and not until her appetite is satisfied does he begin his meal... When she is about to be a mother, i.e. towards the end of December, they seek a lonely ravine, and there she presents her lord with one, two, and sometimes three puppies, generally one male and one female. While young, the mother never quits them for an instant, and the father only quits them to bring home supper... When they are three months old their weaning commences. The mother accustoms them gradually to it, by absenting herself every day for some hours, and feeding them on little morsels of mutton carefully skinned. The father, whose character is grave, becomes fatigued by the sports of his children, and for the sake of tranquillity removes his lodging to a distance; within reach, however, to render assistance in case of need... The Arabs whenever they discover the existence of a litter of young lions, watch their opportunity, when the old ones are absent to carry off the pups. But the experiment is dangerous; as, if the robbers should happen to meet the lion or the lioness in returning, the chances are that more than one Arab burnous is made bloody.

At the age of four or five months the young ones follow their mother to the border of the forest, where their father brings them their supper. At six months old they accompany father and mother in all nocturnal expeditions.. From eight to twelve months, under their parents' tuition, they learn to attack sheep, goats, and even bulls, but they are so awkward that they usually wound ten for one they kill; and it is not till they are two years old that they can kill a horse or a bull scientifically-that is to say, by a single gripe in the throat... While their education is thus in progress, they are dreadfully ruinous to the Arabs, since the family does not content itself with killing the cattle required for its own consumption, but kills that the children may learn how to kill. At three years old the young ones quit home, and set up for themselves, becoming fathers and mothers in their turn.

mane.

Lions are full grown at eight years old; at that age they arrive at their complete size and strength, and not till then does the male (a third larger than the female) acquire his full A lion's life lasts from thirty to forty years... He annually consumes or kills cattle to the value of 2407., all the property of the poor Arabs, who have destroyed half the woods of Algeria to keep these dangerous animals at a distance.

There are three varieties of lion in Algeria: the black, the grey, and the tawny. The black lion is not so numerous, nor quite so large as the others; but his head is nobler, his chest

broader, his limbs stronger; altogether, he is the most formidable animal. His mane alone is black; long, thick, terrible; the rest of his robe is of a tawny hue, deepening at the ends, and fringes into brown... The grey and tawny varieties differ only from the black in the color of their mane; they are a little larger, and not so thick-set. These varieties, too, lead a wandering life, like most beasts of the forest; but the black lion, having established himself in comfortable quarters, often abides there for thirty years. He rarely descends to attack the douars, or villages, but does not extend this forbearance to the herds, which he takes care to meet on their return at evening from pasture.

The roar of the lion, as Gérard first heard it, is worth description. After waiting for an hour, the first grumblings reached his ear, as if the lion were talking to himself; and these grew louder and louder, till the very roof of the hunter's hiding place trembled at the sound. The roarings were not very frequent-sometimes a quarter of an hour or more elapsed between each... They began with a sort of sigh, deep and guttural, yet so prolonged that it must have cost no effort; this sigh was succeeded by silence for a few seconds, and then came a growl from the chest, which seemed to issue through closed lips and swollen cheeks. This growl, beginning in a very bass note, gradually rose higher and louder till the roar burst forth in all its grandeur, and finished as it commenced. Thus the lion always roars... The Arabs call it thunder; and certainly nothing earthly can compare with it. The bellowing of a furious bull is no more like it than a pistol shot is like the sound of a thirty-two pounder. Imagine what terror such a roar must inspire, heard in the lonely mountain passes and under the silent stars!

It is quite clear on comparing the account of the French lion-hunter, Gérard, and the English lion-hunter, Gordon Cumming, that the lion of Northern Africa is far more formidable than the lion of Southern Africa. Not only does Cumming seem to have triumphed without difficulty, but he had to combat lions who ran away from the dogs, and generally avoided coming to blows with him... This is quite contrary to the habit of the North African lion. He is but too ready to attack; hungry or not, the sight of an enemy rouses his fury at once; and as to cowardice, Gérard's narrative leaves no room for such a suspicion. Indeed, the lion, so far from running away from the hunter, will attack a whole tribe of armed Arabs, and often scatter them to the winds. An Arab will make nothing of going out to fight men, but he never thinks of attacking a lion

unless supported by at least twenty of his tribe, armed with muskets; and even then, if the lion is killed, it is not until he has committed serious damage in their ranks. For a long while they suffer him to devastate their douars and carry off their cattle. It is not until their losses have driven them to desperation, that they resolve on attacking him in his lair, and then they always choose the day-time... Oftener, however, they make use of stratagem to destroy him. They decoy him into a hole or pitfall, and gathering round the edge of the pit-the mighty animal lying resignedly at the bottom-they kill him by repeated gunshots; the women and children, all the while, hurling now a stone, and now an imprecation, at the head of their noble enemy... Ordinarily, it will take ten or a dozen balls to kill him; and these he receives without stirring an inch or uttering a sound; but at length, feeling his deathwound, majestically lifts his head, throws a contemptuous glance at his enemies, and couches down to die... At other times, the Arabs ensconce themselves in pits, near a lion path; these pits being covered over with a solid-built screen of tree-trunks and stones, from between the crevices of which they fire in volleys at the lion, which is decoyed near the spot by means of a sheep or wild boar, placed near the ambush. Boys' Magazine.

