44 THE LI OX. 



at times subdued, and at others loud, told of their 

 wrath and their sufferings. 



" At the commencement of the battle, the lioness 

 was crouched on her belly, and until its termination 

 she evinced, by the wagging of her tail, the pleasure 

 she experienced in seeing these two lions slaughter- 

 ing each other. 



" When all was over, she advanced cautiously 

 up to the corpses, smelt them, then retreated, and 

 that without replying to the somewhat gross epithet 

 (though applicable enough to the occasion) which 

 Mohammed could not refrain from casting at her, 

 in lieu of a bullet, which was out of his power, his 

 gun, as I said, having fallen to the ground." 



The period of gestation with the lioness is about 

 four months (French naturalists say one hundred and 

 eight days), and she usually brings forth her young 

 in the most solitary, inaccessible places. The cubs 

 are from two to four in number, according to the 

 age and strength of the mother, but commonly 

 there are only two, a male and a female. At their 

 birth they are nearly as large as an adult female 

 domestic cat, and their eyes are open, but 

 they continue helpless for several weeks. When 

 newly whelped, the fur is of a woolly or frizzled 

 texture, the shade of colour a little darker than 

 at a more mature age; and they are distinctly 

 clouded or brushed with deep brown, and have a 

 line of the same dark colour running along the 

 centre of the back. About the commencement of 

 the second year these markings begin to disappear. 

 Whilst the cubs are young, they are harm- 



