THE LION. 



THE Lion, like the Tiger, belongs to the great 

 race of Cats. He is sometimes called the 

 king of beasts, but it is doubtful if he is as brave 

 as the Tiger. Still he is more completely armed 

 and fitted for carnage than any other we know of. 



His tongue, as is the case with other feline ani- 

 mals, is furnished with a set of reversed prickles, 

 something like a Cat's claws in shape, and so large 

 and so strong that they are capable of lacerating 

 the skin — that is, of tearing it and making it 

 bleed — if he does but lick it. His teeth are of 

 such strength that he breaks the bones of his 

 prey as easily as I might break the bones of a 

 Chicken, and he often swallows them together 

 with the flesh. A single stroke of his paw is 

 sufificient, it is said, to break the back of a Horse ; 

 and each paw has a sort of soft cushion or elas- 

 tic pad placed under each toe, which enables him 

 to tread so gently that his approach will not be 

 heard by the most watchful ear. Then, too, think 

 of his claws ! Their strength is prodigious, and 

 they are curved like an Eagle's bill, so that, 

 when once they have seized upon a victim, their 

 hold is not to be shaken off. 



The muscles which raise his jaw are of enor- 

 mous size ; and his entire frame is admirably 



adapted to blend both strength and agility. He 

 will carry off an Antelope or a Buffalo as easily 

 as pussy carries off a Rat ; while he will spring 

 with a tremendous bound, wliich hardly a Deer or 

 a Goat will surpass for swiftness. 



His appetite, when made furious by hunger, 

 must be more terrible than we have any power 

 to conceive of; and his cunning and watchful- 

 ness as a Cat make him all the more perfect as a 

 savage warrior. 



At the present day Lions are only found in 

 Africa and Asia. Formerly, it is said, they used 

 to be in the south-east of Europe too. Nor are 

 they any longer to be seen in the Holy Land, 

 though they are often alluded to in the Bible. 



The African Lion is different from the Asiatic, 

 and the African Lions themselves seem to con- 

 sist of four or five kinds. It was formerly be- 

 lieved that they had prickles in their tails, which 

 rendered them wilder when they lashed their sides 

 with them. They are not often found in for- 

 ests ; they seem to like best the shelter of the 

 low common that creeps along the sides of 

 streams. The powerful brute sometimes carries 

 off men. 



A Cape Lion has been known to seize a Heifer 



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