David Livingstone(P 1813/3/19〜1873/5/1, ヴィクトリア朝期のスコットランドの宣教師、探検家)の『Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa 南アフリカにおける宣教師の旅と探検』『アフリカ横断探検記』
- Livingstoneが最初にアフリカに行ったとき:1840年12月8日、蒸気船で当時イギリス領であった南アフリカへ出発、ケープタウンへ到着後移動し、ボチュアナランド(現ボツワナ)のクルマンに居を構える。ロンドンの監督官からの指示を待つ間、布教の拠点となる地方を探し、アフリカ内陸部を北上し方々を探検、クルマンから北東方向へ200マイルの地点にある、マボツァを第一の拠点に設定する。
- その直後、Livingstoneが夜間に野生ライオンに襲われて大怪我をする--- 左腕に噛みつかれ、振り回されているうちに、痛さも恐ろしさも感じなくなった。(死後その傷は彼を識別する身体的な証拠となった。)
- I did not see any one else shoot at him, but I saw the lion’s tail erected in anger behind the bush, and, turning to the people, said, “Stop a little, till I load again.” When in the act of ramming down the bullets, I heard a shout. Starting, and looking half round, I saw the lion just in the act of springing upon me. I was upon a little height; he caught my shoulder as he sprang, and we both came to the ground below together. Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a terrier dog does a rat. The shock produced a stupor similar to that which seems to be felt by a mouse after the first shake of the cat. It caused a sort of dreaminess, in which there was no sense of pain nor feeling of terror, though quite conscious of all that was happening. It was like what patients partially under the influence of chloroform describe, who see all the operation, but feel not the knife. This singular condition was not the result of any mental process. The shake annihilated fear, and allowed no sense of horror in looking round at the beast. This peculiar state is probably produced in all animals killed by the carnivora; and if so, is a merciful provision by our benevolent Creator for lessening the pain of death. Turning round to relieve myself of the weight, as he had one paw on the back of my head, I saw his eyes directed to Mebalwe, who was trying to shoot him at a distance of ten or fifteen yards. His gun, a flint one, missed fire in both barrels; the lion immediately left me, and, attacking Mebalwe, bit his thigh. Another man, whose life I had saved before, after he had been tossed by a buffalo, attempted to spear the lion while he was biting Mebalwe. He left Mebalwe and caught this man by the shoulder, but at that moment the bullets he had received took effect, and he fell down dead. The whole was the work of a few moments, and must have been his paroxysms of dying rage. In order to take out the charm from him, the Bakatla on the following day made a huge bonfire over the carcass, which was declared to be that of the largest lion they had ever seen. Besides crunching the bone into splinters, he left eleven teeth wounds on the upper part of my arm.
- 『それは一種の夢見心地を引き起こす。痛みも恐怖もない。ちょうどクロロフォルムを嗅がされた患者が、手術の様子を全部見ながらメスの感覚がない、と言っているのに似ている……こうした状態は、おそらく肉食獣に殺される動物がみな感じると思われる。もしそうなら、それは死の苦痛をなくすために、慈悲深い創造主が与えてくれたものだろう』
- イギリスのアフリカ探検家リチャード・バートンとジョン・スピークを描いた映画「愛と野望のナイル」(1989年)でも、リヴィングストン博士も登場し、ライオンに押し倒されて意識が薄らいでいきながら、骨をバリバリと咬まれた話をしている。
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