98 TIGERS. 



a hammer. That their talons are their destructive 

 weapons, I think any one will be convinced, who 

 will give himself the trouble to examine their for- 

 mation ; or if he will look at the foot of a cat, 

 which is in appearance a tiger in miniature, he 

 will observe the same, or nearly the same, won- 

 derful contrivance and proportions ; and does not 

 that animal use his claws when he strikes at a rat 

 or mouse *? It is absurd to suppose that the re- 

 markably fine muscles in a tiger's fore leg, con- 

 nected as they are with the talons, were intended 

 for no purpose. 



Once, when I was on a visit to Captain John 

 Ranken, at Sheherghautty, about twenty-eight 

 miles from Chittrah, below the ghauts, my return 

 was suddenly required. It was in the month of 

 June, when the weather was extremely hot, and 

 the palanquin carriers at Sheherghautty were all 

 engaged, so that I was compelled to travel on 

 horseback. I left Captain Ranken's house about 

 eleven o'clock at night, accompanied with a Syce 

 and a link-man another link-man, and two 

 men carrying my clothes and hookah, two 

 Khedmutghars, and a Hookahburdar, followed 

 at a short distance. Just before I arrived at the 

 village of Lucina, near the foot of the ghaut, in 



