112 
THE LION. 
The temper of the northern lynx, again, like 
that of the bear and lion, is not always to be 
depended on. Once I reared three beautiful 
specimens of this animal. As they were very 
tame and playful, I and my deceased brother were 
accustomed to take them into the room, where 
they performed the most extravagant antics. One 
day, whilst thus amusing ourselves, X observed 
one of the young brutes seize my brother bv the 
neck, but as he kept laughing, I at first imagined 
it was only merely playing with him. All of a 
sudden, however, my brother became silent, 
sighed, uttered sounds of distress, and at length 
burst into tears. Hushing up to him, I discovered, 
to ray horror, that the lynx was clinging like a 
leech to the back of the ear of the poor boy, and 
rapidly drawing away his life-blood. Happily, 
however, and before the brute had inflicted any 
serious mischief, X succeeded in separating him 
from his intended victim. 
The natives of Southern Africa, X may here 
remark, entertain many very singular notions, 
or superstitions if you will, regarding the lion. 
Amongst the rest, that when that beast finds 
himself unable to bear away his victim to some 
solitary place where he can satisfy his hunger in 
quiet, he repairs to a certain bush, at the root of 
which bulbs, possessed of peculiar virtues, are said 
to grow; and after partaking of these wonderful 
succulents his strength and vigour are believed to be 
increased tenfold, and he is enabled to accomplish 
his task with the greatest possible ease and facility. 
