THE LION AND OTHER BEASTS OF PREY 
2 19 
suprise of all, hidden amidst azaleas, you find a cottage with iron 
bars in front, behind which paces a solitary lion. 
This is Goma, a present from the African king, Menelik, to his 
brother king, Humbert of Italy. He is a young lion, about three 
years old, very tall and handsome, but with a mane not yet fully 
grown, and was brought to Italy as a cub, so that he has never 
HUNTING THE LIONS 
known liberty or companionship. He came with an Abyssinian 
attendant, who shortly returned to his native land, and for whom is 
now substituted an Italian peasant girl. She keeps his parlor and 
bedroom clean, shutting him by an iron gate into the one or the 
other the while, for no one has ventured into his cage during his 
presence there, except once a stable boy, who put some fresh straw 
under him when he was ill, and had no reason to repent it, for Goma 
