SIR SAMUEL BAKERS OPINION. 1 83 



for deer with a friend when we heard a sambur bell in one 

 of these woods ; presently another sambur joined in. I 

 whispered to my companion that I thought there must be a 

 tiger in the wood. I had hardly spoken when we heard a 

 low gutteral growl ; and every time the deer belled the tiger 

 answered with a growl. Then a third deer commenced 

 belling, and for several minutes this went on, the tiger 

 answering with a growl, every bell of the deer. We were 

 standing outside the wood, and from the sound, the tiger 

 appeared to be approaching towards us, when suddenly the 

 growling ceased, but the belling of the deer continued. A 

 short time afterwards a hind came dashing out into the open, 

 but no tiger appeared. I have heard a tiger growl to the 

 bell of a sambur at other times, but never so persistently 

 as on this occasion. Now, my idea is that the tiger by 

 growling sets all the deer belling, and when he has fixed on 

 the exact spot where one may be standing he suddenly stops 

 answering, and proceeds to stalk the animal. I have little 

 doubt that the hind which came rushing out to us had been 

 stalked by the tiger. If the tiger had sufficient sense of 

 smell to hunt the deer by scent, I do not think he would 

 reply to their cry of alarm with a growl. 



Sir Samuel Baker states that the tiger differs from the 

 cat in its peculiar fondness for water. We all know that a 

 tiger will seldom take his meal except when he is near water 

 and will even drag a buffalo or goat a long distance so that 

 he should be able to slake his thirst after he has fed, and will ■ 

 even enter a stream and lie down in it so as to be able to lap 

 without any trouble. Tigers have been known to swim large 

 rivers, and even an arm of the sea, but that has been done 

 from necessity in order to obtain their food ; but that it is 



