186 
JOURNEY IN SNEUBERG. 
[1813. 
distance, and a little after the roar was heard from no 
great distance behind our tent, which probably was the 
male lion come in search of his mate. If he found her 
carcase, the boors said he would eat it ; and asserted, 
(what is very horrid,) that the bushmen often threw 
their children to the lion to preserve themselves, which 
has greatly encreased the desire of these animals after 
human flesh, especially the flesh of bushmen ; so much 
so, that were a lion to find a white man and a bush- 
man asleep together, he would take the bushman and 
leave the white man. At present these ferocious ani- 
mals are said to kill more bushmen than sheep. 
A lion, one day, seized a Hottentot by the arm, 
but the Hottentot's dog getting hold of the lion by 
his leg, he let go the Hottentot, to drive away the 
dog, by which means the Hottentot escaped the jaws 
of death. When a lion overcomes an ox, he carries 
him off" on his back, but a sheep in his mouth, which 
of course may be accounted for by the difference in 
the weight of the two animals. Mr. Kicherer men- 
tioned, that when his sexton and his wife were asleep 
under their waggon, and their little dog at their feet, 
a lion came and carried ofi* the dog without injuring 
them. It was long after we had killed the lioness 
before we missed the quacha which had been brought 
to our waggons alive; but while our attention had 
been occupied by the lion, the quacha was neglected, 
and made its escape, so that the death of the lioness 
saved its life. 
