Butte record., 1856-04-19
5HisttIlanruns.
The Lion Under another Point
of View.


Let us first sketch the story of the
lions life, beginning with his mar
riage, which takes place towards the
first Of January. He has first to seek
his wife; but as the males are far more
abundant than the females, who are
often cut off in infancy, it is not rare
to find young lady pestered by the
addresses Of three Or four gallants, who
quarrel with acerbity of jealous lovers
If one of them does not succeed in dis
abIing or driving away the others,
Madam, inpatient and dissatisfied,
leads them into the presence of an
old lion, whose roar she has apprecia-
ted at a distance. The lovers fly at
him with the temerity of youthful des-
peration. The old fellow receives
them with calm assurance, breaks the
neck Of the first with his terrible jaws,
smashes the leg of the second, and
tears out the eye of the third. No
sooner was the battle won, and the
field clear, than the lion tosses his
name in the air as he roars, and then
crouches by the side of the lady who,
as a recompense for his courage, licks
his wounds caressingly. Our lion is
then married, let us say. He is the
slave Of his wife. 1t is she who al
ways takes precedence; when she stops
he stops. On arriving at dOuar (the
collection of tents-what we call a
''yillage,'' for their supper, she lies
! down while he leaps the enclosure and
brings to her the booty.
He watches her while she eats, tax
ing care that no one shall disturb her;
and not until her appetite is salts
fed does he begin his meal. When
she feels that she is about to become a
mother, i. e. towards the end Of Dc
cember, they seek an isolated ravine,
and there, without the aid of chloro-
form or DIR. Lacock, she presents
her lord with one, two and three pup
pies, generally one male and one fe-
male. If the reader has ever seen or
handled a puppy lion, he will under
stand the idolatry of mother and IA
ther. She never quits them for an
instant, and he only quits them to
bring home supper. When they are
three months old their weaving COM
mcnces. The mother accustoms them
gradually to it, by absenting herself
for longer and longer periods, and
bringing them pieces of mutton, care
fully skinned. The father, whose ha-
bitual demeanor Is grave; becomes ia
tigued by the frivolous sports his chill
dren, and, for the sake of tranquility,
removes his lodging to distance,
within reach however to render assist
ance, if required. At the age of four
or five months the children follow
their mothers to the borders of the for
est,where their father brings them their
support.
At six months old they accompany
father and mother in all nocturnal ex
petitions. from eight to twelve months
they learn to attack sheep, goats and
even bulls; but they are so awkward
that they usually wound ten for one
they kill; it is not till they are two
years old that they can kill q horse or
a bull with one bite. While their ed
ucation is thus in progress, they are
ten times more ruinous to the Arabs,
since the family does not content itself
with killing the cattle required for It's
own consumption, but kills that the
children may learn to kill. At three
years old the children quit home and
set up for themselves, becoming fathers
and mothers in their turn. Their pla-
ces are occupied by another brood
At eight years old the lion reaches ma
turity, and live to the age of thirty
or forty. When adult he is a mag
nifcent creature. very different in
size, aspect and disposition from the
lions to be seen in menageries and zoo
logical gardens-animals taken from
their mothers breast, bred like rab-
bits, deprived of the fresh mountain
air, and ample nourishment. As an
indication Of the size attained by lions
in a state Of nature, we might cite the
fact mentioned by Gerard, that the
strongest man in the cavalry regiment
to which he belonged, was unable tc
carry the skin and head of the lion
Gerard had killed.