CAPABILITY OP INSTRUCTION. 10^) 



to his master, and lived on the most affectionate 

 terms with the dogs and other domestic animals. 



Again : " On my first visit to Omer Pacha of 

 Hallah," says Layard, in his " Nineveh and Ba- 

 bylon," " he presented me with two lions. One 

 was nearly of full size, and was well known in the 

 bazaar and thoroughfares of Hillah, through which 

 he was allowed to wander unrestrained. The in- 

 habitants could accuse him of no other objectionable 

 habit than that of taking possession of the stalls of 

 the butchers, who, on his approach, made a hasty 

 retreat, leaving him in undisturbed possession of 

 their stores, until he had satisfied his hunger and 

 deemed it time to depart. He would also wait the 

 coming of the large ' kuffax,' or wicker boats, of the 

 fishermen ; and, driving away their owners, would 

 help himself to a kind of large barbel, for which he 

 appeared to have a decided relish. For this act of 

 depredation, the beast was perhaps less to be blame. I 

 than the Pacha, who rather encouraged a mode of 

 obtaining daily rations which, although of question- 

 able honesty, relieved him from butchers' bills. 

 When no longer hungry, he would stretch himself 

 in the sun, and allow the Arab boys to take such 

 liberties with him as, in their mischief, they might 

 devise. lie was talltT and larger than a St. Ber- 

 nard's dog, and like the lion generally found on 

 the banks of the rivers of Mesopotamia." 



The lion, when in confinement, is very capable of 

 instruction. The performances on the stage of Van 

 Amburgh's pet beast we have all witnessed. Other 

 lions have also shown a deirree of lameness and 



