26 



CLASS MAMMALIA. 



ORDER S A R C O P H A G A. 



The most common species at the Cape of Good Hope is the Tiger- Wolf 

 (H. Capensis), a very powerful animal. Although its presence requires 

 caution on the part of the shepherds in regard to their cattle, yet it is a very 

 valuable animal scavenger. It is well known that formerly it came nightly 

 to Cape Town and cleared away the offal, bones, &c., which were thrown 

 out iu large quantities. 



The If airy Hyaena (H. Villosa) is less than the last species, and less 

 powerful ; confining its depredations to the destruction of smaller cattle, as 

 Sheep, Goats, &c. ; but it does not appear less carnivorous. 



FELIS Cat. The animals composing this genus are provided with the 

 most powerfully offensive organs of the whole family ; they are purely car- 

 nivorous, of which property the cutting / 

 form of their molar teeth, entirely covered 

 with enamel, very thin and sharp, is a 

 strong indication : in a state of nature they 

 prey upon living animals, which, having a 

 bad scent, they do not hunt, but lurk about 

 and seize by surprise, approaching under 

 cover very cautiously, and suddenly spring- 

 ing upon them when within reach. A Teeth of Carnivorous Animal, 

 remarkable circumstance is observable in their retractile claws, which in 

 walking are raised upwards by means of elastic ligaments, so that they 

 never touch the ground, but are kept sharp, to enable them more easily to 

 hold and tear their prey to pieces. In temper generally cruel, wary, and 

 untamable, few of them are- capable of domestication or attachment to man ; 

 they are cowardly, and if they fail in their attack, often slink away without a 

 second attempt to capture their prey. The larger species are natives of hot 

 climates, but the others are found in the more temperate and even icy regions. 



1. Cats of large size, yellow and unspotted : 



The Lion (F. Leo), which stands about four feet and a half high ; his 

 length from the snout to the root of the tail is from seven to eight feet, and 

 the tail itself four more ; the head is larger and of a squarer form than in 

 the other species of this genus. The body and limbs are strong and mus- 

 cular ; the back, flanks, hind quarters, tail, and fore legs, covered with close, 

 short, tawny hairs tipped with black, and intermixed with a few entirely 

 black ; the whole chest, shoulders, neck, and front of the head, clothed in 

 long, shaggy hair, black and tawny intermixed ; that on the head and neck 

 longer than the other, and forming the mane, which is capable of erection ; 

 ears small and rounded ; tip of the tail tufted with long dark-coloured hair. 

 The Lioness is about a fourth less than the Lion, from which she further 

 differs in not having a mane ; she goes with young five months, and whelps 

 three or four at a time, of which she is extremely careful. The young 

 animals when first whelped are covered with rough, woolly hair, of a tawny 

 colour, mingled with black and grey. After each casting the coat, the 

 animal gradually approaches the colour of the adult ; but the young Lion 

 has no mane ; it does not begin to appear till the animal reaches the age 

 of three, nor is it complete before five years. The whelps remain at the 

 teat about twelve months. The Lion in the wild state is found extremely 

 fierce and courageous, when his habitation is in the arid and desert plains 

 of the Ulterior of Africa ; but in proportion as his haunts more nearly 

 approach the dwellings of man, his courage becomes subdued, and he has 

 recourse in seizing his prey to that cunning which so remarkably charac- 

 terises the genus, instead of attacking it with boldness as when living in his 

 native woods. The strength of the Lion is very great ; a stroke of his 

 paw is said to be sufficient to break the back of a Horse. He is capable 

 of bearing away very large animals, and has been known to leap over a 

 broad ditch, having a heifer in his mouth. 



We have purposely condensed our remarks upon the Lion in order to 

 introduce a few extracts from a work recently published, entitled " Five 

 Years of a Hunter's Life in South Africa." The author, Mr. Gordon Cum- 

 ming, must certainly be ranked as one of the most daring and successful of 

 the disciples of Nimrod ; and his journal, we have no doubt, will afford to 

 thousands throughout the kingdom much amusement during the winter's 

 nights of 1850-1. 



