which they found entirely empty, not a piece of meat remained, all had been carried off; and on the ground were seen prints of lions' feet, proving the numerous vaults they had made to possess themselves of our pro- visions."
It is all but the universal belief of the natives, and others, in Southern Africa, that the eyes of the lion, when he bounds on his victim, and until he has succeeded in killing it, are hermetically closed, and that at such times a man may walk uncon- cernedly up to the beast, and shoot, or otherwise slay him, with impunity! As will hereafter be shewn, indeed, it is under these circumstances that the natives of some districts on the Eastern Coast, presuming on the animal's reputed blindness, fear- lessly attack him.
The reasons assigned for the lion's thus closing his eyes are various. That most commonly received is that it is to protect those orbs from injury during the death-struggles of the victim, a reason which to me is not altogether satisfactory. That given by M. Delegorgue is possibly more to the purpose. After describing the manner in which the Cape colonists hunt the lion (of which hereafter), and
WONDERFUL POWERS.
telling us that in the event of the beast charging the best plan is to sacrifice the horse, he goes on to say, "If the hunter afterwards wishes to approach the furious carnivora, 'the proper time for the pur- pose is when it is upon the body of its victim, be- cause during the efforts the lion makes to slay it the muscles of the jaws act in a most powerful man- ner, while the neighbouring organs remain passive, as if their co-operation were useless. Thus the beast's eyes are closed, and he, indulging in vengeance, sees no more than if he was stone- blind."
Notwithstanding the great strength and prowess of the lion, it still not unfrequently happens that after having seized his intended victim (especially if it be the giraffe, or other of the larger denizens of the wilds) it escapes from his murderous grasp, though in most instances cruelly lacerated.
Delegorgue, for instance, when speaking of the prowess of the lion, says:— "All! can certify to from ocular demonstration is, that I have seen on the back of an old bull-buffalo (Bos Caffir) killed by myself, four fearful furrows, four centimetres in depth, reaching from the shoulder to the insertion of the tail, caused by the claws of the beast in question."
Sir Samuel Baker also mentions an instance showing the wonderful powers possessed by the lion. After telling us that Florian, a former hunting I associate of his, had been struck dead by a fearful blow on the head from the paw of one of these beasts which he had previously wounded, lie goes on to say: ——"Great difficulty was experienced in extracting
THE LION.
the claws of the animal, which had penetrated the skull of the unfortunate man."
It is a common belief that the lion only feeds on animals he himself has slain, but such is not the case, for many instances have come to my personal knowledge that, when half-famished, he will not only greedily devour the leavings of other beasts of prey, but even condescend to carrion.
Animals slain by lions, it is to be observed, are not unfrequently found all but untouched. In locali- ties where game abounds this is easy of explanation, but not so where it is scarce. By some it is con- jectured that this abstinence on the part of the beast arises from his having, while destroying his victim, torn open the paunch, or stomach, the contents of which have come in contact with the flesh, thereby imparting to the latter a disagreeable odour, and rendering it anything but palateable. If this be really the fact, the lion is a much more delicate feeder than the natives, whom I have frequently seen cooking their viands in the half liquid and disagree- able matter in question.
The quantity of flesh that a lion in a wild state devours at a meal is something enormous. On more than one occasion, I have known him to dispatch the greater part of a zebra in the course of the night. The lion eating up the lioness, as related, is another proof of the extraordinary capabilities of his capacious and elastic stomach.*
*The regular daily allowance for a full-grown lion at the Zoolo- gical Gardens, Regent's Park, London, is eleven pounds of meat, with which the animal would seem to be perfectly satisfied. But of
GLUTTONY.
Moffatt also seems to have been "taken aback" by the gluttony of the lion. After describing an attack made on his party by one of these beasts, on which occasion it not only carried off a cow, but ate up the poor creature within gunshot of the bivouac fire, he goes on to say:
"When it was light we examined the spot, and found, from the foot-marks, that the lion was a large one, and had devoured the cow himself. I had some difficulty in believing this, but was fully convinced by the Baralongs pointing out to me that the foot-marks of the other lions had not come within thirty yards of the spot: two jackals only had approached to lick up any little leavings. The men pursued the "spoor,"* to find the fragments where the lion had deposited them, while he retired to a thicket to sleep during the day. I had often heard how much a large hungry lion could eat, but nothing less than a demonstration would have con- vinced me that it was possible for him to have eaten the flesh of a good-sized heifer, and many of the bones besides, for scarcely a rib was left, and some of the marrow-bones were broken as with a hammer."✝
course the appetite of one in a state of nature, who can only eat his fill occasionally, cannot be compared with that of one- imprisoned.
* Gerard, when speaking of the track of the lion, says: "Place your hand upon the foot-marks, and if the. claws of the animal are not covered by the fingers when spread out. it is a male and full grown; if your hand covers the track, it is a lioness or a young lion."
✝ "The excrement of the lion," pays Gerard "is white, and filled with large fragments of bone, If those are of the thickness of one's
THE LION.
The lion in the Cape Colony, and other more in- habited parts of Southern Africa, frequently—as shewn——carries, or drags, his prey to a considerable distance before devouring it; but in the interior of the country, where the population is scanty, and the beast subject to but little molestation, he, for the most part, either feasts on it where it fell, or removes it to some thicket in the immediate vicinity; and after he has satisfied his hunger for the time being, which with a half-famished lion occupies no little time, he either crouches beside it, or in some retired spot near at hand. "Here," according to Delegorgue, "he keeps guard over the remainder of the carcase, from which both by night and day lie drives away all carnivorous animals that would share it with him. As regards quadrupeds, he has little trouble, for they, knowing his powers, obey without reflection, and remain on the watch at twenty, thirty, and forty paces distance, waiting until such time as the 'Master' leaves the spot with a firm and grave step, and abandons to them the residue of his royal repast; but those who give him most trouble are the vultures,* who, alighting on the carcase, are always bearing away something in spite of the king of the forest, or the flourish of his formidable paws."
Notwithstanding the respect usually shewn to the
wrist, they are those of a full grown male lion; if smaller, of a lioness or a young lion."
* Elsewhere Delegorgue, in his interesting work, tolls us "that on one occasion he came on the carcase of a newly slain elephant, so thickly covered with vultures that with a single ball he put no fewer than nine of these disgusting birds hors de combat.
STEAK AU LION
monarch of the desert by his inferiors, they some- times have the impertinence to feed in company with him on the same carcase. I myself have known this to be the case
