according to the suggestions of the time being and their previous
experiences. One that had just eaten an antelope might pass by a man;
another might kill him. The former, by all accounts, is the more likely
to occur, and it is said that Bushmen and other natives can tell by the
voice whether he is full or fasting; and in the first case have no fear
that he will become aggressive without provocation. When forbearance is
not a matter of repletion, it is no doubt, in some measure, the result
of sloth. A lion never does anything he can avoid doing.
Baker’s story of the lion that met a Nubian sheik with two companions,
and tore the leader to pieces, is one of a great number of instances
that might be brought forward to show that wherever these animals are
not conscious of being put entirely at a disadvantage by superiority
of arms, they display little of that fear of man which is commonly
attributed to them. Poorly-armed tribes are under no such delusion.
The Ouled Meloul, or Ouled Cassi Arabs whose _douars_ were attacked
would have been as difficult to persuade of the lion’s timidity towards
mankind, as those Makubas on the Ghobe, or “the miserable Bakorus,”
whom he devoured at his good pleasure. Dr. Schweinfurth (“The Heart of
Africa”) was at an Egyptian garrison where the soldiers were carried
off from within their own lines night after night. Moffat, Delgorgue,
Livingstone, Cumming, all record incidents of what they call his
“desperate attacks.” Still, and as if to show what it is possible for
men to commit themselves to when writing about wild beasts, we have
Burchell’s opinion (“Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa”).
This author, according to his own account, spent four years in a lion
country, and saw but one during the whole of this time. That one was
accidentally encountered on a journey, and they succeeded in shooting
it through the body, upon which it drew off into the bushes and
disappeared. Yet it is on the strength of an experience like this that
Burchell says he has “no very high opinion of the lion’s courage.” Of
course the reference has an appearance of being overstated, but whoever
reads the bulky quartos in which these travels are written will find
that such is not the case.
So much in the way of a review of Buffon’s general description.
It is easier, however, and safer to decide as to what lions are not,
than to say what they are. Almost everything written upon this subject
deals nearly to exclusion with the animal’s habits, and leaves its
character untouched. Even in this respect also our information is not
complete.
C. J. Andersson (“The Lion and the Elephant”) remarks that “the modes
of life” belonging to “the Lord of the African Wilds” are not at all
thoroughly known, and he expresses an opinion fully justified by facts
to the effect that he has himself been able to bring together much
information in this connection that “may not have been noticed by other
travellers and sportsmen.” In making up a summary of what has gone
before, the writer is much indebted to this valuable work.
We have no psychological scheme for lions, and must take their
characteristics as they happen to present themselves, without any
pretence at arrangement, based either upon their natural order or real
importance. There is an account given in MS. to Lloyd, the editor of
Andersson’s posthumous papers, that shows the character of the Indian
lion in much the same light that his African congener has been placed
by Baker, Drummond, etc.
“This beast was believed to have his lair in a patch of copse-wood
where, from the jungle having been some years previously cut away by
the natives for stakes and the like, the young trees had grown up again
so close and tangled as to be almost impenetrable. But this patch was
of no great extent, its area, perhaps, not exceeding that of Grosvenor
Square. The other parts of the wood surrounding the tank were in a
state of nature, consisting of bushes and timber trees.
“On reaching the ground, the natives were stationed in the trees
thereabouts as markers. But it was not till the party had beaten the
patch with their elephants for a considerable time that the lion was
discovered to be on foot, and some further time elapsed before he
was viewed as he was stealing away from the brake, along a sort of
hedge-row, for the more open country beyond. Captain Delamaine, who was
some forty or fifty paces from the beast, then fired, and wounded him
severely in the body.
“On receiving the ball, the lion immediately faced about, and charged
my elephant, but the nerves of the latter having been recently shaken
by wounds received from a royal tiger, turned tail, and regularly
bolted. In the scurry through the jungle, one of the guns, having been
caught by a tree, fell from the howdah and was broken, a loss, as the
sequel proved, that might have been attended with very disastrous
consequences.”
But the lion soon gave up the chase, and retraced his steps to the
patch whence he had been started. Here he was followed by Captain
Harris alone, Delamaine’s elephant, from its late fright, having become
too unsteady to be taken into thick cover.
“The Captain soon found and fired at the beast, which in its turn
instantly sprang at, and made a fair lodgment on the head of his
elephant, but the latter being a large and powerful animal, and
accustomed to the _chasse_, almost immediately shook off its fierce
assailant, who fell with violence on the ground.” This desperate mode
of attack and reprisal was on both sides repeated in more than one
instance, and this, moreover, within view of his companion, who, though
prevented--for the reason mentioned--from taking part in the conflict,
was, from the outside of the brake, intently watching the proceedings
of his friend. After a time, whether because he left the patch, or from
having concealed himself, the beast was no longer to be found.
