CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDEE 5. CARNIVORA. 
249 
"The place once clear, the noble victor shakes out his mane to the wind, with a long roar, 
and then comes and stretches himself at the feet of his love, Avho, for the first marlc of her favor, 
licks the wounds he has received on her account wath a fawning grace that aw^akens the ten- 
derest emotions in his susceptible heai't. When two old lions meet upon the same adventure, 
the affair is not so gayly 
terminated. Mohammed, an 
Arab of the tribe of Kesenna, 
told me of a combat of this 
cature where he w-as a spec- 
tator, although much against 
his will. It Avas in the pair- 
ing season for stags, and Mo- 
hammed, a great hunter of 
every kind of wdld animals, 
j)erched himself at sunset in 
the boughs of an oak-tree, 
to watch for a doe that he 
had seen wandering in the 
vicinity, accompanied by sev- 
eral stags. The tree which 
he had climbed was situated 
in the middle of a large clear- 
ing, and near a path that led 
into the neighboring forest. Toward midnight he saw a lioness enter the clearing, followed by a 
red lion with a ftiU-gTown mane. The lioness strolled from the path, and came and laid herself 
down at the foot of the oak, while the lion remained in the path, and seemed to be listening to 
some noise as yet inaudible to the hunter. 
" Mohammed then heard a distant roaring in the forest, and immediately the lioness answered 
it. Then the lion commenced to roar Avith a voice so loud that the frightened hunter let fall 
his gun, and held on the branches with both hands, lest he miglit tumble from the tree. As the 
voice of the animal that had been heard in the distance gradually approached, the lioness wel- 
comed him with renewed roarings, and the lion, restless, went and came from the path to the 
lioness, as though he Avished her to keep silence, and from the lioness to the path, as though to 
say, ' Let him come, the vagabond, he'll find his match.' 
" In about an hour a large lion, as black as a Avild boar, stepped out of the forest and stood in 
the full moonlight on the other side of the clearing. The honess raised herself to go to him, 
but the Hon, diviniug her intent, rushed before her and marched straight at his adversary. With 
step measured and sloAV, they approached to Avithin a dozen paces of each other — their great 
heads high in air, their tails slowly sweeping down the grass that grcAV around them. They 
crouched to the earth — a moment's pause — and then they bounded with a roar high in air, and 
rolled on the ground, locked in their last embrace. The battle Avas loug and fearful to the 
involuntary Avitness of this midnight duel. The bones of the combatants cracked under their 
powerful jaAVs, their talons strcAved the grass with entrails, and paiuted it red Avith blood, and 
their roarings, now guttural, uoav sharp and loud, told their rage and agony. 
" At the beginning of the contest, the lioness crouched herself on her belly, with her eyes fixed' 
upon the gladiators, and all the Avhilo the battle raged, manifested, by the sIoav cat-like motion 
of her tail, the pleasure she- felt at the spectacle. When the scene closed, and all Avas quiet and 
silent in the moonlight glade, she cautiously approached the battle-ground, and snuffing- the dead 
bodies of her two loA^ers, Avalked leisurely aAvay, AAdtliont deigning to ansAver the gross, but appro- 
priate epithet that Mohammed hurled at her as she Avent, instead of a bullet, 
"This example of the conjugal coquetry and fidelity of the lioness is applicable to all her 
species. What she desires is a lover full groAvii and brave, Avho will drive aAvay the young lions, 
whose beardless chins and constant quarrels offend her delicacy and trouble her repose. Such a 
Vol. L— 32 
