404 ANIMALS OF THE 



agility. It is muscular and bold, neither charged 

 with fat nor unnecessary flesh. It is sufficient but 

 to see him in order to be assured of his superior 

 force. His large head surrounded with a dread- 

 ful mane, all those muscles that appear under the 

 skin swelling with the slightest exertions, and the 

 great breadth of his paws, with the thickness of 

 his limbs, plainly evince that no other animal in 

 the forest is capable of opposing him. He has a 

 very broad face, that, as some have imagined, re- 

 sembles the human. It is surrounded with very 

 long hair, which gives it a majestic air. The 

 top of the head, the temples, the cheeks, the un- 

 der jaw, the neck, the breast, the shoulder, the 

 hinder part of the legs, and the belly, are furnish- 

 ed with it, while all the rest of the body is cover- 

 ed with very short hair, of a tawny colour. " The 

 length of the hair in many parts, and the short- 

 ness of it in others, serves a good deal to disguise 

 this animal's real figure. The breast, for instance, 

 appears very broad, but in reality it is as narrow 

 and contracted in proportion as that of the gene- 

 rality of dogs and horses. For the same reason, 

 the tail seems to be of an equal thickness from 

 one end to the other, on account of the inequali- 

 ty of the hair with which it is encompassed; it 

 being shorter near the insertion, where the flesh 

 and bones are large, and growing longer in pro- 

 portion as its real thickness lessens towards the 

 point, where it ends in a tuft. The hair about the 

 neck and the breast is not different from that on 

 the rest of the body, except in the length of it ; 

 nor is each hair pointed as in most other animals, 



