Nor is the wild boar an easy victim. If it be full grown, and have had warning, and there be room enough, it will defend itself successfully. At times, indeed, it comes off absolutely victorious—the Arabs having found panthers in desert places, ripped up by a boar's tusks. A frequent struggle, perhaps the only one which the panther openly engages in, is with the porcupine; but the latter, though it grows to a considerable size in Africa, is more formidable in appearance than in reality. It has indeed, the property of bristling up its long, hard, sharp-pointed quills, which it can even throw to some distance; but these arms cannot save it. The slightest wound completely paralyses the muscular contractions by means of which it places itself in a state of defence: besides, it cannot do anything without something to fall back upon, such as a tree or a stone. However timorous and apt to run away the panther may be under ordinary circumstances, it becomes really dangerous if its cubs have been carried off in its absence—or under its very eyes by force, which only happens when the hunters are in considerable numbers. At such times it will sometimes perish in the attempt to save them—at least, the _dolly_, or larger species will do so; but the _berrani_, or small panther, makes off, uttering the while lamentable cries. The cubs, thus torn from their mother, are given to chiefs residing in towns, to Sultans, Pashas, and Beys; but they are never kept in a tribe, for when still quite young they are dangerous even in their play, and no sort of attention will ever tame them or guarantee the master of the tent, or his wives and children, from a momentary outburst of fury on the part of the perfidious and capricious brute. We may mention, however, that in certain _zaouïas_ lions are tamed by marabouts and led up and down the tribes. Thus summoning curiosity to the aid of charity, they augment the amount of the alms which they beg for their congregation. The most celebrated _zaouïa_ in which tame lions are kept is that of Sidi-Mohammed-ben-Aouda, a tribe of the Flittas in the province of Oran.