168 LETTER XXIX. 



beat out eight or ten oi his teeth : and to compel the 

 animal to. return to his lodge, without making any 

 further attempts to seize upon her, thus leaving her 

 in quiet possession of the field. 



It is a vulgar error that the lion is alarmed at the 

 crowing of a cock. He is, however, said to be fright- 

 ened at the appearance of serpents near him. Some 

 of the Moors, induced by this notion, when they are 

 pursued by a lion, are said occasionally to loose their 

 turban entirely out, and wave about the twisted linen 

 so as to make it appear like a serpent. The Sieur 

 Frejus, in his Travels in Mauritania, informs us that 

 this will always have the desired effect of driving the 

 animals away. 



The lion is a long-lived animal, although the pre- 

 cise period of its existence is perhaps unknown. By 

 Button, it is limited to twenty or twenty-two years; 

 but it is certain that its life is of much longer dura- 

 tion. The great lion called Pornpey, which died in 

 the Tower A. D. 1760, was known to have been there 

 above seventy years, and another brought from Af- 

 rica, died in the same place at the age of sixty-three. 



The lioness goes five months with young, and pro- 

 duces three or four at a time. She is less than the 

 lion, and not so fierce, except in defence of her 

 whelps, or in procuring them food, in which cases she. 

 is not inferior to the lion in ferocity, nor less to be 

 dreaded. 



Among the colonists at the Cape of Good Hope, 

 limiting the lion is a favourite diversion. In the day- 

 time, and on the open plain, twelve or fourteen dog>> 

 will master a huge Hon. Although the strength of 

 this animal is so great, that one of them has been 

 known to seize :.m heifer, carry it off with ease, and 

 even when holding it in his raouth, to leap over a 

 ditch apparently without any diiliculty, yet it is not 

 very ileet in running. In hunting, therefore, the 

 dogs soon come up with him: the lion then, with a 

 kind of sullen disdain, turns about and waits the at- 

 tack, shaking his mane, and roaring with a short and 

 broken growl. Tile dogs then rush on him 



