TIG 



437 



T I G 



leopards, ten hyaenas, one hippopotamus, one rhinoceros, I 

 forty wild horses, twenty wild asses, and numbers of deer, ' 

 goals, antelopes, and other beasts ; the brutal exhibition 

 being crowned by the mortal combat of two thousand 

 gladiators. 



Gordian III. also exhibited ten tigers, and they were 

 present in the shows of Antoninus and Elagabahis. Aure- 

 lian, in his triumph over Zenobia., showed lour, together 

 with a giraffe, an elk, and other rare animals. 



Oppian cannot be mistaken when he writes (Cyneg., iii. 

 130), 



Tt Soai, irat n'ypiff moXovwroi ; 

 for here we have leopards and tigers in the same line, and 

 the epithet aioXovwroc (having a variegated back) is quite 

 applicable to the latter. 



The Latin poets abound with allusions to the Tiyri-i. 

 that, in most instances, can hardly be allotted to any animal 

 lut the Royal Tiger; for, though Virgil, in his fourth! 

 Georgic' (1.407;,applies the epithet 'atra' (black) to Migris' i 

 in the passage where (Jyrene is warning Arisheus as to the 

 forms into which Proteus will transform himself, the word, 

 evidently, does not there allude to colour, but to ferocity. 

 In the fourth ' jfineid,' Dido, in her exclamation against 

 /Kneas, says, 



- * Duri3 ifenuit tc cautibus horrcns 

 Caucasus, tlyrcanff'iuc aJiuoriint ubvra ttfVM.' 



The tig*rs of Bacchus may be considered more doubtful. 

 In the '(lemmie et Sculpture Antiquae' there is a repre- 

 sentation of a large female 1'i-lin with the thyrsus from a 

 carnelian (corgnola), with the superscription, 'Tigre di 

 Bacho ;' but though the figure, generally, might pass for a 

 Tiger, the tail of the animal is terminated by a shagiry 

 lul't, and ro tiger's tail is. Claudian comes much nearer 

 to the murk where he describes lacchus as marching 

 Crowned with ivy, dnd clad fin the skin) of the Parthian 

 TiLTfi. When Virgil describes Orpheus, as ' mulcentem 

 litres' as soothing tigers' (Georg. iv., 1. 510), and Horace, 

 with nearly the same thought, addresses Mercury, 



' To poles tigre* comttesque sylvaa 

 Duoere' 



;. iii., O<le ii. : ; and airain, in his epistle to the Pisos 

 Arte Poctica,' 1. 393), says of Orpheus, 



' Diaus ah hoc lenire tigres, rabidusque leones ;' 



they make the Tiger personify the greatest ferocity, and 

 they certainly could not have chosen a more apt represen- 

 tative. 



Martial speaks of the Tiger in the time of Titus and 

 Domitian. (Spect., Epig. 18, and lib.i., Epig. lOfi.j 



To conclude this branch of the subject, we shall advert 

 to one more literary proof, and one piece of pictorial evi- 

 dence : and we think that no doubt can exist that, al- 

 though the Royal Tiger was not so abundant in the 

 Koman shows, particularly the earlier ones, as the leo- 

 pard and the panther, its form and colouring, as distin- 

 guished from the other great cats, were as well and fami- 

 liarly known to that people. 



Piinj, in his chapter ' De Atlantis Arboribus et Oedrinis 

 Meiisis,' Sic. \n/. ///-,/., xiii. 15 ..speaking of the grain or 

 pattern of these tallies, says that where it was oblong or 

 lengthened, they were called tigrine, but where it was 

 v. real lied or curfed ' ii-turtu',, they were termed pantherine. 



The pictorial evidence (so to speak) was furnished by 

 tin- mosaic found at Uoi'.ie near the arch of Gallienus. In 

 this woik of art, executed not improbably in commemora- 

 tion of the exhibition of Claudius above noticed, four 

 Royal Tigers, each devouring his prey, are well re- 

 presented. 



Our Zoological Societies and menageries have so in- 

 creased in number during a long period of peace, that it 

 I c mines almost superfluous to describe a form so well 

 knuun. But as a description of an animal holding so im- 

 portant. a rank in the animal kingdom may be expected, 

 we select that of Mr. Bennett, who, in the Tuirnr Menu- 

 ie, remarks that the Tiger, closely allied to the Lion in 

 in power, in external form, in internal structure, in 

 zoological characters, in prowling habits, and in sangui- 

 nary propensities, is at once distinguished from it, and 

 from every other of their common genus, by the peculiar 

 miii-kiii^s of its coal. 'On a ground which exhibits in 

 ditSVrent individuals various shades of yellow,' says Mr. 

