22 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
meet him almost singly. They, however, more frequently 
make up parties for the chase, which is unquestionably 
attended with no little danger, even when the huntsmen 
are numerous and experienced; for although the Lion 
on such occasions almost always takes to his heels, and 
endeavours to make his escape without confronting his 
pursuers; yet, when he finds that flight is in vain, he 
turms upon them with a fierceness and determination 
that nothing could withstand, were it not for the well 
proved superiority possessed by them in the formidable 
rifle, which, on such an emergency, they know how to 
direct with a steady and almost unerring aim. 
The Cape Lion is seldom taken alive; his utter de- 
struction and extermination forming the primary object 
of his pursuers. Occasionally, however, when a Lioness 
has been shot, and the hunters have been fortunate 
enough to trace out her den, the cubs are brought away, 
and in some measure domesticated, at least for a season, 
and until they acquire sufficient force to become dan- 
gerous. Up to this period some of the colonists will even 
suffer them to remain almost at large in their dwellings ; 
but they have frequently occasion to rue the mercy they 
have shown, and are at length compelled, by the unequi- 
vocal manifestations of that ferocity which never fails to 
make its appearance when the animals have attained a 
certain age, to destroy the creatures whom they have 
nourished and caressed. 
Two male individuals of this breed are now exhibiting 
at the Tower: the one whose portrait illustrates the 
present article, and who, although scarcely more than 
two years and a half old, already rivals his adult Asiatic 
