Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1858-10-21

induced the modern painter to carlcalur'
the hon, has led the sentimentalist 10 con
slider the lion roar the most terrific of al
earthly sounds. II is, indeed, well calcu
lated to inspire fear, if you hear it in com
bination with the tremendously loud thun
der of that country, on night SO plrehy
dark that every flash of the intensely vivid
lightning leaves you with the impression
of stone blindness, while the rain pours
down SO fast that your fire goes out, leaving
You without even the protection of a tree
or the chance of your gun going of. But
when you are in a comfortable house OF
wagon, the case is very different, and you
hear the roar of the lion without any awe
or alarm. The silly ostrich makes noise
as loud, yet he never was feared by man.
To talk of the majestic roar of the lion is
mere majestic twaddle.
A fact which will probably surprise
most people is that the lion seldom at
acks full gown animals; but frequently,
when a butfalo-caif is caught by him, the
cow rushes to the rescue, and loss from
her often kills him." In more than one in
stance DIR. Livingstone met with the carcase
of lions that had all appearance of having
received their deathblow from buffalo
He thinks it questionable that full grown
buffalo is ever attacked by simple lion.-
1.-The amount of roaring heard at night on
occasions when buffalo is killed, seems to
Indicate there are always more than one
lion engaged in the onslaught" He states,
as circumstance known to him, that n
herd of butfaloes on one occasion kept a
number of lions from their young by ths
males turning their heads to the enemy,
while the cows and the young ones remain
ed quietly in the rear. "One toss from a
bull," he says, "woud kill the strongest
lion that ever breathed." We are told fur
lher: "Lions never 90 near any elephants,
except the calves, which when young are
sometimes torn by them: every living thing
retires before the lordly elephant, yet a full
grown one would be the more easy prey
than the rhinoceros; the lion rushes off at
the mere sight of this latter BEAST"
The lion may be considered as deposed,
then, from his reputed supremacy in the
forest. He has been reigning by false
title, or rather, be has only been said to
reign, while in fact he is mere freebooter,
making havoc where he can, but having,
meanwhile, TO keep a shan, look out TO h,s
OVID safety, lest some stronger brute than
he should bring him to an untimely end
Nevertheless, he is very far from being a
harmless animal. When pressed with
hunger he does sometimes kill men, and
even eat them-provided he encounters
one alone, and without arms to defend
himself. He is likewise dangerous crea-
ture to attack, as if he cannot get out of
the way, he stands at bay and springs up
on the nearest conner with stupendous fu-
ry. The reader has probably heard that
DIR. Livingstone had once an encounter
with lion, of so serious character, that,
while narrow Y escaping with his life, he
bears the effects of it to this hour in dis
abled arm. While living as a missionary
among a tribe of the Bechuanas, the cattle
folds of the village Were several times WIS.,
tied by lions IN the night, and thus many
of the cattle We're destroyed. To put an
end to these ravages, the people, at Lis
suggestion, turned out to hunt
the enemy; II being well known That if one
in a troop OF lions is killed, the Others ;ake
the hint, aud leave the scene Of the disas-
ter. I'VE found the lions" SAYS oul trav-
eller .'oa small hill about a quarter of {.
mile in length, and covered with trees. A
circle OF men was formed round it, and
they gradually closed up, ascending pretty
near 10 each other. Being down below on the
plain with a native schoolmaster, named
Mebalwe, most excellent man, saw one
of the hons sitting on piece of rock with
IN the nuw-closed circle of men. Mebalwe
fired at him before l could, and the bail
struck the rock on which the animal was
sitting He bit at the spot struck, as a dog
does at stick or stone thrown at him;
then leaping away, broke through tie OPEN
ing circle. and escaped unhurt. The men
were afraid to attack him, perhaps on ac-
count of their belief in witchcraft. 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 allow
ed the beasts to burst through also. See
ing 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, l saw one of the beasts sit
ting on piece of rock as before; but this
time be had a little bush in front. Being
about thirty yards off | took good aim
at his body through the bush, and fired
both barrels into it. The men then called
out, He is shot, he is S .otr Others cried,
He has been shot by another man too; let
US go TO himp did not see any one else
shoot at him, but saw the lions tail erect
ed in anger behind the bush, and turning
to the people said, Stop little till l load
again" When in the act of ramming
down the bullets l heard shout. Start
ing, and looking half round, | Saw the lion
just in the act of springing upon me. l
was upon little height; he caught my
shoulder as he sprang, and we came to the
ground below together. Growing horri-
bly, close to my ear, he shook me as ter
rler dog does rat. The shock produced
stupor similar to that which seems to be
felt by mouse after the first shake of the
cat. 1t caused sort of dreaminess, in
which there was no sense of pain nor ell
ing of terror, though l was quite conscious
of all that was happening. 1t was like
what patients partially under the influence
of chlorotorm describe, who see all the op-
peration, but feel not the knife. This sin
gular condition was not the result of any
mental process. The shake annihiIated