CAT. 



7-27 



the plenty which is to be the consequence of the 

 storm, and we must suppose, that as the lion is part 

 of the system, he is affected in common with the rest, 

 Indeed his share comes first, and in this respect at 

 least he deserves his common title of king of the 

 beasts; but this enjoyment is death to the rest; and 

 as they are thrown off their guard by the excitement 

 of the time, he is enabled to commit far more havoc 

 than usual ; and, as if he loved the sport, he, on these 

 occasions, is said to kill far more than he is able 

 to eat. 



The first part of the storm consists of lightning and 

 thunder, the former very vivid and the hitter corre- 

 spondingly loud ; and both are so incessant, that the 

 eye of the excited lion would glare, and his voice roar, 

 in vain, either for the alarm of any animal or for the 

 warning of its danger. The wondering animals crowd 

 into masses and stand exposed in the open places, 

 betrayed to the eye of their murderer by the incest 

 Saul gleaming of the lightning; this continues after the 

 clouds have given way, and while the wind blows in 

 hurricanes and the rain falls in floods. 



It is but seldom that men have the opportunity of 

 beholding these sublime displays of natural power; 

 but sometimes the lions get so excited and emboldened 

 upon those occasions, that they attack the domestic 

 animals close by the habitations of remoter colonists, 

 and carry their war into the heart of the villages of 

 the native Africans, to make reprisals for the injury 

 done to them by the poisoned arrow and the assagay 

 in more peaceful times. Thus it is in the midst of 

 the mightier commotions of nature, when man must 

 keep within his shelter, when all appears going to 

 wreck, and when much is actually so going, that the 

 power of the lion is fully displayed. 



We shall close our notice of this much, long, and 

 not unjustly celebrated animal, with only a few short 

 observations. There is this resemblance between the 

 lion, which, when he has the advantage of his spring, 

 is unquestionably the most powerful beast of prey, 

 and the eagle, which, when she has the advantage of 

 her stoop, is as unquestionably the most powerful of 

 predatory birds, that in all cases where the stroke, or 

 the clutch of the claws, is sufficient to occasion the 

 death of the prey, that prey is never touched with the 

 mouth until life is extinct; whereas in the less powerful 

 animals of both classes, the mouth is called in to assist 

 the other weapons from the very beginning of the at- 

 tack. Farther, the lion's whelps, before they have their 

 tusks or their protractile claws, are exceedingly playful ; 

 and they are suckled for about twelve months. The 

 lioness is naturally much weaker and also milder of 

 disposition than the lion, and does not hunt so large 

 prey for the supply of her own appetite; neiiher 

 does she prowl so much by night in the bare and dry 

 deserts, or play so bold a part during the breaking of 

 the storms. But her attachment to her young is very 

 strong, and in defence of them, or in quest of food for 

 them when they are hungry, she is quite as ferocious 

 and even more indifferent to personal danger than the 

 lion himself. When lions are young and vigorous, 

 they seldom appear without the brakes and forests ; 

 but when they grow old, and are incapable of so con- 

 stant or so powerful motions, they venture nearer to 

 human habitations, and prey more upon domestic 

 animals, which are less fleet and also less fearful than 

 wild ones. When the male lion is not excited, he 

 is not dangerous to man nor any animal ; and when 

 a traveller comes upon him, either couching in a 



thicket or pacing slowly and carelessly along, if, after 

 his eye has caught the traveller, his rnane and tail re- 

 main motionless, he will do no harm unless irritated; 

 but, if his mane begins to stand on end, and his tail 

 to be erected, and especially to lash against his sides, 

 these are sure signs that he is working himself up for 

 mischief. The age of the lion, in a state of nature, 

 is not exactly known. In confinement, it has been 

 ascertained that some individuals have lived to the 

 age of seventy years ; and it is at least probable that, 

 when free from restraint, he may live considerably 

 longer. The number" of young in a litter is not 

 very well ascertained ; but there have been instances 

 of as many as nine in a state of confinement, and 

 it is reasonable to suppose that the broods should be 

 more numerous, rather than fewer, in a state of free 

 nature. 



Though the lion has probably more powerful 

 muscles than any other of the mammalia, those 

 muscles have not the same firm and rigid character 

 as those of the eagle. The reason of this is, as it 

 should seem, that their powerful action is much more 

 momentary. 



The flesh of the lion is certainly not so delicate 

 as that of less energetic animals, as the coarseness of 

 the muscular fasciculi is generally in proportion to the 

 power of action in animals ; but the toughness is more 

 in proportion to the constancy and continuity of 

 their action. In Africa, the Negroes occasionally eat 

 the flesh of the lion, and some Europeans have pre- 

 tended to like it but the general report is that it is 

 rank and disagreeable. The skin does not come under 

 the usual denomination of fur, as the hair is short 

 and rather coarse ; but it is tough and durable. The 

 ancients were fond of it on account of the fabled 

 heroic account of its owner, and they made it a robe of 

 distinction for their heroes ; but the heroes of modern 

 times prefer the skins of the more showy members of 

 the genus, and these they use, not as ornaments for 

 their own bodies, but as caparison for their war horses. 

 The natives of Africa use it indiscriminately as a 

 mantle and as a covering for their beds, and in both 

 cases it is very durable. 



THE TIGER (Felts Tigris ) Next to the lion, the 

 tiger is the most formidable of this genus ; and as it 

 is a much more generally active animal than the lion, 

 and consequently a much more frequent feeder, it 

 is more destructive and also more dangerous. The 

 danger is increased by the nature of the places which 

 the tiger frequents. It is riot, like its congener, an 

 inhabitant of the desert, but of the rich jungles, where 

 prey is to be found at all seasons; and as these are 

 more in the vicinity of human habitations than the 

 favourite localities of the lion, many more human 

 beings fall victims to the rapacity of the tiger. 



A very spirited figure of the tiger, in form, in 

 markings", and in attitude, is given in the plate " CATS." 

 This figure is not in the attitude from which the 

 tiger takes its spring, but in that of advancing in a 

 low and crouching attitude in order to gain the dis- 

 tance at which he shall take it; and this is perhaps 

 the best for displaying both the litheness and the 

 symmetry of the animal. It will be seen in the figure, 

 which is equally faithful and spirited, that the tiger 

 is a much more symmetrical animal than the lion ; 

 that, though the fore paws are still stronger and more 

 firm in their texture than the hind ones, yet, that the 

 strength of the tiger is more uniformly distributed 

 over the whole length of his body than that of the 