ADVENTURE WITH A LION.

It is well known that if one in a troop of lions is killed, the others take the hint and leave that part of the country. So the next time the herds were attacked I went with the people, in order to encourage them to rid themselves of the annoyance by destroying one of the marauders. We found the lions on a small hill about a quarter of a mile in length, and covered with trees...A circle of men was formed round it, and they gradually closed up, ascending pretty near to each other. Being down below on the plain with a native schoolmaster, named Mebálme, a most excellent man, I saw one of the lions sitting on a piece of rock within the now closed circle of men... Mebálme fired at him before I could, and the ball struck the rock on which the animal was sitting. He bit at the spot struck, as a dog does at a stick or stone thrown at him; then leaping away, broke through the opening circle and escaped unhurt. The men were afraid to attack him, perhaps on account of their belief in witchcraft... When the circle was reformed, we saw two other lions in it, but we were afraid to

fire, lest we should strike the men, and they allowed the beasts to burst through also. If they had acted according to the custom of the country, they would have speared the lions in their attempt to get out... Seeing we could not get them to kill one of the lions, we bent our footsteps towards the village; in going round the end of the hill, however, I saw one of the beasts sitting on a piece of rock as before, but this time he had a little bush in front. Being about thirty yards off, I took a good aim at his body through the bush and fired both barrels into it... The men then called out, "He is shot, he is shot!" Others cried, "He has been shot by another man too; let us go to him!" I did not see anyone else shoot at him, but I saw the lion's tail erected in anger behind the bush, and turning to the people said, " Stop a little till I load again"...When in the act of ramming down the bullets I heard a shout. Starting and looking half round, I saw the lion just in the act of springing upon me. I was upon a little height; he caught my shoulder as he sprang, and we both came to the ground below together. Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a terrier dog does a rat...The shock produced a stupor similar to that which seems to be felt by a mouse after the first shake of the cat. It caused a sort of dreaminess, in which there was no sense of pain nor feeling of terror, though quite conscious of all that was happening. It was like what patients partially under the influence of chloroform describe, who see all the operation, but feel not the knife...This singular condition was not the result of any mental process. The shake annihilated fear, and allowed no sense of horror in looking round at the beast. This peculiar state is probably produced in all animals killed by the carnivora; and if so, is a merciful provision by our benevolent Creator for lessening the pain of death... Turning round to relieve myself of the weight, as he had one paw on the back of my head, I saw his eyes directed to Mebálme, who was trying to shoot him at a distance of ten or fifteen yards. His gun, a flint one, missed fire in both barrels ; the lion immediately left me, and "attacking him, bit his thigh...Another man, whose life I had saved before, after he had been tossed by a buffalo, attempted to spear the lion while he was biting Mebálme. Him he left, and caught this man by the shoulder, but at that moment the bullets he had received took effect, and he fell down dead... The whole was the work of a few moments, and must have been his paroxysm of dying rage. Besides crunching the bone into splinters, he left eleven teeth wounds on the upper part of my arm. Livingstone.

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS.

THE hippopotamus is a most singular animal, and has not inaptly been likened to a form intermediate between an overgrown hog and a high-fed bull without horns and with cropped ears. Each of its jaws is armed with two formidable tusks; those in the lower, which is always the longest, attain, at times, two feet in length. The inside of the mouth has been described by a recent writer as resembling "a mass of butcher's meat"...The size of the body is not much inferior to that of the elephant; but its legs are much shorter: so low, indeed, is the animal at times, that the belly almost touches the ground. The hoofs are divided into four parts, unconnected by membranes... The skin, which is of nearly an inch in thickness, is destitute of covering, except a few scattered hairs on the muzzle, edges of the ears, and tail. The color of the animal when on land is of a purple brown; but when in the water of a dark blue. When the hippopotamus is enraged, its appearance is most appalling.

The adult male attains a length of eleven or twelve feet, the circumference of the body being nearly the same. Its height, however, seldom exceeds four and a half feet. The female is a good deal smaller than the male, but in general appearance the sexes are much alike.

When in the water, the hippopotamus swims and dives like a duck, and, considering its great bulk and unwieldiness, in a manner perfectly astonishing. When on land, however, what with its dumpy legs and the weight they have to support, its progress is anything but rapid. Even were the beast to charge, provided that the locality were tolerably open, a man would have no great difficulty in getting out of its way. It is seldom met with at any considerable distance from the water, for which it instantly makes when disturbed.

The hippopotamus is a herbaceous animal; its chief food, in the selection of which it appears rather nice, consists of grass, young reeds, and succulent roots. When it is located near cultivated districts, it is very destructive to plantations of rice and grain. During the day it remains in the water, but comes on shore at night, destroying as much by the treading of its enormous feet as by its voracity.

Naturalists and others represent the hippopotamus as of a mild and inoffensive disposition. It may be so in regions where it is unacquainted with man, but I am inclined to believe they are not quite such harmless animals as we are given to understand... In ascending the Teoge I saw comparatively little