CREATURES OF THE WILDERNESS 151 



Its black mane (there are maneless lions as 

 well) and splendid head give it a noble appear- 

 ance, which has perhaps inspired poetical 

 notions of its character ; but a full-grown lion, 

 measuring, it may be, nearly six feet along the 

 body, with another three feet of tail, is, to my 

 mind, a more imposing sight than a tiger. Yet 

 comparisons between the two are perhaps un- 

 necessary. There is room in the world for 

 both, and it is only in Persia that the two 

 meet on common ground. Those who prefer 

 to regard the Bengal tiger as the more royal 

 beast of the two are free to do so, and the 

 impression of its sovereignty owes much to 

 the superstitious reverence in which it is held 

 by the natives of India. The negro has his 

 debil-debil and his voodoo, but he has no such 

 veneration for Nature as we find in the more 

 sensitive and intelligent people of India. He 

 will run from a lion as fast as his legs will 

 carry him, but veneration is no part of his 

 character. 



The cowardly behaviour of the tiger, which 

 is rarely known to give battle without provoca- 

 tion, is too generally admitted to need further 

 evidence. It seems to be less widely known 

 that the lion is also capable of showing the 

 white feather at times, and it may be of interest 

 to give one or two stories in which the king of 

 beasts has shown himself anything but a king. 