“It was at the period of the monsoon, and just as the hunters were at
fault, there came on a heavy shower of rain, when, principally for the
sake of the guns, it was deemed best to retire for shelter to some
trees in the more open country at a few hundred paces distance.
“The storm soon passed over, but being doubtful whether their guns
might not be wet, it was thought advisable to discharge them. This was
no sooner done, however, than the lion began to roar terribly, and
continued doing so for some time, in the direction of the late scene of
conflict, from which it was pretty evident, that, though they had been
unable to find him in the patch, he had been harbored there the whole
time.
“When reloaded, the party therefore returned to the brake, and were
informed by one of the markers that on the report of the guns, the lion
had rushed roaring from it into the more open country, evidently for
the purpose of venting his rage on the first object that came across
his path. On proceeding a little further they were hailed by another
marker, who told them that the brute was crouched in a cluster of
brambles, of a very limited extent, about twenty paces from the very
tree in which he himself was perched.
“As the country was pretty open around the thicket in question, the
sportsmen were able to reconnoitre it narrowly, and that without taking
the elephants into the very thick of it, which was deemed unadvisable,
as, had those animals come directly upon the lion, they might have been
scared and rendered unmanageable. But the beast was not perceptible.
“From the cover being so limited in extent, it appeared to be almost
an impossibility that the lion could be there, the rather that the
elephants, so remarkable for their fine sense of smell, did not seem
at all aware of his presence, and it was in consequence imagined that
the man must be mistaken. But as he persisted in his story, it was
determined to fire a shot into the thicket, which was accordingly done,
though without any result.
“When a lion, that has been wounded and hotly pursued, has ‘lain up,’
or hidden himself, for a time, his position is generally known by his
roaring, panting, or hard breathing; but in this instance there were no
indications of the kind, which, coupled with the shot having failed of
effect, confirmed their previous impression, and they were, therefore,
on the point of moving off elsewhere.
“But as the marker continued asseverating from his tree that the brute
was positively lying in the very brake near which they were standing,
it was resolved to try another shot, which was fired by Captain Harris’
man, who was seated at the back of his master’s howdah.
“This had the desired effect, for the gun was hardly discharged, when
the lion, with a tremendous roar, sprang up from his lurking-place, and
in a second was once more on the head of Captain Harris’ elephant. But
he was almost immediately shaken off, when he retreated to the same
brake from which he had issued, and where, as before, he was no longer
discernible.
“A shot was therefore directed towards the spot where he was supposed
to be, and he again charged the Captain’s elephant, and on being
dislodged trotted off towards the patch that harbored him in the first
instance.
“During the _mêlée_ just described, Captain Delamaine, from an
apprehension of hitting some one, had been deterred from firing; but as
the lion was retreating he discharged both barrels of his double gun,
and broke one of the hind legs of the beast.
“Upon receiving this wound the lion at once turned, and rushing at
the elephant, sprang up on his hind quarters and fixed his fangs
in the thick part of the tail. The poor animal perfectly screamed
from the extreme torture, which was little to be wondered at, as
this unfortunate appendage had only a week previously been severely
lacerated by a huge tiger. The elephant now swayed to and fro to such
a degree that his rider had some difficulty in retaining his seat in
the howdah, and was much less able to take an accurate aim at the lion,
which, screened as it was by the protruding rump of the elephant, would
have been scarcely practicable. The Captain, besides, had only one
barrel remaining, and it therefore behooved him to be most cautious
that his last charge was not ineffectually expended.
“This trying scene continued for two or three minutes, during which
Delamaine anxiously looked out for Captain Harris. But unluckily his
elephant had been rendered unmanageable by the maltreatment it had
itself received from the lion, and it was not, therefore, in his power
to render aid to his friend.”
The appearance of the lion at this time, maddened as he was with pain
and rage, is described as most awful.
“At length the beast’s long-continued attack on the elephant caused
the poor animal evidently to give way and to sink behind, and had
the affair continued a short time longer, there is no doubt it would
have been on its haunches, and the rider at the mercy of the fierce
assailant.
“Finding matters in this very critical state, it became necessary
for him to risk everything. Leaning, therefore, over the back of the
howdah, and clinging to it with one hand, he with the other discharged
his rifle, a very heavy one, at the head of the lion (the piece at the
time oscillating, or swinging, in a manner corresponding with the roll
of the elephant), and as luck would have it, the ball, after crashing
through the beast’s jawbone, subsequently traversed the whole length of
its body.
“This caused the lion to let go his hold, and for a few seconds he
appeared to be partially paralyzed, but recovering himself, he slowly
retreated towards the thicker cover.”
