THE LION—THE KING OF BEASTS.
The Lion has been called the “King of Beasts” from most ancient times, and this is a very appropriate title, if we consider the impression we usually have of this animal when viewed for the first time. He carries his head high and walks with a slowness which may well pass for majesty. He always appears calm and dignified and conscious of his strength. The bushy and magnificent mane which overshadows his head and neck gives an added grandeur to his appearance.
Some adult Lions have attained a length of nearly ten feet, from the tip of the nose to the root of the tail; but usually they do not exceed six or seven feet. With the exception of the mane and a tuft of hair at the tip of the tail, the coat of the Lion is entirely smooth, and of a tawny color. The mane, which gives this great “King of the Beasts” such a lordly appearance, is missing in his mate, who has a smooth neck and a smaller head, and is generally in proportion about one-fourth as large. The mother Lion is at her fiercest when her little ones are threatened with danger; at other times she shows very little of the Lion nature except when pressed by hunger.
The Lion has also been called the “Lord of the Forest,” but this is not an appropriate title, as he does not prefer the forest for a home. He lives in desert arid plains, lightly covered with shrubby vegetation or tracts of low brushwood. In India he prowls along the borders of rivers, and makes his lair in the jungles.
The Lion slumbers during the day in his retreat, and as night comes on he prowls abroad in search of prey. This is not because his eyes are unfitted to see in the daytime—like those of the majority of “night prowlers”—but he seems to think it prudent to keep at home until evening. When the first shadows of twilight appear, he enters upon his campaign. If there is a pool in the vicinity of his haunt, he places himself in ambush on the edge of it, with the hope of securing a victim among the Antelopes, Gazelles, Giraffes, Zebras, Buffaloes, &c., which are led thither to slake their thirst. These animals, well aware of this habit of their enemy, will not approach a pond without extreme caution. If one, however, places itself within reach of their terrible foe, its fate is generally sealed. One enormous bound enables the Lion to spring on its back, and one blow with his paw breaks its back. If the Lion misses his aim, he does not endeavor to continue a useless pursuit, well knowing that he cannot compete in speed with the children of the plains. He therefore skulks back into his hiding-place, to lie in ambush until some more fortunate chance presents itself, or complete night-fall shuts out all hope of success.
The Lion, however, is not disposed to remain long with an empty stomach. Then it is that he approaches Man’s habitations, with the hope of surprising the domestic animals. Fences ten feet in height form no obstacle to him, for he will bound over such with ease, when, falling into the midst of the herd, he seizes the nearest.
The amount of strength which he manifests under circumstances similar to these is really extraordinary. A Lion has been known, at the Cape of Good Hope, to carry off a small Cow as a Cat would a Mouse, and, with the burden, leap a wide ditch. It is almost impossible to conceive the muscular force necessary to jump a fence several feet high when carrying a load of several hundred-weight.
The audacity of the Lion increases in proportion to his requirement. When he has exhausted all means of procuring subsistence, and when he can no longer put off the cravings of hunger, he sets no limit to his aggressions, and will brave every danger rather than perish by famine. In open day he will then proceed to where the herds of Oxen and Sheep pasture, entirely disregarding Shepherds and Dogs. At such times he has been known to carry his rashness so far as to attack a drove of Buffaloes—an action which is all the bolder as a single one, unless it is taken by surprise, is well able to defend itself.
The Lion seems to delight in the tempests of wind and rain, so common in Southern Africa; his voice mingles with the thunder, and adds to the terror of the timid animals, on whom he then boldly advances. He usually, however, waits in ambush, or creeps insidiously towards his victim, which with a bound and a rush he dashes to the earth.
“In South Africa,” says Capt. Burton, “the Lion is seldom seen, unless surprised asleep in his lair of thicket; during my journey I saw but one, although at times his roaring was heard at night. Except in darkness or during violent storms, which excite the fiercer Carnivora, he is a timid animal, much less feared by the people than the angry and agile Leopard. When encountered in the daytime, he stands a second or two gazing; then turns slowly round and walks as slowly away for a dozen paces, looking over his shoulder; he then begins to trot, and when he thinks himself out of sight bounds like a Greyhound.”
