THE BENGAL LION. 9 
quently suffered to walk in the open yard among the 
visitors, who caressed them and played with them with 
impunity. The Duke of Sussex, in particular, was highly 
delighted with the unusual spectacle of a Lion and a 
Lioness bounding about him at perfect liberty, and with 
all their natural grace and agility. It must, however, be 
observed that they were not then fully grown, and that 
it was afterwards thought necessary to place them under 
greater restraint; but more with the view of guarding 
against possible mischief, than in consequence of any 
positive symptoms of rebellion. Of the change which 
has taken place in the character of the female, we shall 
have occasion to speak hereafter: the male still continues 
perfectly docile, and suffers himself to be treated with 
the greatest familiarity by his keepers and those to whom 
he is accustomed. 
Like all the other carnivorous animals in the Mena- 
gerie, he is fed but once in the twenty-four hours ; and his 
meal usually consists of a piece of beef, of eight or nine 
pounds weight, exclusive of bone. This he seizes with 
avidity, tears it to pieces instantly with his claws, and 
ravenously devours it; contrary to the usual custom of 
his fellow lions in a state of nature, who are said gene- 
rally to remain for a considerable time after they have 
struck the fatal blow, before proceeding to glut their 
appetite with the flesh and blood of their victim. ‘This 
awful pause of suspense may, however, under such 
circumstances, be attributable to an instinctive desire 
completely to finish their work, or at least to preclude 
the possibility of resistance, prior to removing from the 
body of their prostrate prey the weapon with which his 
destruction has been inflicted. 
