THE LION. 
245 
cans assured Dr. Livingstone that such com¬ 
bats were not unfrequent, and that the victory 
almost always remained on the side of the 
oryx.” 
“Is it true, aunt, that the jackal is the 
lion’s provider ?—that he finds his prey for 
him and afterwards takes his share ?” asked 
Sidney. “I have read such a story some¬ 
where.” 
“It was believed to be so for many years; 
but the case seems to be exactly the con¬ 
trary. It is the lion who provides for the 
jackals and hyenas, who follow him in 
troops in order to take what he has left. It 
was also believed that the inferior animals 
would not venture to approach till the 
monarch had finished his meal; but recent 
travellers appear to have disproved this also ; 
and, if we may credit a story Mr. Gordon 
Cumming tells, they do not even treat him 
with decent civility. 
“ Mr. Cumming, it seems, had shot three 
rhinoceroses near a fountain of water, and 
came after twilight, intending to spend the 
night near at hand and watch for lions, ac¬ 
companied by his Hottentot servant. 
“ 4 On reaching the water,’ he goes on to 
21* 