The Lion's roar is thus descril>ed by Mr. Gumming: "The night of the 

 19th March, 1844, was to me rather a memorable one, as being the first on 

 which I had the satisfaction of hearing the deep-toned thunder of the Linn's 

 roar. Although there was no one near, to inform me by what beast the 

 haughty and impressive sounds which echoed through the wilderness were 

 produced, I had little difficulty in divining. There was no mistake alxmt 

 it ; and on hearing it I at once knew, as well as if accustomed to the sound 

 from my infancy, that the appalling roar which was uttered within half a mile 

 of me was no other than that of the mighty and terrible king of beasts. . . . 

 At times, and not unfrequently, a troop may be heard roaring in concert, 

 one assuming the lead, and two, three, or four more regularly taking up 

 their parts, like persons singing a catch. Like our Scottish stags at the 

 rutting season, they roar loudest in cold, frosty nights ; but on no occasions 

 are their voices to be heard in such perfection, or so intensely powerful, as 

 when two or three strange troops of Lions approach a fountain to drink at 

 the same time. When this occurs, every member of each troop sounds a 

 bold roar of defiance at the opposite parties ; and when one roars, all roar 

 together, and each seems to vie with his comrades in the intensity and 

 power of his voice. The power and grandeur of these nocturnal forest 

 concerts is inconceivably striking and pleasing to the hunter's ear. The 

 effect, I may remark, is greatly enhanced when the hearer happens to be 

 situated in the depths of the forest, at the dead hour of midnight, unaccom- 

 panied by any attendant, and ensconced within twenty yards of the fountain 

 which the surrounding troops of lions are approaching. Such has been in y 

 situation many scores of times ; and though I am allowed to have a tolerably 

 good taste for music, I consider the catches with which I was then regaled 

 as the sweetest and most natural I ever heard." 



Mr. Gumming goes on to describe the power and habits of this noble 

 animal : " The Lion is exquisitely formed by nature for the predator)' habits 

 which he is destined to pursue. Combining in comparatively small compass 

 the qualities of power and agility, he is enabled, by means of the tremendous 

 machinery with which nature has gifted him, easily to overcome and destroy 

 almost every beast of the forest, however superior to him in weight and stature. 

 . . . Lions do not refuse, as has been asserted, to feast upon the venison 

 that they have not killed themselves. I have repeatedly discovered lions of 

 all ages which had taken possession of, and were feasting upon, the carcases 

 of various game quadrupeds which had fallen before my rifle. The Lion is 

 very generally diffused throughout the secluded parts of Southern Africa. 

 He is, however, nowhere met with in great abundance, it being very tan 

 to find more than three, or even two, families of Lions frequenting the same 

 district and drinking at the same, fountain." 



Our author's encounter with a Lion and Lioness is full of interest : " It 

 was a cold, windy morning, and I lay in my waggon longer tlian usual. 

 My other Hottentots thought proper to leave their charge, and go in quest 

 of honey under the guidance of a garrulous honey-bird. I had lain about 

 twenty minutes in my waggon after they had all started, and was occupied 

 in reading a book, when suddenly I heard the oxen come trotting along in 

 front of the waggons, as if sharply driven. On raising my head from my 

 pillow I perceived a Lioness following within twenty yards of them, and 

 next moment her mate, a venerable-looking Lion, with a shaggy mane which 

 swept the ground, appeared in the yellow grass in front of the oxen, waiting 

 for her to put them to flight. The plot had evidently been preconcerted 

 between them, this being the usual manner in which the Lion attacks tin- 

 Buffaloes. Fortunately the oxen would not run for them, and the Lions 

 seemed surprised at the confidence of their game. On springing to my feet 

 and shouting to them, they joined one another, and stood together beneath 

 a shady tree withina hundred and twenty yards of the wagons. My horses 

 were pasturing at a short distance from the Lions, feeding towards me, and 

 on these they seemed now to meditate an attack, their attention being 

 divided between the horses and myself. In such a )>sition of afliiirs I con- 

 sidered it high time to give these bold intruders a hint whose cattle tin y 

 were so carefully herding. Snatching up my two-grooved rifle, which at 

 all times hung loaded in my waggon, I at once ran forward under cover of 

 a convenient bushy tree which intervened, and on gaining this bush I was 



