138 
HABITS OF THE LION. 
Chap. YH. 
man happens to cross to the windward of them, both lion and 
lioness mil rush at liim, in the manner of a bitch with whelps. 
This does not often happen, as I only became aware of two or 
three instances of it. In one case a man, passing where the wind 
blew from him to the animals, was bitten before he could climb a 
tree; and occasionally a man on horseback has been caught by 
the leg under the same circumstances. So general, however, is 
the sense of security on moonlight nights that we seldom tied up 
our oxen, but let them lie loose by the waggons; while on a dark 
rainy night, if a lion is in the neighbourhood, he is almost sm^e to 
ventine to kill an ox. His approach is always stealthy, except 
when wounded; and any appearance of a trap is enough to cause 
liim to refrain from making the last spring. This seems charac¬ 
teristic of the feline species; when a goat is picketed in India 
for the purpose of enabling the huntsman to shoot a tiger by 
night, if on a plain, he would whip off the animal so quickly by 
a stroke of the paw that no one could take aim; to obviate tliis, a 
small pit is dug, and the goat is picketed to a stake in the 
bottom; a small stone is tied in the ear of the goat, which makes 
him cry the whole night. Wien the tiger sees the appearance 
of a trap, he walks round and round the pit, and allows the 
hunter, who is lying in wait, to have a fair shot. 
When a lion is very hungiy, and lying in wait, the sight of 
an animal may make him commence stalking it. In one case a 
man, wliile stealthily crawling towards a rhinoceros, happened to 
glance behind liim, and found to his horror a lion stalking him ; 
he only escaped by springing up a tree like a cat. At Lopepe a 
lioness sprang on the after quarter of Mr. Oswell’s horse, and 
wlien we came up to him we found the marks of the claws on 
the horse, and a scratch on Mr. O.’s hand. The horse on feeling 
the lion on him sprang away, and the rider, caught by a wait-a- 
bit thorn, was brought to the gTound and rendered insensible. 
His dogs saved him. Another English gentleman (Captain Cod- 
rington) was surprised in the same way, though not hunting the 
lion at the time, but turning round he shot liim dead in the 
neck. By accident a horse belonging to Codrington ran aw^ay, 
but was stopped by the bridle catching a stump; there he 
remained a prisoner two days, and when found the whole space 
around was marked by the footprints of lions. They had evi- 
