THE LION AND OTHER BEASTS OF PREY 
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trees—so rarely, indeed, that some writers have doubted whether these 
larger cats have the power to do so. He is a very destructive animal, 
and preys upon sheep, goats, antelopes, and calves. Donkeys he leaves 
severely alone, because, to quote a recent writer on Eastern Equatorial 
Africa, “he knows well that a donkey, like a football-player, is gen¬ 
erally a good kick, and so prefers to give him a wide berth.” 
He has a strange liking for dog-meat, and is always ready to dine 
off a dog, provided he be not too large. Dr. Pruen, in “The Arab 
and the African,” tells an amusing story of the experiences of a 
leopard with two English mastiffs. His servant chained up the dogs 
on the veranda at dusk, and little time elapsed before a leopard, 
who had smelt dog from below, jumped in between them. He was 
evidently surprised at their size and still more so at the treatment he 
received, for “one dog got him by the head, the other by the tail, and 
the two quickly bowled him over. He lay perfectly still, astonished 
at the unexpected turn which events had taken, whilst the dogs, evi¬ 
dently puzzled at his quiet behavior, simply held him there and growled, 
but offered him no further violence. Before the men, who had been 
standing near, could return with their guns, the leopard had taken 
advantage of the dogs’ indecision to suddenly wriggle away and dis¬ 
appear in the darkness, leaving them without even a scratch.” 
He sometimes carries off old women and children, but rarely 
attacks men, though when wounded he fights with great fierceness, 
and sometimes succeeds in killing his foe. In 1892, a high official 
in India wounded a leopard, as he thought, mortally, when the beast 
sprang upon him, threw him down, and badly mauled his left arm. 
Fortunately, a native hunter came up and pinned the brute to the 
ground with a spear, when the Englishman scrambled to his feet, and 
killed the leopard with a shot through the head. 
Mr. Gumming has published a volume containing a record of his 
hunting exploits in Africa, in the year 1848. The following interesting 
accounts of adventures are from his work: 
“On the morning,” says Mr. Gumming, “I rode into camp, after 
unsuccessfully following the spoor of a herd of elephants for two days, 
in a westerly course. Having partaken of some refreshment, I saddled 
up two steeds and rode down the bank of Ngotwani, with the Bushman, 
