Chapter 12

All the natives of the Gold Coast bear witness to the powers of mimicry evinced by the hyæna; they say that he hides himself in the jungle, and imitates the cries of other beasts till he allures them to his side, when he falls upon and devours them. A gentleman, who long commanded a fortress on the Gold Coast, told me the following story, which confirms the above assertion:--"Some women from the neighbouring village were accustomed to pass the walls of the fort to fetch water after sunset, at the dinner hour of this officer, and made so much noise, that they disturbed him, so he ordered them to take another path. The next evening the noise recurred, and the same order was repeated the next morning; on which the women protested they had gone quite another way. On the third evening, when the laughing and talking were apparently recommencing, a sergeant sallied forth to bring the delinquents into the fort; but to his surprise there were only three hyænas to be seen, whose imitation of human sounds had deceived all those who had heard them on the preceding occasions."

It was long supposed that the hyæna was incapable of attachment, but Mr. Burchell brought one with him from South Africa to this country, which evidently loved his master, and was jealous of other animals. Colonel Sykes procured one in India who followed him about like a dog, played with the sailors on board ship with the greatest good humour, and never forgot his first owner. He was placed in the Zoological Gardens, where, although Colonel Sykes paid him rare visits, he always recognized him amidst the crowd. One day, when the hyæna was asleep, this gentleman suddenly called him by his name; the poor beast as suddenly started on to his legs, looked up, rubbed his head against the bars of his cage, bounded about uttering short cries, looked sorrowfully at Colonel Sykes when he went away, and repeated these manifestations of joy when he returned.

The Spotted Hyæna has been called the Hyæna Capensis, from the belief that it only inhabited South Africa; but it is found as frequently in Guinea as the striped variety, and has just the same propensities. Near the Cape, however, it does more mischief, because colonists have settled themselves there, and their farms afford more valuable prey. They are said to prefer making an attack on strong, vigorous animals, because they run away, and the hyænas can follow them; but the weaker animals turn round and face their enemy, which always intimidates them.

Mr. Steedman, a South African traveller, gives an unmitigated bad character to the spotted hyænas, and says, that such is their preference for human flesh, that they will even pass by the cattle, and seize on children as old as eight years.

The Straand Wolf of the Dutch, or the Villose Hyæna of Dr. Abel Smith, who has done so much for the natural history of Southern Africa, is less common than the other species; and often feeds on the shore, from its preference for those dead animals which are cast up by the sea. If, however, it be pressed by hunger, it commits just as many depredations as the others. It is extremely cunning, conceals itself by day among the mountains, or thick patches of forest, and preys at a great distance from its habitation.

Mr. Pringle confirms Mr. Steedman's accounts of the terrible havoc occasioned by the hyænas of South Africa, and says, that in the district of Somerset, they destroyed seventy foals in one year, belonging to the farmers; he, however, believes, that they never attack human beings by night or by day, and that they come in packs and play the part of four-footed vultures, even devouring their own kindred if they should chance to be killed; but no other beast of prey will eat them, from the offensive rankness of their flesh. The den of a spotted hyæna, that was kept in the Tower about twenty years ago, required some repair. The carpenter nailed a thick oaken plank upon the floor, about seven feet long, putting at least a dozen nails into it, each longer than his middle finger. At one end of this piece of wood, there was a small projection, and not having a proper chisel with him by which he might remove it, the man returned to his shop to fetch one. While he was absent, some persons came to see the animals; and the hyæna was let down by the keeper into the part of the den in which the carpenter had been at work. Directly the beast saw the projecting piece of wood, he seized it with his teeth, tore the plank up, and drew out every nail with the utmost ease; which action will give a good idea of the muscular strength of this creature.

It is impossible to say why there should be such conflicting accounts of the hyæna, given by those whose veracity is undoubted. No one dreads them on the Gold Coast, but they seem to be the terror of all the inhabitants at, and to the north of the Cape, also in Abyssinia, where Bruce called them "the plagues of their lives," and we can scarcely forbear a smile, when we read that one of them stood by his bed-side, with a purloined bunch of candles in his mouth; having found his way to him even through the streets of Gondar.

THE CAT TRIBE.--LIONS.

I must be allowed to give a somewhat more lengthened description than I have bestowed on other animals, to the Felidæ, or Cat-tribe, because the same characters serve for all; size and colour being almost the only difference among those of which I shall treat. Grace and strength are their universal attributes, the latter lying chiefly in the fore parts of their frames; such as their paws, legs, shoulders, neck and jaws; the former in their arched and rounded form, and the extreme suppleness of their joints. Their muzzle is short and round, some of their teeth are of enormous size and strength, their sight is very acute both by night and day; their eyes are set obliquely in the head, and always glare in the dark; and sometimes by day when they are in a rage. It is only in the smaller tribes that the pupil is vertically linear, when the full light causes it to contract. The ears are large, and the sense of hearing much developed. Their smell is not equally perfect, and the roughness of their tongue shews, that their taste cannot be very delicate. This roughness is caused by the horny papillæ, or small projections, with points directed backwards, which cover the tongue, and enable it to lick the flesh from the bones of their food. They have long bristles on each side of the mouth, which form the most sensitive organs of touch; each bristle being inserted in a bed of glands under the skin, communicating with a nerve. The claws of the Felidæ are extremely strong, sharp, and crooked; and all four-feet are furnished with them, five before, and four behind; and the most effective system of muscular contrivance not only gives such force to the fore-paws, that a blow from one of these will fracture a man's skull, but keeps these claws from touching the ground, and enables the animal to draw them back into a sheath. In aid of this, the sole of the foot, and each of the toes, has a soft, elastic pad, or cushion under it, on which they walk, and as they never set the heel to the ground, their footsteps are noiseless, unless they choose them to be otherwise. It is with their formidable claws, and still more formidable teeth, that they tear their prey to pieces.

