32 WILD ANIMALS. 



to have died suddenly in some lonely place in France, and wlien 

 found his faithful lion was crouclied by his side, dead also, having 

 remained with his master until he succumbed from starvation. 



The forerunner of these lion-tamers, however, had other 

 dangers than mere brute ferocity to contend with. Hanno, a 

 Carthaginian, is the first on record who ever tamed a lion, and 

 he was condemned to banishment for what his fellow-citizens 

 deemed so great a crime. They asserted that the republic had to 

 fear the worst consequences from a man who had been able to 

 subdue so much ferocity. 



A singular thing about the taming of lions is that men ex- 

 perienced in the business assert that it is much easier to tame a 

 " forest-caught lion " than one born in a menagerie, which is 

 certainly strange, and opposed to general theory. 



A curious fact is narrated in an African paper, dated May, 1862, 

 which would lead us to infer that the lion, when not very hungry, 

 is not above amusing himself. Certainly, the behaviour of this 

 individual one, was, to say the least of it, very unusual. It appears 

 a woodcutter was proceeding from St. Charles to Gastonville, 

 when he suddenly saw " an enormous lion" crouched on the road 

 in front of him. Seized with terror he turned round and ran 

 back, but the lion jumping up, pursued him and went past him 

 on the road ; when some little distance in advance again, lay down 

 and waited the man's approach. The poor woodcutter again 

 turned round and fled back, the lion once more rushing past and 

 beyond him, then again lying down as before. This manoeuvre 

 was repeated by the creature several times until, in fact, the man 

 fell to the ground exhausted by fright and fatigue. The lion 

 then approached him, and after sniffing around, as though 

 examining him from head to foot, gave a friendly roar and walked 

 off, apparently satisfied at the trick it had played. The man 

 was confined to his bed for some days afterwards, and had 

 no further desire to meet a lion in the road, even when only on 

 " pleasure bent." 



The part an old legend assigns the lions in the burial of 

 St. Paul may not be generally known. In the life of the 

 apostle, written by St. Jerome in 365, who received an account 



