THE LION IN ANCIENT SPORT 
of a soft chestnut hue with white whiskers and is nimble, quick, 
and exceedingly graceful both in climbing and when moving 
on the ground. Some captives have seemed untamable, 
while others were mild and playful; but none could be trusted 
with poultry. Azara had one which was fond of curling up 
on the skirts of any one’s garments to sleep or to lie and purr 
like a happy old tabby. It is a question whether the eyra and 
yaguarundi are not varieties of the same species. 
The Lion in Fact and Fable 
Amenemhat I, one of the oldest and grandest of the kings 
of Egypt, 2000 years before Christ, thought it worth while to 
record imperishably: ‘I hunted the lion.” That has been a 
proud boast among men of valor ever since. No animal since 
the beginning of the world has been so interesting to men gen- 
erally, nor received more fearsome admiration. Its majestic pose 
when aroused, its terrifying roar, its power to harm, its appar- 
ent supremacy, gave it naturally the rank of king in the minds 
of a world which saw no reason why the animal tribes should 
not acknowledge a ruler as well as the tribes of men. 
The ancient hunting of the lion must often have been a soul- 
stirring performance, — a hand-to-hand conflict calling for the 
best in nerve and muscle a man possessed. David’s seizing 
one, and tearing its jaws asunder by main strength, was a deed 
matched later by one of his captains, Benaiah (2 Sam. xxiii. 
20): “He cut down also and slew a lion in the midst of the pit 
in the time of snow”’; and it won for him promotion to be chief 
of staff. These incidents can hardly have been great exagger- 
ations of the encounters in which shepherds and hill men, from 
the Libyan desert to the plains of Persia, defended their flocks 
and themselves, when all depended on driving home a short 
pike. What marvels of courage and luck might be written, 
could the facts of any of a thousand such battles be recovered ! 
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