ADVENTURES WITH LIONS. 593 
them many a draught of luscious milk. Before the day 
dawned, having deposited nearly the whole of the carcass in 
his stomach, he collected the head, back bone, parts of the 
legs, the paunch, which he emptied of its contents, and the 
two clubs which had been thrown at him, and walked off, 
leaving nothing but some fragments of bones, and one of my 
balls, which had hit the carcass instead of himself. 
When it was light we examined the spot, and found, from 
the foot-marks, that the lion was a large one, and had 
devoured the cow himself. I had some difficulty in believing 
this, but was fully convinced by the Barolongs pointing out 
to me that the foot-marks of the other lions had not come 
within thirty yards of the spot, two jackals only had 
approached to lick up any little leavings. The men pursued 
the spoor to find the fragments, where the lion had deposited 
them, while he retired to a thicket to sleep during the day. 
I had often heard how much a large, hungry lion would eat, 
but nothing less than a demonstration would have convinced 
me that it was possible for him to have eaten all the flesh of 
a good heifer, and many of the bones, for scarcely a rib was 
left, and even some of the marrow bones were broke as if 
with a hammer. 
After this, I think the curiosity of few would carry them 
so far as to desire to test the appetite of a hungry South 
African lion under any circumstances, where “proxy” could 
not conveniently be substituted as in this case, with the poor 
cow. Here I wili take leave of the South African lion with 
the remark, that with all the grandeur of his roarings, his 
strength, and his appetite, he is on the whole a most pusil- 
lanimous sneak; and in consistent ferocity, is not near so 
much to be dreaded, or so formidable, indeed, as our Grisly 
Bear, which is not only fully his equal in strength, but sur- 
passes him in courage altogether. 
38 
