n 
THE STORY OF THE LION. 
in the rays of a tropical' sun, returning night after night to the feast, until 
no more meat is left. This occurs in parts of the country abounding in game, 
where it would give a party of lions but little trouble or exertion to' catch a 
zebra, buffalo, or antelope, and procure themselves a meal of fresh meat. 
In the same way, no matter how plentiful game may be, lions will almost 
invariably feast upon any dead animal left by the hunter, from a buffalo to a 
steinbuck, that they may happen to come across. 
Near villages, when lions grow too old to be able to take game for them¬ 
selves, they will take to killing goats; while women or children who happen 
to come in their way at night also become victims. On the other hand, when 
far away from human habitations, such decrepit lions catch mice and other 
small rodents, and will even at times eat grass, although this may be taken 
medicinally. 
That such lions, which have become too feeble to prey upon game, would 
naturally develop into' “man-eaters” if they were permitted to live, appears 
highly probable. The absence of man-eating lions in parts of Africa is due 
to the superior boldness of the African natives over those of India, for even 
among the least martial tribes of South Africa, if two or three people are 
killed by a lion, the population of the surrounding country is roused, and, a 
party being formed, the lion is usually surrounded and stabbed to death with 
assegais; while among such warlike strikes as the Matabele, if a lion only kills 
an ox, or even a goat, its fate is usually sealed, or even if not killed, it gets 
such a scare that it is glad to quit the district. Such a thing as a man-eater, 
or even an habitual cattle-slayer, would never be tolerated for an instant. 
My shooting experiences in eastern South Africa, in the districts of Zulu- 
land, Tongaland, and Swaziland, show that man-eating lions are to- be met 
with in some regions. I became an accessory to the death of two' such man- 
eaters, one of which had well-nigh depopulated a district, having killed between 
thirty and forty individuals; while the second, although dwelling in an unin¬ 
habited country full of game, had become notorious for its attacks upon the 
camps of the hunters. The former, indeed, appeared to be an animal in the 
full enjoyment of bodily strength, as it is said to have habitually leaped over 
the high fences which surround the Zulu villages. 
With regard to the method in which lions kill and carry off the larger 
animals upon which they prey, it may be observed, in the first place, that 
there is some doubt whether death is effected by dislocating the neck of the 
victim, as is always done by tigers. In a cow killed by a lion in Abyssinia 
the vertebrae of the neck were not dislocated; and I saw a lioness hold u 
