NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



were kept as executioners of criminals, the poor 

 wretches being pitched headlong into the den, as one 

 would fling in a lump of meat. The strength of a 

 full-grown lion in his prime is prodigious ; he can 

 fell an ox with a blow of his paw, crunch up the bones 

 of its neck in a moment, and drag off the whole car- 

 case to his lair. An instance is on record of a bugler 

 being seized by the waistband and carried off by a 

 lion, but, after the first paralysing shock of 

 fright, the man bethought himself of his bugle, and 

 managed to blow a shrill blast, upon which the lion 

 spat him out, bounded high into the air, and dis- 

 appeared in the forest. 



The same species of lion is found from the Cape 

 to the Mediterranean coast and eastwards, but the 

 different conditions of life, including climate, geo- 

 graphical features, &c., of the various parts of Africa 

 and Asia have produced six varieties, which all differ 

 considerably in coloration, scantiness or profusion 

 of mane, &c. They are popularly known as : 



(i) The Lion of Barbary. (2) The Lion of Sene- 

 gal. (3) The Lion of the Cape. (4) The Bengal 

 Lion. (5) The Persian Lion. (6) The Lion of 

 Guzerat. 



Even in South Africa there is much variation in 

 colour, length of mane, &c. Selous has shot many 

 black lions, and on one occasion shot a female of the 

 ordinary tawny hue which contained two cubs, one 

 black-haired, the other the usual colour. 



The weight of a large well-developed lion averages 

 no 



