THE AFRICAN LION IN ITS NATIVE HAUNTS. 313 
less lion of Africa manifests a resemblance to the tiger, and 
more especially to that of Bengal. 
The lion of Central Africa with which we are acquainted 
appears to belong to the same variety found even as far south 
as the immediate vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope. It is 
adorned with a beautiful mane, the disposition of which, falling 
as it does far over the animal’s forehead, detracts greatly from 
its appearance. This defect, and the elongated form of its 
jaws, deprive the animal of that majestic air which characterizes 
its congener in Northern Africa. 
The third variety appertains to Eastern Abyssinia, Sennaar, 
and Upper Egypt, and is distinguishable by its form and colour. 
With a body thick-set as that of a bull-dog, and fierce and 
sullen as the latter, this lion would be dangerous in the ex- 
treme if it were endowed with strength proportionate to its 
other qualities. Fortunately for the natives, however, he is 
small, and possesses nothing formidable beyond his red covering 
and his vicious disposition. 
Dismissing these three varieties of the lion with the foregoing 
brief comments upon their appearance and habits, I shall now 
ask my readers to accompany me over the orthodox geogra- 
phical route across the Great Desert to Northern Africa — a 
journey more easily accomplished in the reader’s company, and 
on paper, than over the burning sands and under the tropical 
sun of Africa. This expedition will enable us to make the 
assertion that the “Lion of the Desert,” which has been so 
frequently described, has no actual existence ; and it requires 
but little consideration to show why the animal is not to be 
found in that locality. Three things are indispensable to its 
existence — fresh meat, pure water, and shade for repose. Now, 
from Timbuctoo to the first oases which are found north of 
Soudan, there is a distance of not less than 400 or 500 miles to 
be traversed without the existence of this threefold condition of 
life for the lion ; and the country east and west along its whole 
length is of precisely the same character. It will therefore be 
easily understood that no lion could penetrate into, much less 
establish itself permanently in these desert regions. Beyond 
this sea of sand, however, and the few fertile islands, the ver- 
dant oases which are scattered over it, we come to the great 
chain of Mount Atlas, which, with its magnificent ramifications, 
is nobly peopled with denizens of the animal kingdom. Here 
it is that we find the African lion par excellence — the lion of 
Numidia. 
Kazouini and Dameiri, two Arab authors anterior to Buffon, 
have described the lion of Northern Africa in glowing colours. 
Their account commences with the titles of nobility of these 
large-headed sovereigns of the wilds. He is the “ great,” the 