If attacked, however, he will show fight as the following experience, not likely to be often repeated, will testify: “Being about thirty yards off the foe,” says Dr. Livingstone, “I took a good aim at his body, through the bush, and fired both barrels into it. The men then called out: ‘He is shot! he is shot!’ Others cried: ‘He has been shot by another man, too; let us go to him!’ I did not see any one else shoot at him; but I saw the Lion’s tail erected in anger behind the bush and, turning to the people, said: ‘Stop a little till I load again.’ When in the act of ramming down the bullets, I heard a shout. Starting and looking half round, I saw the Lion just in the act of springing upon me. I was upon a little height. He caught my shoulder as he sprang, and we both came to the ground below together. Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a Terrier Dog does a Rat. The shock produced a stupor similar to that which seems to be felt by a Mouse after the first shake of the Cat. It caused a sort of dreaminess, in which there was no sense of pain or feeling of terror. It was like what patients partially under the influence of chloroform describe, who see all the operation, but feel not the knife. This singular condition was not the result of any mental process. The shake annihilated fear, and allowed no sense of horror in looking round at the beast. This peculiar state is probably produced in all animals killed by the Carnivora, and, if so, is a merciful provision by our Creator for lessening the pain of death. Turning round to relieve myself of the weight, as he had one paw on the back of my head, I saw his eyes directed to Mebalwe, who was trying to shoot him at the distance of fifteen yards. His gun, a flint one, missed fire in both barrels. The Lion immediately left me, and attacking Mebalwe, bit his thigh. Another man, whose life I had saved before, after he had been tossed by a Buffalo, attempted to spear the Lion while he was biting Mebalwe. He left Mebalwe and caught this man by the shoulder; but at that moment the bullets he had received had taken effect, and he fell down dead. The whole was the work of a few moments, and must have been his paroxysm of dying rage. In order to take out the charm from him, the Bakatla, on the following day, made a huge bonfire over the carcass, which they declared to be that of the largest Lion they had ever seen. Besides crunching the bone into splinters, he left eleven teeth-wounds in the upper part of my arm.”
Dr. Livingstone says: “The same feeling which has induced the modern painter to caricature the Lion, has led the sentimentalist to consider the Lion’s roar the most terrific of all earthly sounds. We hear of the majestic roar of the king of beasts. It is, indeed, well calculated to inspire fear, if you hear it in combination with the tremendously loud thunder of that country, on a night so pitchy dark that every flash of the intensely vivid lightning leaves you with the impression of stone-blindness, while the rain pours down so fast that your fire goes out, leaving you without the protection of even a tree, or the chance of your gun going off. But when you are in a comfortable house or wagon, the case is very different, and you hear the roar of the Lion without any awe or alarm.
“The silly Ostrich makes a noise as loud, yet it never was feared by man. To talk of the majestic roar of the Lion is mere majestic twaddle. On my mentioning this fact some years ago, the assertion was doubted; so I have been careful ever since to inquire the opinions of Europeans who had heard both, if they could detect any difference between the roar of a Lion and that of an Ostrich. The invariable answer was that they could not, when the animal was at a distance. The natives assert that they can detect a variation between the commencement of the noise of each. There is, it must be admitted, a considerable difference between the singing noise of a Lion when full, and his deep gruff voice when hungry. In general, the Lion’s voice seems to come deeper from the chest than that of the Ostrich; but to this day I can distinguish between them with certainty only by knowing that the Ostrich roars by day and the Lion by night.”
“Attempts to deprive the Lion of his prey are of frequent occurrence in the interior of Africa. Indeed, it is no unusual thing to find a number of natives residing near such pools of water as are frequented by Antelopes, other wild animals, and their constant attendant, the Lion, subsisting almost altogether in this way, or on carcasses which the Lion has not had time to devour before the return of day, when it is his habit to return to his lair.”
Mr. Anderson mentions, as a remarkable circumstance connected with a Rhinoceros hunt, that “While following the trail of the animal, we came to a spot where one or two Lions, probably taking advantage of his crippled condition, had evidently attacked him, and, after a desperate scuffle, had been compelled to retreat. This is the only instance I know of Lions daring to attack a Rhinoceros, though I have seen it stated in print that they will not only assail, but can master the horned monster.”
In former times Lions were numerous even in Europe. According to Herodotus, Aristotle, and Pausanias, they were abundant in Macedonia, Thrace, and Thessaly; but for centuries in these countries they have been unknown. Arabia, Syria, and Babylonia used also to contain large numbers. In Arabia and on the confines of Persia and India at the present date they are scarce.
We may form some idea of their number in ancient times by the quantity absorbed annually in the combats which were so much in favor with the Romans. In a very brief interval, Sylla had slaughtered a hundred Lions, Pompey six hundred, and Caesar four hundred.
In this age the Lion is rarely met with except in Africa, where every day its numbers are diminishing, and from whence it will soon completely disappear if the present rate of slaughter is continued. Our grand-children probably will know the Lion only from our descriptions.
Several varieties of the Lion are distinguished. The most ferocious is the Brown Lion of the Cape. In the same neighborhood lives another, much less dangerous, the Yellow Cape Lion. After these we may enumerate the Lion of Senegal, the Barbary Lion, and the Lion of Persia and Arabia.