2 79^' "'' ^'^^ tiger. ^^ 



mifs their object, thej instantly retire ; bat If thej 

 succeed they carry ofF their prey with ease, were it 

 even as large as a bnfFaloe, without feeling any im- 

 pediment in its flight. They are thought to prefer 

 pjeying on the human flelh to that of any other 

 animal. They lurk among the sides of biiQi^s, and 

 almost depopulate many places. If they are undis- 

 turbed, they plunge their head into the body of the 

 animal up to the very eyes, as if it wete to satiate 

 themselves with blood. 



The tiger, is p3culiar to Asia, and is found as fair 

 north as China and Chinese Tartaryr it inhabits mount . 

 Ararat, and Hyrcania, of old famousfor its wild beasts. 

 The greatest numbers are met with in India, and its- 

 islands. In the mouth of the Ganges, in particular, 

 are many islands which, when that country lirst came 

 under the dominion of Britain, were inhabited by a 

 immerous people. The famines that were occasion- 

 ed by the earliest eiFects of European rapacity in 

 those regions, extirpated the inhabitants; and such is 

 the rapid progrefs of desolation in a fertile country, . 

 destitute of people, that these extensive islands are 

 now only covered with woods, and so overrun with > 

 wild beasts, that the people who go thither to take ilp 

 salt from the lakes, must always have a strong guard 

 to protect them from the tigers; notwithstanding 

 which, there never is a season in which several people 

 are not thus carried off and destroyed. 



The following story is well authenticated. Some 

 ladies and gentlemen being on a party of pleasure, 

 under a Ihade of trees, on the banks of a river in 

 Bengal, were suddenly surprised at seeing a tiger 



