704 



THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



this absence from their den, the Bedouins cautiously approach to seize the young, 

 taking good care to gag them, as their cries would infallibly attract the parent lion. 

 After a razzia like this, the whole neighborhood increases its vigilance, as for the next 

 peven or eight days the fury of the lion knows no bounds. 



In ancient times, the lion was an inhabitant of south-eastern Europe. Herodotus 

 relates- that troops of lions came down the Macedonian mountains, to seize upon the 

 baggage camels of Xerxes' army, and even under Alexander the Glreat, the animal, 

 though rare, was not yet completely extirpated. In Asia also, where the lion is at 

 present confined to Mesopotamia, the northern coast of the Persian Gulf, and the 

 north-western part of Hindostan, he formerly roamed over far more extensive domains. 

 The Asiatic lion differs from the African, by a more compressed form of the body, a 

 shorter mane, which sometimes is almost entirely wanting, and a much larger tuft of 

 hair at the end of the tail. Africa is the chief seat of the lion, the part of the world 

 where he appears to perfection with all the attributes of his peculiar strength and 

 beauty. There he is found in the wilds of the Atlas as in the high mountain-lands 

 of Abyssinia, from the Cape to Senegal, and from Mozambique to Congo ; and more 

 than one species of the royal animal, not yet accurately distinguished by the natural- 

 ists, roams over this vast expanse. The lion is frequently brought to Europe and 

 America, and forms one of the chief objects of attraction in zoological gardens. 

 When taken young, he easily accustoms himself to captivity, and even propagates 

 within his prison bounds, but the cubs born in our climate generally die young. 



That the lion is at times bold and ferocious enough is abundantly testified by all 

 the hunters who within the last few years have narrated their adventures in Southern 

 Africa, but all of them also give equal testimony to his usual cowardice, when not 

 pressed by hunger. Livingstone, indeed, has a most republican contempt for the so- 

 called " royal beast," although he bears on his person proofs that he is not to be wholly 

 despised. According to him the lion is nothing better than an overgrown hulking cat, 

 not a match in fair fight for the buffalo, and always careful to give a wide berth to 

 the rhinoceros. Andersson relates the only instance which has come within our obser- 

 vation where a lion assailed a rhinoceros. He had wounded a rhinoceros, and, he 

 writes, "while following up the trail of the animal, we came to a spot where one or 

 two lions, taking advantage of his crippled condition, had evidently attacked him, and 

 after a desperate struggle had been compelled to beat a precipitate retreat. This is 

 the only instance I know of lions daring to attack rhinoceroses, though I have seen it 

 stated in print, that not only will they assail, but can master the horned monster." 

 His picture of this scene is given on page 503 of this volume. 



According to Livingstone, if a traveler encounters a lion by daylight, he turns tail 

 and sneaks out of sight like a scared greyhound. All the talk about his majestic roar 

 is sheer twaddle. It takes a keen ear to distinguish the voice of the lion from that 

 of the silly ostrich. When the lion grows old, he leads a miserable life. Unable to 

 master the larger game, he prowls about the villages in hopes to pick up a stray goat. 

 A woman or a child does not come amiss. When the natives hear one prpwling about 

 the villages, they say, " His teeth are worn; he will soon kill men," and thereupon 

 turn out and put an end to him ; *' and this," says Livingstone, " is the only founda- 

 tion for the common belief that when the lion has once tasted human flesh he will eat 

 nothing else." When an aged lion lives far from human habitations so that he can not 



