Reading between the Lions: Religious Responses to Man-eating Lions                             Becky Smith                                   Hillsdale College Honors Program March 31, 2006             The following story is taken from Lt. Col. Patterson’s book, The Man-eaters of Tsavo.  It relates the tale of a notorious man-eating lion in Kimaa, Uganda, that occurred in June 1900, and illustrates the extreme cunning and utter lack of fear that often characterizes lions that have developed a taste for humans. A man-eating lion had taken up his quarters at a little roadside station called Kimaa, and had developed an extraordinary taste for the members of the railway staff.  He was a most daring brute, quite indifferent as to whether he carried off the station master, the signalman, or the pointsman; and one night, in his efforts to obtain a meal, he actually climbed up on to the roof of the station buildings and tried to tear off the corrugated-iron sheets.  At this the terrified baboo in charge of the telegraph instrument below sent the following laconic message to the Traffic Manager: “Lion fighting with the station.  Send urgent succour.”  Fortunately he was not victorious in his “fight with the station”; but he tried so hard to get in that he cut his feet badly on the iron sheeting, leaving large blood-stains on the roof.  Another night, however, he succeeded in carrying off the native driver of the pumping-engine, and soon afterwards added several other victims to his list.  On one occasion an engine-driver arranged to sit up all night in a large iron water-tank in the hope of getting a shot at him, and had a loop-hole cut in the side of the tank from which to fire.  But as so often happens, the hunter became the hunted; the lion turned up in the middle of the night, overthrew the tank and actually tried to drag the driver out through the narrow circular hole in the top through which he had squeezed in.  Fortunately the tank was just too deep for the brute to be able to reach the man at the bottom; but the latter was naturally half paralysed with fear and had to crouch so low down as to be unable to take anything like proper aim.  He fired, however, and succeeded in frightening the lion away for the time being. It was in a vain attempt to destroy this pest that poor Ryall met his tragic and untimely end.  On June 6, 1900, he was traveling up in his inspection carriage…accompanied by two friends, Mr. Huebner and Mr. Parenti.  When they reached Kimaa…they were told that the man-eater had been seen close to the station only a short time before their train arrived, so they at once made up their minds to remain there for the night and endeavor to shoot him.  Ryall’s carriage was accordingly detached from the train and shunted into a siding close to the station, where, owing to the unfinished state of the line, it did not stand perfectly level, but had a pronounced list to one side….[After dinner] they all sat up on guard for some time; but the only noticeable thing they saw was what they took to be two very bright and steady glow-worms.  After events proved that these could have been nothing else than the eyes of the man-eater steadily watching them all the time and studying their every movement.  The hour now growing late, and there being apparently no sign of the lion, Ryall persuaded his two friends to lie down, while he kept the first watch.  Huebner occupied the high berth over the table on the one side of the carriage, the only other berth being on the opposite side of the compartment and lower down.  This Ryall offered to Parenti, who declined it, saying that he would be quite comfortable on the floor; and he accordingly lay down to sleep, with his feet towards the sliding door which gave admission to the carriage. It is supposed that Ryall, after watching for some considerable time, must have come to the conclusion that the lion was not going to make an appearance that night, for he lay down on the lower berth and dozed off.  No sooner had he done so, doubtless, than the cunning man-eater began cautiously to stalk the three sleepers.  In order to reach the little platform at the end of the carriage, he had to mount two very high steps from the railway line, but these he managed to negotiate successfully and in silence.  The door from this platform into the carriage was a sliding one on wheels, which ran very easily on a brass runner; and as it was probably not quite shut, or at any rate not secured in any way, it was an easy matter for the lion to thrust in a paw and shove it open.  But owing to the tilt of the carriage and to his great extra weight on the one side, the door slid to and snapped into the lock the moment he got his body right in, thus leaving him shut up with the three sleeping men in the compartment. He sprang at once at Ryall, but in order to reach him had actually to plant his feet on Parenti, who, it will be remembered, was sleeping on the floor.  At this moment Huebner was suddenly awakened by a loud cry, and on looking down from his berth was horrified to see an enormous lion standing with his hind feet on Parenti’s body, while his forepaws rested on poor Ryall.  Small wonder that he was panic-stricken at the sight.  There was only one possible way of escape, and that was through the second sliding door communicating with the servant’s quarters, which was opposite to that by which the lion had entered.  But in order to reach this door, Huebner had literally to jump on to the man-eater’s back, for its great bulk filled up all the space beneath his berth.  It sounds scarcely credible, but it appears that in the excitement and horror of the moment he actually did this, and fortunately the lion was too busily engaged with his victim to pay attention to him.  So he managed to reach the door in safety; but there, to his dismay, he found that it was held fast on the other side by the terrified coolies, who had been aroused by the disturbance caused by the lion’s entrance.  In utter desperation he made frantic efforts to open it, and exerting all his strength at last managed to pull it back sufficiently far to allow him to squeeze through, when the trembling coolies instantly tied it up again with their turbans.  A moment afterwards a great crash was heard, and the whole carriage lurched violently to one side; the lion had broken through one of the windows, carrying off poor Ryall with him.  Being now released, Parenti lost no time in jumping through the window on the opposite side of the carriage, and fled for refuge to one of the station buildings; his escape was little short of miraculous, as the lion had been actually standing on him as he lay on the floor…. All that can be hoped is that poor Ryall’s death was instantaneous.  His remains were found next morning about a quarter of a mile away in the bush….I am glad to be able to add that very shortly afterwards the terrible brute who was responsible for this awful tragedy was caught in an ingenious trap constructed by one of the railway staff.  He was kept on view for several days, and then shot.