222 
THE LTOX. 
hunting this justly-celebrated king of beasts.” 
A word now as to the character of the lion, &c. : 
a subject which I have purposely reserved until this 
time that the reader, from being acquainted with all 
I have to tell about the beast, may be the better 
able to form his own judgment. As, however, the 
opinions of writers and sportsmen regarding the 
character of the lion are various and contra¬ 
dictory, T shall content myself with saying, in the 
words of G6rard, that, in my opinion, the leading 
characteristics of the animal are “ courage and 
slothfulness.” 
It is true there are those who altogether deny the 
lion the former quality, and even go so far as to pro¬ 
nounce him a poltroon. But this very erroneous 
view of his character is of easy explanation. “ The 
existence of the lion,” as has been well observed by 
the author just named, “ is divided into two distinct 
periods, making him in some measure two distinct 
animals. The two periods are the night and the 
day. During the night he roams the wilds in 
search of prey, whilst in the day he is accustomed 
to retire to the most solitary places, where he sleeps 
at his ease. Because a person in the daytime has 
met a lion, whom the sun or the flies have caused to 
shift his quarters, and because he escapes from the 
beast with impunity, he, without taking into 
consideration that at that hour the animal was 
half asleep, and that its belly was full, goes away 
with the impression that the lion never ventures to 
attack a man, and the beast is therefore branded 
with cowardice. In fact, the lion does not kill for 
