Asian lion can be found in the jungles of the East.  The lion in the poem has been described as a "large and tawny beast," emphasizing its size and golden-brown colour. According to the poet, what will assure us that it is a lion is if the large and tawny beast roars at us as we are dying. This is a humorous and exaggerated way of saying that one could identify the lion by its roar during a dangerous encounter.