312 
WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WA YS 
CHAP. 
If that had been the attack of a tiger, the skull 
would not have been injured, although the scalp 
would have been badly lacerated, and death would 
have been occasioned by the grip of the jaws upon 
the neck, not by the blow. 
Another instance of the great force of a lion’s 
blow was witnessed by my late friend, Monsieur 
Lafargue, whom I knew when he was a resident of 
Berber in the Soudan. This French gentleman was 
agent to Halim Pasha, the uncle of His Highness 
Ismail the Ex-Khedive. Halim Pasha was a man 
of great energy, and he was the first personage in 
the history of Egypt who sent a steamer from Cairo 
to ascend the cataracts of the Nile and reach 
Khartoum. This was accomplished after extreme 
difficulty in experimenting upon the course of nearly 
1600 miles of river, the navigation of which was 
then unknown to others beyond the native owners of 
small vessels. Halim Pasha was the first to attempt 
the commercial development of the White Nile, and 
Monsieur Lafargue was an admirable representative 
of his august employer. The steamer arrived safely 
at Khartoum, and was engaged in the trade of the 
Blue Nile to Fazocle, and through the White Nile 
to the unknown, as in those days Khartoum was the 
southern boundary of Eygpt. 
Monsieur Lafargue was a charming man, highly 
educated, with a mind of a peculiar character, that 
enabled him to lead a happy life in the remote 
wilderness of the Soudan. It was difficult to under¬ 
stand, when conversing with him in his beautiful 
