THE LION. 



is probable that this circumftance has given rife to the common opinion, that 

 the Lion always fleeps with his eyes open. His eyebrows are large and lofty, 

 and he wrinkles them in a manner equally menacing and terrible. His 

 nofe is large and broad, his mouth wide, and his jaws are formed with 

 prodigious ftrength ; his tongue is large and rough ; it is covered with 

 crooked pointed hard fubfiances, refembling the claws of a Cat in lize and 

 (hape, and bent back towards the throat : this conformation of the tongue 

 renders his carerTes particularly dangerous, for his licking foon benumbs and 

 excoriates the place, fo as to give him a talte of the blood, which will 

 infallibly tempt him to bite the limb he is careflmg. The general appearance 

 and mape of the Lion is greatly altered by his Ihaggy mane ; divelt him of 

 that, and he is much like the Lionefs, except that his head is rather larger in 

 proportion, and his face more mufcular. The hair under the belly is 

 like wife much longer in the Lion than the Lionefs. His tail, which is about 

 four feet long, is not, as it appears to be, of the fame thicknefs throughout, 

 but gradually tapers, as in other quadrupeds : the deception arifes from the 

 lengthening of the hairs, as they approach towards the extremity of the 

 tail, which is adorned with a large tuft of long hair. The legs and feet 

 appear thick and large in proportion to the hze of his body; they are 

 amazingly itrong, yet withal fo fupple and active, that he moves with as 

 much eafe and agility as a Cat. The ufual colour of the Lion is a tawny 

 yellow, inclining to white on the belly ; but it is fubjed to fome varieties. 



In the burning and uninhabited deferts of Zaara and Biledulgerid, the 

 Lion is found replete with favage rage and undaunted ferocity. Accullomed 

 to conquer every animal he meets, he becomes terrible and intrepid by 

 habit, and appears not to know the fenfations of fear. Unacquainted with 

 the dangerous arts and arms of man, he feems neither to apprehend nor 

 dread the power of them : he boldly defies and attacks his antagonifl: 

 refinance and wounds ferve but to provoke his rage, and increafe his ardor, 

 and, when he is overpowered by the fuperior addrefs of his enemy, he fcorns 

 to feek his fafety in flight, but, valiant in death, faces him to the larl, and 

 diiputcs the vi&ory till he is totally fubdued. But, in the cooler regions, 



