172 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



associating and hunting together in a happy state of 

 friendship : two, three, and four full-grown male lions 

 may thus be discovered consorting together. 



The male lion is adorned with a long, rank, shaggy 

 mane, which in some instances almost sweeps the 

 ground. The color of these manes varies, some being 

 very dark, and others of a golden yellow. This ap- 

 pearance has given rise to a prevailing opinion among 

 the Boers that there are two distinct varieties of lions, 

 which they distinguish by the respective names of 

 " Schwart fore life" and " Chiel fore life:" this idea, 

 however, is erroneous. The color of the lion's mane is 

 generally influenced by his age. He attains his mane 

 'n the third year of his existence. I have remarked 

 that at first it is of a yellowish color ; in the prime of 

 life it is blackest, and when he has numbered many 

 years, but still is in the full enjoyment of his power, it 

 assumes a yellowish-gray, pepper-and-salt sort of color. 

 These old fellows are cunning and dangerous, and most 

 to be dreaded. The females are utterly destitute of a 

 mane, being covered with a short, thick, glossy coat of 

 tawny hair. The manes and coats, of lions frequenting 

 open-lying districts utterly destitute of trees, such as 

 the borders of the great Kalahari desert, are more rank 

 and handsome than those inhabiting forest districts. 



One of the most striking things connected with the 

 lion is his voice, which is extremely grand and peculiar- 

 ly striking. It consists at times of a low, deep moan- 

 ing, repeated five or six times, ending in faintly audi- 

 ble sighs ; at other times he startles the forest with loud, 

 deep-toned, solemn roars, repeated five or six times in 

 quick succession, each increasing in loudness to the 

 third or fourth, when his voice dies away in five or six 

 low, muffled sounds, very much resembling distant 



