CAT KIND. k 



wliat it might do to what we see so small an 

 animal as the cat actually perform. The cat can 

 leap several feet at a bound ; and the tiger, who 

 is ten times as long, can no doubt spring propor- 

 tionably. 



" The tiger is the only animal whose spirit seems 

 untameable. Neither force nor constraint, neither 

 violence nor flattery, can prevail in the least on its 

 stubborn nature. The caresses of the keeper have 

 no influence on their heart of iron ; and time, 

 instead of mollifying its disposition, only serves to 

 increase its fierceness and malignity. The tiger 

 snaps at the hand that feeds it as well as that by 

 which it is chastised : every object seems consi- 

 dered only as its proper prey, which it devours 

 with a look ; and, although confined by bars and 

 chains, still makes fruitless efforts, as if to show 

 its malignity when incapable of exerting its force." 



To give a still more complete idea of the strength 

 of this terrible creature, we shall quote a passage 

 from Father Tachard, who was an eye-witness of 

 a combat between a tiger and three elephants at 

 Siam. For this purpose, the king ordered a lofty 

 palisade to be built of bamboo cane, about a hun- 

 dred feet square ; and in the midst of this were? 

 three elephants appointed for combating the tiger. 

 Their heads and a part of their trunk were cover- 

 ed with a kind of armour, like a mask, which de^ 

 fended that part from the assaults of the fierce 

 animal with which they were to engage. As soon, 

 says this author, as we were arrived at the place, 

 a tiger was brought forth from its den, of a size 

 much larger than we had ever seen before. It 



