54 A V O Y A G E t o t h e 1-775- friend: did not take upofi fiim.fo determine, whether this vl^y>y poiition and manner, of his intimidated thfi hpn or not ; if had, however, 1'uch an effed upon the creature, that it like wife., made. a ftand ; and what was ftill more Angular, laid itfelf down at the diftance o f a few paces from the heap of ftones feemingly, quite unconcerned. The fportf- man, in the mean while, did not. dare; toi ftir a ftep from the fpot ; befides, in his flight he. had the misfortune to lofe his powder-liorn. At length, after waiting a good half hour, the liou rofe up, and at jfirft went very flowly, and ftep by ftep, as i f it had .a psiad :to fteal off; but- as foon as it got to a greater diftance, it began to bound away at a great rate. It is very probable, that the, lion, like the hyæna, does not eafily venture upon any creature that makes a ftand againft it, and puts itfelf in a ppfture o f defence. I t is, well known, that it does not, like the hound* find out its prey by the fceat, neither does it openly hunt other animals. At tea-ft, the only inftance ever known .of this, is that which I have mentioned, before, in Vol. I. p. 307. in which i t is- fpoken o f as having hunted an elk-antilope though: it might poflibly be, that this wild beaft was reduced by. extreme hunger to fuch an extraordinary expedient. Th e lion, neverthelefs, is fwift o f foot. Two hunters informed me, that an imprudent and foolhardy companion of theirs, was clofely purfued by a lion in their fight, and very nearly overtaken by it, though he was mounted on an excellent hunter. The lion’s ftrength. is confiderable. This animal was once feen at the Gape to take an:heifer in his,mouth, and though the-legs, of this latter .dragged on the ground, yet feemed C A P E X)TF G O O D H O P E. 55 feemed to carry her off with the fame eafe as a cat does a De!c^;¿ r rat. It like Wife leaped over a broad dike with her, with- Out the leaft difficulty. A buffalo, perhaps, would be too cumberfome for this beaft o f prey, notwithftanding his ftrength, to feize and carry off with him in the manner above-mentioned. Two yeomen, upon whofe veracity I can place fome confidence, gave me the following account relative to this matter. “ Being a hunting near Bofbies-man-rivier w ith feveral ; Hottentots, they perceived a lion dragging a buffalo from the plain to a neighbouring woody hill. They, however, ibon forced it to quit its prey, in -order to make a prize o f it themfelves;. and found that this wild beaft had had the fagacity to take out the buffalo’s large and unwieldy entrails, in order to be able the eaíiér to make off with the fleihy ' and more eatable part of the car-cafe. The wild beaft, however, as foon as he faw from the ikirts o f the wood, that the Hottentots had begun to carry off the flefh to the waggon, frequently -peeped out upon them, and'probably with no little mortification.” The libn’s ftrength, however, is faid not to bfe fufficient alone to get the better of fo large and lirong an animal as the buffalo; but, in order to make : it his prey, this fierce creature is obliged to have recourfe both to agility and iiratagem; infomudh, that ftealiUg on the buffalo, it fattens with both its paws upon the noftrils ■ and mouth of the beaft, and keeps fqueezing them clofe together, till at length the creature is ftrangled, wearied ; out, and dies. A certain colonift, according to report, had ■ had an opportunity o f feeing an attack of this kind ; and 1 others had reafon to conclude, that fomcthing o f this na- * turé
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