[1], [2]               Lions hold a fascination for everyone.  They are often viewed as symbols of power and royalty; all have heard lions called ‘the king of the beasts.’  When lions turn to attacking people, however, an even greater, though macabre, fascination is generated among those not directly affected.  The immediate response of people being attacked is obviously one of great fear and flight from the beast.  What results from this fear, however, varies according to the religious beliefs and background of the people affected.  Often, the phenomenon of man-eating lions is only examined scientifically, but religion and worldview play a significant role in how much man-eating lions become a problem.  Thus, examining man-eating lions only through the scientific eye presents an inadequate study.  The religion and worldview of the people affected should be investigated in addition to the biological reasons why lions turn into man-eaters.             Panthera leo is the scientific classification of lions, of which there are two distinct subspecies, P. leo leo, the African lion, and P. leo persicus, the Asian lion.[3]  Lions were once present over much of the earth, but the only extant ones today live in Africa and the Gir Forest in India.  Europe’s lions probably went extinct before those in any other areas of the world.  Some of the ancient cave drawings in France clearly show lions hunting other animals.[4]  Herodotus wrote that lions were still present in Thrace, and Xerxes encountered lions that attacked his camels in 480 B.C. when he marched through Macedonia.  Aristotle also mentioned lions in his works.[5]  Northern Africa lost its wild lion population during the late 1800’s to early 1900’s.[6]  Lions were once abundant throughout the Middle East, the last ones being seen in the 1940’s in Iran.[7]  Their past abundance is well-documented in the carvings, paintings, and writings left behind by the many previous civilizations to inhabit the Middle East.  These examples demonstrate that human-lion interactions have occurred for as long as people have been recording history.             Lions are a member of the Felidae (cat) family, and are the most gregarious members of this group.  Bruce Patterson writes, “Lions are unique among cats in being social.”[8]  They live in prides ranging in size from two to eighteen lionesses in addition to their cubs and one or two associated males.[9]  The habits of the lions and their survival are a direct result of the highly social structure of the pride.  Females cooperate with one another to such an extent that they will nurse any of the pride’s cubs, not just their own.[10]  They also defend the pride’s common territory from other lions and invaders.  Lions in the wild generally live between eight to ten years, while lions in captivity have been known to live for up to twenty-five years.[11]             Lions, being very adaptable, can live many places, but prefer woodlands, grassy plains, and regions filled with what is called nyika, or sun-bleached, leafless, and thorny dwarf trees.[12]  Their territories range from 15-100 square miles, depending upon the amount of available food and water.[13]  Lions’ prey varies depending on what species are present in each different region and what the lions have learned from each other’s example as the easiest food to obtain.  Ungulates, such as zebra, wildebeest, springbok and oryx, are the most common prey, but lions will also eat porcupines, baboons, lizards, and other small animals.  They also are known to scavenge dead animals and take prey away from hyenas.[14]  Occasionally larger groups of lions will attempt to take down an African buffalo or larger animal, but these efforts can result in extensive injuries to the lion from the horns and hooves of the buffalo.[15]             Lions hunt with the members of their pride, as this gives them a better chance of capturing their dinner.  The benefits of this sociality are seen when the rates of successful hunts are compared between solitary lions versus groups of lions.  Solitary lions successfully kill 17-19 percent of the prey they stalk; prides working together have a 30 percent success rate.[16]  Often, several lions will act as ‘wings’ that drive the prey towards a waiting lion, like the ‘center’ in a sports game.  The center lion will then attack and kill the prey.[17]  All the members of the pride will circle around the animal and consume it, with the largest members of the pride getting the “lion’s share.”[18]  Lionesses teach their cubs to hunt by example; they often impart unique hunting traits to their offspring so two prides living next to each other may have radically different hunting and prey preferences.[19]             A combination of reasons influences the deviation of a lion from its normal habits into a man-eater that attacks and eats humans, as Bruce Patterson explains in his book, The Lions of Tsavo.  First, with increased human activity comes increased human-lion interaction.  The carnivores may lose some of their fear and distrust of humans and their activities and scents.  This increased opportunity for an easy meal may be too tempting for these desensitized lions.[20]  Second, man-eating lions are often old and infirm or injured.  This is probably the most common reason lions turn humans into their prey.  The older a lion becomes, the greater the degeneration of his eyes and teeth, which prevents him from catching his normal prey.  Unarmed humans present an easy target for these aged lions to kill.  Lions also hunt humans as a compensation for many different types of injuries, including kicks in the face and teeth from large prey and poachers’ snares caught tightly around lions’ necks.[21]  Occasionally young lions will turn into man-eaters due to the influence and teaching of their mothers.[22]             Prey availability is the third main reason lions turn into man-eaters.  Some of the regions they inhabit have sparser game than others, which necessitates a broader range in the leonine diet  Sometimes the lions become pests when they add the livestock of rural Africans to their diets.  This helps breed familiarity with human activities and smells.[23]  Also, during the rainy seasons, different species of prey are able to increase their grazing grounds with the increased availability of water sources, which makes it harder for lions to catch adequate food.  During the dry season, the game is located near a few water holes, around which the lions have a readily available food source.[24]  Lions’ prey is also depleted by droughts, famines, and epidemics, which can cause further human depredations.  Lions are not alone in this capacity for man-eating, as tigers in India also kill humans for food when other prey is absent.[25]             Lion behavior may also be influenced by the burial practices of some African tribes and other cultures.  The Hindu workers on the Ugandan Railway at Tsavo often ceremoniously left their dead unburied out in the bush.