Cave lion

“ Every lion cometh forth out of its cave,
All creeping things bite.
The earth is silent, and he that made them resteth on his horizon.
At dawn of day thou risest on the horizon and shinest as Aten by day.
Darkness flees, thou givest forth thy rays, the two lands are in festival day by day;
They wake and stand upon their feet, for thou hast raised them up;
Their limbs are purified, they clothe themselves with their garments;
Their hands are uplifted in adoration at thy rising.
The whole land goeth about its several labors. ”

“ As in some cave of the mountains an old lion and lioness with their whelps dwell securely, issuing forth at their will to seize the prey and make night dreadful with their growling, so those evil-doers flourish for a time in hateful and malignant strength. ”

“ In the cave of Thayngen, near Schaffhausen, Switzerland, have been discovered a few remains of the mammoth, rhinoceros, and cave-lion; the remains of two hundred and fifty reindeer, four hundred and thirty Alpine hares; also the remains of the brown bear, stag, elk, auroch, glutton, wolf, and several kinds of fox. The large bones invariably appeared in fragments, and the pebbles used for breaking them were found in the refuse. Among birds, the bones of the swan, grouse, and duck predominate. ”

“ Nowhere else in the whole world do we find the remains of these animals so associated together. Some of them, such as the cave-lion, the mammoth, the rhinoceros, and the Bos primigenius, have long since disappeared from the earth's surface; for it is clear that they had on the one hand to struggle for existence with the human race, which was far superior to them in intelligence and cunning, and on the other they had to succumb to the changes of climate. ”

“ Page 361 Lastly, the so-called Cave-lion (Felis spelœa) , long supposed to be a distinct species, has been shown to be nothing
Fig. 269.—Skull of Hyœna spelœa, one-fourth of the natural size. Post-Phocene, Europe. more than a large variety of the existing Lion (Felis leo) . This animal inhabited Britain and Western Europe in times posterior to the Glacial period, and was a contemporary of the Cave-hyæna, Cave-bear, Woolly Rhinoceros, and Mammoth. The Cave-lion also unquestionably survived into the earlier portion of the human period in Europe. ”

“ But the lion perceiving that the man did not understand his signs, he brought it himself in his mouth, and delivered it unto him, and so led him into the cave where the young whelps lay all imbrued in their own blood, and then led him where the lioness did watch the bear. ”

“ The lion makes his den in a rocky cave hidden by bushes, on the edge of a wide sandy plain where many antelopes, deer, zebra and other grazing animals roam. In one thing he is better than the house cat. ”

“ The most important Mammals which are found in cave-deposits in Europe generally, are the Cave-bear, the Cave-lion, the Cave-hyæna, the Reindeer, the Musk-ox, the Glutton, and the Lemming—of which the first three are probably identical with existing forms, and the remainder are certainly so—together with the Mammoth and the Woolly Rhinoceros, which are undoubtedly extinct. ”

“ There was not a stag nor an ox nor a sheep nor a goat in the country that lay nearest to the cave. Scarcely ever did an animal graze in the meadow down below in front of it. They had all retired to where the forest grew thickest and where he could only penetrate with difficulty. Nor did it give him any pleasure to hunt up there, where the lion might so easily be lying in ambush. ”

“ From apprehension of such attacks, it is also asserted that the Bushmen are in the habit of placing their aged and infirm people at the entrance of the cave during the night, that, should the lion come, the least valuable and most useless of their community may first fall a prey to the animal. ”

“ These explorations establish the fact that, in the antediluvian age which we now term pleistocene, the lion, the cave-bear and grizzly bear, and cave-hyæna abounded in Germany, and that they sought as their prey not merely the wild animals now living in that region, but the reindeer, mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, and Irish elk. ”

“ On the Continent the lion ranged over France, Belgium, and Germany along with the above-described animals, and having the river drift man first of all, and then the cave-man for its rivals. Evidence of this rivalry we have in a remarkable necklace found in the cave of Duruthy, in the district of the Adour in the western Pyrenees, consisting of forty canine teeth of bear and three of lion, adorned with incised figures—a harpoon, glove, fish, or seal. ”

