THE LION. 107 



steps, and, instantly returning, struck the lion's forehead so for- 

 cibly with his horns, that the animal was nearly stunned. The 

 goat repeated his blow several times, and the lion was thrown 

 into such confusion, that he was at length obliged to conceal 

 himself behind his master. 



The lion is sometimes held at bay a considerable time by the 

 buffalo ; and it is not always that he proves victorious over other 

 animals, as will appear from the following anecdote : 



A Florentine gentleman had a mule so exceedingly vicious, as 

 to be altogether ungovernable, from its kicking and biting every 

 person that approached it. He ordered it to be turned into the 

 court of his menagerie, and a lion to be let loose upon it. 1 he 

 lion roared aloud when he first observed the animal ; but the 

 mule, without seeming at all alarmed, ran into a corner of the 

 court, and so placed herself that she could only be attacked in 

 the rear. In this situation she waited the onset, at the same time 

 watching with the greatest attention all the motions of her ad- 

 versary. The lion, aware of the difficulty, used all his art, but 

 to no purpose, to throw her off her guard. At last the mule, 

 seizing a favourable opportunity, gave him such a salute in the 

 face with her hind-feet, as to beat out eight or ten of his teeth ; 

 and to compel the animal to retire to his lodge, without making 

 any further attempts to seize upon her, thus leaving her in quiet 

 possession of the field. 



It is a vulgar error, that the lion is alarmed at the crowing of 

 a cock. He is, however, said to be frightened at the appearance 

 of serpents near him. Some of the Moors, induced by this no- 

 tion, when they are pursued by a lion, are said occasionally to 

 loose their turban entirely out, and wave about the twisted linen 

 so as to make it appear like a serpent. The Sieur Frejus, in his 

 Travels in Mauritania, informs us, that this will always have the 

 desired effect of driving the animals away. 



The lion is a long-lived animal, although the precise period of 

 its existence is perhaps unknown. By Buffon, it is limited to 

 twenty or twenty-two years ; but it is certain, that its, life is of 

 much longer duration. The great lion called Pornpey, which 

 died in the Tower, A. D. 1760, was known to have been there 

 above seventy years ; and another, brought from Africa, died in 

 the same place, at the age of sixty-three. 



The lioness goes five months with young, and produces three 

 or four at a time. She is smaller than the lion, and not so fierce, 

 except in defence of her whelps, or in procuring them food, in 

 which cases she is not inferior to the lion in ferocity, nor less to 

 be dreaded. 



The influence of climate which is so visible in the whole arii 

 ;ial race, is strikingly conspicuous in the lion species. Exces- 



