Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1866-04-25
Vol. LVI. No. II.

sacred IN ancient Egypt, the lion still
seems to have been universal favor
tie, tor IN every possible form of orna-
ment we find the head and claws re-
produced IN water spOuts, chair-legs,
and sword-handlcs.
NJ. Gerard has remarked that, in Y.
Africa (besidcs considerable dcstruc-
ton Of human lite) the damage done
by carrying off and destroying cattle
cannot be estimated at lower figure
than three hundred pounds per annum
for each lion.
LIONS appear to attack game by
selzlng the flank near the hind leg, or
the throat below the iaw-points
which instinct seems quickly to teach
dogs OF all kinds to assaiI, when in
pursuit OF larger animals DIR. Living
stone, while bearing witness to tho
enormous strength of the lion, truly
wonderful when compared with his
SIZE, remarks, however, that all the
teats OF strength, such as carrying off
cattle, that have come under his obser-
vatlon, had been performed by drag
glng or trailing the carcass along the
ground. The tales of lions never de-
vourlng game save when killed by
themselves, are unfounded. We have
ourselves seen a family of lions (they
often hunt in families) in the Trans
vaal territory quarreling, like a pack
OF hungry hounds, over the putrid car.
cass OF horse, which had died of Pa
ardsikte (pleuroneumonia) a few DAYS
previously, while the plains around
were teeming with those countless
herds OF migrating game (antelopes
and quaggas) of the numbers of which
it is so difficult to convey an idea to
the fireside traveller
a point where imagination has
wrought wonders is in the matter of
the lions voice This fancy has been
also demolished by DR.. Livingstone.
TO talk of the majestic voice of the
hon, he writes, is merely so much MIL
Jestlc twaddIe. 1have never found any
one who could tairly y distinguish be-
tween the roar Of the lion and that OF
the ostrich, although the former ap-
pears to proceed from the chest. To
this day. he adds, Il am unable to dis
tlngulsh one from the other, except by
knowing that the former roars by night
and the latter by day only
Jules Gerard is, however, more On.
thusiastic in his appreciation OF the vo-
cal powers of his favortes. He re-
marks that the sound of lions voice
league off appears to an ineXperien-
ced observer as if close at hand; and
that he has frequently tracked lions at
distance of three leagues (nine miles)
by the sound Of their voices; he also
testities to certain musical grandeur
in the sound.
Naturalists have generally consider
ed the Asiatic lion as q distinct species
from the African, but this appears by
no means well decided There arc
several varieties Of the African lion.
The Arabs in North Africa distinguish
three-the yellow, the grey, and the
black; and NJ. Gerard states, that while
individuals Of the two former varieties
have been known to roam over i'm
menSe tracts of country, specimens of
the black, named lion have been found
to inhabit one spot for over thirty
years Mr.. Gordon Cumming, on the
other hahd, whose opportunities for
observing these animals were only sec,
ond to those Of Jules Gerard, states
that he is satisfied that the two varie.
ties Of South African lion (the Taal, or
yellow, and the Bldauu or Zcaart, Or
black are one and the same species at
different ages; that their names invari-
bly, become darker as they increase IN
years; and that the thickness of the
coat, and the lHxurance of the name,
appear to depend on the nature of the
cover frequented by the animals, being
always greater where there is least
shelter
The ancient Egyptians to have been very
successful in utilizing the FclinE generally. In
eral basreliefs, fowers represented accompanied
by eats place of dogs, and in one, animal appt-
rently Of that kind, depicted in the Of reiev-
ing tame lion Eiay Osttn be still met with in Cairo,
though lions in state of nature found near
er, believe than Abyssjnia in the present day.