TIGERS, LEOPARDS, AND BEARS 267 



only run, and run fast, but it can also climb trees, and 

 that with perfect facility. 



The skin of this tiger, though not large, was the 

 handsomest I ever saw, for the tiger was young, and 

 the skin most beautifully marked ; and, moreover, it 

 had been shot in the cold weather. It was so hand- 

 some that I had it prepared, and subsequently brought 

 it v/ith me home to England. 



The tigers in India, like the wolves formerly in this 

 country, are the wild beasts the most often introduced 

 into legends and fairy tales, and with which the most 

 superstitions are associated. Among others they are 

 supposed occasionally to be animated by sentiments of 

 religion. I have seen pictures where they are repre- 

 sented as standing in attitudes of reverence around a 

 fakir performing austerities, and there is a belief that 

 occasionally they will sv/eep with their tails at night 

 the terraces on which devotees of especial sanctity sit 

 and meditate during the day. 



Such influence over tigers is mostly attributed to the 

 devotees of past ages ; but I remember hearing of a 

 devotee in quite recent times who thought he possessed 

 it, and, with disastrous results to himself, attempted to 

 exercise it. The affair occurred in a station where 

 I once held office, but it occurred some years pre- 

 viously. One of the English officials, in the course of 

 a shooting expedition, captured a quite young tiger — a 

 mere cub. He brought it home and kept it. It was 

 playful at first ; then, as it grew larger, it became 

 dangerous, and had to be placed in a cage. It was 

 nearly full grown when the devotee, in the course of 



