at their sports and
dances, a monstrous lion, allured, I suppose, by the smell of human
flesh, burst unexpectedly upon them, without warning them of his
approach by roaring, as he commonly does. As they were unarmed, and
unprepared for defence, all but my father instantly fled, trembling, to
their huts; but he, who had never yet turned his back upon any beast of
the forest, drew from his side a kind of knife or dagger, which he
constantly wore, and, placing one knee and one hand upon the ground,
waited the approach of his terrible foe. The lion instantly rushed upon
him with a fury not to be described; but my father received him upon the
point of his weapon with so steady and so composed an aim, that he
buried it several inches in his belly. The beast attacked him a second
time, and a second time received a dreadful wound, not, however without
laying bare one of my father's sides with a sudden stroke of his claws.
The rest of the village then rushed in, and had soon despatched the lion
with innumerable wounds.

"This exploit appeared so extraordinary that it spread my father's fame
throughout the whole country, and gave him the name of the _undaunted
hunter_, as an honourable distinction from the neighbourhood. Under such
a parent it was not long before I was taught every species of the chase.
At first my father only suffered me to pursue stags and other feeble
animals, or took me in his canoe to fish. Soon, however, I was intrusted
with a bow and arrows, and placed with many other children and young men
to defend our rice-fields from the depredations of the _river-horse_.
Rice (it is necessary to observe) is a plant that requires great
moisture in the soil; all our plantations, therefore, are made by the
side of rivers, in the soft fertile soil which is overflowed in the
rainy season. But when the grain is almost ripe, we are forced to defend
it from a variety of hurtful animals, that would otherwise deprive us of
the fruits of our labours; among these one of the principal is the
animal I have mentioned. His size and bulk are immense, being twice the
bigness of the largest ox which I have seen in this country: he has four
legs, which are short and thick; a head of a monstrous magnitude, and
jaws that are armed with teeth of a prodigious size and strength;
besides two prominent tusks, which threaten destruction to all
assailants.

"But this animal, though so large and strong, is chiefly an inhabitant
of the river, wh