THE LION. 151 



dread of the Bushmen and Bakalahari, as soon as either disease or 

 old age overtakes him, he begins to catch mice and other small 

 rodents, and even to eat grass ; the natives, observing undigested 

 vegetable matter in his droppings, follow up his trail in the cer- 

 tainty of finding him scarcely able to move under some tree, and 

 dispatch him without difficulty. The grass may have been eaten 

 as medicine, as is observed in dogs. 



That the fear of man often remains excessively strong in the 

 carnivora is proved from well-authenticated cases in which the 

 lioness, in the vicinity of towns where the large game had been 

 unexpectedly driven away by fire-arms, has been known to assuage 

 the paroxysms of hunger by devouring her own young. It must 

 be added, that, though the effluvium which is left by the footsteps 

 of man is in general sufficient to induce lions to avoid a village, 

 there are exceptions ; so many came about our half- deserted 

 houses at Chonuane while we were in the act of removing to 

 Kolobeng, that the natives who remained with Mrs. Livingstone 

 were terrified to stir out of doors in the evenings. Bitches, also, 

 have been known to be guilty of the horridly unnatural act of 

 eating their own young, probably from the great desire for animal 

 food, which is experienced by the inhabitants as well. 



When a lion is met in the daytime, a circumstance by no 

 means unfrequent to travelers in these parts, if preconceived no- 

 tions do not lead them to expect something very "noble" or "ma- 

 jestic," they will see merely an animal somewhat larger than the 

 biggest dog they ever saw, and partaking very strongly of the ca- 

 nine features ; the face is not much like the usual drawings of a 

 lion, the nose being prolonged like a dog's ; not exactly such as 

 our painters make it — though they might learn better at the Zoo- 

 logical Gardens — their ideas of majesty being usually shown by 

 making their lions' faces like old women in nightcaps. When 

 encountered in the daytime, the lion stands a second or two, gaz- 

 ing, then turns slowly round, and walks as slowly away for a doz- 

 en paces, looking over his shoulder ; then begins to trot, and, when 

 he thinks himself out of sight, bounds off like a greyhound. By 

 day there is not, as a rule, the smallest danger of lions which are 

 not molested attacking man, nor even on a clear moonlight night, 

 except when they possess the breeding oropyrj (natural affection) ; 

 this makes them brave almost any danger; and if a man hap- 



