476 THE FELID.E OF THE OLD WORLD 



victims, whose bodies he rends with his claws, and then phmges 

 his head into the gaping wound to absorb with deep and luxu- 

 rious draughts the blood whose fountains he has just laid open. 

 Nothing can be more delightful than the aspect of a Javanese 

 savannah, to which clumps of noble trees, planted by Nature's 

 hand, impart a park-like character ; yet 

 even during the daytime, the traveller 

 rarely ventures to cross these beau- 

 tiful wilds without being accompanied 

 by a numerous retinue. In Italy armed 

 guards are necessary to scare the bandit; 

 here the tiger calls for similar pre- 

 cautions. The horses frequently stand 

 still, trembling all over, when their road 

 leads them along some denser patch of 

 the jungle, rising like an island from the grassy plain, for their 

 acute scent informs them that a tiger lies concealed in the 

 thicket, but a few paces from their path. 



It is a remarkable fact that the peacock and the tiger are so 

 frequently seen together. The voice of the bird is seldom 

 heard during the daytime, but as soon as the shades of evening 

 begin to veil the landscape, his loud and disagreeable screams 

 awaken the echoes, announcing, as the Javanese say, that the 

 tiger is setting forth on his murderous excursions. 



Then the traveller carefully bolts the door of his hut, and the 

 solitary Javanese retreats to his palisadoed dwelling, for the 

 tyrant of the wilderness is abroad. At night his dreadful roar 

 is heard, sometimes accompanied by the peacock's discordant 

 voice. Even in the villages, thinly scattered among the grass 

 or aJang-wilds of Java, there is no security against his attacks, 

 in spite of the strong fences with which they are enclosed, and 

 the watch fires carefully kept burning between these and the 

 huts. During Junghuhn's sojourn in Tjurug Negteg (August, 

 1851) more than one family deplored the loss of a member. 

 The monotonous, dreary neighbourhood and the depressed spirits 

 of the wretched inhabitants, equally persecuted by tigers and 

 poverty, made a melancholy impression on the naturalist, who 

 hastened to leave the gloomy spot. 



At night when he had been delayed on his journey, he often 

 saw the eyes of the tiger glistening like balls of fire through 



