180 HABITS AND INSTINCTS OF ANIMALS. CHAP. VI. 



gard a tiger pays to fire, when hard put to for a meal, 

 in the fact of a young gentleman, of a well-known fa- 

 mily, having T)een taken away hy one when benighted 

 on ganger's Island, at the entrance of the Hooghly river. 

 The party was sitting at a fire, which had been kindled 

 for the purpose of security ; yet the tiger sprang through 

 the flames, and carried off the unfortunate victim, in 

 spite of the efforts of his companions, who were well 

 provided with fire-arms.* 



(196.) Another instance may be adduced, to show that 

 even travellers, while in large companies, are not exempt 

 from this terrible animal. " When two English ladies, 

 with a large retinue, were travelling from Dhuboy to- 

 wards the Nerbudda river, a large tiger sprang among 

 the mounted soldiers, overthrew one of the riders, and 

 killed his horse by the blow/'t There also seems to be, 

 in the province of Guzerat, another animal of the same 

 genus, but equally formidable. " The last which I de- 

 stroyed," continues the same traveller, " in the Dhuboy 

 district, was a leopard, most beautifully spotted, which 

 weighed about 250 pounds : his strength and ferocity 

 equalled his size, and had long rendered him a terror to 

 the villages near his haunts. $ So great, indeed, is the 

 dread of beasts of prey throughout the whole of India, 

 but more especially in the villages on the Sabermatty 

 river, at the head of the gulf of Cambray, that the in- 

 habitants carefully collect all their cattle within the 

 mud walls, which encircle every village, at the close of 

 day, after which all egress is avoided ; even the dogs, 

 instinctively conscious of peril, keep within the pro- 

 tection of the walls. It is certain danger to travel in 

 the jungles, or Indian forests, after sunset, when the 

 savage beasts leave their haunts and prowl about for 

 prey ; but as they retire to their dens at the approach 

 of dawn, accidents are then not so frequent. In Africa, 

 the native beasts of prey are different, and not so fear- 

 ful. Still, in a country inhabited by lions, panthers, 



Orient. Mem. vol. ii. p. 284. t W. ibid. : Ibid. voL iii.^190. 



