26 
THE LION. 
—perhaps because the Hottentot, being besmeared 
with fat, always stinks,* and because, as he never 
eats salt or spices, the juices of his body are not 
so acrid.” 
In certain parts of Southern Africa that have 
been devastated and partially depopulated by bloody 
intestine wars, lions have become so numerous and 
daring, and from feeding on the bodies of the slain, 
have acquired such a taste for human flesh, that the 
remaining inhabitants, to escape their clutches, have 
been necessitated to erect their huts in most ex¬ 
traordinary situations. 
“ Having travelled one hundred miles,” says 
Moffatt, “ five days after leaving Morega we came 
to the first cattle outposts of the Matabele, when 
we halted by a fine rivulet. My attention was 
arrested by a beautiful and gigantic tree, standing 
in a defile leading into an extensive and woody 
ravine, between a high range of mountains. Seeing 
some individuals employed on the ground under its 
shade, and the conical points of what looked like 
houses in miniature protruding through its ever¬ 
green foliage, I proceeded thither, and found that 
the tree was inhabited by several families of Bakones, 
the aborigines of the country. I ascended by the 
notched trunk, and found, to my amazement, no 
less than seventeen of these aerial abodes, and three 
* This hint, it is to be hoped, will not be altogether thrown away 
by certain individuals of my acquaintance, not remarkable for their 
cleanly habits, so that, when they next visit the African wilds, they 
may be induced, if only in self-defence, to take with them a change 
of linen and a good supply of soap. 
