TilE ALGERIAN LION. 22 



In spite, therefore, of all that has been said and 

 written in disparagement of the lion's bravery, 1 

 venture to say that people who are well acquainted 

 with him in his native wilds, and who have con- 

 fronted him in battle, whether by night or by day, 

 will not fail to pronounce him amongst the bravest 

 of beasts ; and thousands of instances, in addition 

 to those recorded in these pages, might be adduced, 

 testifying to his undaunted and unconquerable 

 spirit. His daring, indeed, at times, almost exceeds 

 credence. 



So much for the courage of the South African 



O 



lion; but in this quality, as also in " power" (which 

 means, I presume, both size and strength), he, ac- 

 cording to Gerard, is greatly surpassed by the lion 

 inhabiting Algeria. 



" This terrible poacher," such are Gerard's 

 words (or rather, perhaps, those of his critic), 

 when speaking of the lion " who reposes all day in 

 his lair of olive trees, and stretches his refreshed 

 limbs only as the sun goes down, who throttles a 

 horse as a man stifles a mouse, and who calmly 

 breasts forty muskets levelled at his noble head, and 

 never sees an object that he is afraid to attack, in 

 no way resembles the lion of South Africa described 

 by Gordon Gumming. He is by far the more cou- 

 rageous, the more powerful, the more unscrupulous 

 animal. His roar is compared to thunder; lie 

 breaks past cork and lentile trees by the mere 

 weight of his enormous body; he picks up a man 

 in his jaws as a pet-dog picks up a ball of cotton ; 

 he springs upon his enemies even with a dozen 



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