IN THE JAWS OF A LION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 948, 12 November 1879, Page 2

IN THE JAWS OF A LION.

I was out after porcupines, and I was lying down one night near a porcupine's hole waiting for him to come out. I had no gun, but only my hunting knife and a large knobkerrie with which to knock the porcupine on the nose, for that, as you know, kills him at once. I did not hear a sound until I found the grass near me move, and a lion put his paw on me and/lifted me up. The brute pressed his claw into me, but luckily my leather belt prevented his teeth front" damaging me, and he carried me by holding on to my belt and coat. If either of these had given way I should have been laid hold of m a far more rough manner. A lion is like a cat m one thing ; he can hold a live creature m his mouth and not damage it, just as I have seen a cat carry a mouse. I knew the nature of the lion well enough to know that if I struggled I should have my neck broken or my head smashed m an inatanfc, so I did not struggle, but quietly drew my knife and thought what best to do. I thought at first trying to strike him m the heart, but I could not reach that part of him, and his skin locked so loose that I feared that I could not strike deep enough, carried as I was. I knew it would be life or death with me m an instant, so, turning myself a bit, I gashed the lion's nose and cut it through. The lion dropped me as I should drop a poisonous snake, and jumped away roaring with pain. He stood for an instant looking at me, but I did not move, and he did not seem to like to carry me again. More than once he came up to within a few yards, licking the blood as it poured from his nose ; but there I remained like a stone, and he was fairly afraid to tackle me again. I know a buffalo and an ox are very sensitive about the nose, and a cat if just tipped on the nose, can't stand it, so I thought a lion might be the same, and so it proved. — " Among the Zulus." By Lieut. -Colonel A. W. Drayson,* R.A.