lly attacked their flocks and herds.
It was customary for relatives to form parties, and these trekked with
their long ox-waggons far into the northern Transvaal, and oftentimes into
the wilderness beyond the Zambesi. Women and children accompanied the
expeditions and remained behind in the ox-waggons while the men rode away
into the bush to search for buck, giraffe, and lion. Hardy men and women
these were who braved the dangers of wild beasts and the terrors of the
fever country, yet these treks to the north were as certain annual
functions as the Nachtmaals in the churches. Men who went into the wild
bush to hunt for the lions, which had been their only unconquerable enemy
for years, learned to know no fear, and with their wives and children
formed as hardy a race as virgin soil ever produced. With these pioneers
it was not a matter of great pride to have shot a lion, but it was
considered a disgrace to have missed one. To husband their sparse supplies
of ammunition was their chief object, and to waste a shot by missing the
target was to become the subject of good-natured derision and ridicule.
Fathers, sons, and grandsons entered the bush together, and when there was
a lion or other wild beast to be stalked the amateur hunter was initiated
into the mysteries of backwoodsmanship by his experienced elders.
Consequently the Boers became a nation of proficient lion-hunters, and
efficiently ridded their country of the pest which continually threatened
their safety, the safety of their families and that of their possessions
of live-stock.

In later years, when the foreigner who bought his farms and searched for
the wealth hidden on them became so numerous that the Boer appeared to be
an unwelcome guest in his own house, the old-time lion-hunter had
foundation for believing that a new enemy had suddenly arisen. The Boer
attempted to placate the new enemy by means which failed. Afterward a bold
but unsuccessful inroad was made into the country for the purpose of
relieving him of the necessity of ruling it. Thereupon the old-time
lion-fighting spirit arose within the Boer, and he began to prepare for
future hunting expeditions. He stocked his arsenals with the best guns and
ammunition the world produced, and he secured instructors to teach him the
most modern and approved methods of fighting the new-style lion. He
erected forts and stockades in which he might take refuge in the event
that the lions should prove too strong and