon and carrying off the unwary traveller 
or “ Bechuana”’ inhabiting his country. Be this as it may, 
man-eaters occur; and on my fourth hunting expedition, a 
horrible tragedy was acted one dark night in my little lonely 
camp by one of these formidable characters, which deprived 
me, in the far wilderness, of my most valuable servant. In 
winding up these few observations on the lion, which I trust 
will not have been tiresome to the reader, I may remark 
that lion-hunting, under any circumstances, is decidedly a 
dangerous pursuit. It may nevertheless be followed, to a 
certain extent, with comparative safety by those who have 
naturally a turn for that sort of thing. A recklessness of 
death, perfect coolness and self-possession, an acquaintance 
with the disposition and manners of lions, and a ‘tolerable 
knowledge of the use of the rifle, are indispensable to him 
who would shine in the overpoweringly exciting pastime of 
hunting this justly celebrated king of beasts. 
It would be a pity, if, amidst his other lauded character 
istics, the lior should not be quite as remarkable for manners 
as magnanimity. Moffat, the daring agent of the London 
Missionary Society in South Africa, who for twenty-three 
