ENCOUNTERS WITH LIONS. 



701 



had singled him out, breathless and half dead with fear, scrambled up one of the tree- 

 aloes, in the trunk of which a few steps had luckily been cut out to come at some 

 birds' nests that the branches contained. At the same moment the lion made a spring 

 at him, but missing his aim, fell upon the ground. In surly silence he walked round 

 the tree, casting at times a dreadful look towards the poor Hottentot, who screened 

 himself from his sight behind the branches. Having remained silent and motionless 

 for a length of time, he at length ventured to peep, hoping that the lion had taken 

 his departure, when, to his great terror and astonishment, his eyes met those of the 

 animal, which, as the poor fellow afterwards expressed himself, flashed fire at him. In 

 short, the lion laid himself down at the foot of the tree, and did not remove from the 

 place for twenty-four hours. At the end of this time, becoming parched with thirst, 

 he went to a spring at some distance in order to drink. The Hottentot now, with 

 trepidation, ventured to descend, and scampered oflf home, which was not more than a 

 mile distant, as fast as his feet could carry him. 



On account as well of the devastations which he causes among the herds as of the 

 pleasure of the chase, the lion is pursued and killed in North and in South Africa 

 wherever he appears : a state of war which, as may well be supposed, is not without 

 danger for the aggressive party. Thus Andersson once fired upon a black-maned 

 lion, one of the largest he ever encountered in Africa. Roused to fury by the slight 

 wound he had received, the brute rapidly wheeled, rushed upon him with a dreadful 

 roar, and at the distance of a few paces, couched as if about to spring, having his 

 head imbedded, so to say, between his fore paws. Drawing a large hunting-knife, and 

 slipping it over the wrist of his right hand, Andersson dropped on one knee, and thus 

 prepared, awaited the onset of the lion. It was an awful moment of suspense, and 

 his situation was critical in the extreme. Still his presence of mind, (a most indis- 

 pensable quality in a South African hunter,) never for a moment forsook him ; indeed, 

 he felt that nothing but the most perfect coolness and absolute self-command would be 

 of any avail. He would now have become the assailant ; but as, owing to the inter- 

 vening bushes and clouds of dust raised by the lion's lashing his tail against the 

 ground, he was unable to see his head, while to aim at any other part would have 

 been madness, he refrained from firing. Whilst intently watching every motion of the 

 lion, the animal suddenly made a prodigious bound ; but whetV"^r it was owing to his 

 not perceiving his intended victim, who was partially concealed in the long grass, and 

 instinctively threw his body on one side, or to miscalculating the distance, he went 

 clear over him, and alighted on the ground three or four paces beyond. Quick as 

 thought Andersson now seized his advantage, and wheeling round on his knee, dis- 

 charged his second barrel ; and as the lion's broadside was then towards him, lodged 

 a ball in his shoulder, which it completely smashed. The infuriated animal now made 

 a second and more determined rush ; but, owing to his disabled state, was happily 

 avoided, though only within a hair's breadth, and giving up the contest, he retreated 

 into a neighboring wood, where his carcass was found a few days after. 



Dr. Livingstone once had a still more narrow escape, for he was actually under the 

 paws of a lion, whose fury he had roused by firing two bullets at him. *' I was upon 

 a little hight ; he caught my shoulder as he sprang, and we both came to the ground 

 below together. Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a terrier-dog does 

 a rat. The shock produced a stupor, similar to that which seems to be felt by a mouse 



