112 THE STORY OF THE LION. 



t 



extent in some respects from those of another. Thus it seems pretty well 

 ascertained that the hons from the Cape and Algeria have larger and finer 

 manes than those from other districts. Gordon Gumming states that the 

 manes and coats of lions inhabiting open, treeless districts, like the great 

 Kalahari desert of South Africa, are fuller and handsomer than in those 

 inhabiting forest districts. 



The relative sizes of the Indian and African lion are : Indian from 8 to 9 

 feet, African from 10 to 11 feet; females are about one foot shorter than the 

 m.ales. Weight, from 400 tO' 600 pounds. 



The present range of the lion includes the whole continent of Africa, from 

 Cape Colony to Abyssinia and Algeria, although in many of the more civilized 

 districts the animal is now greatly reduced in numbers, or even completely 

 exterminated. In Asia it is found through INIesopotamia and South Persia 

 to the northwestern districts of India, being nearly extinct in the latter country. 

 Formerly the lion had a much larger range, extending westward into Syria 

 and Arabia, and ranging over a considerable portion of Southeastern Europe, 

 such as Roumania and Greece. Bones and teeth found in the caverns of 

 Western Europe prove that lions once roamed over Germany, France, Italy, 

 Spain and the British Isles. The ancient lions of Western Europe were 

 exterminated, probably, by the cold of the glacial period ; but the destruction 

 of those infesting Eastern Europe and parts of Western Asia during the 

 historic epoch was probably effected, at least to a considerable extent, by 

 human agency. 



In South Africa lions are now scarce in the districts to the southward of 

 the Orange River, but are locally abundant in the regions farther north, such 

 as Mashonaland. ■ The lion is now quite unknown in Asia to the northward 

 of India. The Arabs say it is found in Arabia; but of this we have at least 

 no evidence. Occasionally it crosses the Euphrates, and a few years agO' a 

 lion's carcass was brought intOi Damascus. Behveen the Lower Tigris and 

 Euphrates they still abound. Mr. Layard saw them frequently, and during 

 his excavations in the neighborhood of Babylon, found fresh traces of their 

 footsteps almost daily am.ong the ruins. It extends also far higher up, to 

 the jungle of the Khaboiir, or Chebar, on the upper Tigris, above Mosul 

 and Nineveh (the ancient Chebar), where Layard mentions an Arab being 

 attacked by one, and escaping with the loss of his mare. 



Lions, which are very numerous in the reedy swamps bordering the Tigris 

 and Euphrates, are found also in the plains of Susiana, the modern Khuzistan, 

 and extend into the mountain country south of Shiraz. There is no accurate 



