SAFEGUARDS IN LION-HUNTING. 
219 
thick as ten sheets of paper. Nor is it quite 
certain,’’ he goes on to say, “ that even if the heart 
is pierced, the wound will at once prove mortal. 
It is asserted, indeed, that a lion, after being shot 
through that organ, has been known to tear a horse 
to pieces before expiring,” 
By all accounts, the lion is terrible in his death- 
struggles, and it is then highly perilous to go near 
him. “ What is remarkable in the beast is this,” 
says Gerard, and all lion-hunters tell the same 
story, cs that the nearer he is to death, the more 
dangerous he becomes.” It is, moreover, the 
generally received impression—with the natives at 
least—that the wounds he inflicts when in his dying 
agonies are infinitely more difficult to cure than 
those inflicted by him at other times. 
Dogs, and the more the better, are, I take it, a 
great safeguard in lion-shooting. This was amply 
shown in the case of Gordon Gumming, who would 
hardly have got off unhurt in his numerous duels 
with the beast but for those valuable auxiliaries. 
Their incessant attacks on the lion not only enable 
a man to approach him unperceived, and thus fire 
at a short distance, and with deliberation, but often, 
in the event of his “ charging,” they divert his fury 
from the hunter to themselves. Dogs, however, 
should not be of too fierce and courageous a dispo¬ 
sition, as such soon get killed; mere curs, that 
“ give tongue” well, are the best for the purpose. 
But whether they are high-couraged, or the con¬ 
trary, the consumption of “ dog-flesh” in lion- 
shooting is always, I take it, considerable. Gordon 
