THE LION.

The influence of climate is marked with but slight variations in

the human species; because that is entire in itself, and totally

distinct from every other. Man, white in Europe, black in Africa,

yellow in Asia, and copper-coloured in America, is still the same

being, tinctured with the colour peculiar to the climate. And as he

is formed to govern the earth, and as he has the whole globe for his

habitation, it seems as if no situation was foreign to his nature;

under the scorching south, or in the frozen regions of the north, he

lives, he multiplies, and has been so anciently diffused over every

country, that he does not appear to have a particular propensity to

any. It is far otherwise with other animals; in them the influence of

climate is marked with strong characteristics, because their species

is diversified, and their nature is infinitely less perfect and more

confined than that of man. Not only are the varieties in each species

more numerous and more marked than in the human species, but even the

differences in the species themselves seem to depend on the differences

of climate. Some animals can only breed in hot countries, others cannot

subsist but in cold ones. The lion has never inhabited the northern

regions, nor has the rein-deer ever been found in the south; and

perhaps no species has been universally diffused over the face of the

earth, besides that of man. Each has its country, its native soil, to

which it is confined by a physical necessity; each is the immediate

offspring of the region which it inhabits; and it is in this sense

alone we say, this animal is a native of one climate, and that a native

of another. In hot countries the terrestrial animals are larger and

stronger than in the frozen or temperate ones. They are also more bold

and ferocious; all their natural qualities seeming to partake of the

ardour of the climate. Lions born under the scorching sun of Africa

or the Indies, are of all others the most fierce and formidable. Our

wolves and other carnivorous animals, far from being their rivals,

are hardly worthy to be their purveyors.[W] The lions of America, if

they deserve to be so called, are, like the climate, infinitely more

mild; and what proves that the degree of their ferocity depends on

the degree of heat is, that in the same country, those which inhabit

the high mountains, where the air is temperate, are different in

disposition from those that dwell in the plains, where the heat is

excessive. The lions of Mount Atlas, of which the top is sometimes

covered with snow, have neither the boldness, strength, nor ferocity

of the lions of Biledulgerid, or the desart of Zaara, whose plains are

covered with burning sands. It is principally in these burning desarts

that those terrible lions are found which are the dread of travellers

and the scourge of neighbouring provinces. Happily for man this species

is not numerous, and seems to diminish daily; for those who have

travelled through this part of Africa affirm they are by no means so

numerous now as they were formerly; and Mr. Shaw, in his travels, says,

the Romans drew fifty times as many lions from Lybia, to combat in

their amphitheatres, as are now to be found in the whole country. It is

also remarked, that in Turkey, Persia, and India, lions are much less

numerous than they were in ancient times. Since this animal preys on

every other species of quadruped, and is himself the prey of none, it

is obvious that its decrease can only be occasioned by the increase

of mankind, who are the only beings in nature capable of making head

against this king of beasts; and it must be allowed, powerful as he may

be, he is no match for even a Hottentot or negro, who often attack him,

and very seldom without coming off victorious. As the lion has no enemy

but man, and his species being reduced to the fiftieth, or even the

tenth part of what it was formerly, it follows that the human species

instead of having suffered a considerable diminution since the time of

the Romans, as is by some pretended, is on the contrary more generally

diffused, and more numerous even in such countries as Lybia. The

industry of man increases in proportion with his number, but that of

other animals remains always the same. Every destructive species, like

that of the lion, seems to be driven to distant countries, or reduced

to small numbers, not only because man has become every where more

numerous, but because he has become more skillful and invented dreadful

arms of destruction, which nothing can resist; arms, which it were

well, had they never been employed against aught but lions and tigers.

[W] There is a species of lynx which is called the lion's purveyor.

This superiority of numbers, and industry in man, which has subdued the

lion, serves also to enervate and discourage him, for he is brave only

in proportion to the success of his encounters. In the vast desarts of

Zaara, in the burning sands which separate Mauritania and Negro-land,

and in all the desarts of Asia and Africa, where man has disdained

to fix his habitation, lions are still numerous and preserve their

natural force and courage. Accustomed to measure their strength with

every animal they meet, the habit of conquering renders them intrepid

and terrible. Having never experienced the power of man, they have no

apprehension of him, but boldly face and hold him in defiance. Wounds

enrage, without repressing their ardour; they are not daunted even by

the appearance of numbers. A single lion of the desart often attacks a

whole caravan, and if, after an obstinate engagement, he finds himself

overpowered, instead of flying, he retreats fighting, and faces the

enemy to the last. On the contrary, those lions which inhabit the

peopled countries of Morocco, or India, having become acquainted with

man, and experienced the superiority of his arms, have lost their

native courage to such a degree, that they are to be scared away with

a shout, and seldom attack any but the unresisting flocks and herds,

which even women and children are sufficient to protect against them.

