If lions in primitive times were as numerous in Western Asia and Africa as tigers still are in some parts of India, they must have been a serious im pediment to the extension of the human race; for Colonel Sykes relates that in less than five years, in the Dekkan alone, during his residence there, above moo of the latter were shot. But the counterbalancing distribution of endowments some what modifies the dangerous vicinity of these animals : like all the felinm, they are more or less nocturnal, and seldom go abroad to pursue their prey till after sunset. When not pressed by hunger, they are naturally indolent, and, from their habits of uncontrolled superiority, perhaps capricious, but often less sanguinary and vindictive than is expected.
Lions are monogamous, the male living con stantly with the lioness, both hunting together, or for each other when there is a litter of whelps ; and the mutual affection and care for their offspring which they display are remarkable in animals by nature doomed to live by blood and slaughter. It is while seeking prey for their young that they are most dangerous ; at other times they bear abstinence, and when pressed by hunger will some times feed on carcases found dead. They live to more than fifty years; consequently, having annual litters of from three to five cubs, they multiply rapidly when not seriously opposed. After the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs the lion soon spread again into Lower Egypt; and Fidelio, a European traveller, in the beginning of the eighth century, saw one slain at the foot of the pyramids, after killing eight of his assailants. Lately they have increased again on the Upper Nile; and in ancient times, when the devastations of Egyptian, Persian, Greek, and Roman armies passed over Palestine, there cart be little doubt that these de stroyers made their appearance in great numbers. The fact, indeed, is attested by the impression which their increase made upon the mixed heathen population of Samaria, when Israel was carried away into captivity (2. Kings xvii. 25, 26).
The Scriptures present many striking pictures of lions, touched with wonderful force and fidelity : even where the animal is a direct instrument of the Almighty, while true to his mission, he still re mains so to his nature. Thus nothing can be more graphic than the record of the man of God (i Kings xiii. 28), disobedient to his charge, struck down from his ass, and lying dead, while the lion stands by him, without touching the lifeless body, or attacking the living animal, usually a favourite prey. See also Gen. xlix. 9 ; Job iv. 10, II;
Nahum ii. t t, 12. Samson's adventure also with the young lion (Judg. xiv. 5, 6), and the picture of the young lion coming up from the underwood cover on the banks of the Jordan—all attest a perfect knowledge of the animal and its habits. Finally, the lions in the den with Daniel, miraculously leaving him unmolested, still retain, in all other respects, the real characteristics of their nature.
The lion, as an emblem of power, was symbolical of the tribe of Judah (Gen. xlhc. 9). The type re curs in the prophetical visions, and the figure of this animal was among the few which the Hebrews admitted in sculpture, or in cast metal, as exempli fied in the throne of Solomon. The heathen assumed the lion as an emblem of the sun, of the god of war, of Aries, Ariel, Arioth, Re, the Indian Seeva, of dominion in general, of valour, etc., and it occurs in the names and standards of many nations. Lions, in remote antiquity, appear to have been trained for the chase, and are, even now, oc casionally domesticated with safety. Placability and attachment are displayed by them even to the degree of active defence of their friends, as was ex emplitied at Birr, in Ireland, in 1839, when a keeper of wild beasts, being within the den, hacl fallen accidentally upon a tiger, who immediately caught the man by the thigh, in the presence of nu merous spectators ; but a lion, being in the same compartment, rose up, and seizing the tiger by the neck, compelled it to let go, and the man was saved.' Numerous anecdotes of a similar character are recorded both by ancient and modern writers.
Zoologists consider Africa the primitive abode of lions, their progress towards the north and we,t having at one time extended to the forests of Mace donia and Greece ; but in Asia, never to the south of the Nerbudda, nor east of tbe lower Ganges. Since the invention of gunpowder, and even since the havoc which the ostentatious barbarism of Roman gmndees made among them, they have diminished in number exceedingly, although at the present day individuals are not unfrequently seen in Barbary, within a short distance of Ceuta.— C. H. S.