114 
DEFENCE AGAINST ANIMALS OF 
ing an adventure with a lion, perhaps unparalleled 
in the annals of hunting. 
Towards the close of the year 1823, in passing 
over a common, I accidentally came upon two dogs. 
One of them was a stout, ill-looking, uncouth brute, 
apparently of that genealogy which dog-fanciers 
term half bull and half terrier ; the other was an in- 
significant female cur. The dog immediately bristled 
up, and I had just time to take off my hat, and hold 
it shieldwise in self- defence, when he came on and 
made directly at it. I gave him a hearty kick under 
the breast, which caused him to desist for a mo- 
ment. But he stoutly renewed the attack, which 
was continued for above five minutes : he always 
flying at the hat, and I regularly repeating my 
kicks, sometimes slightly, sometimes heavily, accord- 
ing to our relative situations. In the mean time the 
female cur was assailing me from behind, and it was 
with difficulty that I succeeded in keeping her clear 
of me, by means of swinging my foot backwards at 
her. At last, a lucky blow on her muzzle from the 
heel of my shoe caused her to run away howling, 
and the dog immediately followed her, just at the 
moment when two masons were coming up to assist 
me. Thus, by a resolute opposition I escaped 
laceration. But this little afiair is scarcely worth 
relating, except that it affords a proof of the ad- 
vantage to be derived from resisting the attack of a 
dog to the utmost. ; 
And now for the feline tribe. The story which I; 
am about to recount, will show that non-resistancf^ 
was the only plan to be pursued when escape from 
