CHAP. VI. DIRECT INJURIES. THE LION. 181 



and similar carnivorous races, the life of a traveller is in 

 perpetual danger. 



(197.) The Asiatic lion (Leo Asiaticus Sw.) is 

 a rare animal in the eastern world ; but that of Africa 

 is well known to possess much more generosity than 

 cruelty. IVL Cuvier well observes, that, unlike some of 

 its family, which appear to derive gratification from the 

 destruction of animal life, the lion, when once satiated, 

 ceases to be an enemy. Hence, very different accounts 

 are given by travellers of the generosity or cruelty of its 

 nature, resulting, most probably, from the difference 

 in time and circumstances of each case. There are 

 certainly many instances of a traveller meeting a lion 

 in the forest during day, 



" Who glared upon him and went surly by," 



without annoying him. But, when urged by want, 

 this tremendous animal is as fearless as he is powerful. 

 Nothing will impede his deadly design. His strength 

 is so prodigious, that a single stroke of his paw is as- 

 serted to be sufficient to break the back of a horse, and 

 that one sweep of his tail will throw a strong man to 

 the ground. Kolben says, that when he comes up to 

 his prey, he always knocks it down dead, and seldom 

 bites it until the mortal blow has been given. It has 

 been generally asserted, that the lion prefers the flesh 

 of an African to that of a European, and that, when he 

 attacks a party, he generally singles out a Hottentot 

 rather than a white ; but this instinct is not unnatural, 

 seeing that one is more his native food than the other. 

 We need not dwell longer upon the deadly injuries re- 

 sulting to man from the typical carnivorous quadrupeds ; 

 the whole family are to be feared ; and they are dis- 

 tributed in all the warm, and even the temperate regions 

 of the Old and the New World. The latter hemi- 

 sphere, however, if we except the jaguar, is free 

 from those terrible species which attack mankind under 

 all circumstances, and in all situations, like the tiger of 

 India. Fortunately, the number of such animals is 

 N 3 



