72 
THE STORY OF THE LION. 
and half a dozen large cubs, which, except for their somewhat slighter build, 
might easily be mistaken for mature females. On one occasion we came 
across a party consisting of a lion, three full-grown lionesses, and three small 
cubs; and if each of these females had possessed a pair of large cubs, such 
an assemblage would have been rightly termed a party of ten lions. It was 
probably such a party, although comprising more adult males, that Lord 
Randolph Churchill encountered during his recent journey in Mashonaland, 
when in company with his hunter Lee. “We were riding along,” writes his 
lordship, “through a small open glade covered with high grass, Lee a few 
yards ahead of me, when I suddenly saw him turn round, cry out something 
to me, and point with his finger ahead. I looked, and saw lolloping along 
through and over the grass, about forty yards off, a yellow animal about as 
big as a small bullock. It flashed across me that it was a lion—the last 
thing in the world that I was thinking of. I was going to- dismount and 
take aim, for I was not frightened at the idea of firing at a retreating lion, 
but Lee called out in succession five or six times, ‘Look, look!’ at the same 
time pointing with his finger in different directions in front. I saw, to- my 
astonishment, and rather to my dismay, that the glade appeared to- be alive with 
lions. There they were, trooping and trotting along ahead of us like a lot 
of enormous dogs—great yellow objects, offering such a sight as I had never 
dreamed of. Lee turned to- me and said, ‘What will you do-?’ I said, ‘I 
suppose we must go- after them,’ thinking all the time that I was making 
a very foolish answer. This I am the more convinced of now, for Lee told me 
afterward that many old hunters in South Africa will turn away from such 
a troop of lions, as we had before us. We trotted on after them a short 
distance to- where the grass was more open, the lions trotting along ahead 
of us in the most composed and .leisurely fashion, very different from the 
galloping off of a surprised and startled antelope.” 
Lord Randolph Churchill himself counted no less than seven lions, while 
his hunter believed that there were several more in the party. 
When a male lion has selected a female partner the union very generally 
lasts for the greater portion or the entire lives of the pair. From the evidence 
of specimens kept in captivity it is known that from two to- six cubs may be 
produced at a birth, at least in the captive condition. . It is stated, however, 
that in India wild lionesses do- not produce more than two or three cubs at 
a birth. When caught young, lions are easily tamed, and the whole disposi¬ 
tion of the animal in captivity is much more gentle than is that of the tiger. 
In Persia the staple food of the lion is the wild pigs that frequent the 
