MAGNANIMITY OF THE LION. 
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retreated, it would, in all probability, have “ charged” 
the cowardly crew. Then again, as shown in these 
pages, the South African lion has, in many instances, 
been known to carry off men from the bivouac fire, 
when surrounded by many companions, and that in 
spite of numerous shots and firebrands hurled at his 
head. 
I have also great doubts as to the Algerine lion 
being superior in size and power to the South 
African; but as, unfortunately, neither the dimen¬ 
sions of the beast nor its weight seem to have been 
taken with any great accuracy in either country, 
this point must be left undecided. 
We will now speak of the lion’s magnanimity, 
which, from time immemorial, has been cried up to 
the skies by poets and others. We are told, for 
instance, that he has been known to despise weak and 
contemptible enemies, and even to pardon their in¬ 
sults when it has been in his power to punish them, 
while we all know by heart the stories of the Lion of 
Androcles, and that of Florence. These relations 
may be true or false, but with that I have little to 
do. All I know is that, during my long wanderings 
in Southern Africa, nothing in the shape of noble¬ 
ness of disposition on the part of the lion ever came 
under the notice of either myself or anyone else, 
whether native or colonist, with whom I came into 
contact. That he does not always kill the man he 
stands over (even though previously wounded by 
him), and consequently at his mercy, is perfectly 
true, but to assign a cause for this, his seemingly - 
capricious conduct, appears to me not only difficult, 
but impossible. 
