2.92 • F E 
dional parts where mankind have difdainedto dwell ; there 
thefe animals are dill.numerous, and as ferocious as ever. 
According to Aridotle, lions were anciently found in )tu- 
rope, between the rivers Achelous v and Nefllis: none of 
them occur on the American continent; the animal there 
called a lion, is tire Mexican wolf, or canis Mexicanus of 
Linnaeus, which fee under Canis, vol. iii. p. 713. Wounds 
irritate, but never terrify the lion; they are not evendif- 
ccnc-erted at the light of numbers. A Angle lion of the 
dfifeft will attack a whole caravan ; and if, after a violent 
and obdinate engagement, he finds himfelf weakened, he 
retreats fighting, always keeping his face to the enemy. 
Hiftory informs us of lions being trained to war, or the 
chace ; and that, faithful to their matters, they never em¬ 
ployed their courage but againd their enemies. It is cer¬ 
tain, that a lion, taken young, and brought up among 
domeftic animals, will eafily be accuftomed to live and 
fport with them ; that he is mild; and if his natural fero¬ 
city. fometimes breaks out, it is rarely turned againd thofe 
who have been kind to him. But, as his pafiions are im¬ 
petuous and vehement, it is not to be expedited that the 
imprefiions of education will at all times be fufEcient to 
balance them. Bad treatment not only irritates him, but 
he remembers it long, and meditates revenge ; yet he is 
exceedingly grateful, and feldom forgets benefits received. 
When in captivity, he will difcover fymptoms of uneafi- 
nefs, without anger or peevifhnefs : cn the contrary, his 
natural temper foftens, he obeys his keeper, carefies the 
hand that gives him food, and fometimes difdains to take 
the life of animals thrown to him alive for prey. The 
monarch of Perfia, full of favage date, had, on days of 
audience, as we are told in Bell’s Travels, two great lions 
chained on each fide of the padages to the room of date, 
led there by keepers, in chains of gold. As they have 
been thus fubdued, why may we not credit the dory of 
their being harneded for the triumphal'car of the con¬ 
queror Bacchus ? The Arabs have a notion of his (paring 
the female fex ; but dodlor Shaw informs us that they 
make no didinction i a our days. 
The exterior of the lion correfponds with the noble 
qualities of his mind. His figure is grand, his looks de¬ 
termined, his gait ftately, and his voice deep and tre¬ 
mendous. The body of the iion is an excellent model of 
drength joined to agility. He is alfo very ardent in his 
■ amours: when the female is in feafon, die is often fol¬ 
lowed by eight or ten males, who roar inceffantly, and 
enter into furious engagements, till one of then) com¬ 
pletely overcomes the red, takes paJPedion of the female, 
and carries her off to fome fecret recefs ; gedation fol¬ 
lows; and die indin (lively fearches out a fafe and fe- 
cluded den, wherein to bring forth her young. The 
lionefs in the national menagerie at Paris, having whel ped 
three living cubs at her full time, an opportunity has 
been afforded of obferving' feveral particulars relative to 
the propagation of this animal, with more accuracy than 
lias been hitherto done. Both the parent animals .were 
taken by the Arabs between Bonn and Condantine, when 
- only about fix months old, and were believed to .be of 
the fame litter. They were brought into France by C. 
Felix, one of the keepers of the menagerie. The female 
' became pregnant when five years old ; but it proved abor¬ 
tive. Fifteen days afterwards die became in heat again, 
and received the male feveral times. As the lad time was 
the 23d of July, 1800, it is probable that the time of con¬ 
ception may be dated from this period, and this fixes tiie 
term of gedation at one hundred days, and not fix months, 
as Btiffon has mentioned from the authority of Philodratus 
and Wredt. O11 the day of her delivery the lionefs ap¬ 
peared languid, and dragged her food within her den 
without fading it. However, die made no kind of cry, 
nor appeared lefs mild to her keeper than ufual. She 
dropped her firdWhelp on the evening of the 9th of No¬ 
vember, at ten o’clock, the fecond three quarters of an 
hour after, and the third two hours after midnight. When 
•'£rd born they were as big as full-grown cats (and not 
L I 3. 
fix or feven inches in length, as fome have pretended.) 