This alteration, this amelioration in the disposition of the lion,

proves that he might be tamed to a certain degree, and admit of a

species of education. We read in history of lions being yoked to

triumphal cars, led forth to the field of battle, or let loose to the

chace, and that faithful to their master, they never exerted their

strength or courage but against his enemies. Certain it is that the

lion when taken young, and bred up with domestic animals, becomes

familiar and sports innocently among them; that he will even be

caressing to his master, and that if his natural ferocity returns,

he seldom exercises it against his benefactor. As his passions are

strong, and his appetites vehement, we ought not to presume that the

impressions of education will always overbalance them; and therefore

it would be dangerous to suffer him to remain too long without food,

or wantonly to persist in irritating or tormenting him. He is not only

enraged by bad treatment, but remembers it and meditates revenge; in

the same manner he also remembers benefits and endeavours to shew

his gratitude for them. In support of this we might recapitulate a

number of facts, in which however there is probably much exaggeration;

but it is sufficient that they prove his anger is noble, his courage

magnanimous, and his disposition grateful and susceptible of

impression. He has often been seen to despise contemptible enemies,

and to pardon their insults when it was in his power to punish them.

When in confinement he appears gentle, will caress the hand that feeds

him, and will sometimes spare the lives of those animals which are

thrown to him for prey; he will even live peaceably with them, spare

them part of his subsistence, and has even been known to want food

himself rather than be the means of depriving them of that life which

his generosity had spared. The lion cannot be said to be cruel, since

he acts from necessity and never kills more than he consumes; while the

tiger, the wolf, and all the inferior species, such as the fox, marten,

polecat, ferret, &c. kill without remorse, and seem rather to satisfy

their malignity than their hunger.

The outward form of the lion speaks the superiority of his internal

qualities. His figure is striking and grand; his look confident and

bold; his gait stately, and his voice tremendous. His bulk is not

overgrown like that of the elephant, or the rhinoceros; nor is his

shape clumsy like the hippopotamus, or the ox. He is in every respect

compact and well-proportioned; a perfect model of strength joined

with agility. He is muscular, bold, and neither charged with fat nor

unnecessary flesh. He manifests his muscular power by the ease with

which he makes prodigious bounds and leaps; by the strong and swift

movements of his tail, which is alone sufficient to strike a man to

the earth; by the facility with which he moves the skin of his face,

and particularly that of his forehead, which adds greatly to the

expressions of fury in his countenance; and, lastly, by the power he

has of moving the hair of his mane, which not only bristles up but is

agitated on all sides when he is enraged.

To these eminent qualities the lion joins all the dignity of his

species. By dignity of species I mean those whose nature is permanent,

invariable, and not subject to degradation. In those animals to which

this singular advantage belongs, the characteristics are so strongly

marked, that they cannot be mistaken nor confounded with any other

species. In man, the noblest being of the creation, the species is

sole and entire, because all the individuals of it, of whatever

race, climate, or complexion, may intermix and produce together;

and because it cannot be said that any animal approaches to man in

any natural degree. The horse is less noble considered as a species

than as an individual, since the neighbouring one of the ass is so

near, that one of each species will produce animals which Nature

reprobates as bastards, unworthy of either race, and renders incapable

of perpetuating either species from whence they sprung, but which in

itself exhibiting a mixture of both, proves, beyond a doubt, their

close affinity. The species of the dog is perhaps less noble, because

he seems to be allied to that of the wolf, the fox, and jackall, who

may all be considered as degenerate branches of the same family. In

descending by degrees to the inferior species, such as the rabbit,

weasel, rat, &c. we shall find that each of them has such a number

of collateral branches that we cannot trace the original stock; and,

lastly, in the tribes of insects, each species is accompanied with such

a number of approximate ones that we are obliged to consider them as

belonging to a certain genera. This is the only use of what is called

_method_ in Natural History, which ought never to be employed unless

in the difficult enumerations of small objects, as it becomes useless

and ridiculous when treating of beings of the first rank. To class man

with the monkey, or to say that a lion is a cat with a long mane and

tail, is rather to degrade and disfigure Nature than to describe and

denominate her works. The species of the lion, therefore is one of

the most noble since it is most entire, and cannot be confounded with

those of the tiger, leopard, ounce, &c. and since those species, which

appear to be the least remote from the lion, are so little distinct

from each other, as to have been perpetually mistaken and confounded by

travellers and nomenclators.

