HIS ROAR. 129 



full meal for even the largest lion. The jackal comes 

 sniffing about, and sometimes suffers for his temerity by a 

 stroke from the lion's paw laying him dead. When gorged, 

 the lion falls fast asleep and is then easily despatched. 

 Hunting a Hon with dogs involves very little danger as 

 compared with hunting the Indian tiger ; because the 

 dogs bring him out of cover and make him stand at bay, 

 giving the hunter plenty of time for a good deliberate 

 shot. 



Where game is abundant, there you may expect lions in 

 proportionately large numbers. They are never seen in 

 herds, but six or eight, probably one family, occasionally 

 hunt together. One is in much more danger of being run 

 over when walking in the streets of I/mdon, than he is of 

 being devoured by lions in Africa, unless engaged in 

 hunting the animal. Indeed, nothing that I have seen or 

 heard about lions would constitute a barrier in the way of 

 men of ordinary courage and enterprise. 



The same feeling which has induced the modern painter 

 to caricature the lion, has led the sentimentalist to consider 

 the lion's roar the most terrific of all earthly sounds. We 

 hear of the " majestic roar of the king of beasts." It is, 

 indeed, well calculated to inspire fear if you hear it in 

 combination with the tremendously loud thunder of that 

 country, on a night so pitchy dark that every flash of the 

 intensely vivid lightning leaves you with the impression of 

 stone-blindness, while the rain pours down so fast that 

 your fire goes out, leaving you without the protection of 

 even a tree, or the chance of your gun going off. But 

 when you are in a comfortable house or waggon, the case 

 is very different, and you hear the roar of the lion without 

 any awe or alarm. The silly ostrich makes a noise as loud, 

 yet he never was feared by man. To talk of the, majestic 

 roar of the Hon is mere majestic twaddle. On my men- 

 tioning this fact some years ago, the assertion was doubted, 

 so I have been careful ever since to inquire the opinions of 

 Europeans, who have heard both, if they could detect 

 any difference between the roar of a Hon and that of an 

 ostrich ; the invariable answer was — that they could not 

 when the animal was at any distance. The natives assert 

 that they can detect a variation between the commence- 

 ment of the noise of each. There is, it must be admitted, 

 considerable difference between the singing noise of a lion 

 when full and his deeo gruff growl when hungry. In 



K 



