262 Memoirs of John Shipp. (Marcu, 
captain in the Company’s service once told me, when speaking of these savage 
beasts, that he was out shooting in some part near Loodiannah, alone, and he 
had just discharged his last barrel at some wild ducks, when a large tiger 
made his appearance. He had not time to load again, but, for a time, stood 
his ground. He stared—the tiger grinned, but did not seem inclined to come 
to the scratch. This said captain, being a funny fellow, at last thought of a 
stratagem that was likely to put his grinning neighbour to flight, which was 
by turning his back to the animal, looking at him through his legs, and thus 
running off backwards. He positively declared, that the moment the tiger 
saw this strange metamorphosis, he took to his heels and was out of sight in 
an instant. I will not vouch for the verity of this tale, but I have heard, 
since my arrival in England, that the same trick was actually played on a 
savage mastiff belonging to a tan-yard, that would not permit a stranger 
near the premises, without tearing him to pieces, but the moment he saw this 
curious figure he took refuge in a drying-house, and, for some time after, on 
the least noise, he would hide himself, thinking, no doubt, it was his friend 
with his head between his legs again. The reason on account of which I 
cannot take upon myself to vouch for the veracity of my friend the captain 
is this: I once tiffed in company where this brave son of Mars was one of the 
party. The conversation turned on the privations which soldiers and sailors 
are frequently called on to endure. Some of ths company said, that in the 
course of their services they had not tasted food for three days; some men- 
tioned a longer period. I said I did not believe that the system could be 
sustained for more than seven days, if so long, without food or some kind of 
sustenance. The captain, however, thought otherwise; and, begging my 
pardon most politely, he protested that he had often, when in the West 
Indies, lived himself for weeks without food, and that once, for six months, 
he had nothing to eat but Cayenne pepper! This was likely to be a hot man 
in dispute, so we deft him in possession of the field as well as of his story, and 
this is the reason why I would not take upon me to vouch for the authenticity 
of his tiger adventure.” 
A chapter of some length is occupied with the subject of flogging, to 
which he is decidedly hostile, as a punishment not productive of any 
benefit to the victim, and only exciting disgust in the spectators whom it 
is intended to deter. He is entitled, we think, to be heard on such @ 
question, being thoroughly qualified to enter into the feelings of the 
soldier, to which the mere officer must be comparatively a stranger. He 
produces numerous instances of the ruinous effects of this system, for 
which we have no space ; but this is the sort of evidence most decisive. 
Flogging depends more upon the character of the commander than the 
eonduct of the men :— 
“ Let the returns of each regiment be called for, for any given year, and it 
will be found that, in some corps, not a man has been flogged, and in others 
fifty, and perhaps more. How is this to be accounted for? The thing is 
obvious and clear: it cannot rest so much with the men, for they will be 
found pretty much alike in all corps; it will depend entirely on the dispo- 
sitions of the commanders. If an officer be of a tyrannical disposition, or an 
ungovernable temper, the cat will be found in frequent use in the regiment 
under his command. If the commander be a man of humanity, and possess 
a heart of kindness, he will admonish, advise, encourage, and endeavour to 
infuse into the minds of youth a kind of parental love and affection. In the 
regiment where mercy reigns, discipline, order, harmony and peace of mind 
will be found ; but, in the regiment where rigid flogging is practised, dis- 
content, disorder, and a great deal of bad feeling towards the officers are sure 
to prevail.” 
We have no room for a specimen of his Irish bulls, of which he has a 
choice collection, while serving with the Royal Irish, the 87th ; they are 
of the coarsest and most extravagant kind ;~—-nor for his ship and camp 
miseries, after the manner of Beresford, and about as fantastical. 
