176 ANECDOTES OF ANIMALS. 



the tiger when seeking his prey. My brother had been 

 two or three years in India, and yet had never seen one 

 of these animals ; so he told his men they might return, 

 but he should stay, for he much wished to see a tiger. 

 They in vain tried to dissuade him ; but fancying the 

 beast was close by, they all ran away, and left him to his 

 fate. He sat down quietly by the bank of his garden, 

 and had not been there long when the tiger actually 

 appeared. He stopped, looked very grand, and seemed 

 doubtful whether he should make an attack on the 

 motionless person before him ; and there never was a 

 more beautiful animal than he appeared to be. He 

 uttered a sort of growl, and crouched down, as the cat 

 often does when tormenting a mouse ; and my brother 

 almost gave himself up for lost. He fancied that he had 

 been hidden, and that the tiger could not perceive him 

 as he passed ; but he took off his grenadier cap, which 

 was large, and covered with bear's skin, and putting it 

 before his face, roared in it as loudly as he could. The 

 noise and the action so surprised the tiger, that he 

 turned round and leaped into the neighbouring thicket. 

 My brother hastened away, and met his servants, who, 

 now the danger was over, were coining to protect their 

 master with drums and torches. 



The tiger has been known to snatch without springing, 

 of which the following anecdote, told me by a friend, is 

 a confirmation. He was going up one of the rivers in 

 Assam, at the time when our troops took possession of 

 that country, in a covered boat, and his principal servant 

 retired on to the roof of the covering, to smoke at his 

 ease. The river was narrow, the banks very high, and 

 they were going on at a leisurely pace, when my friend 

 heard a slight scuffle over his head, then a scream, 