Subsequently he was again attacked by the party, and in two or three
instances charged them as gallantly as ever; but as he was always
received with a heavy fire, an end was at length put to his existence.
There is no need to add much to what has been said of the effect
produced by inherited and personal experience. Nobody denies that lions
are possessed of intelligence, and this being the case, they learn to
avoid known dangers, and to take advantage of those conditions which
have previously proved favorable. If this and what it implies were not
true, there could be but one reason for it, which is that the race was
congenitally idiotic. Therefore to dispute about the lion’s courage
as if there might be archetypal beasts differently endowed from those
representatives of their species which naturally, and of necessity,
vary in boldness with changing environments, appears to be a waste
of time. Furthermore, the possession of power of any kind to a great
degree determines its exercise, and it is impossible to suppose that
an animal which, above all others, except the tiger, is specialized for
violence, will not be blood-thirsty and aggressive.
Sir Samuel Baker appears to be the only writer, really an authority,
who knows nothing authentic and has no personal cognizance of the
forays of lions upon villages and camps. Delgorgue, Harris, Cumming,
Andersson, and everybody else whose opportunities for observation
have been at all extensive, recognize such incidents as perfectly
well established. Indeed, taking the character of this beast and
its situation into consideration, the only thing surprising about
the matter would be that it had not done those things upon whose
reality Baker seems to cast a doubt. Drummond relates a story in this
connection, in the scenes of which he was himself an actor, and as many
of those traits which have been discussed are well brought out in his
narrative, it is given in full.
“In two cases I have been an accessory to the death of well-known
man-eaters, one of which had almost depopulated a district.... The
locality in which this one committed his depredations was in the
northeast corner of Zululand, where a number of refugee Amaswazi had
been located, and when I arrived they had continued for nearly a year,
so that many villages were deserted, and all had more or less suffered;
for the brute did not confine himself to any one in particular, nor
come at any regular intervals, but so timed his visits that no one was
sure of his or her life from day to day. No fastenings were of any use
against him, as his immense strength enabled him to force an entrance
if he could not find one ready made, while the outer ring-fence, of
interwoven thorns, supported by strong posts, which guards all native
villages, and is often of great height, offered no obstacle to his
powers of jumping, a single bound being always sufficient to land him
inside.
“He usually confined himself to killing a single individual, and would
claw one out from under the blanket or skin under which, with covered
heads, they cowered in terror on his arrival; but on the two or three
occasions in which he had met with opposition, and when he had been
wounded with assagais, he had killed every soul in the hut, and so
dreadfully mangled them that their bodies almost defied recognition.
“I was staying at the villages for some weeks, first at one and then at
another, as they suited the position of the game, or where I happened
to find myself at night; but though I heard of the lion having attacked
one either just before or just after I had been there, I never happened
to meet it, and the ignorant natives became anxious for my presence,
saying that their enemy feared to go where I was.
“This, however, was not destined to last. One sultry evening I arrived
at the outermost village, having been forced to leave the spoor of
a herd of elephants for want of ammunition, and being very tired, I
determined to sleep at it, sending on two of my men to fetch some
from the place which I made my headquarters. Tired as I was with my
exertions on an unusually hot day, I soon fell asleep in the hut that
had been given up to our use; but, as the heat was stifling, I was
not at all surprised at being awakened towards midnight by a heavy
thunderstorm, which crashed round us for half an hour or more. At
last the hush came that always accompanies the tremendous rain which
follows, and seems to quench such storms, broken only by the heavy
splashing of big drops, and the gurgle of the water that flooded the
ground, and I should soon have been asleep again had not a drop come
splash into my face through the ill-thatched roof, almost immediately
followed by a small stream, of which it had been the advanced guard.
This necessitated my looking out for a drier spot, when suddenly out
of the quiet of the descending rain, came such a confused clamor of
shrieks and cries, of yelling and moaning, that until I heard the voice
of the lion, I was utterly unable to account for it. This lasted for
full half a minute, and then such a blood-curdling scream of mingled
pain and despair came as I hope I may never hear again, and which
haunted my dreams for many a month after.
“My men, and among them two old hunters, each of whom had killed
several lions, shrunk crouching back to the further end of the hut,
returning no answer to my words when I told them to come out with me
and face the beast, though, as I opened the hut entrance, and looked
out on the pitch darkness, it was evident how useless any such attempt
would be. The death-yell we had heard was followed by silence for some
time, during which the brute was probably departing with its victim,
and the natives were still afraid of its return; then the usual noisy
lamentations for the dead broke forth, and were continued without
intermission until daylight, though I was so tired that, without
expecting it, I fell asleep again, and did not wake any more that night.