The largest lions are about eight or nine feet in length, from the

snout to the tail, which is four feet long, and are between four and

five feet high. Those of the small size are about five feet and a half

long, three feet and a half high, and their tail rather more than three

feet long. In all her dimensions the lioness is about one fourth less

than the lion. Aristotle divides lions into the greater and smaller,

and the latter, he says, are short in proportion, have their hair more

frizzled, and are less courageous than the former. He adds, that in

general all lions are yellow. The first of these assertions appears

doubtful, since no traveller has mentioned lions with frizzled hair;

some authors, indeed, who, in other respects do not merit entire

confidence, speak of a tiger with curled hair found at the Cape of

Good Hope; but almost all testimonies agree as to the colour of the

lion, which is uniformly yellow on the back and within on the sides and

belly. Ælian and Opian have asserted, that in Ethiopia the lions are as

black as the men; that in India there are some white and others spotted

and striped with red, black, and blue; but this is not confirmed by

any authentic testimony, for Marco Polo the Venetian, does not speak

of these striped and spotted lions as if he had seen them, and Gesner

observes that he only mentions them on the authority of Ælian. It

appears on the contrary, that there are few or no varieties in these

species; that the lions of Asia and Africa perfectly resemble each

other, and that those of the plains differ less in colour from those

which dwell in the mountains than in size.

_Engraved for Barr's Buffon._

[Illustration: FIG. 99. _Lion._]

[Illustration: FIG. 100. _Lioness._]

The lion (_fig. 99._) is furnished with a mane, or rather long hair,

which covers all his fore-parts, and becomes longer as he advances

in age; but the lioness, (_fig. 100._) however old, is without this

appendage. The American animal, which the natives of Peru call Puma,

and the Europeans Lion, has no mane, and is smaller, weaker, and more

cowardly, than the real lion. It is not impossible that the mildness of

the climate in South America might have such influence on the nature

of the lion as to strip him of his mane, reduce his size, and repress

his courage; but it appears absolutely impossible that this animal,

which inhabits the tropical regions only, and to whom Nature, to all

appearance, has shut up every avenue to the north, should pass from the

southern part of Asia or Africa into America, those continents being

divided towards the south by immense seas. From this circumstance it is

probable that the puma is not the lion, deriving its origin from those

of the old continent and since degenerated, but that he is an animal

peculiar to America, like other animals found on the new continent.

When the Europeans first discovered America, the quadrupeds, birds,

fishes, insects, plants, and almost every thing appeared to be

different from what they had seen before. Of this new world it was

therefore necessary to denominate the principal objects. As the names

given by the natives were for the most part barbarous and difficult

to pronounce or remember, names were borrowed from the European

languages, especially from the Spanish and Portugueze. In this dearth

of denominations, a small affinity in external appearance, size, or

figure, was sufficient to attribute to unknown objects the names of

those that were familiar. Hence the doubt, perplexity, and confusion

which has considerably increased, since, at the same time that the

productions of the new continent were receiving the denominations of

those of the old one, plants and animals peculiar to the latter were

transporting there in abundance. To remove this obscurity, and to avoid

falling into perpetual errors, it is therefore necessary to distinguish

carefully what belongs to the one continent from what belongs to the

other. Of this distinction I shall shew the necessity in the next

article, where I shall enumerate not only the animals which are natives

of America, but those which have been carried thither.

M. de la Condamine, whose testimony deserves our full confidence, says

expressly, that he does not know whether the American animal which the

Spaniards call Lion, and the natives of Quito, Puma, deserves the name

of Lion; he adds, that it is much smaller than the African lion, and

that the male has no mane. Frezier also says, that the animals called

lions in Peru are very different from those of Africa; that they avoid

the sight of man, and commit no havock but among the cattle; and he

further remarks that their heads bear a strong resemblance to the

heads of both the wolf and the tiger, and have tails shorter than that

of either. In more ancient relations, we are told that the lions of

America by no means resemble those of Africa; that they have neither

their size, nor fierceness, nor colour; that they are neither red, nor

yellow, nor grey; that they have no mane, and that they have a custom

of climbing up trees. Differing, then, from the lion in size, colour,

form of the head, length of the tail, want of the mane, and lastly, in

natural habits, no longer ought the Puma of America to be confounded

with the real lion of Africa or Asia.

