INTRODUCTION. 
XXIII 
The disposition of the animal seems : also not 
less marked hj the climate than the figure. Both 
at the line and the pole,, the wild quadrupeds are 
fierce and untameable. In these latitudes, their 
savage dispositions having not been quelled by any 
efforts from man, and being still farther stimulated 
by the severity of the weather, they continue fierce 
and untractable. Most of the attempts which 
have hitherto been made to tame the wild beasts 
brought home from the pole or the "equator have 
proved ineffectual. They are gentle and harmless 
enough while young ; but as they grow up, they 
acquire their natural ferocity, and snap at the hand 
that feeds them. It may indeed, in general, be 
asserted, that in all countries where the men are 
most barbarous, the beasts are most fierce and 
cruel : and this is but a natural consequence of the 
struggle between man and the more savage animals 
of the forest ; for in proportion as he is weak and 
timid, they must be bold and intrusive ; in pro- 
portion as his dominion is but feebly supported* 
their rapacity must be more obnoxious. In the 
extensive countries, therefore, lying round the pole., 
or beneath the line, the quadrupeds are fierce and 
formidable. Africa has ever been remarked for 
the uncivilized condition of its men, and the fierce- 
ness of its animals : its lions and its leopards are 
not less terrible than its crocodiles and its serpents ; 
their dispositions seem entirely marked with the 
rigours of the climate ; and being bred in an ex- 
treme of heat, they show a peculiar ferocity, that 
neither the force of man can conquer, nor bis a tip 
