They are less brave in those districts where they have been "jaged" by the courageous and stalwart boor with his long loud-cracking "roer." Beyond the frontier, where they have no enemy but the tiny arrow of the Bushman (who does not desire to kill them!) and the slender "assegai" of the Bechuana, the lion has little or no fear of man.
Whether the one, before the eyes of our party, was naturally a brave one, could not yet be told.

He was one with a huge black mane, or "schwart-fore life," as the boors term it; and these are esteemed the fiercest and most dangerous.

The "yellow-maned,"-- for there is considerable variety in the colour of the Cape lions--is regarded as possessing less courage; but there is some doubt about the truth of this.

The young "black-manes" may often be mistaken for the true yellow variety, and their character ascribed to him to his prejudice,--for the swarthy colour of the mane only comes after the lion is many years of age.
Whether the "schwart-fore life" was a fierce and brave one, Von Bloom did not stay to think about.

It was evident that the edge had been taken off the animal's appetite.