The story of Androcles. With so many authentic instances which can be cited of the amenability of the lion to kindly influences, the story of Androcles and the lion does not seem so improbable as it has been sometimes thought. The following is the story:—In the days of ancient Rome, a Roman governor treated one of his slaves or subjects, called Androcles, so cruelly that he ran away. To escape pursuit he fled to a desert and crept into a cave. What was his horror to find that this cave was a lion's den, and to see a large lion approach him! He expected instantly to be destroyed; but the lion, approaching Androcles, held up his paw or foot with a supplicating air. Androcles examined the lion's paw, and found a thorn in it which he drew out, and the lion, apparently relieved, fawned upon his benefactor as a dog does upon his master. After some time Androcles ventured back to the place where he lived before. He was discovered, taken up as a runaway slave, and condemned to be the prey of a wild beast. He was accordingly thrown into a place where a large lion, recently caught, was let in upon him. The lion came bounding toward Androcles, and the spectators 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 Bakátla 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 Mebálwe, I saw one of the lions sitting upon a piece of rock, within the now closed circle of men. Mebálwe 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 Bakátla had acted according to the custom of the country, they would have speared the lions in their attempt to get out. Seeing that we could not get them to kill one of the lions, we bent our footsteps towards the village; in going round the end of the hill, however, I saw one of the beasts sitting on a piece of rock, as before, but this time he had a little bush in front. Being about thirty yards off, I took a good aim at his body through the bush, and fired both barrels into in. The men then called out: 'He is shot! He is shot!' Others cried: 'He has been shot by another man, too; let us go to him.' I did not see anyone else shoot at him, but I saw the lion's tail erected in anger behind the bush, and turning to the people, said: 'Stop a little till I load again.' When in the act of ramming down the bullets I heard a shout. Starting, and looking half round, I saw the lion just in the act of springing upon me. I was upon a little height. He caught my shoulder as he sprang and we both came to the ground below together. Growling horribly, close to my ear, he shook me as a terrier dog does a rat. The shock produced a stupor, similar to that which seems to be felt by a mouse after the first shake of a cat. It caused a sort of dreaminess, in which there was no sense of pain or feeling of terror, though quite conscious of all that was happening. It was like what patients partially under the influence of chloroform describe, who see all the operation but feel not the knife. This singular condition was not the result of any mental process. The shake annihilated fear, and allowed no sense of horror in looking round at the beast. This peculiar state is probably produced in all animals killed by the carnivora; and, if so, is a merciful provision by our benevolent Creator for lessening the pain of death. Turning round to relieve myself of the weight, as he had one paw on the back of my head, I saw his eyes directed to Mebálwe, who was trying to shoot him at a distance of ten or fifteen yards. His gun, a flint one, missed fire in both barrels. The lion immediately left me and attacking Mebálwe bit his thigh. Another man, whose life I had saved before, after he had been tossed by a buffalo, attempted to spear the lion while he was biting Mebálwe. He left Mebálwe and caught this man by the shoulder; but at that moment the bullets he had received took effect, and he fell down dead. The whole was the work of a few moments, and must have been his paroxysm of dying rage. In order to take out the charm from him, the Bakátla, on the following day, made a huge bonfire over the carcass, which was declared to be the largest lion they had ever seen. Besides crunching the bone into splinters, he left eleven teeth wounds on the upper part of my arm. A wound from this animal's tooth resembles a gunshot wound. It is generally followed by a great deal of sloughing and discharge, and pains are felt in the part periodically ever after. I had on a tartan jacket on the occasion, and I believe that it wiped off all the virus from the teeth that pierced the flesh; for my two companions in this affray have both suffered from the peculiar pains, while I have escaped with only the inconvenience of a false joint in my limb."
A Thrilling Experience. Professor Lichtenstein, in his "Travels" gives a thrilling story of a Boer's adventure with a lion, which he had from the lips of the Boer himself. "It is now," said the colonist, "more than two years since, in the very place where we stand, I ventured to take one of the most daring shots that ever was hazarded. My wife was sitting within the house near the door, the children were playing about her, and I was without, near the house, busied in doing something to a waggon, when suddenly, though it was mid-day, an enormous lion appeared, came up and laid himself quietly down in the shade upon the very threshold of the door. My wife, either frozen with fear, or aware of the danger of attempting to fly, remained motionless in her place, while the children took refuge in her arms. The cry they uttered attracted my attention, and I hastened towards the door, but my astonishment may well be conceived when I found the entrance to it barred in such a way. Although the animal had not seen me, unarmed as I was escape seemed impossible, yet I glided gently, scarcely knowing what I meant to do, to the side of the house, up to the window of my chamber, where I knew my loaded gun was standing. By a most happy chance, I had set it into the corner close by the window, so that I could reach it with my hand; for, as you may perceive, the opening is too small to admit of my having got in, and still more fortunately, the door of the room was open, so that I could see the whole danger of the scene. The lion was beginning to move. There was no longer any time to think; I called softly to the mother not to be alarmed, and invoking the name of the Lord, fired my piece. The ball passed directly over the hair of my boy's head and lodged in the forehead of the lion, immediately above his eyes and stretched him on the ground, so that he never stirred more." "Indeed," says Professor Lichtenstein, "we all shuddered as we listened to this relation. Never, as he himself observed, was a more daring attempt hazarded. Had he failed in his aim, mother and children were all inevitably lost; if the boy had moved he had been struck; the least turn in the lion and the shot had not been mortal to him; and to consummate the whole, the head of the creature was in some sort protected by the door-post."
