168 
THE LI OX. 
around was packed flat with, the spoor of the latter. 
One particular spoor was nearly as large as that of 
a borele , or black rhinoceros. 
“ I then proceeded to inspect the steeds; the sand 
around them was also covered with the lion’s spoor. 
He had sprung upon the old-grey, but had done him 
no further injury than scratching his back through 
the skin; perhaps the beast had been scared by the 
rheims, or, on discovering his spare condition, had 
preferred the buffalo.” 
££ Owing to the tawny colour with which Nature 
has endowed the lion,” Gordon Gumming goes on 
to say, ££ he is perfectly invisible in the dark, and 
although I have often heard them lapping water 
under my very nose, not twenty yards from me, 
I could not possibly make out so much as the out¬ 
line of their forms .... 
££ One thing conspicuous about them is their eyes, 
which, on a dark night, glow like two balls of fire. 
‘ £ And when a thirsty lion comes to the w r ater,” 
he further tells us, ££ he stretches out his massive 
arms, lies down on his breast to drink, and makes 
a loud lapping noise in drinking, not to be mistaken. 
He continues lapping up the water for a long while, 
and four or five times during the proceeding, he 
pauses for half a minute as if to take breath.” 
Further on he remarks, ££ I remember a fact con¬ 
nected with the lion’s hour of drinking peculiar to 
themselves—they seemed unwilling to visit the foun¬ 
tain with good moonlight. Thus, when the moon 
rose early, the lions deferred their hour of watering 