“ They will, no doubt, return now the storm has abated, and we may look for their presence every moment.”
“Well!” said the prince, “you don’t fear to encounter a lion? This will be somewhat reversing the sport; instead of seeking the game, it will seek us; but, upon second thoughts, it will not do to let them come upon us before we are prepared; we shall be cramped in this cave; we must have room to ply our arms. If the lions make good their entrance before we have secured our retreat, we shall stand but a sorry chance for our lives.” ”

“ Circumstantial evidence goes to show that the lion still exists in Air, but is nevertheless very rare. In the Tagharit valley, a few miles north of Auderas, there is a cave in the side of a gorge which a large stream has cut through a formation of columnar basalt: a pink granite shelf makes a fine waterfall in the rainy season with a pool which survives at its foot all the year round. A lion used to live in this den until recent years, when it was killed by the men of Auderas because it had pulled down a camel out of a herd grazing in the neighbourhood. ”

“ IN a certain part of a forest there lived a Lion named Pointed-Claws. One day this Lion roamed hither and thither, his stomach lean with hunger, without meeting a single animal. But at the hour of sunset he came upon a great cave in the mountains, and entered it, thinking to himself, "Surely some animal must possess this Cave, and will return to it at night. So I will hide myself and wait."
Presently, the possessor of the cave, who was a Jackal named Curd-Tail, returned home, and discovered the line of Lion's foot-prints leading into the Cave, but none coming out again. ”

“ All the animals whose skins had been found in this cave, must have been killed by the Bushmen with their poisoned arrows, showing how daring and skilful these men are with their tiny weapons, for to kill a lion they must have come to within at least forty paces of him. ”

“ So they ran and ran and ran—and stumbled and scrambled and hurried and scurried and flurried faster and faster till they had scrambled up the Huge Green Hill to where the Lion's Cave was and then they gathered behind a big clump of bushes and the fathers began to cock their guns and the mothers to sharpen their scissors and hat pins. ”

“ It is asserted, that when a lion has once succeeded in snatching some unfortunate Bushman from his cave, he never fails to return regularly every night, in hopes of another meal, until the horde is so harassed that they are compelled to seek some other shelter. ”

“ And he is ashamed to eat alone the prey that he taketh; therefore of his grace of free heart, he leaveth some of his prey to other beasts that follow him afar.... And the lion is hunted in this wise: One double cave is made one fast by that other, and in the second cave is set a whiche, that closeth full soon when it is touched: and in the first den and cave is a lamb set, and the lion leapeth therein, when he is an hungered, for to take the lamb. ”

“ At the present day the lion ranges over the whole of Africa, with the exception of Egypt and the Cape Colony, whence it has been driven out by the hand of man. In Asia, the maneless variety inhabits the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates, and the districts bordering on the Persian Gulf ”

“ Each of these zones has its characteristic mammals and birds, so that the population of wildlife is likewise varied and extensive.
Group of cave rooms between Long House and Ceremonial Cave.
WILDLIFE.
Of the larger animals, the mule deer are most commonly seen, becoming quite bold in Frijoles Canyon, where humans are familiar to them. Black bears are encountered occasionally on the trails in the back country, but are too wary to invade much-traveled areas. The shyest of them all, the mountain lion, leaves his footprints here and there, but is rarely seen. ”

“ There are thin slabs of sandstone standing on edge and lifting their heads a hundred feet high, on which the gods or witches have sculptured images of birds, animals, and moving caravans. A herculean lion is crouching on the peak of one, looking towards the north, where a bear and seal are eyeing each other from a lofty perch, uncertain of their safety, and undetermined whether to attack or retreat. ”

“ The keeper had poked up all the animals, and had commenced feeding them. The great lion was growling and snarling over the shin bone of an ox, cracking it like a nut, when by some mismanagement, one end of the pole upon which the chandelier was suspended fell down, striking the door of the cage in which the lioness was at supper, and bursting it open. It was all done in a second; the chandelier fell, the cage opened, and the lioness sprung out. I remember to this moment seeing the body of the lioness in the air, and then all as dark as pitch. ”

