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CHAPTER XII. 
NUMBER OF PERSONS KILLED AND MUTILATED BY LIONS IN 
AFRICA—REMARKABLE ESCAPE FROM A LION’S JAWS—MIGHTY 
NIMRODS—PIET’S ADVENTURE WITH A LION—DANGERS OF THE 
TRAVELLER IN AFRICA—WONDERFUL ESCAPE OF A NATIVE 
FROM A LION—MOFFATT THE MISSIONARY IN JEOPARDY- 
BARBARITIES OF THE MATABILE—VARIOUS ADVENTURES WITH 
LIONS—THE PRISONERS. 
I N South Africa, though many individuals are 
annually killed by lions, they bear no propor¬ 
tion to the number of the wounded. One would 
have supposed when such powerful and ferocious 
animals once had a poor fellow in his power 
that it was all over with him; but this is not 
the case, for probably three out of four of those he 
seizes escape with life, though often, it is true, 
sadly mutilated. Why or wherefore this happens it 
is not for me to say, but that such is the fact 
is indisputable! My statement is moreover, in 
degree, evidenced by the numerous individuals 
the traveller meets who have been in the clutches of, 
and maltreated, by the beast. 
And many have had narrow escapes from lions, 
I myself among the rest. The circumstances were 
these. One day, when eating my humble dinner, I 
