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Wild Beasts and Their Ways

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the Soudan. He had discovered that no legitimate commerce was possible with the savages of the White Nile; he had therefore advised his employer to that effect, and he had resigned all hope of effecting the original object of his expedition. He was therefore carrying on a business with the native merchants, from whom he purchased gum-arabic from Kordofan, ivory from the White Nile, hides from the Arabs generally, cotton, and cereals, all of which, as opportunity offered, he either sent down the river or across the Korosko desert to Egypt proper. We were talking about lions, and he told me the following account of what he witnessed as he was returning from the White Nile upon the steamer, then en route towards Khartoum. The dry season was at its height; all the high grass and other herbage along the river's banks had been burnt by the natives, and the surface of the earth was black and bare. The steamer was going easily down stream, saving her fuel, and as they floated along, with the paddles revolving slowly, a lion was observed upon the dark and lately blackened bank. The vessel was at once stopped, and a trustworthy Tokroori hunter of Lafargue's volunteered to shoot the lion. The man was confident; accordingly he was put ashore, armed only with a single-barrelled rifle. From the poop-deck of the steamer the whole affair was distinctly visible. They saw the bold Tokroori advance unconcernedly towards the lion, which, although standing when first observed, now immediately crouched. The Tokroori advanced until he was only a few yards distant: he then halted, and fired. With a loud roar the lion flew to the attack, and with a terrific blow it struck the hunter upon the shoulder. The effect was awful; the man was dashed violently upon the ground, and the lion fell across his body; after a few gasps it rolled over and died. The Tokroori never moved. The steamer was now run alongside the bank, and Monsieur Lafargue, with a number of men, quickly went ashore. Both the Tokroori and the lion were quite dead. The bullet had struck the animal in the chest, and had passed through the heart. The Tokroori's arm was hanging from the hip! It had not only been completely dislocated at the shoulder by the blow, but it had been torn or struck downwards with such extreme force that the flesh had been entirely stripped off the ribs and the side; the arm at the extremity of this ruin was dangling upon the ground, hanging only to the hip by the flesh attached. The Tokroori had been killed on the spot by the shock to the system. This was a remarkable example of force. On the other hand, although the lion frequently uses this dreadful power of striking when in full charge, there are many cases when the animal seizes simply with teeth and claws, like a tiger or others of the race. (A tiger possesses the power to deliver a tremendous blow, but it seldom exercises this force.) I am of opinion that the act of striking would depend upon the position of the animal or person attacked. There can be no doubt that a lion could fell an ordinary bullock by a blow upon the neck, should it attack from one side, but it would be extremely unlikely that it would strike any horned animal upon the head, as it would risk serious damage to the paw. We have seen that the cheetah strikes the haunch of a black-buck when coursing at full speed, and it is highly probable that the lion would exert its prodigious strength in the same manner, to stun the hind-quarters by the stroke, and, by throwing the animal upon one side, to expose the throat to the grip of the powerful jaws. All beasts of prey occasionally meet with dangerous antagonists, and should the first spring fail, the lion may find an adversary worthy of its fangs in a staunch old African buffalo, in which case the battle would be worth a journey to be witnessed. I once discovered the dislocated skeleton of a buffalo almost intermingled with the broken bones of a lion, the skull of which was lying near, while the skull of the buffalo, devoid of the nasal bones, was lying within a few feet distant, gnawed by jackals and hyenas. The ground had been deeply trampled, showing the desperate character of the recent struggle, which had terminated in the death of both combatants. It is highly probable that two lions had simultaneously attacked the buffalo, who had succumbed after having vanquished one assailant. This is a very common practice among lions, to hunt in company. Mr. Oswell in South Africa had a peculiar example of this when in a day's hunting his friend Major Vardon had wounded a bull buffalo, which had retreated within the forest. The two hunters carefully followed the blood-track, but after a short advance they were startled by a succession of loud roars, which betokened lions close at hand. There could be little doubt that the wounded buffalo had been attacked; therefore, with proper precaution, they warily approached the spot, until the exciting scene presented itself suddenly on the other side of a large fallen tree, which happily concealed the approach of the two companions. Three lions were engaged in a life-and-death combat with the gallant old bull, who made a desperate defence, first knocking over one of his enemies, then boring another to the ground, and exhibiting a strength which appeared sufficient to defeat the combination. Suddenly the buffalo fell dead; this was the result of the original wound, as the rifle bullet had passed through the lungs. The lions were not aware of this, and a quarrel among themselves commenced after their imagined victory. One huge beast reared to half its full height and placed its fore paws upon the body of the prostrate buffalo, while at the head and the hindquarters an angry lion clutched the dead body in its spreading paws, and growled at the possessor of the centre. This formed a grand picture within only a few yards' distance, but a couple of shots from either rifle stretched two lions rolling upon the ground, and the third, terrified at the unexpected reports, bounded into the thick covert and disappeared. A very good sportsman named Johann Schmidt, a Bavarian who died in my service when in Africa, killed two lions in the act of attacking a giraffe. I saw the skeletons of these animals in the bed of the river Royan

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