THE TIGER 



A TIGER to the majority of men is probably the most 

 impressive and suggestive of all animals. Apart 

 from those traits so obvious in his appearance that they 

 affect every one, most beholders have in their minds 

 some material with which imagination works under the 

 quickening influence of his deadly eye. No creature 

 matches him in general powers of destruction ; none 

 enacts such tragedies as he, amid scenes so replete with 

 a various interest ; none sheds so much human blood. 



The hunter's spirit natural to our remoter ancestors 

 survives in their descendants, and few persons are placed 

 under circumstances favorable for its revival without ex- 

 periencing something of its force. When tigers are the 

 objects of pursuit, this often becomes a passion. 



One can scarcely look upon the poor, dispirited wretch 

 behind the bars of a cage, without freeing it in fancy, and 

 transferring the animal to fitting surroundings, — open 

 spaces in jungle, where tall jowaree grass waves in the 

 evening air, deep nalas clothed with karinda and tamarisk, 

 vast, gloomy forests of sal and teak, magificent mountain 

 buttresses, upon whose crags stand the ruined fortresses of 

 long-forgotten chiefs. The tiger of the mind, splendid and 

 terrible is there, and we are there to meet him. 



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