222 THE LIOX. 



hunting this justly-celebrated king of beasts." 

 A word now as to the character of the lion, &c. : 

 a subject which I have purposely reserved until this 

 time that the reader, from being acquainted with all 

 I have to tell about the beast, may be the better 

 able to form his own judgment. As, however, the 

 opinions of writers and sportsmen regarding the 

 character of the lion are various and contra- 

 dictory, T shall content myself with saying, in the 

 words of GeYard, that, in my opinion, the leading 

 characteristics of the animal are " courage and 

 slothfulness." 



It is true there are those who altogether deny the 

 lion the former quality, and even go so far as to pro- 

 nounce him a poltroon. But this very erroneous 

 view of his character is of easy explanation. " The 

 existence of the lion," as has been well observed by 

 the author just named, " is divided into two distinct 

 periods, making him in some measure two distinct 

 animals. The two periods are the night and the 

 day. During the night ho roams the wilds in 

 search of prey, whilst in the day he is accustomed 

 to retire to the most solitary places, where he sleeps 

 at his ease. Because a person in the daytime has 

 met a lion, whom the sun or the flies have caused to 

 shift his quarters, and because he escapes from the 

 beast with impunity, he, without taking into 

 consideration that at that hour the animal was 

 half asleep, and that its belly was full, goes away 

 with the impression that the lion never ventures to 

 attack a man, and the beast is therefore branded 

 with cowardice. In fact, the lion does not kill for 



