184 THRILLING ADVENTURES IN AFRiCA. 



It is a common thing to come upon a full-grown lion and lioness 

 associating with three or four large ones nearly full grown ; at other 

 times full-grown males will be found associating and htmting to- 

 gether 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 sw^eeps the ground. The color of these 

 manes varies, some being dark, and others of a golden yellow. This 

 appearance 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 in 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 ftill enjoyment of his power, it assumes a yellowish-gray, pep- 

 per-and-salt sort of color. 



THE ROAR OF THE FOREST KING. 



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 fertile districts. 



One of the most striking things connected with the lion is his 

 voice, which is extremely grand and peculiarly striking. It con- 

 sists at times of a low, deep moaning, repeated five or six times, 

 ending in faintly audible 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 thunder. 



At times, and not unfrequently, a troop may be heard roaring 

 in concert, one assuming the lead, and two, three, or four more regu- 



