190 ANIMALS AT WORK AND PLAY 



Polydamas. ' He was the strongest man of our days/ 

 says Pausanias ; ' stronger than any man except those 

 who have always been considered as gods and heroes. 

 Among other feats, he imitated Hercules by killing 

 a lion, unarmed. The mountain region of Thrace,' 

 he adds, * south of the river Nestus, which flows 

 through the territory of the Abderites, produces both 

 other large wild animals, and also lions. So many 

 are bred there that in ancient days they attacked 

 the camels of Xerxes' army (when marching to attack 

 Greece) and killed numbers of them. These lions 

 especially frequent the district below Mount Olympus, 

 one side of which is in Thrace and the other in 

 Macedonia ; and it was on this very mountain that 

 Polydamas killed a large and very fierce lion.' 

 Though the lion has disappeared, the other three 

 carnivorous creatures most frequently mentioned by 

 classical writers, the bear, the wolf, and the lynx, 

 are still inhabitants of Europe, and are found from 

 the Arctic circle to the shores of Southern Spain. 

 Of these the lynx seems to be about to disappear 

 from the Swiss forests, but is still common in Spain, 

 Portugal, the Carpathians, and the Swedish woods. 

 It can hardly be classed as dangerous, except that, 

 like the cat, its habit is to sit perfectly still if dis- 

 covered, and if wounded to spring straight at the 

 aggressor's head. The European bears differ much 