Attacked by a Lion. In Phillips's "Researches in South Africa," the following account is given of the adventures of a traveller which we quote from Jardine's Naturalists' Library collated with other versions. "Our waggons, which were obliged to take a circuitous route, arrived at last, and we pitched our tent a musket-shot from the kraal, and, after having arranged everything, went to rest, but were soon disturbed; for, about midnight the cattle and horses, which were standing between the waggons, began to start and run, and one of the drivers to shout, on which every one ran out of the tent with his gun. About thirty paces from the tent stood a lion, which, on seeing us, walked very deliberately about thirty paces farther, behind a small thorn-bush, carrying something with him, which I took to be a young ox. We fired more than sixty shots at that bush, without perceiving any movement. The south-east wind blew strong, the sky was clear, and the moon shone very bright, so that we could perceive everything at that distance. After the cattle had been quieted again, and I had looked over everything, I missed the sentry from before the tent, Jan Smit, from Antwerp. We called as loudly as possible, but in vain; nobody answered, from which I concluded that the lion had carried him off. Three or four men then advanced very cautiously to the bush, which stood right opposite the door of the tent, to see if they could discover anything of the man, but returned helter-skelter; for the lion, who was there still, rose up, and began to roar. They found there the musket of the sentry, which was cocked, and also his cap and shoes. We fired again about a hundred shots at the bush, without perceiving anything of the lion, from which we concluded that he was killed, or had run away. This induced the marksman of our company to go and see if he was still there or not, taking with him a firebrand. As soon as he approached the bush, the lion roared terribly, and leapt at him; on which he threw the firebrand at him, and the other people having fired about ten shots at him, he retired directly to his former place behind that bush. The firebrand which he had thrown at the lion had fallen in the midst of the bush, and, favoured by the strong south-east wind, it began to burn with a great flame, so that we could see very clearly into and through it. We continued our firing into it until the night passed away, and the day began to break, when seven men were posted on the farthest waggons to watch him, and to take aim at him if he should come out. At last, before it became quite light, he walked up the hill, with the man in his mouth, when about forty shots were fired without hitting him, although some were very near. Every time this happened, he turned round towards the tent, and came roaring towards us; and, I am of opinion, that if he had been hit, he would have rushed on the people and the tent. When it became broad daylight, we perceived, by the blood, and a piece of the clothes of the man, that the lion had taken him away." "For the satisfaction of the curious," says Sir William Jardine, "it may be mentioned, that he was followed, and killed in the forenoon, over the mangled remains of the unfortunate sentinel."
A Night Surprise. Mr. Gordon Cumming gives an even more thrilling account of a similar adventure of his experience. He says:—"About three hours after the sun went down, I called to my men to come and take their coffee and supper which was ready for them at my fire; and after supper, three of them returned before their comrades to their own fireside and lay down.... In a few minutes an ox came out by the gate of the kraal and walked round the back of it. Hendrick got up and drove him again and then went back to his fireside and lay down. Hendrick and Ruyter lay on one side of the fire under one blanket and John Stofolus lay on the other.... Suddenly the appalling and murderous voice of an angry bloodthirsty lion, within a few yards of us, burst upon my ear, followed by the shrieking of the Hottentots. Again and again the murderous roar of the attack was repeated. We heard John and Ruyter shriek, 'the Lion! the Lion!...' Next instant John Stofolus rushed into the midst of us almost speechless with fear and terror, and eyes bursting from their sockets, and shrieked out, 'the lion! the lion! He has got Hendrick, he dragged him away from the fire beside me. I struck him with the burning brands upon his head, but he would not let go his hold. Hendrick is dead! O God! Hendrick is dead! Let us take fire and seek him....' It appeared that when the unfortunate Hendrick rose to drive in the ox, the lion had watched him to his fireside, and he had scarcely lain down, when the brute sprang upon him and Ruyter (for both lay under one blanket) with his appalling murderous roar, and roaring as he lay, grappled him with his fearful claws and kept biting him on the breast and shoulder, all the while feeling for his neck; having got hold of which, he at once dragged him away backwards round the bush into the dense shade.... The next morning, just as the day began to dawn we heard the lion dragging something up the river side under cover of the bank. We drove the cattle out of the kraal and then proceeded to inspect the scene of the night's awful tragedy. In the hollow where the lion had lain, consuming his prey, we found one leg of the unfortunate Hendrick, bitten off below the knee, the shoe still on the foot, the grass and bushes were all stained with his blood, and fragments of his pea-coat lay around. Hendrick was by far the best man I had about my waggons ... his loss to us all was very serious."
