lae, hard as a rasp, so as to crush the frame of the victim and clean its bones of the tlesh, are all subservient to an otherwise immensely strong, muscular structure, capable
-^^w^?
African Lion.
of prodigious exertion, and minister to the self-confi- dence which these means of attack inspire. In Asia the lion rarely measures more than nine feet and a half from the nose to the end of the tail, though a tiger-skin has been known of the dimensions but a trifle less than thir- teen feet. In Africa they are considerably larger, and supplied with a much greater quantity of mane. Both lion and tiger are furnished with a small horny apex to the tail — a fact noted by the ancients, but only verified of late years (see the Proceedings of the Council of the Zoological Society of London, 1832, p. 146), because this object lies concealed in the hair of the tip, and is very liable to drop off" (Kitto). Yet this singidar circum- stance has not escaped the attention of the Assyrians, and it is found represented on the ruined inscriptions of Nineveh (Bonomi's Nineveh, p. 245, 24G).
Claw in Lion's Tail. "All the varieties of the lion are spotted when whelps, but they become gradually buff or pale. One African variety, very large in size, perhaps a distinct species, has a peculiar and most ferocious physiognomy, a dense blaclv mane extending half way down the back, and a black fringe along the abdomen and tip of the tail, while those of Southern Persia anil the Dekkan are nearly des- titute of that defensive ornament. The roaring voice of the species is notorious to a proverb, but the warning cry of attack is short, snappish, and shaqi" (Kitto). This is always excited by opposition, and upon those occa- sions when the lion summons up all its terrors for the combat, nothing can be more formidable. It then lash- es its sides with its long tail, its mane seems to rise and stand like bristles round its head, the skin and mus- cles of its face are all in agitation, its huge eyebrows half cover its glaring eyeballs, it discovers its formida- ble teeth and tongue, and extends its powerful claws. AVhcn it is tluis prejiareil for war. even the boldest of the human kind iu-c daunted at its approach, and there are few animals that will venture singly to engage it. Like all the felina;, it is more or less nocturnal, and sel- dom goes abroad to pursue its prey till after sunset. When not pressed by hunger it is naturally indolent, and, from its habits of uncontrolled superiority, per-
LION
447
LION
haps capricious, but often less sanguinary and vindic- tive than is expected. In those regions where it has not experienced the dangerous arts and combinations of man it has no apprehensions from his power. It bold- ly faces him, and seems to brave the force of his arms. Wounds rather serve to provoke its rage than to repress its ardor. Nor is it daunted by the opposition of num- bers ; a single lion of the desert often attacks an entire caravan, and after an obstinate combat, when it tinds itself overpowered, instead of Hying, it stLU continues to combat, retreatmg and still facing the enemy until it dies. " Lions are monogamous, the male living constantly with the lioness, both hunting together, or for each oth- er when there is a litter of whelps, and the mutual affec- tion and care for their offspring which they display are remarkable in animals doomed by natm-e to live by blood and slaughter. It is while seeking prey for their young that they are most dangerous; at other times they bear abstinence, and when pressed by hunger will sometimes feed on carcasses found dead. They live to more than fifty years; consequently, having annual litters of from three to five cubs, they multiply rapidly when not seri- ously opposed. Zoologists consider Africa the primitive abode of lions, their progress towards the north and west having at one time extended to the forests of iMacedonia and Greece, but in Asia never to the south of the Ner- budda nor east of the Lower Ganges. Since the invention of gunpowder, and even since the havoc which the osten- tatious barbarism of Roman grandees made among them, they have diminished in number exceedingly, although at the present day mdividuals are not unfrequently seen in Barbary, within a short distance of Ceuta" (Kitto). "At present lions do not exist in Palestine, though they are said to be found in the desert on the road to Egypt (Schwarz, Desc. of Pal. ; see Isa. xxx, G). They abound on the banks of the Euphrates, between Bussorah and Bagdad (Russell, Aleppo, p. 61), and in the marshes and jungles near the rivers of Babylonia (Layard, Nineveh and Bahtjlon, p. oGG). This species, according to Layard, is without the dark and shaggy mane of the African lion (ibid. 487), though he adds in a note that he had seen lions on tlie River Karun with a long black mane. Dut, though lions have now disappeared from Palestine, they must in ancient times have been numerous. The names Lebaoth (Josh, xv, 32), Beth-Lebaoth (Josh, xix, 6), Arieh (2 Kings xv, 25), and Laish (Judg. xviii,7; 1 Sam. XXV, 44) were probabl}' derived from the presence of, or connection with lions, and point to the fact that they were at one time common. They had their lairs in the forests which have vanished with them (Jer. v, 6; xii, 8; Amos iii, 4), in the tangled brushwood (.Jer. iv, 7; XXV, 38 ; Job xxxviii,40), and in the caves of the moun- tains (Cant, iv, 8 ; Ezek. xix, 9 , Nah. ii, 12). The cane- brake on the banks of the Jordan, the ' pride' of the river, was their favorite haunt (Jer. xlix. 19 ; 1, 44 ; Zech. xi, 3), and in this reedy covert (Lam. iii, 10) they were to be found at a comparatively recent period, as we learn from a passage of Johannes Pliocas, who travelled in Pal- estine towards the end of the 12th century (Reland, Po^. i, 274). They abounded in the jungles which skirt the rivers of Mesopotamia (Ammian. 3Iarc. xviii, 7, 5), and in the time of Xenophon {De Veiiut. xi) were found in Nysa" (Smith),