HISTORY OF THfc LION. 



Africa exhibits the lion in all his grandeur ; and in many 

 unknown desert, he reigns with undisputed sway over 

 p more Heebie races. Here he appears most powerful, 

 and of the greatest size and fierceness ; his disposition bold 

 JJV t !&hcLsfaflefts Thfere '^appears to be two or three varieties 

 'indiscriminately scattered over the country, and in the 

 descriptions of the animals of southern Africa, two kinds 

 more are also mentioned the yellow and the brown, or as 

 the Dutch colonists call them the blue and the black, both 

 of which are analagous with the northern varieties. One 

 of the above mentioned species is the Barbary lion, the 

 hair of which is of a deep yellowish brown, the mane and 

 hair upon the breast and inside of the fore legs being ample, 

 thick, and shaggy ; while in the Bengal variety, the color 

 of the body is of a much paler tint ; the mane is considera- 

 bly less, does not extend so far upon the shoulders, and is 

 almost entirely wanting upon the breast and inside of the 

 legs. A third variety of this animal seems also to exist, in 

 which the mane is nearly or quite black. It appears to 

 have been one of those which Mr. Burchel encountered. 

 They are reckoned by the Hottentots to be the most fero- 

 cious and daring: an opinion which may be perhaps 

 heightened by the dark and formidable appearance given 

 by their shaggy covering. 



The principal characters of the male lion of both conti- 

 nents, is the presence of a shaggy mane, and a tuft at the 

 end of the tail ; these marks at once distinguish him from 

 all his congeners. The young males do not receive these 

 appendages for some time, and they increase in length and 

 thickness with their age. According to the account of 

 Cuvier, "it is nearly the third year when they begin to 

 to appear ; and it is not before the seventh or eighth that 

 they attain their full and bushy grandeur." When newly 

 whelped, the fur of the lion is of a woolly or frizled texture ; 

 the shade of color a little darker than at a more advanced 



