CAT KIND. 409 



approach. The elephant, the rhinoceros, the tiger, 

 and the hippopotamus, are the only animals that 

 are not afraid singly to make opposition. 



" Nevertheless, neither the leopard nor the wild 

 boar, if provoked, will shun the combat j they do 

 not seek the lion to attack, but will not fly at his 

 approach ; they wait his onset, which he seldom 

 makes unless compelled by hunger ; they then 

 exert all their strength, and are sometimes success- 

 ful. We are told of the combat of a lion and a 

 wild boar, in a meadow near Algiers, which con- 

 tinued for a long time with incredible obstinacy. 

 At last both were seen to fall by the wounds they 

 had given each other, and the ground all about 

 them was covered with their blood. These in- 

 stances, however, are very rare, for the lion is in 

 general the undisputed master of the forest. Man 

 is the only creature that attacks him with almost 

 certain success, with the assistance of dogs and 

 horses, which are trained to the pursuit. These 

 animals, that in a state of nature would have fled 

 from the presence of the lion in an agony of con- 

 sternation, when conscious of the assistance of 

 man, become pursuers in their turn, and boldly 

 hunt their natural tyrant. The dogs are always 

 of the large breed ; and the horses themselves, as 

 Gesner assures us, must be of that sort called 

 Charossi, or lion-eyed, all others of this kind fly- 

 ing at the sight of the lion, and endeavouring to 

 throw their riders. When the lion is roused, he 

 recedes with a slow proud motion ; he never goes 

 off directly forward, nor measures his paces equal- 

 ly, but takes an oblique course, going from one 



