16 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



asture lands And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a 

 CanTa Bear, and took a Lamb out of the flock : and I went out after tarn, and smote hun 

 d de**ered it out of his mouth : and when he arose against me I caught lum by Ins beard, and 

 anote him, and slew him. Thy servant slew both the Lion and the Bear. 



Another Lion-slayer is one of David's braves "-Benaiah-" He went down also and slew . 

 Lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow.t Now this slight mention of the forest-tang K a perfect 



LION OF SENEGAL. 



picture in a few short words. In that land of milk and honey there was snow at certain seasons, and 

 then that huge, bearded Cat was fain to hide himself in some cleft of the rock. If, however, the term 

 " pit " means one in which the Lion has fallen, being entrapped, the short snatch of history loses 

 none of its interest. The calm courage of this man made him to be " more honourable than the thirty 

 mighty men," in the list of David's captains. 



After the deportation of the ten tribes to Babylon, the number of Lions and other beasts of prey 

 umst have increased to a fearful extent in Palestine, for we find the men sent by the King of Assyria 

 to re-people the deserted cities, complaining to their monarch of the ravages of these beasts which, as 

 they put it, had been sent "because they knew not the manner of the God of the land." 



As to the favourite haunts of the Lion in the various countries where it exists, " that Lions 

 exist in the desert," says M. Carette, " is a myth popxilarised by the dreams of artists and poets, and 

 has no foundation but in their imagination. This animal does not quit the mountains where it finds 



* 1 Samuel xvii. 34-36. 



) 2 Samuel xxiii. 20. 



