THE SKIN A TROPHY. 
37 
this is a mistake, as regards the lynx at least, 
which greatly resembles veal in appearance, and to 
my personal knowledge, for I have often partaken 
of it, is very palateable. Grimalkin in the hands 
of Mr. Soyer would probably prove equally good.”^ 
In Southern Africa, the skin of the lion, though of 
little intrinsic value, is, as a trophy, greatly prized 
by the hunters, and the like is the case, General 
Dumas tells us, in Algeria. 
“ Les Arabes,” says he, “ croient qu’il est bon 
de dormir sur un peau de lion ; on eloigne ainsi 
les demons, on conjure le malheur, et on se preserve 
de certaines maladies. 
“ Les griffes du lion montees en argent deviennent 
des ornements pour les femmes, la peau de son 
front est un talisman que certains hommes placent 
sur leurs tetes pour maintenir dans leurs cervelles 
l’audace et l’energie.” 
The lion is a long-lived animal. Buffon and 
other naturalists, it is true, estimate its age at only 
w May not the prejudice against lion’s flesh have more or less 
originated with people who had only tasted that of beasts ancient as 
the hills, or of such as had met their death in a way greatly to 
deteriorate it? That of a young bear, or even of one in its^prime, is, 
as I can certify, very good eating, whether roasted, boiled, or 
smoked; whereas that of a very old gentleman, or of one shot under 
peculiar circumstances, will hardly tempt the appetite of the least 
fastidious; as a proof of this I, on one occasion, killed a large old 
male after so severe a run on “ skedor” in deep snow, that on cut¬ 
ting up the beast twenty-four hours afterwards, all which time he had 
lain exposed in the forest during very severe weather, his interior 
fat was found to be in so liquid a state as to necessitate its removal 
with a coffee cup, and the flesh, as a consequence (which was sub¬ 
sequently smoked), was so tainted as to render it utterly unfit for 
human food.—E d. 