[26]  Most African tribes, however, practiced burying their dead.  Mbiti notes, “Yet, in other societies the dead body might be thrown into a river or bush where it is eaten by wild animals and birds of prey.”[27]  For example, the Maasai tribe in Africa believed that burial was detrimental to the ground; thus they depended on wild animals to take care of their dead left in the bush.  During great famines and violence, tribesmen often leave fellow humans to die on the side of the road at the mercy of the scavengers, such as lions and hyenas.  Lions will resort to scavenging if they do not catch their own prey quickly enough, even if they are scavenging on human flesh.  Connecting the taste of dead human flesh with live human flesh is another possible reason some lions degenerate into man-eaters.[28]  These scientific reasons behind man-eating lions constitute a good beginning for an examination of the problem from the lion’s perspective.              The human perspective has not been examined as thoroughly, however, especially where religion is concerned.  Besides the initial repulsion and fear, the human response to man-eating lions varies greatly depending on the era and, more importantly, the religious worldview of the people involved.  Most African tribes view everything in this world in a spiritual or religious manner.  This occasionally causes man-eating lions to be viewed as demons or spirits that have come to punish or haunt the tribe.  Western Europeans and Americans have a different worldview, based upon Christianity’s influences and the prevalent materialism of today.  These influences do not allow fear of the man-eating lions to prevent the hunting and killing of the lions.[29]             A brief generalization of African religious practices is necessary to understand the worldview of many African tribes.  Perhaps the most important point to remember is stated by John Mbiti: “Religion is the strongest element in traditional background, and exerts probably the greatest influence upon the thinking and living of the people concerned.”[30]  Parrinder also states, “Material and spiritual are intertwined, the former as a vehicle of the latter.”[31]  Thus, every event in African life is given a spiritual significance.  Because of this significance, it would be appropriate to view their response to man-eating lions as a distinctly religious response.  Another important aspect to remember when looking at traditional African religions is that they are based on an all-pervasive sense of community and family, rather than the individual, as Western religion has come to emphasize.[32]  Finally, if religious practices have slackened off in a region of Africa, a crisis of any sort, including attacks by ferocious man-eating lions, will cause a revival of religious practices.[33]             African religions often follow a hierarchy or chain of being, although it may not be explicitly taught as doctrine.  This hierarchy is anthropocentric, meaning that everything is based on human terms.  God, or some over-arching spirit or being over the lesser gods, is “the ultimate explanation of the genesis and sustenance of both man and all things.”[34]  Some tribes make God responsible for anything they cannot explain by other more tangible means, as well as crediting him with the forces that infuse the universe.  Spirits occupy the next level of the hierarchy, and they have the potential of dwelling in everything.  Idowu writes, “Spirits, according to African belief, are ubiquitous; there is no area of the earth, no object or creature, which has not a spirit of its own or which cannot be inhabited by a spirit.”[35]  This category also includes the spirits of the dead.  Man follows next the spirits in the hierarchy, which includes those currently alive as well as the unborn.  Animals and plants constitute the fourth category, and the fifth is composed of non-living objects.[36]  Some humans are able to interact with many different levels of this hierarchy.  “A few human beings have the knowledge and ability to tap, manipulate and use [the force], such as the medicine-men, witches, priests and rainmakers, some for the good and others for the ill of their communities,” explained Mbiti.[37]  This basic hierarchy helps to understand some of the following African religious practices and beliefs.             Spirits form an intrinsic part of traditional African religion, whether they are spirits of the dead or not.  Many of the traditional African beliefs about death and the afterlife influence the events in the daily life of an African.  They believe that when a person dies, his spirit is still kept alive as long as his family and friends remember him on earth.  Mbiti calls these spirits those of the ‘living-dead.”[38]  Those still living have the responsibility to obey the wishes and commands of the living-dead, or else they fear retaliation by the spirits.[39]  The numerous other spirits on the earth are neither good nor evil in and of themselves, but they can be influenced by humans to perform both good and evil purposes.[40]  Some African reports recount seeing spirits in the faint, indistinct shapes of humans, animals, plants, and inanimate objects.[41]  Whether or not these spirits are real or imaginary is not important, Mbiti notes; their effect is a real one on the thoughts, actions, and everyday life of the African people.[42]             The influence of medicine men, witchcraft, and sorcery represents a way in which this belief in spirits and mystical powers affects the African life practically.  Medicine men are considered as integral to the communities of which they are a part.  They practice what some would call ‘white magic,’ combating the ‘black magic’ of witches and sorcerers, as well as administering traditional medicines to the ill.  Mbiti summarizes the view of medicine men in relation to illness and healing: Suffering, misfortune, disease, and accident, are all ‘caused’ mystically, as far as African peoples are concerned.  To combat the misfortune or ailment the cause must also be found, and either counteracted, uprooted, or punished.  This is where the value of the traditional medicine man comes into the picture.  So long as people see sickness and misfortunes as ‘religious’ experiences, the traditional medicine man will continue to exist and thrive.[43]   Mediums, diviners, rainmakers, kings, and priests are other of African spiritual leaders who exercise their powers for good.             Several different groups of people who use the forces of the universe for evil include witches and sorcerers, who are despised and feared in African society.  Most Africans do not make a distinction between these different types of black magic, but view them all as extremely detrimental to the fabric of society, and thus to be hated.[44]  One of the specific beliefs about sorcerers is that “they send flies, snakes, lions or other animals to attack their enemies or carry disease to them.”[45]  Another common belief is that sorcerers or witches can change into animals to attack enemies themselves, a power called lycanthropy.