24 WILD ANIMALS. 



crunched and the blood licked, and unable in the darkness 

 to raise a hand in defence, are the essentials of the appalling 

 tragedies enacted but too frequently in the native villages in 

 Africa, The history given by several hunters of the loss of some 

 faithful servant or camp-follower is nearly always similar : there 

 is a crash of a dead weight falling, and the terror-stricken people 

 round the camp become immediately aware that a lion has sprung 

 into their midst and one of them has been taken, and nothing but 

 the bones will be found on the morrow. 



Dr. Livingstone, who considered the size, strength,, and majesty 

 attributed to the lion very much overrated, and who states that 

 he could not readily distinguish between his roar and the cry of an 

 ostrich, was nearly himself falling the victim of one he had wounded. 

 Quoting his own description : "I saw the lion's tail erected in anger, 

 and turning to the people, said, ' Stop a little, till I load again.' 

 When in the act of ramming down the bullets I heard a shout, and 

 looking half around, I saw the lion in the act of springing upon me. 

 He caught me by the shoulder, and we both came to the ground 

 together ; growling horribly, he shook me as a terrier does a rat. 

 The shock produced a stupor similar to that which seems to be 

 felt by a mouse after the first grip of the cat. It caused a sense 

 of dreaminess in which there was no sense of pain nor feeling of 

 terror, though I was quite conscious of all that was happening. 

 It was like what patients partially under the influence of chloro- 

 form describe : they see the operation, but do not feel the knife. 

 The placidity is probably produced in all animals killed by the carni- 

 vora, and if so is a merciful provision of the Creator for lessening 

 the pain of death. As he had one paw on the back of my head, I 

 turned round to relieve myself of the weight, and saw his eye 

 directed, to Mebalwe, who was aiming at him from a distance of 

 ten or fifteen yards. His gun, which was a flint one, missed fire 

 in both barrels. The animal immediately left me to attack him, 

 and bit his thigh. Another man, whose life I had saved after he 

 had been tossed by a buffalo, attempted to spear the lion, upon 

 which he turned from Mebalwe and seized his fresh foe by the 

 shoulder. At that moment the bullets the beast had received took 

 effect, and he fell down dead. The whole was the work of a few 



