THE LION 115 



people on the Majali river was found to be an animal in the 

 prime of life. But the very existence of man-eaters is dis- 

 creditable to the villagers, and is due either to their laziness 

 or their superstition. No one ever heard of a man-eating 

 Lion establishing itself near any town or village that was 

 inhabited by Europeans, an elderly Lion having long learnt 

 the lesson that the white man is an enemy whom it must 

 avoid if it value its safety. In Algeria the Lion is held in 

 absurd dread by the natives, whose cowardly behaviour 

 taught it to consider itself invincible. Consequently they 

 tamely submitted to the loss of hundreds of cattle annually, 

 considering them as a sort of tax which they were bound to 

 pay without demur. Since the French have occupied the 

 country the Lion has had no such immunity, and has 

 already retreated to the more inaccessible regions. 



Closely connected with the Lion, and, in fact, all the 

 beasts of prey, is the very important question of cruelty. 

 Why should one set of animals be allowed to feed upon 

 another set, tearing in pieces their prey while still living ? 

 In the first place, we ought not to make ourselves the 

 standard by which to judge the economy of the animal 

 world. Man looks forward to the future, and fears death 

 in proportion to his mental cultivation. The pure savage 

 has no fear of death, simply because he does not possess 

 the power of realising the difference between life and 

 death. So the lower animals live in unconscious enjoy- 

 ment of life until the last moment. Again, we ought 

 not to assume that all animals possess equal capacity for 

 suffering pain. Even in human beings there is a great 

 diversity in this respect, and the lower the nervous 

 organisation, the less is the sense of pain. 



In no case should man cause unnecessary suffering to the 

 lower creation over whom he is placed as a master, and not 

 a tyrant. It is necessary to exterminate beasts of prey, and 

 creatures of all kinds are needed for the food of man ; but 

 their death should be effected with the greatest possible 

 expedition and the minimum of pain. Our treatment of 

 the domestic animals in particular is often marked by a 

 thoughtless disregard for the feelings of those over whom 

 we have dominion. As far as we possibly can we ought to 



