MAGNANIMITY OF THE LIDX. --'' 



retreated, it would, in all probability, have " charged" 

 the cowardly crew. Then again, as shown in these 

 pages, the South African lion has, in many instances, 

 been known to carry off men from the bivouac fire, 

 when surrounded by many companions, and that in 

 spite of numerous shots and firebrands hurled at his 

 head. 



I have also great doubts as to the Algerine lion 

 being superior in size and power to the South 

 African ; but as, unfortunately, neither the dimen- 

 sions of the beast nor its weight seem to have been 

 taken with any great accuracy in either country, 

 this point must be left undecided. 



We will now speak of the lion's magnanimity, 

 which, from time immemorial, has been cried up to 

 the skies by poets and others. We are told, for 

 instance, that he has been known to despise weak and 

 contemptible enemies, and even to pardon their in- 

 sults when it has been in hi? power to punish them, 

 while we all know by heart the stories of the Lion of 

 Androcles, and that of Florence. These relations 

 may be true or false, but with that I have little to 

 do. All I know is that, during my long wanderings 

 in Southern Africa, nothing in the shape of noble-- 

 ness of disposition on the part of the lion ever cam" 

 under the notice of either myself or anyone else, 

 whether native or colonist, with whom 1 eame into 

 contact. That he docs not always kill the man lu i 

 stands over (even though previously wounded by 

 him), and consequently at his mercy, is perfectly 

 true, but to assign a cause for this, his seemingly- 

 capricious conduct, appears to me not only difficult, 

 but impossible. 



