THE LION. 
237 
suppose a lion would take so much trouble 
to attack a man when there were cattle 
which he might have got with much less 
difficulty.” 
“It is said that the lion, like the tiger, 
sometimes acquires such a taste for human 
flesh that he will run any risk to obtain it; 
but ordinarily he prefers to prey upon quad¬ 
rupeds. In the midst of such abundance, 
he is hardly ever enough in want to drive 
him out to hunt in the daytime; hut when 
this is the case he is almost always danger¬ 
ous. Dr. Livingstone and his party, how¬ 
ever, once met one face to face in a narrow 
gorge, where there was no room either to 
pass or to turn out. The doctor looked at 
the lion, and the lion looked at the doctor: 
the embarrassment appeared to be mutual. 
The man was unwilling to retreat, for he 
felt certain that the creature would spring 
upon him the moment his back was turned, 
and he was equally unwilling to fire, for his 
gun was the only one in the company: it 
might miss fire, or he might miss his aim, 
and then their condition would be desperate. 
The lion on his part seemed equally at a 
loss what course to pursue. At last the 
