

HOW YOUNG LIONS ARE MARKED. 107 



length I made William hold one and then the 

 other, while they in succession submitted to a perfect 

 douche of milk in their faces. The little beasts licked 

 this off with apparent satisfaction, till ultimately 

 the teat was placed in their mouths, and, through 

 pressure of my hand, the milk was forced to flow ; 

 so, by a little dexterity, the difficulty was overcome, 

 and both parties settled down to the arrangement 

 with praiseworthy propriety. 



After a week, the foster-mother would lick and 

 dress the coats of her charges with as much assiduity 

 as she had formerly exercised over her own child. 

 This advance in feelings of affection was accom- 

 plished in this way. Daily, before the babies were 

 nursed, I saturated their coats with the foster-parent's 

 milk, which she afterwards licked off while they were 

 imbibing their nourishment. 



For a long time there were no disagreements, 

 and all would have gone on satisfactorily till the end 

 of time, had not my pets increased so rapidly in size 

 that the goat was unable to satisfy their demands. 

 Then the kind-hearted foster-parent, scandalized at 

 the appetite of her putative progeny, would spring 

 to her feet and butt them with no light blows when- 

 ever they attempted to suck. 



At the time these young lions were obtained 

 they were striped almost as distinctly and regularly 

 as Bengal tigers, but these markings died out soon 

 after I became their possessor. This appears to 



