88 THE ^ON. 



The Lion at present is an inhabitant of the greater 

 part of Africa, and the warmer districts of India. 

 In the days of antiquity, the range seems to have 

 been much more extended, and reached to the Eu- 

 ropean boundary. Lions were even found in the 

 mountains of northern Greece ; and, according to 

 Herodotus, the camels which carried the baggage 

 of the army of Xerxes were attacked by them in the 

 country of the Pseonians, one of the races of Mace- 

 donia. In Africa, they may now be said to be ex- 

 tirpated from the line of coast, and nearly mark the 

 boundary of civilization; while Mr Bennet remarks, 

 that "In the sandy deserts of Arabia, and in some of 

 the wilder districts of Persia, and in the vast jungles 

 of Hindostan, he still maintains a precarious footing ; 

 but from the classic soil of Greece, as well as from 

 the whole of Asia Minor, both of which were once 

 exposed to his ravages, he has been utterly dislodged 

 and extirpated." 



In both Africa and India, he seems confined to 

 the plains, rather than the wooded and alpine coun- 

 try ; and the forest can scarcely be called the natural 

 abode of the lion, especially when we contrast his ha- 

 bits with some others of the Felinae, which are found 

 only in those of the thickest and most impervious de- 

 scription, and which prowl and display almost as much 

 activity among the branches of the trees as upon the 

 ground. Burchel remarks, " Nor is the title of 

 " King of the Forest" very applicable to an animal 

 which, by myself at least, was never met but on the 