[46]  John Taylor records one instance where some Africans had caught a wizard and locked him up.  The wizard escaped, allegedly changing into a lion once he reached the bush.[47]  These religious beliefs should be considered when the phenomenon of man-eating lions is examined.             Recorded examples of man-eating lions in Africa abound, spanning the years since the Western world began exploring the continent until today.  Many more examples have remained unrecorded, even in the modern age of computers and the internet.  Bruce Patterson writes, “Few people appreciate the extent to which man-eating still governs the lives of people living in and around natural areas that harbor big cats.  The victims are typically natives whose lives seldom intersect—emotionally or economically—with our lives in the industrialized world.”[48]  Another author theorizes that not much news is heard today about man-eating lions due to the large safari tourism industry in African countries.  These countries cannot afford to lose revenue from tourists and thus do not publicize potential dangers from lions or other wildlife.[49]  There are also some areas in Africa that seem to be continually plagued by man-eating lions, especially the East African coastal areas.  One of these areas is found in modern day Tanzania.[50]             Five different examples of man-eating lions serve as representative of the many other examples present in recorded history.  The examples are the two man-eaters of Tsavo, the man-eater in Rhodesia called Chiengi Charlie, the fifteen lions of Tanganyika, the man-eater of Mufwe, and the man-eater of Maiembi.  Through these examples, the different religious beliefs of the specific people are highlighted, which in turn demonstrates how religion and worldview affect the outlook on man-eating lions, in addition to a scientific outlook.  If a lion has turned into a man-eater, a certain ‘point’ is often crossed in the minds of the tribal leaders and people, after which they view the lion as demon-possessed or a weapon of a sorcerer or witch.  At this point, the Africans often let this belief hamper and prevent them from cooperating to hunt and kill the man-eater.             The lions of Tsavo initiated a ‘Reign of Terror’ that lasted approximately nine months.  During the last three weeks before their demise in December 1898, the lions shut down the British Empire’s ambitious Ugandan railway project.  These two lions are perhaps the most famous and most studied man-eating lions, although they did not kill as many people as other man-eaters have.  Lt. Colonel Patterson wrote a book about his experiences and problems in Africa, beginning with the man-eaters of Tsavo.  Tsavo is located in modern day Kenya and still has a higher incidence of man-eating lions than other areas in the African bush.[51]  Patterson was transferred to Africa to supervise the building of a certain tricky section of the Uganda Railway, including a bridge over the Tsavo River.[52]  The British brought men west from India to work on the railway, “some thousands of Indian coolies and other workmen,” in Patterson’s words.[53]  Some of these coolies were Hindu while others were Muslim, which created not a few conflicts while Patterson was in charge.[54]  Some African tribesmen were also involved in the railroad work, but most of these were Swahilis from further south in Africa.  The native tribes in Tsavo were the Wa Kamba, the Wa Nyika, and the Wa Taita, and they did not work on the railway project.[55]             After the beginning attacks of these two lions, the railroad workers began to suspect that these lions were actually supernatural.  Patterson writes, Their methods then became so uncanny, and their man-stalking so well-timed and so certain of success, that the workmen firmly believed that they were not real animals at all, but devils in lions’ shape.  Many a time the coolies solemnly assured me that it was absolutely useless to attempt to shoot them.  They were quite convinced that the angry spirits of two departed native chiefs had taken this form in order to protest against a railway being made through their country, and by stopping its progress to avenge the insult thus shown to them.[56]   Nevertheless, Patterson hunted these lions in all of his spare time.  They continually eluded him and then moved away for several months to other nearby locales, where they continued to wreak havoc.  The lions returned to Tsavo and the railway camps in November, and by the first of December, the coolies were so terrified that they refused to work on the railway any longer.  Hundreds of them fled away from Tsavo to the African coast, completely halting the railroad work for three weeks.  Patterson came close to killing one of the man-eaters, but only succeeded in wounding him.  This caused the coolies still left to be “more than ever confirmed in their belief that the lions were really evil spirits, proof against mortal weapons.”[57]  After more hunting and close calls, Patterson eventually shot and killed the first of the two lions.  When he was able to shoot the second lion, all the coolies came back, and work resumed as normal on the railroad.  The lions took a toll of “no less than twenty-eight Indian coolies, in addition to scores of unfortunate African natives of whom no official record was kept.”[58]             Not much was recorded about the reaction of the African tribes to these lions, as the Indian coolies were more important to Patterson and the British government’s work.  After Patterson killed the first man-eater, however, he said that “great rejoicings were kept up for the remainder of the night, the Swahili and other African natives celebrating the occasion by an especially wild and savage dance.”[59]  Then after Patterson killed the second man-eater, “the news of the death of the second “devil” soon spread far and wide over the country, and natives actually traveled from up and down the line to have a look at my trophies and at the “devil-killer,” as they called me.”[60]  These bits of information do not exactly say how the native Africans reacted to the man-eaters they regarded as devils; yet perhaps their reactions influenced those of the Indian coolies to run away from Tsavo.             The scientific explanation of the Tsavo man-eaters notes that they were old lions with previous debilitating injuries.  The first man-eater had several teeth lost or damaged, in such as way as to cause him to prevent him from hunting normally.[61]  The lions also reigned in terror over the region during a time of acute famine in that region of Africa.  Patterson records an instance when he shot a leopard and was about to skin it, when some Wa Kamba men arrived, skinned the leopard for him, and then immediately ate the meat raw.[62]  Bruce Patterson quotes from a British government report from 1899, which recorded a drought in Eastern Africa that caused a famine so severe as to necessitate shipments of grain from India.  