CHAPTER XIV. 



DWARF LIONS. 



"The thin chameleon, fed with air, receives 

 The colour of the thing to which he cleaves." DRYDEN. 



I AM going to tell you of the lions that I have myself 

 caught and tamed. Only you must not expect thrilling 

 adventures and hair -breadth escapes. The lions that I 

 speak of are little fellows ; and though, were you no bigger 

 than a fly, or at most a fair-sized cockroach, they would 

 lick you up and swallow you whole ; yet, being themselves 

 but dwarfs, they will only squint at you with one eye, 

 change colour a little, and perhaps open their mouths and 

 hiss. If that does not frighten you, I dare say you will be 

 able to capture them without further difficulty. 



Of course if one wants to hunt lions one must go to 

 Africa. There are no lions now in England, though the 

 early inhabitants of our island which perhaps was not 

 then an island people who had not yet learnt the use of 

 metal and who chipped rude weapons of stone, knew them 

 well, perhaps too well. These, however, were the powerful 

 and terrible cat-lions, not the little ground-lions of which 

 I am writing. I do not know that they have ever been 

 found wild in England. But if you are not afraid, and will 

 come with me to the Cape, we will hunt these little lions 

 together; we will capture them, and study their habits. 