“There was little to tell when morning did break. The lion had hit
upon the most crowded hut of all, the one in which the people who had
given place to us were sleeping in addition to its regular owners, and
had picked out a young married woman, taking her from among several,
without injuring any one else; as they said--‘a man does not stab more
than one of his herd of cattle when he is hungry.’
“Previous to this, on my first arrival, the head man of the district
had come and asked me whether I would assist him to destroy this brute,
as, if so, he would turn out with all his people, and beat up the
country until it was found; and in point of fact we had already done
this, on the occasion of the chief’s uncle having been carried off;
but the ground was so dry and hard then that our best spoorers failed
to hit off the track. To-day, however, as the rain had ceased a few
minutes after its departure, there could be no doubt about finding it,
and as soon as I awoke I sent off to the chief to ask him to come with
his men, saying that, whether he had arrived or not, I should take up
the trail at nine o’clock.
“I did not at this time know that the woman who was the last victim was
his relation, but when my messenger came back and told me so, adding
that the chief was fearfully angry, it did not surprise me to hear that
runners had been sent out already, and that he had threatened to drive
out of the country any one old enough to carry a spear who remained
behind, and that if I could wait until the sun had reached a certain
part of the heavens (till about ten o’clock), he would join me.
“I had already had breakfast when this news came, and to save time I
took a hunter and a spoorer (tracker) with me and followed the lion.
About two hundred yards off we found the spot where he had made his
disgusting meal, and then the track led right away towards a stream,
nearly a mile distant, where he had quenched his thirst. Keeping
steadily on, he passed through several covers quite strong enough
to have held him, and through which we had to pass with the utmost
caution, until, at length, he came out on to the open, and headed in a
direction that we knew could lead nowhere but to the Umbeka bush, the
thickest jungle for miles around. As this was still nearly four miles
off, I sent one man back to tell the people where to come to, and kept
on with the hunter.
“On reaching the jungle, which covered the entire side of a hill,
and was stony and broken to the last degree, besides having its
undergrowth formed of impenetrable cactus, we did not of course attempt
to enter, but separating, walked round it, the upper and more rugged
portion falling to my share, and carefully examined every inch of the
ground to see whether by any chance he had again left it; however, no
vestige of his spoor could be seen, and by the time we got back to our
starting-point, the whole of Tekwane’s people were in sight.
“The chief himself was with them, though he had no intention of taking
any active part in the proceedings, and when we started he retired
with some of his old men to a place of safety, and a council of how
to proceed was held on the spot. My idea was that the guns should
guard the more likely passes, while the people, numbering near five
hundred, should beat out the jungle. To this, however, the objection
was offered, that from the well-known thickness of the place, and the
universal terror of the lion, the men would not attempt to beat it
unless they were led by myself and my hunters. Such being the case,
it was decided that spies should be placed in the tree-tops and other
commanding positions, while the great body of the people were to enter
at the top and drive down; but knowing as I did how very dangerous the
affair would become if the lion was wounded in such cover, in many
parts of which one could not see a yard off, I specially ordered my men
not to fire unless they felt sure of killing or disabling the brute on
the spot, and advised that every one, advancing in as unbroken a line
as possible, and going slowly and making all the noise possible, should
try and make it slink off before them, and enable us in the end to get
a fair chance at it in the open.
“Half an hour was spent in waiting for the spies to take up their
positions, and then the whole body, chanting a hunting song so loudly
that it could have been heard miles off, and must undoubtedly have
broken the slumbers of the lion, marched up to the top, and spreading
out, so as to take in all but the outskirts, where it was improbable
that he would be, they entered the jungle shouting at the top of their
voices, partly, no doubt, in obedience to my wishes, but quite as much
to keep their own courage up. In this fashion, and amid cries of ‘Get
up! Get out, you dog! Where’s the dog?’ to which they trusted a good
deal as likely to intimidate the lion, we passed right through to the
other side, and though the ground had been beaten quite as well as it
was possible for anything smaller than elephants to do, no vestige of
the animal had been seen.
“Hardly, however, had the men begun to cluster out upon the open,
before there was a shouting from the extreme left, which, when passed
on through the stragglers, soon resolved itself into the lion having
been seen there. Of course there was a general rush in that direction,
which I accompanied, until I met a man who had come from the spot, and
who said the brute had just showed itself and turned back. On hearing
this I stopped those nearest to me and sent them to collect every one
they could find, and in a few minutes two-thirds of the people had come
around me. I then divided them into two bodies; the larger, led by
all my hunters, except one, who remained with me, I sent to enter the
jungle on the outer side and to beat through it, shouting and firing
their guns; the other I took myself down to a stream which, at four or
five hundred yards distance, fronted the spot where the lion had shown
himself, and made them lie down in the bushes that lined it. About
fifty men I stationed round the jungle, telling them never to cease
making a noise, and I also removed the spies from in front of us.