216 THE LION. 



skin was removed, a complete congeries of sinews. Elsewhere, 

 this traveller, who was a poet as well as a zoologist, speaking of 

 another one, exclaims: 



" What a glorious lion ! what muscles what claws ! 

 And seven feet ten from the rump to the jaws 1" 



The same writer gives us a good picture of the lion's place of 



retreat: 



" Would'st thou view the lion's den ? 

 Search afar from haunts of men ; 

 Where the reed-encircled fountain 

 Oozes from the rocky mountain; 

 By its verdure far descried, 

 Mid the desert brown and wide. . 

 Close beside the sedgy brim 

 Couchant lurks the lion grim, 

 Waiting till the close of day 

 Brings again the destined prey." 



(Ephemerides, 1828, p. 1170 



The lion has been called King, or Lord of Beasts, from his 

 superior strength, and also from a wrong notion of his courage 

 and magnanimity. " He is ordained by nature to live on animal 

 food, and fitted for the destruction of animal life, by the most 

 tremendous machinery that could be organized for such a pur- 

 pose, regulated by a cunning peculiar to his species. But when 

 we investigate the modes in which he employs these powers, we 

 may leave the stories of his generosity to the poets and romance- 

 writers, who (as well as the authors of more sober relations) 

 have generally been too much inclined to invest physical force 

 with those attributes of real courage and magnanimity which 

 are not always found in association with it." * Burchell, who 

 saw much of the lion in its wild state in Africa, pronounces it to 

 be an " indolent, skulking animal," not to be compared for courage 

 and other admirable qualities to the bold and faithful dog. 

 " The natural habits of the lion are certainly those of treachery ; 

 he is not disposed under any circumstances to meet his prey face to 

 face; but we apprehend that there were periods in the history 

 of African colonization when the lion was of a bolder nature 

 * Menageries (1829), vol. i. p. 149. 



