Anecdotes of the Habits and Instinct of Animals

by Mrs. R. Lee

The beauty of the Lion's mane is well known. According to Mr. Gordon Cumming, its colour varies with age, being fulvous and bright when young, black when the animal is in his full strength, and grisly with old age. There has been, however, a species recently discovered in Guzerat, which has but little or no mane, it also has shorter limbs and tail, the latter having a larger brush at the end. It is bold, commits great havoc among the cattle; and is supposed to have been driven out of Cutch, by the practice adopted by the natives, of burning their grass. A nail or prickle at the end of a lion's tail is often found, but has nothing to do with the caudal vertebræ. It is probably a hardened piece of skin, or a mass of agglutinated hairs, in the manner of horn; it comes off with only a slight touch.

Lions come to their full strength at five years, but live a long time; for instance, one from the Gambia was proved to be sixty-three years of age. They sleep by day, and feed by night, lap their drink, and delight in coming forth in the midst of furious storms, when they add their mighty roars to those of the elements. Seldom does a tempest rage in tropical Africa, but its fearful sounds are increased by the din of wild animals; that of the lion being heard above all others. Countless are the histories of his depredations, and numerous are the daring and gallant exploits performed by Europeans against this noble game; the following is an abridgment of a narrative, from the pen of the Marchioness of Hastings; and published in the Miscellany of Natural History; herself being the heroine of the chase.

"The field was taken in quest of three lions, supposed to be lurking near the tents. The ground was flat and ploughed. When we came to the edge of the jungle, we halted a little; the people came round in crowds, and, in a few minutes, the trees were covered with men, placed there by Fraser for observation. When we were sent for, we found Fraser by the side of the great canal—he had received intelligence of both a lion and a tiger, and he desired Barton and myself to go down upon an elephant, watch the bed of the canal, and move slowly to the south, while he advanced in a contrary direction. The rest of the party were to beat the jungle above, which was too thick to admit the passage of an elephant through it. We fell in with Fraser where the canal was a little wider, and neither of us had been successful, though we had searched every bush with our eyes, in passing along. He desired us to wait till he had mounted the bank to look after the rest of the elephants. He had hardly gone away before a lioness crossed the narrow neck of the canal, just before us, and clambered up the opposite bank. I fired, but missed her, and she ran along the bank to the westward. We turned round and had the mortification of seeing her again go through the water, at which our elephant became refractory, wheeled about, and was so unsteady as to prevent us from firing. We followed her up to the thicket, put the elephant's head into it, and we heard the lioness growling close to us. Just as we were expecting her charge and had prepared our guns, round wheeled the elephant again, and became perfectly unmanageable. During the scuffle between the elephant and his driver, we heard the cry that the lioness was again off. She again crossed the Nullah, and just as we had got our elephant to go well in, the lioness ran back, and crouched under a thicket on our left, where she had been originally started. All this happened in less than a minute. Fraser then called to us to come round the bush, as the lioness being on a line with us, we prevented him from firing. Just as we got out of his reach, he fired, and when the elephant stopped I did the same. Both shots took effect, and the lioness lay and growled in a hollow, mellow tone. After a few discharges she tried to sally forth, but her loins were cut to pieces, which was fortunate for us, as her fore parts seemed strong and unhurt. She reared herself upon them, and cast towards us a look that bespoke revenge, complaint, and dignity. Her head, half averted from us, was turned back as if ready to start at us, if the wounds in her loins had not disabled her. As it was now a mercy to put an end to her sufferings, I took a steady aim, and shot her through the head. She fell dead at once, and her lower jaw was carried away; she was drawn up the bank and pronounced to be two years old. She had thrown one man down, and got him completely under her with his turban in her mouth, when a shot grazed her side. She immediately left her hold and crossed the canal, where we first perceived her."

