THE LluN. 163 



exceeding rough and prickly, and by licking will 

 easily take off' the skin of a* man's hand; a circum- 

 stance which ought carefully to be guarded against 

 by those who keep lions, or amuse themselves with 

 them, although ever so well tamed; for if this animal 

 once either see or taste blood, his fury is beyond all 

 restraint, and he immediately destroys his victim. 

 Several instances of this kind have been known. 



One gentleman in particular kept a lion which was 

 almost as tractable as a dog, and used to caress his 

 master in the same manner as that animal. The gen- 

 tleman often used to permit him to lick his hands, a 

 familiarity against which he was often cautioned by 

 an intelligent friend. Regardless, however, of this 

 warning, and confiding in the attachment of his favo- 

 rite, he continued the practice until one time the 

 prickly tongue of the lion fetched blood from his 

 hand, upon which the animal forgetting his former 

 affection, instantly flew upon his master and tore him 

 to pieces. 



The general colour of the lion is a tawny yellow; 

 his height from four feet to four feet and a half, arid 

 his length eight or nine feet; but those we see exhi- 

 bited in this country are seldom so large. The for- 

 mation of the ej^e, in regard to the contraction and di- 

 latation of the pupil, is nearly the same in the lion as 

 in the cat: the former cannot, any move than the lat- 

 ter, bear a strong light, and consequently he seldom 

 appears abroad in the day, but prowls about chiefly 

 at night. As the sight of the lion, notwithstanding 

 the fierce sparkling of his eyes, is observed to be de- 

 fective; his smelling appears to be less acute ; and as 

 all living creatures avoid him, he is for the mosl part 

 obliged to have recourse to artifice to lake his prey. 

 Like the tyger, therefore, he bounds upon it from 

 some place of concealment, and on these occasions 

 easily makes springs of eighteen or twenty feet. 

 Sometimes he makes two or three of these bounds ; 

 but if he miss his object he gives up the pursuit, re- 

 turns to his place of ambush, and lies in wait for an- 

 other opportunity. The lion, as well as the ty 



