THE LION. • 23 



on the character of the lion, and the following interesting fact which 

 he narrates has been to a certain extent corroborated by other 

 writers. Animals rendered by accident or wounds powerless to de- 

 fend themselves, or impotent to vent their rage, will turn their ire 

 on themselves and mutilate their own body. He says : " Certain 

 animals, when they have been mortally wounded, evince a weak- 

 ness resulting either from their inadequate means of defence, 

 or from the mildness of their dispositions ; some utter plaintive 

 cries, the like of which are never heard except at this critical 

 moment, 'others shed tears. The elan {Boselaphus oreas) especially, 

 patiently awaits the chasseur, whom it seems to implore, instead of 

 opposing to him its formidable horns. Others, again, simply resign 

 themselves to their fate, without showing any signs either of courage 

 or of weakness. The lion differs from all these. If the vital parts 

 of his body be pierced, so that it is unable to leave the spot and its 

 enemies keep at a distance, it abandons itself to despair, and its 

 teeth and claws are turned against its own person ; it crushes its 

 paws and it breaks its talons, as if it wished to be the author of 

 his own annihilation. It is a veritable suicide, but which the 

 weapons provided by nature do not permit it to consummate." 



Nearly all travellers in Southern and Central Africa speak of 

 the terror with which a " man-eating " hon is regarded by the 

 inhabitants of the small native villages they come across. For it 

 is beyond dispute that, although naturally or at first the lion does 

 not show any liking for the flesh of man, he. will, through having 

 once tasted it, or through old age making him less capable of 

 procuring other food, and so driving him to attack man, become 

 in some instances like the much-dreaded tiger, a " man-eater." 

 Many most blood-curdling stories have been told by writers whose 

 veracity is unimpugned and beyond question of the havoc such a 

 creature can work, and of the horrors created by his nightly attack 

 on the huts where the poor and miserable people lie cowering with 

 fright. The power they have of suddenly springing without the 

 slightest warning on their victim, and instantly carrying the 

 wretched man, woman, or child away in the darkness before a 

 sign can be given or a scream uttered, and the terrible suspense 

 endured by those who have to sit by and hear the bones being 