In spite of this help, from 1897-1901, hundreds, if not thousands, of Africans died and were left along the roadsides.  The lions of Tsavo may have begun scavenging from these corpses, thus forming a man-eating habit that easily changed to hunting living humans.[63]  One belief of the Wa Taita, recorded by John Patterson, may have encouraged the lions of Tsavo to become man-eaters.  He writes, Like most other natives of Africa, the Wa Taita are exceedingly superstitious, and this failing is turned to good account by the all-powerful “witch-doctor” or “medicine man.”  It is, for instance, an extraordinary sight to see the absolute faith with which a Wa Taita will blow the simba-dawa, or “lion medicine,” to the four points of the compass before lying down to sleep in the open.  This dawa…consists simply of a little black powder…the Wa Taita firmly believes that a few grains of this dust blown round him from the palm of the hand is a complete safeguard against raging lions seeking whom they may devour; and after the blowing ceremony he will lie down to sleep in perfect confidence, even in the midst of a man-eater’s district.  In the nature of things, moreover, he never loses this touching faith in the efficacy of the witch-doctor’s charm; for if he is attacked by a lion, the brute sees to it that he does not live to become an unbeliever, while if he is not attacked, it is of course quite clear that it is to the dawa that he owes his immunity.[64]   This first example of the Tsavo lions demonstrates how native superstitions harmed efforts to free the natives and workers from the scourge on the surrounding land and people. Fig. 1  The man-eaters of Tsavo as seen in the Chicago Field Museum.[65]   The second example of a man-eating lion that terrorized people is that of Chiengi Charlie.  He lived in Rhodesia, or the Belgian Congo, in 1909, near the village of Chiengi.  In January 1909, this lion began killing and eating people, terrorizing them, and continuing to do so for the next several months.  Guggisberg writes, “Panic spread through the whole country.  The natives were petrified with terror, and nobody dared to lift a finger against the killer.”[66]  A British officer, James Dunbar-Brunton, attempted to shoot or poison the lion, but the lion outwitted all efforts against his life.  When Dunbar-Brunton trapped the lion in a nearby gorge and needed the Africans’ help to drive the lion out, “the natives were apparently convinced that the spirit of a deceased chief had entered the animal,”[67] and would not help.  Soon after, Dunbar-Brunton was transferred to a different area of Africa, so a local English magistrate helped organize hunts for the lion.  He realized that Chiengi Charlie had been joined by two other man-eaters, all of whom fearlessly attacked the nearby villages.  Eventually, a gun trap did kill two of the lions, including Chiengi Charlie, and after that, no more was heard of the third lion.[68]  This example of Chiengi Charlie highlights how the religious superstitions of the African tribes held them back from proactively protecting themselves from these lions.  They thought that the lions were a punishment from an incensed spirit and did not want to further irritate the spirit by trying to hunt the lion.  Biologically, this is an example of how lions can teach each other to become man-eaters, when the other two lions joined Charlie in preying on humans.  This information is also valuable to help halt the problem of man-eating lions.  If one man-eater can teach his habits to other lions, the value of hunting and killing the problem lions right away is seen.  They will not be able to pass their habits on and magnify the problem.             The next example is taken from what was once called Tanganyika, and today is located near where modern Zambia, southern Tanzania, and Malawi all meet.  This area has been notorious for it high incidence of man-eating lions throughout the years.  Taylor wrote in 1959, “the entire Lindi province in Tanganyika is infested with the brutes.”[69]  A paper written in January 2006 stated that in southern Tanzania “since 1990, lions have killed close to 600 people and injured at least another 300.”[70]  This same area—specifically the Njombe district of Tanganyika—is where quite possibly the worst recorded case of man-eating lions occurred.  Beginning in 1932 and lasting until 1946, fifteen lions killed between 1,500-2,000 people in an area comprising 1500 square miles. [71]  This horrible predation was allowed to continue directly because of the religious and superstitious beliefs of the Africans, compounded by the influence of Matamula, a powerful witch doctor.  Matamula Mangera had been forced from a position of authority as headman of a village under charges of corruption.  He threatened that unless he were restored to authority, more people would be killed by the man-eaters, which obeyed his commands. [72]  Then in 1945, George Rushby was appointed head Game Warden of Tanganyika.[73]             This sets the background for the story of how Rushby hunted these man-eaters.  It was nine years before anyone even to begin to hunt these lions.  When an attempt by some Italians failed, no one else tried to hunt the lions.  The lions were rarely even mentioned outside of the Tanganyika region, let alone inside it.[74]  When Rushby arrived there six years later, he did not realize the seriousness of the situation until District Commissioner Wenban-Smith telegrammed him saying, “I beg you to apply earliest attention to man-eaters stop conditions in this District pathetic.”[75]  The Africans would not help Rushby at all out of abject fear.  Some believed that under Matamula’s control, the lions were simba mtu, or werlions, the result of men returning from the dead and taking on the appearance of a lion, or even living people with the ability to magically change from human to lion and back again.[76]  Others believed that Matamula and two trusted followers kept these real man-eaters in a secret location, and would command the lions to kill specific people at night.  Matamula used this fear to accept bribes and tribute from the Africans, becoming wealthy in the process.[77]  Rushby finally managed to break through this wall of fear when a local subchief, Jifiki, explained the history and politics surrounding Matamula.[78]             Rushby had a hard time hunting the man-eaters of Njombe, as they were incredibly cunning and had developed habits over the past fifteen years unlike those of normal lion prides.  He noted that, “…if a man-eater continues to kill and eat people for any length of time it develops an almost supernatural cunning.  This often makes the hunting down and killing of such a lion a lengthy and difficult task.”[79]  These lions proved true to Rushby’s observation, as it took over a year for all of the man-eaters to be killed.  It took over six weeks for Rushby to kill the first man-eater.  Rushby said that during this time the “local opinion that I was wasting my time hunting the lions” was strengthened.