The Lion and the Elephant. Charles John Andersson
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of the District of Mas- selica, on the Eastern coast, where he hunted for some time, and where, from circumstances, he
injury was sustained; the oxen were pursued, brought black, and secured to the waggon, for we could ill Afford to lose any. Africaner, seeing the reluctance of the people to pursue in a dark and gloomy ravine, grasped a fire-brand, and exclaimed, 'Follow me,' and but for this promptness and intrepidity we must have lost some of our number, for nothing can exceed the terror of oxen at even the smell of a lion. Though they may happen to lie in the worst condition possible, worn out with fatigue and hunger, the moment the shaggy monster is perceived they start off like race-horses, with their tails erect, and sometimes days will elapse before they are found."—ED.
* The length of the dried skin of a wild beast is not to my mind any criterion of its real size when living, because in my own country, Sweden (and the like is probably the case in Africa), when the skin of a bear or wolf, for instance, is nailed up to the wall to dry, it is not infrequently drawn to an unnatural length, and one altogether disproportioned to its breadth.
SIZE AND WEIGHT.
thought, with some reason, that lions should be the largest and strongest of the race, goes on to say. *The dried skin* of one of these animals measured from nose to tail (the latter one metre in length) three metres, fifty centimetres."
The weight of the beast so far as I am aware has never been correctly ascertained, but it is very considerable; and as I should imagine, cannot be less than from five to six hundred pounds.
The lion inhabiting Northern Africa would seem to be fully as heavy as that common to the more southern portion of the continent. Gerard, when speaking of what he calls the "black lion," which he describes as a trifle less than either the "fawn-coloured" or the "grey," says: "The breadth of his forehead is a coudée, the length of his body from the nose to the insertion of the tail, which is a metre long, measures five coudées; the weight of his body varies between two hundred and seventy-five and three hundred kilos.''
Elsewhere, and when speaking of a huge lion (but the species or variety he does not name), killed in a great chasse at which he was present, he tells us that the beast must have weighed at least six hun- dred livres, or some six hundred and sixty-one and a-half English pounds.
The strength of the lion is enormous; in Algeria according to Gerard the Arabs say it is equal to that of forty men. Hans, my faithful attendant, told me he had known an instance where the beast had broken the back of a large ox whilst it was yet alive. This feat the lion accomplished when
THE LION.
planted, so to say, on the poor animal's bind quar- ters; for striking his claws deep into the neck of the victim, he, by a violent effort, brought its fore and hind quarters into such close proximity that the spine, as a natural consequence, was at once separated. He (Hans) told me, moreover, that on a certain occasion a lion seized one of his largest oxen by the muzzle, and dragged it away bodily to a dis- tance, when he killed and devoured it at his leisure. Thunberg's testimony is to the like effect. "The lion," he says, "is possessed of such immense strength that he will not only attack an ox of the largest size, but will very nimbly throw it over his shoulders, and leap over a fence four feet high with it, although at the same time the ox's legs hang dangling on the ground."
And Sparman tells us, "that he saw a lion in the Cape Colony take a heifer in his mouth, and though the legs trailed on the ground, he carried it off as a cat would a rat, and leaped a broad dike without the least difficulty."
But what Montgomery Martin relates as to the enormous strength of the lion, is still more extra- ordinary. After stating "that a young lion has been known to carry a good-sized horse a mile from the spot where he killed it," he goes on to say: "An instance occurred in the Sneemoberg, where one of these beasts carried off a two-year-old heifer; his "spoor" was followed by the hunters for five hours on horseback, and throughout the whole dis- tance, the carcase was ascertained to have touched the ground only once or twice!"
STRENGTH AND PROWESS.
Notwithstanding the above proofs of the great strength and power of the South African lion, Englishmen who have hunted in India, where, as said, this animal also abounds in certain districts, are inclined to think that in these respects he is inferior to the royal tiger, who has been known to smash a bullock's head by a single blow of his paw! That the strength of the lion should be inferior to that of the tiger can, however, hardly be the case, since their relative size is, I take it, much the same, and the structure of the skeleton (however different the outward form of the animal may be) is so nearly alike as to make it difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish the one from the other. The notion in question is not unlikely to arise from the tiger being in the habit of striking his victim; whilst the action of the lion, when despatching his prey, is more cat-like—scratching as it were.
Speaking of the lion's strength and prowess, it may be proper here to remark that English naturalists, after telling us that in the Cape Colony the lion is hunted with dogs, go on to say: "The hounds surround him; and rushing upon him all at once, soon tear him to pieces." It is not, of course, for me to gainsay such high authorities; but. I strongly suspect that the reader, after perusing these pages, will agree with me in thinking that even if a score of dogs were simultaneously to attack the king of beasts, not only would a few of them bite the dust, but he himself' would come out of the conflict all but, or altogether unscathed! The usual pace of a lion is a walk, and though
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THE LION.
apparently rather slow, yet, from the great length of his body, he is able to get over a good deal of ground in a short time. Indeed, he has been known, in the course of the night, to cross a plain which, at that particular point, was, as the crow flies, forty-five miles in width.
Occasionally he trots, when his speed is not inconsiderable.
His gallop—or rather succession of bounds—is, for a short distance, very fast; nearly or quite equal to that of a horse. Indeed, unless the steed has somewhat the start when the beast charges, it will be puzzled to escape. Many instances are on record of horsemen who have incautiously ap- proached too near to the lion, prior to firing, who have been pulled down by him before they could get out of harm's way. Happily, however, the beast soon tires of the exertion of galloping, and unless his first rush succeeds, he, for the most part, soon halts and beats a retreat.
CHAPTER II.
NATURE OF THE LION'S PREY—SAID TO EAT HIS MATE—DESTRUC- TIVE TO CATTLE—THE LION A "MAN-EATER"—THE WHITE MAN VERSUS THE BLACK—NATIVES COMPELLED TO LIVE IN TREES MANNER IN WHICH THE LION SEIZES HIS PREY—THE LION'S BOUND—THE WOUNDS HE INFLICTS—FOOT OF THE LION—HIS GLUTTONY—FAMILIARITY OF INFERIOR ANIMALS WITH HIM— THE LION'S FLESH—AGE TO WHICH HE ATTAINS ATTEMPTS SUICIDE.
T
HE lion preys on most of the animals inhabit- ing the African wilds that chance to fall in his way; but the antelope tribe would, seem to be the chief objects of his pursuit. It happens, how- ever, that the beast is beaten off by the powerful gemsbok, or oryx, on whose long and sharp horns, indeed, he is occasionally impaled, and in such wise that, being unable to extricate himself, both in con- sequence perish. Even the tall giraffe, as will here- after be seen, is not unfrequently his victim.
At times, likewise, the young of the elephant becomes his prey. "He lies in ambush for it," says Delegorgue, "and pulls it to the ground; and after strangling it, walks off without disputing his prize with its dam, being certain of recovering it at an after-period."
Occasionally, moreover, he attacks and kills the
THE LION.
buffalo, one of the fiercest and most formidable of African beasts but often has to pay dear for his temerity; for should there be several buffaloes in company, or others near at hand, the probability is he will be gored to death.
Delegorgue even goes so far as to say that the lion