116 THE STORY OF THE LION. 



the sound emitted by the ostrich during the pairing season ; but persuade 

 either the lion or the ostrich to come nearer, and one might then as well try 

 to compare the rumbling of cart wheels over a wooden bridge with the 

 incessant roll of thunder among m.ountains. But a lion makes other sounds 

 far more disconcerting — because usually only heard at close quarters — than 

 that to which it gives vent when, in company with others, it has killed a head 

 of game, or is retiring to its lair, full fed. There is the constant low growling 

 of the lion crouching in cover, uncertain whether to fight or to fly, as, with 

 flattened ears and nervously twitching tail, he studies the situation, hoping 

 by his attitude to warn off the disturber of his solitude. There is the angrv 

 snarl of the lion disturbed at his meals, when his appetite is not yet satisfied, 

 and when one has come upon him so suddenly as to give him no time to 

 clear off; and, worse than all, the short, coughing grunts which often accom- 

 pany a charge, and which startle the intruder in his domains as he bounds 

 away. All these sounds are by no means musical, and, whether heard by 

 day or by night, are well calculated to try the nerves." Similar testimony 

 as to the impressiveness of the lion's roar is given by Gordon Gumming, who 

 describes it as consisting at certain times of five or six repetitions of a low. 

 deep moaning, ending off with a faint and scarcely audible sigh, while at 

 others it takes the form of loud, deep-toned, solemn roars, quickly repeated, 

 and increasing in intensity till the third or fourth, after which it gradually dies 

 away in a succession of low muflled growlings, like the roll of distant thunder. 

 Then, again, the veteran hunter Sir Samuel Baker gives his impressions in 

 the following words: "There is nothing so beautiful or enjoyable to my 

 ears as the roar of a lion on a still night, when everything is calm, and no 

 sound disturbs the solitude except the awe-inspiring notes, like the rumble 

 of distant thunder, as they die away into the deepest bass. The first few 

 notes somewhat resemble the bellow of a bull ; these are repeated in slow 

 succession four or five times, after which the voice is sunk into a lower key, 

 and a number of quick short roars are at length followed by rapid coughing 

 notes, so deep and powerful that they seem to vibrate through the earth." 



This vibrating and reverberating sound alluded tO' in the last sentence i? 

 intensified by the habit lions often have of putting their mouths close to the 

 ground while roaring; Livingstone mentioning an instance where a lion stood 

 for hours roaring near his camp, and making the sound reverberate in this 

 manner. 



The intensity and grandeur of the sound must, however, be largely increased 

 when, as is not unfrequently the case, a party of lions are heard roaring in 



