THE LION. 25 



moments, and must have been Ms paroxysm of dying rage. In 

 order to take out the charm from him the Bahatla on the following 

 day made a huge bonfire over the carcase, which was declared 

 to be the largest ever seen. Besides crunching the bone into 

 splinters, eleven of his teeth had penetrated the upper part of my 

 arm. The bite of a lion resembles a gun-shot wound. It is gene- 

 rally followed by a great deal of sloughing and discharge, and 

 ever afterwards pains are felt periodically in the part. I had on a 

 tartan jacket, which I believe wiped off the virus from the teeth 

 that pierced the flesh, for my two companions in the affray have 

 both suffered from the usual pains, while I have escaped with only 

 the inconvenience of a false joint in my limb. The wound of the 

 man who was bit' in the shoulder actually burst forth afresh in 

 the same month in the following year. This curious point deserves 

 the attention of inquirers." So also does the remark made with 

 regard to the stupor produced by the lion's shake. 



Gordon Gumming, prefacing an account of another terrible episode, 

 says : " Man-eaters occur, and in my fourth hunting expedition a 

 horrible tragedy was acted one dark night in my little lonely 

 camp by one of these formidable creatures." It is hardly to be 

 wondered at, therefore, that the poor villagers give vent to un- 

 bounded joy when any of the devastating pests are destroyed. 



Similar facts were no doubt related to that worthy Lord Mayor 

 of London in 1646, Sir John Gayer, whose will necessitates the 

 preaching of the well-known lion sermon of the day, and shows 

 unmistakably his opinion regarding the danger he experienced 

 from being in too close proximity to one of' these beasts. He was 

 travelling in the desert of Arabia and met a lion face to face, 

 which, however, allowed him to pass unmolested. Wishing to 

 return thanks for this deliverance, he made provisions in his 

 will that at St. Catherine Cree Church in Leadenhall Street, 

 a sermon should be annually preached on the 16th of October, in 

 commemoration of the fact, and he further provided that the 

 minister was to have twenty shillings for the sermon, the clerk 

 and sexton three shillings, and the sum of eight pounds seventeen 

 shillings should be distributed amongst the necessitous inhabitants 

 of the parish. It is an ill wind that blows nobody good ! 



