CHAP. III. TAMED TIGERS IN INDIA. 81 



their master on most occasions, and to be completely 

 under his authority. But then they are rarely, if 

 ever, fed with meat ; their nourishment consisting 

 almost entirely of boiled rice and ghee. Raw meat 

 is well known to render the tiger bloodthirsty, and 

 seems to awaken its dormant ferocity : every latent 

 propensity to destruction is thus called forth into ac- 

 tion, and the whole deportment of the animal changes. 

 Boiled meat is known to be equally nutritious; and 

 when mixed, as is always done in feeding dogs in 

 India, with boiled rice, it is found to render them far 

 more tractable. " These eleemosynary tigers," observes 

 captain Williamson, ' ' range at large, but they do not 

 stray far from their keepers. I confess that one, whjch 

 I visited at Colgong, rather disturbed my mind, by a 

 peculiar fierceness in its eyes, which, although I knew 

 the animal to have been perfectly harmless for several 

 years, seemed to denote an inward wish by no means 

 favourable to my safety. There is, in short, a very 

 peculiar appearance in these animals at the sight of a 

 stranger, which seems inseparable from the tiger's na- 

 ture. The fakir seemed to possess ample authority 

 over the tiger in question, which certainly manifested 

 no dislike to his visiters ; but the animal paced slowly 

 round us, with a seeming inquisitive air, creating 

 sensations not of the most pleasant nature. He was 

 riot, indeed, very large, but could with ease have de- 

 stroyed the whole party. This fakir used to walk, 

 almost daily, in the town, a-ccompanied by the tiger, 

 which apparently created no alarm among the in- 

 habitants, who seemed to have full confidence in his 

 innocence. His master, however, interdicted all per- 

 sons from touching the animal ; a caution which, pro- 

 bably, tended much to preserve its inoffensiveness. 



(101.) Fishes, in general, are no doubt influenced, 

 in some degree, by the same passions as other animals ; 

 but the element in which they live opposes an insu- 

 perable bar to investigations on this part of their his- 

 tory. As none of this class suckle their young, so the 

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