THE TIGER 481 



sharp claws and furious onset of the formidable brute ; but when 

 he belong.! to a herd, his companions immediately come to his 

 assistance and put the tiger to flight. 



The Indian herdsmen, riding on a buffalo of their herd, are 

 therefore not in the least afraid of entering the jungles that 

 are infested by tigers. Colonel Eice once saw a troop of buf- 

 faloes, excited by the blood of a tiger he had wounded, throw 

 themselves furiously into the thicket where the beast had sought 

 lefuge, beat about the bushes, and tear up the ground with their 

 horns. Their rage became at length so ungovernable that they 

 ])egan to fight among each other, to the great despair of the 

 herdsmen. 



The she-buffalo is more timid, and knows not how to defend 

 herself. Thus the tiger loves to steal upon her when alone, 

 springs upon her, knocks her down with a stroke of his fore-paws, 

 tears open her throat, and rejoices in the gushing streams of 

 her blood. 



As soon as the tiger has strangled his prey, the carrion 

 .vultures come flying in troops from a great distance. The 

 jackals also assemble, and when the satiated monster retires, 

 begin to fight with the vultures for the bloody remains. The 

 birds are soon driven away, but they ultimately enjoy the 

 picking of the bones, on which the jackals, who are not such 

 expert dissectors, have left them many a delicate morsel. 



The tiger, who on the declivities of the Himalaya tears to 

 pieces the swift footed antelope, lacerates on the desert sand 

 coasts of Java the tardy tortoise, when at nightfall it leaves the 

 sea to lay its eggs in the drift-sand at the foot of the dunes. 

 " Hundreds of tortoise skeletons lie scattered about the strand, 

 many of them five feet long and three feet broad ; some bleached 

 by time, others still fresh and bleeding. High in the air a 

 number of birds of prey wheel about, scared by the traveller's 

 approach. Here is the place where the turtles are attacked by 

 the wild dogs. In packs of from tw^enty to fifty, the growling 

 rabble assails the poor sea animal at every accessible point, 

 gnaws and tugs at the feet and at the head, and succeeds by 

 united efforts in turning the huge creature upon its back. 

 Then the abdominal scales are torn off, and the ravenous dogs 

 hold a bloody meal on the flesh, intestines and eggs of their de- 

 fenceless prey. Sometimes, however, the turtle escapes their rage, 



I I 



