THE LIOX IX MOUNT ATLAS. 447 



rapid motions of his tail, one stroke of wliicti is able to fell the 

 strongest man to the ground, and in the expressive wrinkling 

 of his brow. 



No wonder that, ever inclined to judge from outward ap- 

 pearances, and to attribute to external beauty analogous 

 qualities of mind, man has endowed the lion with a nobility of 

 character which he in reality does not possess. For modern 

 travellers, who have had occasion to observe him in his native 

 wilds, far from awarding him the praise of chivalrous generosity 

 and noble daring, rather describe him as a mean-spirited robber, 

 prowling about at night-time in order to surprise a weaker 

 prey. 



The lion is distinguished from all other members of the feline 

 tribe by the uniform colour of his tawny skin, by the black tuft 

 at the end of his tail, and particularly by the long and some- 

 times blackish mane, which he is able to bristle when under 

 the influence of passion, and which contributes so much to the 

 beauty of the male, while it is wanting in the lioness, who, as 

 everyone knows, is very inferior in size and comeliness to her 

 stately mate. 



His chief food consists of the flesh of the larger herbivorous 

 animals, very few of which he is unable to master. Concealed 

 in the high rushes on the river's bank, he lies in ambush for 

 the timorous herd of antelopes which at night-fall approach 

 the water to quench their thirst. Slowly and cautiously the 

 children of the waste advance ; they listen with ears erect, they 

 strain their eyes to penetrate the thicket's gloom, but nothing 

 suspicious appears or moves along the bank. Long and deeply 

 they quaff the delicious draught, when suddenly, with a giant 

 spring, lilie lightning bursting from a cloud, the lion bounds 

 upon the unsuspecting revellers, and the leader of the herd lies 

 prostrate at his feet. 



During the daytime the lion seldom attacks man, and some- 

 times even when meeting a traveller he is said to pass him by 

 imnoticed ; but when the shades of evening descend, his mood 

 undergoes a change. After sunset it is dangerous to venture 

 into the woody and wild regions of Mount Atlas, for there the 

 lion lies in wait, and there one finds him stretched across the 

 narrow path. It is then that dramatic scenes of absorbing in- 

 terest not unfrequently take place. When, so say the Bedouins, 



