268 
YEETEBRATA. 
(lestructiveness — the very qualities wliicli constitute tKeir glory — arm the vorld against them, and 
will be the means of their final extirpation. Formerly they were found in Europe, for Herodotus 
tells us that the camels of Xerxes, in his invasion of Greece, were attacked by lions in what is 
now the Turkish province of Roumelia. But they have long since disappeared ffom Europe, and 
even from Egypt, Palestinp, and Syria, where they were once common. The various allusions to 
these animals in the Sacred Scriptures prove a familiarity with the habits of the race. Even in 
Asia, excepting some districts of Arabia, and parts of Persia and India, these magnificent beasts 
are very rare. The war that mankind has incessantly waged against them has thinned their 
ranks, and probably not only the lion, but the tiger, the rhinoceros, and the girafte, will ere long 
become extinct. In forty years a thousand lions were taken to ancient Rome, and perished in 
the fifjhts of the arena. In more modern times the use of fire-arms has made constant havoc 
among these animals "v\'herever they have come in contact with man. Within a few ye^rs the 
spirit of Nimrod has led various mighty hunters, such as Harris, Gumming, Anderson, Gerard, 
and others, iuto the wilds of Africa in pursuit of the enormous animals which teem in those 
solitary regions ; and by these daring men, not only elephants, girafi'es, hippopotami, buffaloes, and 
rhinoceroses, but lions have been slaughtered almost like rabbits. Everywhere the work of 
destruction goes on, and year by year the lion becomes more rare. A century hence he will 
probably be among those creatures that all have heard of, but which it has been the fortune of 
few to behold. Rats, mice, and inosquitos will flourish long after the lion has become a mere 
tradition. Such is the glory of the King of Beasts — a glory founded in fear, and beget- 
ting universal hate. Perhaps the glory of some other kings may, in future ages, be likened 
tliereunto. 
The Tiger, or Roval Tiger, Fells tigris, stands next the lion in size ; if the latter is a model 
of strength and grandeur, the former is the personification of beauty and grace. This animal is 
so common in the menageries, that we need only give a short description of it. The body is 
