THE LION. 33 



of his death from St. Anthony and others, we read: "After 

 two days' search St. Anthony found St. Paul, and a raven brought 

 a loaf, whereupon they took their corporal refection. The next 

 morning St. Paul told him he was going to die, and bid him fetch 

 a cloak given to St. Anthony by St. Athanasius and wrap his 

 body in it. St. Anthony then knew that St. Paul must have been 

 informed of the cloak by revelation, and went forth to fetch it, but 

 before his return St. Paul had died, and St. Anthony found two 

 lions digging his grave with their claws, wherein he^ buried 

 St. Paul, first wrapping him in St. Athanasius' s cloak, and pre- 

 serving as a great treasure St. Paul's garment, made of palm-tree 

 leaves stitched together." 



Several historians of the habits and customs of the ancient 

 people of the world assert that among the various wild beasts that 

 have from time to time been trained for hunting purposes the lion 

 must be included. However remarkable this may appear, still it 

 must be remembered that men in past ages certainly possessed 

 powers of taming wild animals that have not descended to the 

 present generation ; and also that in hot or tropical countries 

 animal ferocity is more easily subdued than in colder ones. 



Sir J. Gardner "Wilkinson ^ informs us that the ancient 

 Egyptians, who were most zealous sportsmen, not only "hunted 

 with hounds, but also with lions," which were brought up from 

 cubs in a tame state, and trained expressly for the chase, like the 

 cheetahs, or hunting leopards of India ; also that many Egyptian 

 monarchs were accompanied in battle by their favourite lions. 



The first statement is not assented to by Mr. Francis Lenormant, 

 although he admits that lions were used in war. Nevertheless 

 it is borne out by MYian, the historian who wrote during the 

 third century, for he states that in India the natives knew how to 

 tame the black-maned lions, and to accustom them to the hunting 

 of boars, bulls, and wild asses, like dogs ; and he further makes 

 the startling assertion that the Indians tamed tigers and elephants, 

 and yoked them to the plough. 



Sir John Ohardin, the French traveller, who visited the court 



1 " A Popular Account of the Ancient Egyptians," new edition by Samuel Birch, 

 LL.D., D.G.L., 1878. 



D 