 Bennett, ' he is elegantly striped by a series of transverse 

 black bands or bars, which occupy the sides of his head, 



neck, and body, and are continued upon his tai! in the 

 form of rings, the last of the series uniformly occupying 

 the extremity of that organ, and giving it a black tip of 

 greater or less extent. The under parts of his body and 

 the inner sides of his legs are almost entirely white ; he 

 has no mane ; and his whole frame, though less elevated 

 than that of the Lion, is of a slenderer and more graceful 

 make. His head is also shorter and more rounded.' 



There is a paler variety, almost approaching to whitish, 

 and with the stripes visible only in particular lights : this 

 has been exhibited in this country. According to Du 

 Halde, the Chinese Tiger (Lou-chu, or Lau-hri) varies in 

 colour, some being white, striped with black and grey. 



The size of the Tiger varies also ; but the dimensions of 

 the form, when fully developed, are, if we are to give credit 

 to some accounts, the veracity of which has not been im- 

 pugned, most formidable. Buffon notices an individual 

 which was (tail included) 15 feet long ; and it is on 

 record that Hyder Ali presented to the Nabob of Arcot 

 one which measured 18 feet in length. The average 

 height varies from about four feet to about three feet, and 

 the length from about eight or nine feet to six. 



Geographical Distribution. Asia only, and not the 

 south of Africa, as BufFon erroneously states ; but authors 

 generally agree that the Tiger is now rarely, if ever, met 

 with on this side of the Indus. It is said to be found in 

 the deserts which separate China from Siberia, and as far 

 as the banks of the Oby ; and in the south of China, and 

 the larger East Indian Islands (Sumatra, for instance), it is 

 common. Pennant states that it is found as far north as 

 China and Chinese Tartary, and about Lake Aral and the 

 Altaic Mountains. ' It inhabits Mount Ararat,' says the 

 same author in continuation, ' and Hyrcania, of old famous 

 for its wild beasts ; but the greatest numbers, the largest, 

 and the most cruel, are met with in India and its islands. 

 In Sumatra the natives are so infatuated that they seldom 

 kill them, having a notion that they are animated by Ihe 

 souls of their ancestors. They are the scourge of the 

 country ; they lurk among the bushes on the sides of 

 rivers, and almost depopulate many places. They are 

 in-idioiis, blood-thirsty, and malevolent, and seem to 

 prefer preying on the human race.' Hindustan may be 

 considered the head-quarters of this destructive animal ; 

 there it is that he reigns unawed even by the lion, with 

 which he disputes the mastery, and which is comparatively 

 rare in that peninsula. 



Habits, Chase, cf-c. The bound with which the am- 

 bushed tiger throws himself upon his prey is as wonderful 

 in its extent as it is terrible in its effects. Pennant justly 

 observes that the distance which it clears in this deadly 

 leap is scarcely credible. Man is a mere puppet in his 

 gripe ; and the Indian buffalo is not only borne down by 

 the ferocious beast, but carried off by his enormous 

 strength. If he fails, it has been said that he makes off. 

 This may be true in certain instances, but in general he 

 does not slink away, but pursues the affrighted prey with a 

 speedy activity which is seldom exerted in vain. This 

 leads us to the observation of Pliny celebrating its swift- 

 ness,* for which the Roman zoologist has been censured, 

 most unjustly, apparently ; nor is he the only author 

 among the ancients who notices its speed. Oppian 

 (Cyneg., i. 323) speaks of the swift Tigers as being the 

 offspring (yevsOXjj) of the zephyr. ' Pliny,' saysPennant, ' has 

 been frequently taken to task by the moderns for calling 

 the Tiger "animal tremendae velocitatis ;" they allow it 

 great agility in its bounds, but deny it swiftness in pursuit. 

 Two travellers of authority, both eye-witnesses, confirm 

 what Pliny says : the one indeed only mentions in general 

 vast fleetness ; the other saw a trial between one and a 

 swift horse, whose rider escaped merely by getting in time 

 amidst a circle of armed men. The chase of this animal 

 was a favourite diversion with the great Cam-Hi, the 

 Chinese monarch, in whose company our countryman 

 Mr. Bell, that faithful traveller, and the Pure Gerbillon, 

 saw these proofs of the tiger's speed.' ) 



In the ' 'EKa-iwrac, sen Centuria Imaginum Hierogryphi- 

 carnm ' (do. lac. xxiii.) is a wood-cut (here copied; that. 

 may refer to such a scene. 



Ferocious as the Tiger is, and much as it may deserve 

 the odium heaped upon it, the general chorus of the herd 

 of authors who eulogize ' the courage, greatness, clemeridy, 

 and generosity ' of the lion, contrasting it with the unpro- 



* Ante, p.,436. t Bell's Travels,' ii. 01 ; Du HaUe, ii. 2 13. 