A Lion Outwitted. In the southern part of Africa, where the Hottentots live, lions were very common, and the adventures of the inhabitants with them very frequent. One evening a Hottentot saw that he was pursued by a lion. He was very much alarmed, and devised the following means of escape. He went to the edge of a precipice, and placed himself a little below it. He then put his cloak and hat on a stick, and elevated them over his head, giving them a gentle motion. The lion came crouching along, and, mistaking the cloak and hat for the man, as the Hottentot intended he should do, he sprang upon them with a swift leap, and, passing over the head of the Hottentot, was plunged headlong down the precipice.
Old Instincts and new Opportunities. In the "Miscellany of Natural History," from which several of these anecdotes are taken there is a story illustrating the way in which old instincts will show themselves in the presence of new opportunities. On the evening of the 20th October 1816, a lioness made her escape from a travelling menagerie which was drawn up on the road-side, about seven miles from the town of Salisbury. It was about eight o'clock, and quite dark, and the Exeter mail was passing when the animal suddenly darted forward, and springing at the throat of the off-leader, fastened the talons of her fore-feet on each side of the neck, close to the horse's head, while those of the hind-feet were forced into the chest. In this situation she hung, while the blood streamed from the agonized creature, as if a vein had been opened by a lancet. It may be easily supposed, that the alarm excited by this encounter, was very great. Two inside passengers instantly dashed out of the coach and fled to a house on the road-side. The keeper of the caravan came, and immediately set a large Newfoundland dog on the animal. The lioness, on finding herself seized by the leg, quitted the horse, and turned upon the dog, which the spectators expected would very soon become the victim of her fury; but she was contented with giving him only a slight punishment, and on hearing the voice of her keeper, retired under a neighbouring straw rick, and gently allowed herself to be secured. "This anecdote," says the writer, "is remarkably characteristic, the moment that the animal found herself at liberty, and an object of prey presented itself, all her original propensities, hitherto restrained, were instantly called into action; but no sooner did the voice of her keeper reach her ears, than the force of long habit prevailed, she became calm, and allowed herself to be bound, and led again to her den."
The Tiger. The tiger is one of the most beautiful, but at the same time one of the most rapacious and destructive of the whole animal race. It is found in the warm climates of the East, especially in India and Siam. It so much resembles the cat, as almost to induce us to consider the latter a tiger in miniature. It lurks generally near a fountain, or on the brink of a river, to surprise such animals as come to quench their thirst; and like the lion bounds upon its prey, easily making a spring of twenty feet and upwards. When it has killed one animal it often attacks others, swallowing their blood for which it has an insatiable thirst in large draughts; for even when satisfied with food, it is not satiated with slaughter. The tiger is said by some to prefer human flesh to that of any other animal; and it is certain, that it does not, like many other beasts of prey, shun the presence of man, but has been even known on more than one occasion to spring upon a hunting party when seated at their refreshment, and carry off one of the number, rushing through the shrubs into the forest, and devouring the unfortunate victim at its leisure. The strength as well as the agility of this animal is remarkable; it carries off a deer with the greatest ease.
The tiger is ornamented with long streaks across its body. The ground colour is yellow, very deep on the back, but growing lighter towards the belly, where it softens to white, as it does also on the throat and the inside of the legs. The bars which cross the body from the back to the belly are of the most beautiful black, and the skin altogether is so extremely fine and glossy, that it is much esteemed, and sold at a high price in all the eastern countries, especially China. "The colouring of the tiger," says the Rev. J. G. Wood, "is a good instance of the manner in which animals are protected by the similarity of their external appearance to the particular locality in which they reside. The stripes on the tiger's skin so exactly assimilate with the long jungle grass amongst which it lives, that it is impossible for unpractised eyes to discern the animal at all, even when a considerable portion of its body is exposed."
Ravages Committed by Tigers. The ravages committed by tigers have often led to the organisation of hunting parties formed with a view to exterminate the more aggressive of the enemy. The following narrative of a tiger excursion at Doongal is from the "East India Government Gazette."