CAPABILITY OP INSTRUCTION. 
103 
to his master, and lived on the most affectionate 
terms with the dogs and other domestic animals. 
Again : “ On my first visit to Omer Pacha of 
Hallah,” says Layard, in his “ Nineveh and Ba¬ 
bylon,” “ he presented me with two lions. One 
was nearly of full size, and was well known in the 
bazaar and thoroughfares of Hillah, through which 
he w T as allowed to wander unrestrained. The in¬ 
habitants could accuse him of no other objectionable 
habit than that of taking possession of the stalls of 
the butchers, who, on his approach, made a hasty 
retreat, leaving him in undisturbed possession of 
their stores, until he had satisfied his hunger and 
deemed it time to depart. He would also wait the 
coming of the large £ hujfas ,’ or wicker boats, of the 
fishermen ; and, driving away their owners, would 
help himself to a kind of large barbel, for which he 
appeared to have a decided relish. For this act of 
depredation, the beast was perhaps less to be blamed 
than the Pacha, who rather encouraged a mode of 
obtaining daily rations which, although of question¬ 
able honesty, relieved him from butchers’ bills. 
When no longer hungry, he would stretch himself 
in the sun, and allow the Arab boys to take such 
liberties with him as, in their mischief, they might 
devise. He was taller and larger than a St. Ber¬ 
nard’s dog, and like the lion generally found on 
the banks of the rivers of Mesopotamia.” 
The lion, when in confinement, is very capable of 
instruction. The performances on the stage of Van 
Atnburgh’s pet beast we have all witnessed. Other 
lions have also shown a degree of tameness and 
