The Lion and the Elephant. Charles John Andersson
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whether in the desert or the forest, impresses one with something like awe. It much resembles distant thunder. The Arabs of Northern Africa have, indeed, only a single word to express his voice, and that is Rad, or thunder.
When, however, people speak of the roar of the lion, it is to be presumed they have in their mind's eye the low, hollow, and half suppressed sigh, or groan, that one so often hears in menageries. The roar of the animal in its wild state is something very different, and is truly terrific and appalling. But it is seldom heard in all its intensity; indeed, a friend of mine, who frequently hunted the beast in Southern Africa, only remembers hearing it twice, and I, for my part, on not more than half-a-dozen occasions. The lion's roar, however, even under the mildest form, is most impressive and has not been inaptly likened to the efforts "to disgorge something from the throat."
The impression made on my own mind by the lion's roar would seem to have been in great measure shared by other travellers, who, as my-
THE LION.
self, have had ample opportunities of hearing it in the animal's native wilds.
"Each night," writes Delegorgue, "these grand carnivori disturbed by their roarings our sleep and the repose of the cattle, confined within a circular fence. There is something terrifying in this noise, the only one that troubles the night in these solitudes, something which obliges me to acknow- ledge the lion as the ' master ' in them."
"One of the most striking things connected with the lion," says Gordon Gumming, "is his voice, which is extremely grand and peculiarly striking. It consists at times of a low, deep moaning, re- peated five or six times, ending in faintly audible sighs; at other times, he startles the forest, with loud, deep toned, solemn roars, repeated five or six times in quick succession, each increasing in loud- uess to the third or fourth, when his voice dies away in five or six low muffled sounds very much resembling distant thunder. At times, and not un- frequently, a troop may be heard roaring in concert, one assuming the lead, and two, three, or four more regularly taking up their parts, like persons singing a catch. Like our Scottish stags at the rutting season, they roar loudest in cold, frosty nights; but on no occasions are their voices to be heard in such perfection, or so intensely powerful, as when two or three troops of strange lions approach a fountain to drink at the same time. When this occurs, every member of each troop sounds a bold roar of defiance at the opposite parties; and when one roars, all roar together, and each
ROAR OF THE LION.
seems to vie with his comrades in the intensity and power of his voice. The power and grandeur of these nocturnal concerts is inconceivably striking and pleasing to the hunter's ear. The effect I may remark, is greatly enhanced when the hearer happens to be situated in the depths of the forest, at the dead hour of midnight, unaccompanied by any attendant, and ensconced within twenty yards of the fountain which the surrounding troop of lions are approaching. Such has been my situation many scores of times; and though I am allowed to have a tolerably good taste for music, I consider the catches with which I was then regaled as the sweetest and most natural I ever heard."
"Elsewhere," Gordon Gumming observes, "as a general rule, lions roar during the night; their sighing moans commencing as the shades of even- ing envelop the forest, and continuing at intervals throughout the hours of darkness."
According to Gerard, who had more opportu- nities than most men of studying the roar of the lion, "It is composed of a dozen sounds, com- mencing with sighs which rise in volume as they proceed, and finish as they began with an interval between each."
"When a lion and a lioness are in company," Ge"rard further informs us, "the lioness is always the first to roar, and this at the moment of leaving the lair.
"The lion alternates with the lioness.
"In this manner they proceed on their way, roar- ing every quarter of an hour until they have ap-
THE LION.
proached the Douar* which they propose despoiling, and when their appetites are satisfied they recom- mence roaring and continue until daylight.
"The lion, when alone, also roars on leaving his den, and it often happens that he continues doing so until he reaches the Douar.
"In the Summer, during the great heats, the lion roars less, and sometimes not at all; but in the pairing season he makes ample amends for lost time."
''When the lion roars" says General Dumas, "people pretend one rnay readily distinguish the following words:—'Ahna on ben el mera,' that is ' I and the son of the woman.' Moreover, that lie repeats twice 'ben el mera but 'Ahna' onty once, from which they conclude he dares not recognise any other creature than man besides himself."
The natives of parts of South Africa, it is to be remarked, assert they can readily distinguish be- tween the roar of a hungry lion, or one intent on mischief, and that of a lion whose appetite is al- ready appeased. When the beast is hungry, his roar, they say, is dull and stifled; but when, on the contrary, his belly is full, it is rather loud.
Moffatt testifies to the like effect. "As we were retiring to rest one night" writes the Missionary,
* Arab village, or rather encampment, as there, nomad people are constantly on the move from one locality to the other, in accordance with the season of the year, and the state of the pasturage, &c. The "Douar" usually consists of from ten to fifteen tents pitched in a circular form; and in the Winter time, at least, is commonly situated on the western slope of a hill the whole being surrounded by a, high and strong fence— with a single opening for the people and cattle.
THE ROAR AT MIDNIGHT.
when sojourning with some natives that he fell in with in his wanderings, who lived entirely on roots and the produce of the chase, and who seemed per- fectly versed in all the tactics of the lion—"one of those beasts passed near us, occasionally giving a roar, which softly died away on the extended plain, and it was responded to by another at a distance. Directing the attention of these Balala, and asking if they thought there was danger, they turned their ears as to a voice with which they were familiar, and after listening for a moment or two replied. *There is no danger, he has eaten and is going to sleep.' They were right, and we slept also. Asking them in the morning how they knew the lions were going to sleep, they replied: 'We live with them, they are our companions.''
Impressive and terrible as is the roar of the lion, cattle, unless they scent the beast, or have been previously wounded by him, would not appear to take so much notice of it as is generally repre- sented. I at least have known the lion to growl—ay, to roar most savagely—within gun-shot of my bivouac, and not an ox or sheep stirred.*
*What Anderson here tells us seems somewhat contradictory to the experiences of other travellers, to that of Moffat. at least, who at page 131 says: "One night we were quietly bivouacked at a small pool in the Orep river, where we never anticipated a visit from his majesty; we had just closed our united evening worship, the hook was still in my hand, and the closing notes of the song of praise had scarcely fallen from our lips, when the terrific roar of the lion was heard; our oxen, which before were quietly chewing the cud, rushed upon us, and over our fires, leaving us prostrated in a cloud of dust and sand; hats and hymn-books, our bible and our guns, were all scattered in wild confusion. Providentially no serious
THE LION.
And as further evidence of the little dread that domestic animals entertain for the lion's roar, or even for the beast himself, I may mention that it is a usual practice with the South African hunters, after having killed and flayed a lion, to strap his skin behind the saddle, and the horse, even when untrained to the chase, is rarely or never known to shew symptoms of fear. Gerard indeed tells us, he carried his first lion strapped on two mules placed side by side.
The length of a South African adult lion, from the nose to the extremity of the tail, I take to be from eleven to twelve feet, and its height from heel to shoulder, three and a-half feet and upwards. Indi- viduals are, however, said to attain to a still larger size.
Delegorgue