[80]  After two lions were shot, the Africans told Rushby that they were happy that he “had shown them the lions were not invulnerable.”[81]  Gradually, more and more of these man-eaters were shot or speared by Rushby and some of his African rangers.             At the same time, however, Matamula was maneuvering politically to regain his authority as chief.  Rushby called his actions “shrewd and cunning,” and writes that Matamula “realized that my Game Scouts and I would eventually destroy all the lions, as I had promised to do in several open barazas.”[82]  Taking advantage of a change in the office of the British District Commissioner, the Paramount Chief of Tanganyika agreed to give Matamula authority again.  About a month after this happened, the last man-eater was killed.  Unfortunately for Rushby, the local people believed the lion killings had stopped not because of the death of the lions, but because of Matamula’s return to power.[83]  This example highlights the extreme effects that belief in religions and superstitions can have upon the African tribes with regard to man-eating lions.  It also illustrates how some tribal leaders and witch doctors take advantage of these superstitions to advance themselves monetarily and politically.[84]             One final example of how an African tribe let their religion dictate their response to a man-eater occurred in 1991 in eastern Zambia.  The local Kunda tribe has a high standard of living for rural Africa, using capital from safari groups and tourists to build schools, clinics, and roads, among other things.[85]  Thus in this example from modern Africa, the deep-seated superstitions affect even an educated group of people late in the twentieth century.  In this context, the man-eater of Mfuwe killed five people and managed to elude the gun traps set for him.[86]  Then he killed an African woman named Jesleen and the day after re-entered her house in daylight and took her white laundry bag.  Several times he was observed playing with the bag as well as returning to it after leaving it during the night’s excursions.  According to the report written by Hosek, “The village elders counseled and concluded that the bag was bewitched.  The lion, they felt, was most likely a sorcerer, or if not a demon, at the least demon-possessed.”[87]  This conclusion did not result in completely irrational behavior on the part of the Africans, however.  The local authorities instituted a curfew, and the villagers were willing to speak of their experiences with the lion to aid in its death.[88] Wayne Hosek, a Californian, was big game hunting in the area when this all occurred, and he decided to try to kill the man-eater.  After about two weeks of hunting, Hosek finally managed to shoot the lion on September 9, 1991.  When the nearby village heard the rifle shots, they ventured from their houses to celebrate the death of this man-eater.[89]  The Kunda believed that every time a lion is killed, the “Kunda Lion Song” must be sung; yet every time the song is sung when a lion has not been killed, “whoever sings the song will themselves soon be killed by a lion.” [90]  The man-eater of Mfuwe incident illustrates how Africans are still influenced by their religious beliefs in their reaction to a man-eating lion. Fig. 2  The man-eater of Mfuwe in the Chicago Field Museum.[91] The man-eater of Maiembi differs from the previous four examples of man-eating lions in that the fear he caused was not influenced by a belief that he was a demon or the spirit of an irate deceased chief.  This lion lived and died along the Zambezi River, again in eastern Africa, sometime during the first half of the twentieth century.[92]  The local Africans knew the reason why the lion had turned into a man-eater.  A government official wanted a picture of a wild lion, so he arranged for a lion trap to be set, which soon caught a normal lion.  The lion struggled to get free and eventually did so, but without the paw that had been stuck in the trap.[93]  A wound like this one often turns a lion into a man-eater, since wild animals become too hard to catch when defenseless humans are around.  The government official overlooked this fact and thoughtlessly left the lion injured near a populous village.  About a week after the lion escaped, he killed his first victim.  After another person succumbed to the lion, the local chief gathered together the men of the island and tried to drive the lion off.  This only resulted in the man-eater killing two more people, since the villagers did not know how to organize a proper lion hunt.[94]  Eventually the lion moved away from the first village and began terrorizing other villages.  John Taylor, a British professional hunter of man-eaters and marauding elephants, was passing through the region and was asked to kill this lion as the African tribesmen lacked the experience and equipment to do so themselves.  After several days, Taylor finally caught up with the lion and shot him.[95]  From this example, it is seen that when the cause of a lion turning into a man-eater is known, the African tribes will not panic or being to suspect witchcraft is involved.             While African religious beliefs and cultural superstitions often generate an irrational fear of man-eating lions, Westerners often did not have these ingrained fears.  This is associated with the religious backgrounds of Europe and America.  In the five examples cited above, every man-eater was killed directly by a European or American.  These Westerners come from cultures with a worldview brought about by a combination of Christian and materialistic, intellectual influences.  The Christian influence does not dismiss demons as unreal, but it causes people to know that in the end, the demons will not prevail over them.  Thus the Christians do not form an undue fear of man-eating lions.  The materialist and intellectual influences on their worldview often completely divorce the spiritual side of life from the physical.  There is no symbolism of the spiritual in physical objects and events as seen in the African religions.  When Christianity and materialism are combined, many Europeans dismiss or ignore claims that man-eaters are demon-possessed or spirits of dead chiefs.  Speaking of black magic, one European is recorded as saying, “Well, frankly, I think it is all poppycock.  I just don’t think there is anything to it at all.”[96]  However these worldviews are combined, they do not cause people to fear a man-eater so much that they cannot try to hunt it down.  The Western men in the five examples are prime examples of this.             Lt. Colonel Patterson, who killed the lions of Tsavo, was from Victorian England, though he had spent much time working in India and other places of the British Empire.  With this background, he had no qualms about retaliation from devils while hunting the man-eaters.  At some points, he wrote that “it seemed as if the lions were really ‘devils’ after all and bore a charmed life.”[97]  This thought did not prevent him from persevering until the lions were finally killed, however.  