NATURAL HISTORY. 285 



The external form of the lion seems to speak the 

 superiority of his internal qualities. His figure is strik- 

 ing, his look confident and bold, his gait proud, and 

 his voice terrible. His stature is not overgrown like 

 that of the elephant, or the rhinoceros ; nor is his 

 shape clumsy, like that of the hippopotamus, or the ox. 

 He is in every respect compact and well-proportioned, 

 a perfect model of strength joined with agility. 



His force and muscular power he manifests by his 

 prodigious leaps and bounds ; by the strong and quick 

 agitation of his tail, which alone is sufficient to throw 

 a man on the ground. By the facility with which he 

 moves the skin of his face, and particularly that of 

 his forehead, which adds greatly to his physiognomy, 

 or rather to the expressive fury of his countenance ; 

 and in short, by shaking his mane, which is not only 

 bristled up, but moved and agitated on all sides, when 

 he is enraged. 



The largest lions are about eight or nine feet long, 

 from the snout to the root of the tail, which is of it- 

 self four feet long ; and these large lions are about 

 four or five feet high : those of the small size, about 

 five feet and a half longhand three and a half high. In 

 all her dimensions, the lioness is about a fourth less 

 than the lion. 



The lion is furnished with a mane, which becomes 

 longer in proportion as he grows older : the lioness, 

 however, is without this appendage at every age : the 

 American animal, which the natives of Peru call puma, 

 and to which the Europeans have given the denomi- 

 nation of lion, has no mane: It is also much smaller, 

 weaker, and more cowardly than the real lion: in truth, 

 it is very doubtful whether these animals are of the 

 same species. 



