202 IVild Bcasfs 



springing power that the expressions. " tiger's leap," and 

 " tiger's bound," have passed into the colloquial phrases of 

 more than one language. Nevertheless, when the experi- 

 ences of eye-witnesses of his performances in this way are 

 referred to, nothing but contradictions are to be met with. 



Sanderson (" Thirteen Years among the Wild Beasts 

 of India ") thinks " tiie tiger's powers of springing are in- 

 considerable." Sir Joseph Fayrer (" The Royal Tiger ") 

 says that " it is doubtful whether a tiger ever bounds when 

 charging," and Inglis supports him in this particular. Cap- 

 tain Shakespear regarded a machan twelve feet high as 

 perfectly secure, and Captain Baldwin felt that he was safe 

 when fifteen feet above the ground. ]\Ioray Brown saw a 

 tiger jump fourteen feet high. J. H. Baldwin (" The Large 

 and Small Game of Bengal ") reports a case in which a 

 tiger leaped the stockade of a cattle-pen " with a large full- 

 grown ox in his mouth," and Dr. Fayrer gives, in the 

 work referred to. the only authentic story of a tiger's hav- 

 ing taken a man out of a howdah while the elephant was 

 on his feet. Major G. A. R. Dawson describes the acci- 

 dent that occurred to General Morgan from a wounded 

 tigress that sprang across a ravine twenty-five feet wide 

 and struck him down. Captain \V. Rice ("Tiger Shoot- 

 ing in India ") measured the leap of a tigress he shot, and 

 found it to be " over seven yards." 



Professor Blyth and Dr. Jerdon concluded from their 

 researches at the Calcutta Museum and elsewhere that 

 tigers could not climb. It was certainly a very singular 

 conclusion to come to on anatomical grounds ; but waiving 

 this point, we have the statements of Inglis and Shakes- 