“ In an outdoor shed and paddock was a magnificent American bison, shedding its winter coat. The lion house, built in a crescent shape, with indoor and outdoor cages, contains some remarkably fine animals. There are a number of lions and tigers in a cage together, a Cape hunting-dog, leopards, and hyænas. [Pg 103] One lioness had the most brilliant yellow coat I have ever seen. Opposite the inside cages are glass cases containing some large crocodiles, lizards, tortoises, snakes, and salamanders. Close by is an extremely well-built and well-kept small-rodents’ house, full of rare little mammals. ”

“ How did they come on a slope where a man could hardly walk? Only one answer seemed feasible. The lion had made his kill one thousand feet above, had pulled his quarry to the rim and pushed it over. In view of the theory that he might have had to drag his victim from the forest, and that very seldom two lions worked together, the fact of the location of the bones as startling. Skulls of wild horses and deer, antlers and countless bones, all crushed into shapelessness, furnished indubitable proof that the carcasses had fallen from a great height. ”

“ It is only in the deserts and rocky hills of Asia and Africa that they are met with.
Those who have visited a menagerie, and have seen a lion within the limits of a narrow iron cage, can form no idea of the majesty of the brute when roaming about freely on his native soil.
The voice of the lion is loud and strong. It is likely to strike terror to the bravest heart. ”

“ Sometimes, as I sit on the settle at the door of the farmhouse, when the sun has gone down and twilight is coming on, I dream those days all over again. I see the buccaneers in the cave. I experience again the suffocation of the cage in which they left me for dead. I see before me as plainly as if I held it in my hand, with those wondrous eyes intact, and shining like two living balls of fire, that symbol of mysticism, the serpent ring. ”

“ Slowly we rode along the shallow grass and brush ravines in the troughs of the low billows, while the dogs worked eagerly in and out of cover, and our handful of savages cast stones and shouted. Occasionally we divided forces, and beat the length of a hill, two of us lying in wait at one end for the possible lion, the rest sweeping the sides and summits. Many animals came bounding along, but no lions. ”

“ I had never before seen a lion outside of a cage. We turned our ponies over to the Somali gun boys who galloped after them to round them up. My next view of the lions was when the beaters had gone in to drive them out of a bit of jungle. A roar came from immediately in front of me and I saw a lioness in mid-air as high as my head, springing, thank heaven, diagonally away from me. But she saw me as she sprang and landed facing me. As I fired, a lion jumped over her back, which so disconcerted me that my shot only wounded her. This lion disconcerted her, too, for she followed him. ”

“ October 20.—A lion was roaring throughout the night not far from the tent on his way towards the river to drink; at every roar he was answered by the deep angry cry of the baboons, who challenged him immediately from their secure positions on the high rocks and trees. I found the tracks of his large feet upon the bank of the river, but there is no possibility of finding these animals in the daytime, as they retire to the high grass upon the table lands. ”

“ The mammoth with its young had swung clumsily across the area of rich feed, and, lurking in its train, eyeing hungrily and bloodthirstily the mammoth's calf, had crept the great cave tiger. The monster cave bear had shambled through the high grass, seeking some small food in default of that which might follow the conquest of a beast of size. The uncomely hyenas had gone slinking here and there and had found something worthy their foul appetite. ”

“ It resembled a huge wolf, save as to its massiveness and club countenance, It was one of the monster hyenas of the time, a beast which must have been as dangerous to the men then living as any animal except the cave tiger and the cave bear. ”

“ The dozen elephants and sixteen camels follow the band wagon, and then comes the cavalcade, gentlemen in court costumes and ladies in rich trailing robes with jaunty hat of gay ribbons and feathers flying in the breeze. The lion tamer is in the cage with the feeble animals that he keeps stirring up with his whip; the clown in his little chariot with his trick mule, affords amusement to the children along the line ”