He was motivated by several reasons to continue in his hunt, as he also wrote, “As something had to be done to keep up the men’s spirits, I spent many a weary day crawling on my hands and knees through the dense undergrowth of the exasperating wilderness around us.”[98]  Patterson also was an avid hunter, as evidenced by the tales in remainder of his book.  At the beginning of his hunt for the man-eaters, he may have viewed it as an opportunity to add some more trophies to his collection.             Chiengi Charlie roamed Western Africa around the same time as Patterson was hunting the lions of Tsavo; British government officials were again the first to attempt to track the lion down.  Though not much is known about James Dunbar-Brunton and the English magistrate who finally was able to trap the lions, it is safe to assume that they came from the same religious worldview as Patterson.  They were not afraid to hunt the lions as a means of revenging the human deaths and destructions the lions caused. George Rushby and some of the African game wardens killed the lions of Tanganyika, but it was not until Rushby killed the first lion that the Africans lost some of their fear of the lions.  One book stated, “From this point on, the people of the district would realize that the real [lion] was in the vicinity and could be killed without some weird curse to worry about.  If this were so, it would encourage resistance instead of the terrible apathy that had for a decade and a half cost more than 2,000 people their lives….”[99]  Rushby wrote about his views on African religious superstitions, saying, Living so close to the primitive African I came across several things which made me wonder if there wasn’t something in their pagan beliefs, also in witchcraft.  At the time I had some sort of belief but after returning to my own people I sloughed off such half beliefs as readily as a returned African sloughs off the veneer of Western civilization he may have acquired in Europe.[100]   Whatever Rushby’s religious beliefs, his Western worldview was so firmly ingrained that he did not hesitate to direct all his efforts to rout out the man-eaters of Tanganyika.[101]             Wayne Hosek and John Taylor both went to Africa with a thoroughly Western worldview that influenced their interactions with African religions and man-eating lions.  Wayne Hosek grew up in twentieth century America, with all the materialist and Christian influences that implies.  When he went on his hunting safari to Africa, he heard about the problems the man-eater of Mfuwe was causing for the Luangwa Valley tribes as well as several previous hunters.  Hosek, reflecting on the choice of hunting this dangerous lion, later wrote that “…although I had embarked on this safari full of fear and apprehension faced with countless unknowns, I finally decided that a rational man would make changes in the situation that might improve it, if at all possible.”[102]  Hosek hunted the man-eater for the safety of the villagers, especially the children.[103]  During the two weeks it took Hosek to kill the man-eater, he often questioned whether the lion was truly demon-possessed or not, yet he did not stop hunting the lion.[104]  Wayne Hosek’s wish to protect the helpless was not hampered by religious fears that the lion was invulnerable.  John Taylor grew up in Ireland and Britain during the late 1800’s to early 1900’s.  Although the man-eater of Maiembi was not an example of a lion which Africans thought was demon-possessed, Taylor also hunted lions that Africans believed to be products of witchcraft.  He wrote about these beliefs, “Some remarkable coincidences took place while those whites were actually there.  And it is, of course, coincidence that keeps superstition alive.”[105]  Wayne Hosek and John Taylor are thus two additional examples of how the Western religious worldview does not have a deep-seated fear of anything abnormal, including man-eating lions.             These five examples of the African versus the Western methods of dealing with the problem of man-eating lions highlight the importance religion has on these differing attitudes.  The traditional African religious worldview often sees calamities or abnormalities as products of witchcraft or demonic activity.  The abnormality of a man-eating lion is included in this viewpoint.  As a believed product of witchcraft, then, the African will not react rationally in taking steps to solve the problem.  The Western worldview does not contain this culture of spiritual fear and superstition, but rather materialism and some elements of Christianity.  The European and American hunters thus were not inhibited from choosing with a rational mindset and punishing the man-eaters by physical means, as opposed to the spiritual measures of the local tribes.  Due to the Western materialistic worldview, however, religion is not taken into account when examining the problem of man-eating.  Many scientific reasons are proposed, but religion is not included in these studies.  For a full understanding of the matter, the practical affects of both religious beliefs and scientific facts must be studied.  Over the years, it will be interesting to observe if the Westernization and materialization of Africa causes the African religion to lessen in importance so it does not have as great an effect on the actions of the Africans towards man-eating lions.  So long as African religions are based on fear and superstition, their response to man-eating lions will remain the same.[106]       Bibliography   Budge, E. A. Wallis.  The Gods of the Egyptians or Studies in Egyptian Mythology.  2 vols.  1904.  New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1969.   Buxton, Jean.  Religion and Healing in Mandari.  London: Oxford University Press, 1973.   Capstick, Peter Hathaway.  Maneaters.  Los Angeles: Petersen Publishing Co., 1981.   Frank, Laurence, Graham Hemson, Hadas Kushnir, and Craig Packer.  “Lions, Conflict and Conservation in Eastern and Southern Africa.”  Background paper for the Eastern and Southern African lion Conservation Workshop, Johannesburg, South Africa, 11-13 January 2006.   Guggisberg, C. A. W.  Simba: The Life of the Lion.  1st American ed.  Philadelphia: Chilton Company Publishers, 1963.   Hardy, Ronald.  The Iron Snake.  New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1965.   Hosek, Wayne Allen.  “The Man-eater of Mfuwe.”  Copyright 1998.  28 January 2006.  <http://www.fieldmuseum.org/exhibits/exhibit_sites/tsavo/mfuwe_story.pdf>.   Idowu, E. Bolaji.  African Traditional Religion: A Definition.  Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1973.   “Lion.”  Encyclopedia Britannica.  2002 ed.   Mbiti, John S.  African Religions and Philosophy.  New York: Praeger Publishers, 1970.   ---.  Introduction to African Religion.  2nd ed.  London: Heinemann International Literature and Textbooks, 1991.   Melland, Frank H.  In Witch-Bound Africa: An Account of the Primitive Kaonde Tribe and their Beliefs.  1923.  