216 
TEE LION. 
as I understand, that when a man has only one 
barrel to depend upon he always takes a deliberate 
aim, whereas, if he has a second barrel in reserve, 
he is very apt to fire the first hurriedly, and, as a 
consequence, to shoot wide of the mark. This 
single rifle, which in the Cape Colony is called a 
“ Roer,” is a very formidable-looking affair, and 
carries balls of several ounces in weight. 
Singularly enough, I may here remark in paren¬ 
thesis, that, should the ball aimed at the lion miss its 
mark and form a lodgment in the ground imme¬ 
diately near to him, he imagines it is the mis¬ 
sile itself, and not the hunter, that has attempted to 
injure him, and resents the offence accordingly. 
“ On discharging the first barrel of my double 
gun at the lion, who was couched,” says Delegorgue, 
“the bullet imbedded itself in the earth at only a 
few paces from his feet; the beast made a furious 
dash at the spot with his paw, thinking, perhaps, 
to seize a portion of my person. This movement 
he repeated on my sending him a second equally 
unsuccessful missile. Isaac JNeiokerk dispatched 
a third ball, which whistled about his ears; the 
animal appeared exasperated at only having to do 
with invisible objects ; he rose to depart, presenting 
to us his broadside, when I lodged a ball in his 
shoulder-blade, which passed clean through his 
body. It was a mortal wound.” 
The bayonet, in lion-shooting, is never, I believe, 
made use of in Southern Africa, and with good 
reason; for to say nothing of intervening boughs 
and bushes impeding the use of the weapon, and its 