Though this noble animal inhabits only the hottest regions, yet he

will live, and, with care, might even breed in temperate ones. Gesner

mentions that lions were brought forth in the menagerie of Florence;

and Willoughby tells us, that at Naples, a lioness which had been

confined with a lion, produced five whelps at one litter. Such examples

are rare, but if true, they prove that lions are not absolutely averse

to mild climates. At present there are none of them in the southern

parts of Europe; so early as the days of Homer, there were no lions

in Peloponnesus, yet they existed in Thrace, Macedonia, and Thessaly,

in the time of Aristotle. It is, therefore, evident that in all ages

they have given the preference to the hottest climates; that they

seldom resided in temperate ones, and never in the frozen regions of

the north. The naturalists above quoted, though they mention lions

being brought forth in Florence and Naples, are silent as to the time

of gestation in the lioness, the size of the young, when whelped, and

the degrees of their growth. Ælian says she goes only two months,

while Philostratus and Edward Wotten affirm it to be six. I think the

latter opinion is nearest the truth, because the lion is an animal of

great magnitude, and in general the time of gestation is longer among

the large than the small species. Thus it is also with the growth of

the body. Both ancients and moderns allow that the new-born lion is

not bigger than the weasel, that is from six to seven inches long; if

so, several years must elapse before he can increase to eight or nine

feet. It is also said that they cannot walk before they are two months

old. But, without giving entire credit to these assertions, we may with

probability presume, from the largeness of the size, that he is three

or four years in acquiring his full growth, and that he consequently

lives to about the age of twenty-five. The Sieur de St. Martin, master

of the bull-fights at Paris, who willingly communicated to me the

observations he had made upon the lions which he reared, assured me

that he has kept lions for fifteen or sixteen years, and that he does

not believe they live above the age of twenty or twenty-two. But it

must be evident the want of exercise, constraint, and irksomeness of

situation to those which are in confinement, must impair health and

shorten life.

In two different parts of his treatise on animals, Aristotle states

that the lioness produces five or six whelps at her first litter, four

or five at the second, three or four at the third, two or three at

the fourth, and one or two at the fifth, and after which she becomes

barren. This assertion is ungrounded, since in all animals the first

and last litters are always the least numerous. This philosopher

erred also, as well as all the naturalists that came after him, in

maintaining that the lioness had but two nipples, it being a certain

and well known fact that she has four, as may be known by simple

inspection. He likewise asserts that the lion, bear, and fox, are

unformed at their birth; but it is now known that these animals are

brought forth as perfect as any other, and that their members are

distinct and developed. He says too that the lions copulate in a

backward disposition; but from a bare inspection it is demonstrable

that they engender in the same manner as other quadrupeds. I have

noticed these errors in Aristotle minutely, as the authority of such a

great man has misled all authors who have since given the history of

animals. His assertion also, that the neck of the lion contains but

one rigid and inflexible bone, has been contradicted by experience;

for in all quadrupeds, without exception, and even in man, the neck

is composed of seven vertebræ; and it is also another certain fact,

that in general, carnivorous animals have a much shorter neck than

granivorous, and especially than the ruminating ones. It is also stated

by Aristotle, that the bones of lions have neither cavity nor marrow;

that they are as hard as flint, and possess the property of striking

fire by friction; but such errors ought not to have been repeated

by Kolbe, nor handed down to posterity, since even in the days of

Aristotle they were ridiculed by Epicurus.

The lion is particularly furious when rouzed by love. A female when

in season will have eight or ten males in her train, who fight most

bloody battles, till one of them becomes victorious over the rest. She

brings forth in spring, and does not produce more than once a year,

which also proves that she is employed for some months in tending and

suckling her young, and consequently the time required for their first

growth, while they are in need of the assistance of their dam, must

at least be some months. In this animal all the passions, even of the

most gentle kind, are in excess. The attachment of the lioness to

her young is astonishingly great; though naturally less strong and

courageous than the lion, she becomes terrible when she has young.

She then makes her incursions without fear; attacks indiscriminately

men and animals, destroys without distinction, loads herself with the

spoil, and carries it home to her whelps, whom she accustoms betimes to

blood and slaughter. She usually brings forth in the most retired and

inaccessible places, and when afraid of having her retreat discovered,

she hides her tracks by traversing back the ground, or brushing them

out with her tail. She sometimes also, when her apprehensions are

great, transports them to a different place, and if obstructed, she

defends them with a determined fury, and fights to the last extremity.

