THE LUN T . 119 



is of a deep yellowish-brown, the mane and hair 

 upon the breast and insides of the fore legs being 

 ample, thick, and shaggy ; while in the Senegal va- 

 riety, the colour of the body is of a much paler tint ; 

 the mane is much less, does not extend so far upon 

 the shoulders, and is almost entirely wanting upon 

 the breast and insides of the legs. A third variety 

 of the African animal seems also to exist, in which 

 the mane is nearly quite black. It appears to have 

 been one of those which Mr Burchel encountered *. 

 They are reckoned by the Hottentots to be the 

 fiercest and most daring ; an opinion which may be 

 perhaps heightened by the dark and formidable ap- 

 pearance given by the shaggy covering. 



The principal characters of the male lion of both 

 continents is the presence of the shaggy mane, and 

 the tuft at the end of the tail ; and these marks at 

 once distinguish him from all his congeners. The 

 young males do not receive these appendages for 

 > some time, and they increase in length and thickness 

 with their age. According to Frederick Cuvier, it 

 is nearly the third year when they begin to appear ; 

 and it is not before the seventh or eighth that they 

 attain their full and bushy grandeur. When newly 

 whelped, the fur of the lion is of a woolly or frizled 

 texture ; the shade of colour a little darker than at a 

 more advanced period, and they are distinctly clouded 

 or brindled with deep brown, and have a line of the 

 bame dark colour running along the centre of the 

 See p. 85. 



