In 1829, the lion-tamer Martin became the first man to dare face wild beasts inside their cage. This spectacle deeply impressed Parisians and inspired other menageries throughout Europe. A few years later, banking on the novelty of this confrontation between man and ferocious beasts, the Cirque Olympique staged Le lion du desert (The Lion of the Desert). The engraving illustrates one of the scenes: ‘Abdallah walks up to the lion he has subdued, to the tiger he has vanquished. As he approaches, the animals seem to respect his domination.’ (Act II, scene 3). The drawing, which is quite clumsy, suggest a paperboard desert and a savage identified by his scant and variegated dress. The scarcity of such wild beasts, which could hardly be seen outside the Jardin des Plantes (the Paris zoo), accounts for the bizarre anatomy of the tiger, equipped with a huge cat’s head and a rat’s tail.