The Lion 85 



wards, and in every way but on him. Luckily he was a 

 man of iron nerve, and bred from the cradle in scenes like 

 this ; he therefore remained quiet, taking no more notice 

 of the frantic behavior of the lioness than if she had not 

 existed ; for, as he said, it was a hundred to one that I did 

 not kill the mother, and, if I had, the other two would 

 have avenged her." It ended by her ultimately retiring into 

 the thicket, and watching him as he cleared out ; but there 

 can be ho doubt that any hesitation, nervousness, or invol- 

 untary movement on his part would have been fatal. 



In his description of the lion, Buffon (" Histoire Natu- 

 relle") has delivered a number of opinions based upon 

 imperfect knowledge. This animal, he says, owes its char- 

 acteristics to climate alone. Lions only inhabit tropical 

 countries, and among the denizens of hot latitudes they 

 are " le plus fort, le plus fier, le plus terrible de totts." On 

 the Atlas Mountains, where snow sometimes falls, these 

 beasts have neither the strength, size, courage, nor ferocity 

 of those who roam the southern plains, and for the same 

 reason, the lion of America, if it deserves that name, is 

 but an inferior beast. Man has greatly circumscribed the 

 range of Felis leo, and the natural character of existing 

 varieties has been greatly changed through his inventions. 

 Formerly^lions were bolder than they are at present ; still, 

 in the Sahara and other places, it happens that " un seul 

 de ses lions du desert attaque souvent une caravane entiire." 

 Owing to its brave and magnanimous character, a lion 

 only takes life when compelled to do so by hunger. Cer- 

 tain moral qualities may be said to inhere in the species 

 at large, but there are also individual lions that add to 



