which, the lion became furious, and rushed
to the contest. The elephant turned about to
retreat, and the lion springing upon him from
behind, grappled his flesh with teeth and
claws, and again hung on. The officers fired,
while the elephant kicked with all his might;
but, though the lion was dislodged, he was
still without any mortal wound, and retired
into the thicket, content with what he had
done in return for the assault. The officers
had become too excited to desist; and in the
fever of the moment, as the elephant, for his
part, now directly refused to have anything
more to do with the business, Captain Woodhouse
resolved to dismount, and go on foot
into the jungle. Lieutenant Delamain and
Lieutenant Laing dismounted with him, and
they followed in the direction the lion had
taken. They presently got sight of him, and
Captain Woodhouse fired, but apparently
without any serious injury, as they saw " the
mighty lord of the woods " retire deeper into
the thicket " with the utmost composure."
They pursued, and Lieutenant Delamain got
a shot at the lion. This was to be endured
no longer, and forth came the lion, dashing
right through the bushes that intervened, so
that he was close upon them in no time. The
two lieutenants were just able to escape out
of the jungle to re-load, but Captain Woodhouse
stood quietly on one side, hoping the
lion would pass him unobserved. This was
rather too much to expect after all he had
done. The lion darted at him, and in an
instant, " as though by a stroke of lightning,"
the rifle was broken and knocked out of his
hand, and he found himself in the grip of
the irresistible enemy whom he had
challenged to mortal combat. Lieutenant Delamain
fired at the lion without killing him, and
then again retreated to re-load. Meantime,
Captain Woodhouse and the lion were both
lying wounded on the ground, and the lion
began to craunch his arm. In this dreadful
position Captain Woodhouse had the presence
of mind, and the fortitude, amidst the horrible
pain he endured, to lie perfectly still— knowing
that if he made any resistance now, he
would be torn to pieces in a minute. Finding
all motion had ceased, the lion let the arm drop
from his mouth, and quietly crouched down
with his paws on the thigh of his prostrate
antagonist. Presently Captain Woodhouse,
finding his head in a painful position,
unthinkingly raised one hand to support it,
whereupon the lion again seized his arm, and
craunched it higher up. Once more,
notwithstanding the intense agony, and yet more
intense apprehension of momentary destruction,
Captain Woodhouse had the strength of
will and self-command to lie perfectly still.
He remained thus, until his friends discovering
his situation, were hastening up, but upon
the wrong side, so that their balls might
possibly pass through the lion, and hit him.
Without moving, or manifesting any hasty
excitement, he was heard to say, in a low
voice, " To the other side!— to the other side!"
They hurried round. Next moment the magnanimous
lion lay dead by the side of a yet
stronger nature than his own.

Diedrik Müller, during his hunting time
in South Africa, as related in the work previously
quoted, came suddenly upon a lion.
The lion did not attack him, but stood still—
as though he would have said, " Well, what
do you want here in my desert ? " Müller
alighted from his horse, and took deliberate
aim at the lion's forehead. Just as he drew the
trigger, his horse gave a start of terror, and
the hunter missed his aim. The lion sprang
forward; but, finding that the man stood
still— for he had no time either to remount
his horse, or take to his heels— the lion
stopped within a few paces, and stood still
also, confronting him. The man and the
lion stood looking at each other for some
minutes; the man never moved; at length
the lion slowly turned, and walked away.
Müller began hastily to re-load his gun. The
lion looked back over his shoulder, gave a
deep growl, and instantly returned. Could
words speak plainer? Müller, of course, held
his hand, and remained motionless. The lion
again moved off, warily. The hunter began
softly to ram down his bullet. Again the lion
looked back, and gave a threatening growl.
This was repeated between them until the
lion had retired to some distance, when he
bounded into a thicket.

Impressed in various ways by these exciting
scenes of savage life and death, how
peculiarly soothing and quieting— we might say,
humanising— is the effect produced on the
mind and feelings by turning to a work like
the " Observations in Natural History," where
we find a benevolent and indefatigable country
clergyman lising before daybreak, and
wandering about the dewy fields, and through
the misty woods, and down quiet green lanes,
noting all objects, signs, and tokens, by which
the nature and habits of living creatures
are displayed. " I have occasionally had the
curiosity," says Mr. Jenyns, " to note down
the exact time at which the different species
of birds are first heard on a fine summer's
morning." On a certain day he heard the
skylark up and singing at two in the morning;
next, at twenty minutes after two, he heard
the cock crow; at three o'clock the thrush
sang; at ten, fifteen, and twenty minutes
after each other, came the song and cry of the
yellowhammer, the swallow, the blackbird,
the duck, ring-dove, rook, &c. On another
morning the cock was up first, but the
skylark was again the first of the singing birds;
then came the rooks (a few) cawing doubtfully,
as if not quite awake; the thrush singing,
the ring-dove cooing, &c. On another occasion,
the cock was up and crowing at fifty-one
minutes after one o'clock in the morning; then
the skylark rose and sang, the ring-dove
cooed at two o'clock, the duck quacked, the
blackbird sang, the redbreast, swallow, thrush,