The Lion. 5 
the creature only waited the approach of night to make 
him his prey, began to consider what was the best mode 
of providing for his safety, and at length adopted the 
following : — Observing a piece of broken ground with a 
precipitate descent on one side, he sat down by the edge 
of it; and found, to his great joy, that the Lion also 
made a halt, and kept at a distance behind him. As 
soon as it grew dark, the man, sliding gently forward, 
let himself down a little below the edge of the steep, 
and held up his cloak and hat on his stick, at the same 
time gently moving them backward and forward. The 
Lion, after a while, came creeping towards the object ; 
and mistaking the cloak for the man himself, made a 
spring at it, and fell headlong down the precipice. 
Many interesting anecdotes of Lions and Lion-hunt- 
ing may be found in the accounts of their travels 
published by Gordon Cumming, Andersson, and Dr. 
Livingstone. From the latter we may extract the fol- 
lowing account of an escape literally from the very jaws 
of death : — " Being about thirty yards off,' 1 says the 
doctor, " T took a good aim at his body through the 
bush, and fired both barrels into it. The men then 
called out, ' He is shot, he is shot !' Others cried, ' He 
has been shot by another man too ; let us go to him !' 
1 did not see any one else shoot at him, but I saw the 
Lion's tail erected in anger behind the bush, and turn- 
ing to the people, said, ' Stop a little till 1 load again.' 
When in the act of ramming down the bullets I heard a 
shout. Starting and looking half round, I saw the Lion 
just in the act of springing upon me. I was upon a 
little height ; he caught my shoulder as he sprang, and 
we both came to the ground below together. Growling 
horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a terrier-dog 
does a rat. The shock produced a stupor similar to 
that which seems to be felt by a mouse after the first 
shake of the cat. It caused a sort of dreaminess, in 
which there was no sense of pain nor feeling of terror, 
though quite conscious of all that was happening. It 
was like what patients partially under the influence of 
chloroform describe, who see all the operation, but feel 
not the knife. This singular condition was not the 