New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 1967.   Murray, Margaret A.  Egyptian Temples.  1931.  New York: AMS Press Inc., 1977.   Nassau, Rev. Robert Hamill.  Fetichism in West Africa: Forty Years’ Observation of Native Customs and Superstitions.  New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1904.   Neal, James H.  Ju-ju in My Life.  London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., 1966.   Parrinder, Geoffrey.  African Traditional Religion.  Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, Publishers, 1954.   Patterson, Bruce D.  The Lions of Tsavo: Exploring the Legacy of Africa’s Notorious Man-Eaters.  New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004.   Patterson, Gareth.  To Walk with Lions: 7 Spiritual Principles I Learned from Living with Lions.  Berkeley, CA: Seastone, 2001.   Patterson, Lt. Colonel J. H., D.S.O.  The Man-eaters of Tsavo.  1907.  Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2004.   Rushby, G. G.  No More the Tusker.  London: W. H. Allen, 1965.   Schaller, George B.  “Lion.”  The World Book Encyclopedia.  2006 ed.   Schneider, Harold K.  “Male-Female Conflict and Lion Men of Singida.”  African Religious Groups and Beliefs: Papers in Honor of William R. Bascom.  Ed. Simon Ottenberg.  Meerut, India: Archana Publications, 1982.   Taylor, John.  Maneaters and Marauders.  New York: A. S. Barnes and Co., 1959.   Toynbee, J. M. C.  Animals in Roman Life and Art.  Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1973. [1] Lt. Colonel J. H. Patterson, D.S.O., The Man-eaters of Tsavo (Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2004), 286-292. [2] On a side note, the man-eater of Kimaa caused much panic among railway employees and the Africans living around the station.  Some of the employees even refused to signal the trains while it was dark outside.  Many of the same fears based on a religious worldview as noted in the examples below were present in this case at Kimaa.  See Bruce D. Patterson, The Lions of Tsavo: Exploring the Legacy of Africa’s Notorious Man-eaters (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004), 33-36 for more information. [3] Bruce Patterson, 106. [4] Gareth Patterson, To Walk with Lions: 7 Spiritual Principles I Learned from Living with Lions (Berkeley, CA: Seastone, 2001), 31. [5] C. A. W. Guggisberg, Simba: The Life of the Lion (Philadelphia: Chilton Company Publishers, 1963), 40. [6] Bruce Patterson, 119. [7] Ibid., 119. [8] Ibid., 121. [9] Ibid., 127. [10] George B. Schaller, “Lion,” The World Book Encyclopedia, (2006 ed.), 341. [11] “Lion,” Encyclopedia Britannica (2002 ed.), 383. [12] J. H. Patterson, 16. [13] Schaller, 340. [14] Bruce Patterson, 124-125. [15] Ibid., 122. [16] Ibid., 121. [17] Ibid., 122. [18] Schaller, 342. [19] Bruce Patterson, 124. [20] Bruce Patterson, 64-65. [21] Ibid., 67-69. [22] Ibid., 83. [23] Ibid., 77-79. [24] Guggisberg, 112. [25] Bruce Patterson, 82. [26] Ibid., 87-93. [27] John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1970), 158. [28] Bruce Patterson, 87-93; [29] There also are several civilizations that have either worshipped lions or used them as a form of human punishment or both.  Among these fall the Romans, the Egyptians, the ancient civilizations in the Middle East (the goddess Cybele was often depicted with lions), and the Persians (the story of Daniel and the lions’ den).  Several references in the Bible also document God sending lions to punish disobedient prophets. [30] Mbiti, 1. [31] Geoffrey Parrinder, African Traditional Religion (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, Publishers, 1954), 27. [32] Mbiti, 2. [33] Ibid., 5. [34] Ibid., 16. [35] E. Bolaji Idowu, African Traditional Religion: A Definition (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1973), 174. [36] Mbiti, 16. [37] Ibid. [38] Ibid., 25. [39] Ibid., 84, 162. [40] Ibid., 79.  There is some disagreement on this point, as stated by an African medicine man “…they, being evil spirits, are always ready to oblige and do mischief.” In James H. Neal, Ju-ju in My Life (London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., 1966), 101. [41] Mbiti, 81. [42] Ibid., 77. [43] Ibid., 169-170. [44] Ibid., 202. [45] Ibid., 200, emphasis mine. [46] Ibid., 201. [47] John Taylor, Maneaters and Marauders (New York: A. S. Barnes and Company, Inc., 1960), 148. [48] Bruce Patterson, 39. [49] Peter Hathaway Capstick, Maneaters (Los Angeles: Petersen Publishing Co., 1981), 32. [50] Guggisberg, 216.  The area was formerly called Tanganyika. [51] Bruce Patterson, 81. [52] J. H. Patterson, 19. [53] Ibid., 18. [54] Ibid., 51. [55] Ibid., 119. [56] Ibid., 20-21. [57] Ibid., 87. [58] Ibid., 107. [59] Ibid., 91. [60] Ibid., 104. [61] Bruce Patterson, 72-74. [62] J. H. Patterson, 117. [63] Bruce Patterson, 87-88. [64] J. H. Patterson, 129-130. [65] Picture taken by Dr. David Stewart, March 2006. [66] Guggisberg, 203. [67] Ibid., 203. [68] Ibid., 202-203. [69] Taylor, 130. [70] Laurence Frank, Graham Hemson, Hadas Kushnir, and Craig Packer, “Lions, Conflict and Conservation in Eastern and Southern Africa,” background paper for the Eastern and Southern African lion conservation workshop, Johannesburg, South Africa, 11-13 January 2006, 5. [71] G. G. Rushby, No More the Tusker (London: W. H. Allen, 1965), 184, 187, 204. [72] Capstick, 36-37. [73] Rushby, 182. [74] Capstick, 38-39. [75] Rushby, 183. [76] Ibid., 187. [77] Ibid., 188. [78] Capstick, 40. [79] Rushby, 183. [80] Ibid., 192. [81] Ibid., 195. [82] Ibid., 188. [83] Ibid., 189. [84] Other examples exist where this type of deception by witch doctors has taken place, though on a smaller scale.  See Guggisberg, page 269, for an example where the local witch doctors ended up extorting payment from the villagers until the villagers understood what was going on.  The Africans killed the witch doctors for their trickery, and a British officer killed the man-eating lion in question. [85] Wayne Allen Hosek, “The Man-eater of Mfuwe” (http://www.fieldmuseum.org/exhibits/exhibit_sites/tsavo/mfuwe_story.pdf, 1998), 5. [86] Bruce Patterson, 41. [87] Hosek, 10. [88] Ibid.,9, 14. [89] Ibid., 20. [90] Ibid., 22. [91] Picture taken by Dr. David Stewart, March 2006. [92] Taylor, 87. [93] Ibid., 88-90. [94] Ibid., 90-94. [95] Ibid., 95-103. [96] Neal, 15. [97] J. H. Patterson, 68. [98] Ibid. [99] Capstick, 43. [100] Rushby, 66-67. [101] It is also interesting to note the African view about Europeans hunting animals in Africa.  Rushby writes on page 64, “The majority of local hunters ignored their own particular taboo when hunting with a European, holding that the European was the actual hunter and in all probability had charms so powerful that they would cancel out their own taboos.” [102] Hosek, 8. [103] Ibid., 9. [104] Ibid., 18. [105] Taylor, 147. [106] Some additional areas of research include looking into the African idea of lion men, the Maasai tribe and their religious beliefs, and other cultures’ religious views about lions, including the Greeks, Romans, Persians, and Jews.