382 



raurg of Natural g& 



caudal vertebrae, and easily detached from 

 the skin ; what its real use may be is purely 

 conjectural, but that the animal is furnished 

 with it in order to incite him to anger cannot 

 for a moment be entertained. We should 

 here observe, that in one of the ba,s -/< li< /s 

 discovered, through the laudable zeal of Sir 



MOSCI.BS WHICH MOVE THE RETRACTILE 

 CLAWS. 



Stratford Canning,in the excavations of Nim- 

 roud (the supposed site of the ancient city of 

 Nineveh), and now in the British Museum, an 

 exaggerated representation of this " prickle " 

 is very apparent. From this it is certain 

 that the fact of its existence was perfectly 

 established in the time of the Assyrians, or 

 it would not have been prominently intro- 

 duced in the figure of the sculptured Lion . 



When in quest of prey his roaring re- 

 sembles the sound of distant thunder, and, 

 being re-echoed by the rocks and mountains, 

 appals and puts to flight every animal within 

 hearing. In general, however, he wait." in 

 ambush, or creeps insidiously towards Ms 

 victim ; and then, springing on it with a 

 tremendous bound, he seizes it with his 

 powerful claws. His strength is prodigious : 

 a single stroke of his paw, it is affirmed, is 

 sufficient to break the back of a horse ; and 

 his strength is such as to enable him to 

 carry off a buffalo or antelope, with as much 

 apparent ease as a cat carries off a rat. The 

 Lion is supposed to be destitute of a fine 

 scent, and to hunt by the eye alone : he will 

 devour as much at one time as will serve 

 him for two or three days ; and, when sa- 

 tiated with food, he is said to retire to his 

 den, which he seldom quits, except for the 

 purpose of prowling about for his prey. His 

 teeth are so strong, that lie breaks the bones 

 with perfect ease, and often swallows them 

 together with the flesh : his tongue, as in 

 other feline animals, is furnished with re- 

 versed prickles, but they are so large and 

 strong in the Lion as to be capable of lace- 

 ating the skin : the muscles which raise the 

 . aw are of enormous size ; and those which 

 support the head, as well as the ligamentum 

 nuchae which runs along the spinous pro- 

 jesses of the vertebrae to the occiput, are very 

 highly developed. The Lioness is said to 

 jo with young five months, and to produce 

 Jut one brood in the year: the young are 

 generally from two to four in number, which 

 the parent nurses with great assiduity, and 



attends in their first excursions for prey ; and 

 it is remarked that in a state of captivity 

 she usually becomes very savage as soon as 

 she becomes a mother. 



From the writings of ancient historians it 

 appears very clear that Lions were at one 

 time found in Europe, but they have long 

 since totally disappeared. They are also no 

 longer seen in Egypt, Palestine, or Syria, 

 where they once were evidently far from 

 uncommon ; and, as Cuvier remarks, even 

 in Asia generally, with the exception of 

 some countries between India and Persia, 

 and some districts of Arabia, they have be- 

 come comparatively rare. Nor is this to be 

 wondered at, when we reflect on the con- 

 stantly increasing numbers of the human 

 race, the superior advantages given to man 

 by the arts of civilization, and, above all, 

 the destruction which is caused by using 

 fire-arms against them, instead of the spear 

 and the arrow. " His true country," as Mr. 

 Bennett observes, " is Africa, in the vast and 

 untrodden wilds of which, from the immense 

 deserts of the north to the trackless forests of 

 the south, he reigns supreme and uncon- 

 trolled. In the sandy deserts of Arabia, in 

 some of the wild districts of Persia, and in 

 the vast jungles of Hindostan, he still main- 

 tains a precarious footing ; but from the 

 classic soil of Greece, as well as from the 

 whole of Asia Minor, both of which were once 

 exposed to his ravages, he has been utterly 

 dislodged and extirpated." How different 

 was it in the time of the Romans ! Struck 

 with the magnificent appearance of these 

 animals, they imported them in vast numbers 

 from Africa, for their public spectacles. 

 Quintus Scaevola, according to Pliny, was 

 the first in Rome who exhibited a combat of 

 Lions; but Sylla the dictator, during his 

 praetorship, exhibited a hundred Lions ; after 

 him, Pompey the Great produced no less than 

 six hundred in the grand circus ; and Caesar 

 the dictator four hundred. Mark Antony 

 appeared in the streets of Rome in a chariot 

 drawn by these noble animals, accompanied 

 by his mistress Cytheris, an actress from the 

 theatre : a sight, says Pliny, that surpassed 

 in enormity even all the calamities of the 

 times. 



" The general prey of the African Lion," 

 Mr. Broderip observes, " consists of the larger 

 herbivorous quadrupeds, very few of which 

 it is unable to master ; and it is a severe 

 scourge to the farmer, who is consequently 

 ever on the look-out for Lions, and generally 

 a most imperturbable and unerring shot. 

 Though mortal accidents frequently happen 

 in these huntings, the cool sportsman seldom 

 fails of using his rifle with effect. Lions 

 when roused, it seems, walk off quietly at 

 first, and if no cover is near, and they are 

 not pursued, they gradually mend their pace 

 to a trot, till they have reached a good 

 distance, and then they bound away. Their 

 demeanour upon these occasions has been 

 described to us by eye-witnesses to be of a 

 careless description, as if they did not want 

 a fray, but, if pressed, were ready to fight it 

 out. If they are pursued closely, they turn 

 and couch, generally with their faces to the 

 adversary ; then the nerves of the sportsman 



