The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1870-06-24
Or. Livingstone's Adventure with
the Lion.

Inc 1olloWing extract from DIR. Liv-
ingstone's account of his adventures in
Africa, during one of his early visits,
may be new to some of our readers: "In
going round the end of the hill l saw
one of the beasts sitting on piece of
rock as before, but this time he had a
little bush in front. Being about thir-
ty yards off, took good aim at his
body through the bush, and fred both
barrels into it. The men then called
out: 'IIe is shot-he is shot y Others
cried: HE has been shot by another
man, too! Let US go to him = ! did
not see any one else shoot at him, but 1
saw the lions tail erected in anger be.
hind the bush, and turning to the peo-
pie, said: stop little till load again.
When in the act Of rainming down
the bullets ! heard shout
"Starting and looking half round, |
saw the lion just in the act Of springing
upon me. was upon little height;
he caught my shoulder as he sprang,
and we both came to the ground below
together. Growing horribly close to
my ear, he shook me as terrier does
rat. This shock produced a stupor sim
iliar to that which seems to be felt bya
mouse after the first shake of cat 1t
caused sort of dreaminess, in which
there was no sense of pain, no feeling
of terror, though quite conscious of all
that was happening. 1t 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 annihi-
lated fear, and allowed no sense of hor-
ror 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 the
benevolent Creator for lessening the
pain of death. Turning round to re-
lieve myself of the weight, as he had
but one paw on the back of my head,
saw his eyes directed towards Mebalwe,
who was trying to shoot him at dis
tance of ten or fifteen yards. His gun,
a flint one, missed fire in both barrels;
the lion Immediately left me, and at
tacking Mebalwe bit his thigh. Anoth-
er man, whose life 1 had saved before,
after he had been tossed by buffalo,
attempted to spear the lion while he
was biting Mebalwe. He left Mebalwe
and caught this man by the shoulders,
but at this moment the bullets he had
| nd hn foil
dead. The whole was the work of
few minutes, and must have been his
paroxysms of dying rage. In order to
| take out the charm from him the Bak-
tala on the following day made huge
bonfire over the carcass, which was de-
clared to be that of the largest lion they
had ever seen. Besides crunching the
bone into splinters, he left eleven teeth
wounds in the upper part of my arm.
A wound from this animals tooth re-
| sembles gunshot wound; It is gener-
ally followed by great deal of slough
ing and discharge and pains are felt per
| iodically ever afterWard. / had on
tartan jacket on the occasion, and be-
lieve 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 inconven-
ience of false joint in the limb. The
man whose shoulder was wounded
showed me his wound actually burst
forth afresh on the same month OF the
following year. This curious point
deserves the attention Of inquirers.