218 
THE NEW AFRICA 
very creditable manner, while those who had to wait their turn to 
climb, at the tree trunk that flanked our skerm, employed them¬ 
selves by frantically waving firebrands about and yelling at the 
top of their voices to the others to be quick and climb up, as 
they were in a hurry to follow; they even seized the living coals 
in their hands and hurled them to the back of the skerm, where 
the lions presumably were hiding. We hurriedly kicked up the 
fires, and piled wood on to increase the glare, trying to see into 
the darkness where the lions were, but of course without success, 
as by this the turmoil and noise would have sent any respectable 
lion off* with his tail between his legs. Paul was the only 
boy remaining on the ground, and he, Hammar, and I, with our 
guns in hand, could not help laughing at the ludicrous sight of 
our expedition, perched like so many aasvogels in the trees. 
As soon as the row was over, we discovered that a lion had 
actually crawled up to the back of the skerm, and, while trying 
to get at one of the boys by cautiously parting the loosely plaited 
branches of the skerm, had put his paw on to the face of the boy, 
and tightened his grip as the startled native jumped up, 
inflicting deep scratches on his face and cheek, which required 
several stitches to sew them up. The whole affair went off so 
rapidly, and the terror of the boys was so extreme while it 
lasted, that with the reaction a chorus of hearty laughter set in. 
However, we kept up good fires for the rest of the night, and 
at daylight prepared for a start. With reference to the 
wounded boy, I should mention that his hurts healed excellently 
under antiseptic treatment. The reason I mention this is 
because lions’ claws are considered to be poisonous, and wounds 
inflicted by them as a rule heal badly. This assertion is correct, 
inasmuch as lions, when feeding, tear the meat asunder by 
help of their claws, to which, in the course of this performance, 
minute particles of flesh adhere. The carcasses of game the 
lions feed on are often in a half-putrid state; therefore, besides 
the decaying process of small particles of flesh actually in 
progress on the claws, the original matter that defiles the claws 
is often already in a state of decomposition before it reaches this 