There used to be, and perhaps is still, a lion in the menagerie of Brussels, whose cell requiring some repairs, his keeper desired a carpenter to set about them; but when he saw the lion, he drew back with terror. The keeper entered the cell, and then led the animal to the upper part of it, where he amused himself by playing with him, and then fell asleep. The carpenter, fully trusting to the vigilance of the keeper, pursued his work, and when he had finished, called to him to inspect what he had done. The man made no answer; the carpenter called again and again, but to no purpose, and, being alarmed, went to the upper part of the den, and looked through the railing. Seeing the lion and his keeper sleeping side by side, he uttered a loud cry. The lion suddenly awakened, started up, looked furiously at the carpenter, and placing his paw on the breast of his keeper, lay down to sleep again. The carpenter was dreadfully frightened, and ran out, telling what he had seen. Some of the attendants went and opened the door which the carpenter had secured with several bars, and contrived to wake the keeper; who, on opening his eyes, did not appear to be in the least frightened at his situation. He took the paw of the lion, shook it, and quietly led him down to the lower part of his residence.

It is from Mr. Pringle and Mr. Gordon Cumming that we derive the most stirring adventures with lions; and I profit by the advantage afforded me by their pages. The first was a relation of mine by marriage, and I have enjoyed frequent conversations with him concerning his travels; rendered the more extraordinary by his lameness, which proved the energy of that mind which could thus surmount bodily infirmity.

Mr. Cumming still lives to tell his own tales; and no one can hear or read his words without seeing that he has one of those ardent spirits which loves danger for the sake of danger, and that his indomitable courage and hardihood, from his early years, when he killed the deer on his father's domains, prepared him to be what he now is, the most successful of all men in his warfare with wild animals.

In a note to the "Poetical Remains of Mr. Pringle," I find the following remarkable escape:—"Lucas Van Buren usually carried a huge elephant gun, as long and unwieldy as himself; but left it at home one day when he had most need of it. He was riding across the open plains, near the Little Fish river, one morning about day break, when observing a lion at a distance, he endeavoured to avoid him by making a circuit. There were thousands of spring-bocks scattered over the extensive flats; but from the open nature of the country, the lion had probably been unsuccessful in his hunting. Lucas soon perceived that he was not disposed to let him pass without further parlance, and that he was rapidly approaching to the encounter. Being without his gun, the farmer, little inclined to cultivate his acquaintance, turned his horse off at a right angle, and galloped for life. But it was too late; the horse was fagged, and bore a heavy man upon his back; the lion was fresh, furious with hunger, and came down upon him like a thunder-bolt. In a few minutes he brought man and horse to the ground. Luckily, the man was not hurt, and the lion was too much occupied with the horse to pay any attention to him. Hardly knowing how he escaped, he contrived to do so, and reached the nearest house. His remarks, when he related his adventure, were concerning the audacity of the lion in attacking a Christian man; but his chief vexation was about the saddle. He returned to the spot the next day, and found the horse's bones picked clean, lion and saddle having both disappeared. Lucas said he could excuse the beast for killing the horse, as he had allowed himself to escape; but the abstraction of the saddle, for which, he added, the lion could not possibly have any use, raised his spleen, and called down a shower of abuse whenever he related the story.

"We had," says Mr. Pringle, "been to tea with Captain Cameron's family, to whom, as we were only three miles distant, we considered ourselves next-door neighbours; and as the weather was fine, we rode home by moonlight, jesting all the way about wild beasts and Caffres, and not at all suspecting that a lion was dogging us through the bushes the whole way home.

"About midnight I was awakened by an unusual noise in the cattle-fold, and looking out, saw all our horned cattle spring over the high thorn fence, and scamper round the place. Fancying that a hyæna, which I had heard howling when I went to bed, had alarmed the animals, I sallied forth to have a shot at it. I, however, could not find any cause for the disturbance, and calling a Hottentot to drive back the cattle, and shut them in, I again went to bed. The next morning Captain Cameron rode over to say, his herdsman had discovered that a large lion had followed us up the valley, and then, on further inspection, we found he had visited the fold, and carried off a sheep. He appeared to have retreated to the mountains, and we did not pursue him.

"The lion, however, was not disposed to let us off so easily. He returned that night, and killed my favourite riding-horse, a little more than a hundred yards from my door; I then considered it right to take measures for defence, and called forth a party for his pursuit, the Hottentots saying that as he had only eaten a small part of the horse he would be in the vicinity. Seventeen horsemen, Mulattoes and Hottentots, and a number of strong hounds, soon assembled.