It is asserted that the lion is not possessed of either the sense of

smelling or seeing in such perfection as most other animals of prey;

a strong light incommodes him, so that he seldom goes abroad in the

middle of the day, but commits all his ravages in the night; and when

a fire is kindled near a herd, he never approaches them. His smell is

also so faulty, that he hunts by the eye only. A species of lynx, which

has a piercing eye and acute smell, has indeed procured the name of the

lion's guide, or purveyor, and it is said that he always accompanies

or precedes the lion, to direct him to his prey. This is a small weak

animal, which sometimes follows the lion, though he would most probably

avoid him, did he not frequently come in for a share of that spoil

which the lion leaves.

The lion, when hungry, boldly attacks all animals that come in his

way; but as he is very formidable, and they all seek to avoid him, he

is often obliged to conceal himself for an opportunity of taking them

by surprise. This he does by couching upon his belly in some thicket,

where he patiently waits the approach of his prey, and which he springs

at with such force as often to seize it the first bound; but if in

the end his prey escapes, he stands motionless, and seems hurt at the

disappointment. In the desarts and forests gazelles and monkeys are his

common food; the latter, however, he only takes when upon the ground,

as he cannot climb trees like the tiger or puma. He devours as much at

once as will serve him for two or three days. His teeth are so strong

that he easily breaks the bones and swallows them with the flesh. He

is said to be capable of supporting hunger for a long time, but from

the heat of his temperament he is less patient of thirst; he drinks as

often as he can meet with water, which he laps like a dog, but with

his tongue bent downwards. He requires about fifteen pounds of raw

flesh every day; he prefers that of living animals, particularly of

those he kills himself; he seldom devours putrid carcases, and chooses

rather to hunt for fresh spoil than to return to what he had left on a

former day. Though he usually feeds upon fresh provisions his breath is

very offensive, and his urine insupportable.

The roaring of the lion is so loud, that when uttered in the desarts

by night, and re-echoed by the mountains, it resembles thunder. This

roar is his natural note, for when enraged he has a short and quickly

reiterated growl; but the roar is a long, deep, hollow cry, which he

sends forth five or six times a day, or oftener before rain. His cry

of anger is much louder, and still more terrible. He then beats his

sides and the earth with his tail, erects his mane, puts the skin of

his face, and eyebrows, in motion, shews his tremendous teeth, thrusts

out his tongue, which is covered with such sharp hard points, that it

is alone sufficient to flay and chew the food without the aid of teeth

or nails. He is much stronger in the head, jaws, and fore-legs, than in

any of his hind parts. He sees better in the night than by day, and

though his sleep is short, and he is easily awakened, yet there is no

foundation for the assertion that he sleeps with his eyes open.

The usual pace of the lion is bold, solemn, and slow, though always

oblique. When in chase he rather bounds than runs, and his motions are

so precipitate, that he cannot stop suddenly, but generally surpasses

his intention. When he darts on his prey he leaps the distance of

twelve or fifteen feet, seizes it with his fore-feet, tears it with

his paws, and then devours it with his teeth. While young and active

he lives by the chace, and seldom quits the desarts or the forests,

where he finds a sufficiency of wild animals for his purpose; but when

he grows old, heavy, and less qualified for exercise, he approaches

frequented places, and becomes a more dangerous enemy to man and

domestic animals. It is observed, however, that when he sees men and

animals together, he attacks the latter, and never the former, unless

he is struck; in which case, always distinguishing from whom the blow

came, he quits his prey to take revenge for the injury. He is said

to prefer the flesh of the camel to that of any other animal; he is

also exceedingly fond of young elephants, which, from their inability

to resist until their tusks are grown, he easily dispatches, when

unprotected by their mothers, nor are there any animals able to resist

the lion but the elephant, rhinoceros, tiger, and hippopotamus.

However powerful this animal may be it is not uncommon for large dogs,

supported by men on horseback, to chace, dislodge, and force him to

retire; but it is necessary for both dogs and horses to have been well

disciplined, as animals tremble and fly at the very smell of the lion.

Though his skin is firm and compact it is not proof against a ball,

or even a javelin; yet he is seldom dispatched with one blow. He is

often taken like wolves, by slightly covering a pit, and fastening a

live animal over it. When thus entrapped all his fury subsides, and if

advantage is taken of the first moments of his surprise and shame, he

may be chained, muzzled, and conducted any where without resistance.

The flesh of the lion is of a strong and disagreeable flavour, yet the

Negroes and Indians do not dislike it, and frequently make it part

of their food. The skin, formerly the tunic of heroes, serves these

people for a mantle; they likewise preserve the grease, which is of a

penetrating quality, and is of some use in medicine.

_END OF THE SIXTH VOLUME._

T. Gillet, Printer, Wild-court.