ORDER 111. CARN1VOUA 41 



trails, with apparent ease. In populous countries, where he 

 is accustomed to the sight and acquainted with the power of 

 man, he is comparatively timid, and will sometimes even fly 

 before women or children ; but in those where he is undis- 

 turbed in his dominion of the forest, he defies man as well^is 

 all other animals, and has been known singly to attack a whole 

 caravan. The lion, when taken young, is capable of being 

 tamed ; and, in a state of confinement, has Jived to the age of 

 seventy years. 



The Royal Tiger is an ^ inhabitant of the warmer parts of 

 Asia and the Indian islands. He attains to nearly the size of 

 the lion, and is of equal strength, but far more bloody and 

 cruel. He is the scourge of the countries which he infests, 

 and has sometimes almost depopulated whole villages. Such 

 is his vigor and the rapidity of all his motions, that he has 

 been known, when lurking around an army on the march, to 

 spring from a thicket upon a soldier, tear him from his horse, 

 and convey him into the forest without being molested. When 

 he has seized a large animal, if uninterrupted, he plunges his 

 head into the midst of the carcass, and sucks the blood. He 

 is not so easily or completely tamed as the lion ; but if taken 

 young, is susceptible of a certain degree of domestication. 



4. A fourth tribe of the Camivora comprehends the am- 

 phibious animals, as the Seal and the Morse. They differ 

 from other quadrupeds very widely in their external appear- 

 ance, whilst their internal structure is very nearly the same. 

 Their limbs are composed of a similar number of bones, ar- 

 ranged in the same way, but so short and so enveloped by 

 their skin, as to be of but little use for walking. But as the 

 intervals between the toes are so filled up with skin, they 

 form excellent oars; so that these animals move with great 

 rapidity and address in the water, although they can only 

 'crawl awkwardly upon land. They feed principally upon 

 fish ; and the structure of their teeth is manifestly that of 

 carnivorous animals. They live almost entirely in the sea, 

 and come upon shore only for the purpose of reposing in the 

 sun and suckling their young. They breathe, however, like 

 other Mammalia ; and hence cannot constantly remain under 

 water, but are obliged to return occasionally to the surface 

 for air. Still they are able to live a long time without breath- 

 ing ; and it has been asserted that there is some peculiar con- 

 formation about their heart, which renders this possible, But 

 no such peculiarity is found to exist. 



The Sea.'s are mild and inoffensive, except when provoked. 

 4 * 