Their head, however, was larger in proportion. They 
differ much in colour from full-grown lions; their fkin is 
of a red-brown, marked with blackMh foots and bars, the 
tail is marked with black rings on a tawny ground. The 
males have no mane. Their eyes were open from the 
fit d, and they walk dragging their hind.leg®. Their cry 
is a loud mewing, like a cat when irritated. -The mother 
takes the greated care of them,’ carries them in her mouth 
when die wants to change their place, licks them con- 
dantly, and takes great care not to trample cn them when 
die is moving. 
This is not the fird time that lions have produced in 
Europe. An example of this is quoted in the Ami de la 
Nature , which the author has taken from an Englidi book, 
entitled London in Miniature, and printed in that city in 
1755. “ Entering the Tower of London, we were con- 
du6ied to fome iron-grated cells, in form of half-moons, 
inhabited by lioneffes of different ages. The fird (hewn 
us was the Princefs Dido, then in all the vigour" of youth, 
about dx years old, and hanufome in every refpedt. The . 
fecond was named Jenny ; we were told die was about' 
foriy years. old. This was the olded lionefs ever fee n in 
the Tower, although for five hundred years this kind of 
animal has been kept there. She has been mother of 
nine young lions, all begotten by a lion named Marco, 
now dead. Thefe nine young lions died in rearing, with 
the exception of Nero; who died abou 1 - two years ago, 
having lived to be ten years old ; and of Nancy, who lived 
double that age. It was not without extreme care that 
they could preferve thefe two lad young lions, for no ani¬ 
mals are more difficult to rear, on account of the convul- 
dons which they are fubjedt to at the period of dentition. 
They were kept for the fird year in a warm chamber, and 
fed with milk. They were as gentle as dieep, but their 
natural ferocity was quickly developed with their grow¬ 
ing drength.” 
The lion rarely goes abroad in the middle of the day, 
but failles forth in the evening and night in qued of prey. 
He is awed by fire, and feldom approaches the artificial 
fires made by the fliepherds for the protection of their 
flocks; he does not purfue his prey by the {’cent, but, 
like the eagle, is obliged to ti ud to his eyes. Some hif- 
torians have even reprefented him as incapable of finding 
his prey; but fay that he is obliged to the jackal to pro¬ 
vide for him, and that this animal ufually goes before 
him for this purpofe. — See this vulgar error explained 
under C A NI s , vol. iii. p. 723.. 
The lion, when hungry, will attack any animal that 
prefents itfelf: but he is io very formidable, that all en¬ 
deavour to avoid his rencounter; this circumdance often 
obliges him to conceal-hiriifelf, and lie in Wait till fome 
animal chances to pals. He lies fquat on his belly in a 
thicket; from which he fprings with fuch force and velo¬ 
city, that he often feizes his prey at- the fird bound. He 
endures hunger longer than third ; he feldom paffes water 
without drinking, which he does by lapping like a dog. 
In burning defei ts, where rivers and fountains are denied, 
they live in a perpetual fever. The author of the “(Eco¬ 
nomy of Nature,” gives a wonderful proof of the inftinft 
of thefe animals in thofe arid tradis. There the pelican 
makes her ned ; and, in order io cool her young ones, 
and accudom them to an element they are afterwards to 
be converfant in, brings from afar, in their great gular 
pouch, fufficient water to fill the ned : the lion, and other 
wild beads, approach and quench their third; yet never 
injure the unfledged birds, as if confci'ous that their de- 
ftruction would immediately put an end to thofe grateful 
fupplies. — See the article Pelicanus. 
The roaring of the lion, according to Dr. Span-nan, 
“ conlids in a hoarfe inarticulate found, which at the 
fame time feems to have a hollpwnefs in it fomething 
like that proceeding from a fpeakiog trumpet, and ap¬ 
pearing.as if it came from out or the earth ; at tlie fame 
time that, after lillemng with the greated attention, { 
could 
