26 
CARNIVORA. 
upon him, he instantly took to his heels. In doing 
this, he had presence of mind enough to run through 
the herd, concluding that, if the lion should pursue, 
he would seize upon the first beast that presented 
itself. In this, however, he was mistaken. The lion 
broke through the herd in pursuit of the Hottentot, 
who, on turning round, and perceiving that the 
monster had singled him out, breathless, and half 
dead with fear, scrambled up one of the tree-aloes, 
in the trunk of which had luckily been cut a few 
steps, the more readily 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, 
the animal fell upon the ground. In surly silence 
he walked round the tree, casting at times a dread- 
ful look toward the poor Hottentot, who had crept 
behind the nests. It is here requisite to observe, 
that these nests belong to a small bird called the 
sociable grosbeak, that lives in a state of society with 
the rest of its species, constructing a whole republic 
of nests in one clump, and under one cover. One 
of these collections of nests sometimes extends 
through a space ten feet in diameter, and contains 
a population of several hundred individuals. It was 
under the cover of one of these structures that the 
Hottentot screened himself from the view of the 
lion. Having remained silent and motionless for a 
great length of time, he ventured to peep over the 
sides of the nest, hoping that the lion had departed, 
when, to his astonishment and terror, his eyes met 
those of the animal, which, as the man afterwards 
