§0 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

tators expected to see the man instantly torn in pieces. What
was their astonishment to see the lion approach him, and
fawn before him like a dog who had found his master! It
was the lion Androcles had met in the desert, and the
grateful animal would not rend his benefactor.

A Lion Hunt. Livingstone came to very close quarters with
a lion on one occasion, the circumstances of which he thus
narrates. “The Bakatla of the village Mabotsa, were much
troubled by lions, which leaped into the cattle-pens by night
and destroyed their cows. They even attacked the herds in
open day. This was so unusual an occurrence that the people
believed that they were bewitched, ‘given’ as they said,
into the power of the lions by a neighbouring tribe. They
went once to attack the animals, but being rather a cowardly
people compared to Bechuanas in general on such occasions,
they returned without killing any. It is well known that if
one in a troop of lions is killed, the others take the hint
and leave that part of the country. So the next time the
herds were attacked, I went with the people in order to
encourage them to rid themselves of the annoyance by
destroying one of the marauders. We found the lions on
a small hill, about a quarter of a mile in length and covered
with trees. A circle of men was formed round it, and they
gradually closed up, ascending pretty near to each other.
Being down below on the plain with a native schoolmaster,
named Mebalwe, I saw one of the lions sitting upon a
piece of rock, within the now closed circle of men. Mebalwe
fired at him before I could, and the ball struck the rock
upon which the animal was sitting. He bit at the spot struck,
as a dog-does at a stick or a stone thrown at him, then,
leaping away, broke through the opening circle and escaped
unhurt. When the circle was reformed we saw two other
lions in it, but we were afraid to fire lest we should strike
the men; and they allowed the beasts to burst through also.
If the Bakatla had acted according to the custom of the