None of the Feline tribe will eat vegetables, unless domesticated, even then but rarely; and in their wild state, unless pressed by hunger, they will only eat what they themselves have killed. They have an abhorrence of anything which is decomposed. The fur, with the exception of the Lion's mane, and that of the cat, is short, close, and soft; capable, when dressed, of receiving a high polish. Many are striped and spotted with black, and the larger kinds, are generally of a warm, fulvous colour. The domestic cat is, however, often white, black, gray, and brindled; some leopards are black, and there is a small, beautiful wild cat, marked like the panther. All are very wary and cunning, and seldom face their foes. They lie in ambush for them, and suddenly spring upon them, seeming to take a pleasure in prolonging their torments. They are very sensible to caresses and affection, but a blow, or angry word, rouses them to fury. They are certainly capricious, and sometimes without any apparent cause burst into fits of ill temper, therefore are by no means to be trusted, even in the midst of love and docility.

The backward carriage of his head, his majestic stride, and the deliberate manner in which he looks at his enemy, have caused the Lion to be called the king of beasts. He is only occasionally seen in the forests, and inhabits plains, where rocks, or low jungle, afford him a shelter. He, however, retreats before the advance of men, and has now deserted many of those regions where he was once undisputed lord of the country. The Lion of America is altogether different; therefore it may be said, that only Central Asia, and almost all Africa are traversed by him. Formerly the eastern boundary of Europe scarcely formed a limit to his presence; the Arabian literature is full of allusions to him, and the Holy Scriptures constantly attest his presence in Syria, during the times in which they were written.

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.

"The Hottentots traced the lion on foot, discovering his spoor, or track, with surprising dexterity, and found him in a large thicket about a mile distant. The dogs failed to dislodge him, the Mulattoes rode round the jungle, and fired into it, but without effect. At last three Scotchmen determined to march in, provided the Mulattoes would support their fire. Regardless of the warnings of more prudent men, they went in, and, as they thought, found the lion crouched among the roots of a large evergreen bush, glaring at them from under the foliage. They fired and struck, not the lion, but a great block of sand-stone, which they bad mistaken for him; but beyond which he was actually lying. With a furious growl he bolted from the bush; the Mulattoes fled helter-skelter, leaving the Scots with empty guns, tumbling over each other in their haste to escape. In a twinkling he was upon them, with one stroke of his paw dashed John Rennie to the ground, and with one foot upon him, looked round upon his assailants in conscious power and pride, and with the most noble and imposing port that could be conceived. It was the most magnificent thing I ever witnessed; but the danger of our friends was too great to enjoy the picture. We expected every minute to see one or more of them torn to pieces; and yet in their position, one lying under the lion's paw, and the others scrambling towards us, we dared not fire. Fortunately, however, the lion, after steadily surveying us, turned calmly away, drove off the hounds with his heels, as if they had been rats, and bounded over the adjoining thicket like a cat, clearing bushes twelve or fifteen feet high, as if they had been tufts of grass.

"Our comrade had sustained no other injury than a scratch upon the back, and a severe bruise, and we renewed the chase. We found the enemy standing at bay under a mimosa tree. The dogs barked round him, but were afraid to approach; for he growled fiercely, and brandished his tail in a manner that showed he meditated mischief. The Hottentots, by taking a circuit, reached a precipice above him, another party of us occupied a position on the other side of the glen, so that the lion was between two fires; he became confused, we battered away at him, and he fell, pierced with many wounds. He appeared to be full grown, and six years old, measuring eleven feet from the nose to the tip of the tail. His fore leg, below the knee, was so thick, that I could not span it with both hands; his head was almost as large as that of an ordinary ox. His flesh, which I had the curiosity to taste, resembled very white, coarse beef, and was insipid rather than disagreeable."

The ensuing histories are from Mr. Gordon Cumming's pen;--"A buffalo was wounded, and two hunters in pursuit of him were joined by three lions, who also gave chase, and getting before the gentlemen sprang upon the buffalo. The latter, being very large, struggled much; the hunters fired upon the lions, and as each ball struck, the latter seemed to think the blood which flowed came from the buffalo's bones; consequently, two were easily secured, but the third had the sense to walk away.

"The Oryx sometimes fights the lion, and is victorious; but the bodies have been seen lying close together, the lion having been pierced through by the horns of the gemsbok, and as he could not draw them out again, each died from the mortal blow inflicted by, at least, one of them.