418 ANIMALS OF THE 



to destroy others, swallowing their blood down at 

 large draughts, and seeming rather glutted than 

 satiated with its abundance. 



However, when it has killed a large animal, 

 such as a horse or a buffalo, it immediately begins 

 to devour it on the spot, fearing to be disturbed. 

 In order to feast at its ease, it carries off its prey 

 to the forest, dragging it along with such ease, 

 that the swiftness of its motion seems scarcely re- 

 tarded by the enormous load it sustains. From 

 this alone we may judge of its strength ; but, to 

 have a more just idea of this particular, let us stop 

 a moment to consider the dimensions of this most 

 formidable creature. Some travellers have com- 

 pared it for size to a horse, and other& to a buffalo, 

 while others have contented themselves with say- 

 ing that it is much larger than a lion. We have 

 recent accounts of this animal's magnitude that de- 

 serve the utmost confidence. M. Buffon has been 

 assured by one of his friends, that he saw a tiger 

 in the East Indies fifteen feet long. " Supposing 

 that he means including the tail, this animal, allow- 

 ing four feet for that, must have been eleven feet 

 from the tip of the nose to the insertion of the tail. 

 Indeed, that which is now in the Tower is not so 

 large, being, as well as I could measure, six feet 

 from the tip to the insertion, and the tail was three 

 feet more. Like all the rest of its kind, its 

 motions are irregular and desultory ; it bounds 

 rather than runs j and like them rather chooses to 

 take its prey by surprise than to be at the trouble 

 of hunting it down." How large a leap it can 

 take at once we may easily judge, by comparing 



