48 
THE NEW AFRICA 
all to pieces. The death came into my thumb, so “ Jorros 
Matuna” cut it off with his pocket-knife. But my wounds 
are nearly all healed, for the lioness was old and had blunt 
and broken teeth.’ 
While Jan was telling this tale, his son Claas, a youth of 
twenty years, was sitting by, nursing a succession of wounds 
he had got in a hand to paw conflict with a panther the previous 
week, a beast he slew on top of him with his dagger. 
