144 THE TIGER. 



nied by a dog, which gives the alarm, or by a goat, 

 which, by its agitation, answers the same purpose, the 

 adventurer wraps himself up in his quilt, and very com- 

 posedly goes to sleep, in full confidence of his safety. 

 When a tiger comes, and, perhaps after smelling all 

 around, begins to rear against the cage, the man 

 stabs him with one of the spears through the inter- 

 stices of the wicker-work, and rarely fails of destroy- 

 ing the tiger, which is ordinarily found dead at no 

 great distance in the morning." 



Another, rather of a more ludicrous character, is 

 related by the same entertaining writer, as success- 

 fully practised in the dominions of Oude. " The 

 track of a tiger being ascertained, which, though not 

 invariably the same, may yet be known sufficiently 

 for the purpose, the peasants collect a quantity of 

 the leaves of the prous, which are like those of the 

 sycamore, and are common in most underwoods, as 

 they form the largest portion of most jungles in the 

 north of India. These leaves are smeared with a 

 species of bird-lime, made by bruising the berries of 

 an indigenous tree, by no means scarce. They are 

 then strewed with the gluten uppermost, near to that 

 opaque spot to which it is understood the tiger 

 usually resorts during the noon-tide heat. If by 

 chance the animal should tread on one of the smeared 

 leaves, his fate may be considered as decided. He 

 commences by shaking his paw, with the view to 

 remove the adhesive incumbrance, but finding no re- 

 lief from that expedient, he rubs the nuisance against 



