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QUADRUPEDS. 33? 



Romans it was long regarded as an extreme rarity. Megas- 

 thenes alone, among the Greeks, seems to have been ac- 

 quainted with it from personal observation ; for Nearchus 

 had only an opportunity of seeing the skin, and Aristotle 

 merely mentions it as an animal of which he had heard by 

 name. Among the Romans, according to Pliny, the first 

 tiger ever exhibited to the people was a tame one belonging 

 to Augustus, which had been sent to that emperor in siorn 

 of homage by an Indian king. Claudius afterward exhibited 

 four at one time, and it has been conjectured that the beau- 

 tiful mosaic picture of four tigers, discovered some years 

 ago in Rome near the arch of Gallienus, was executed at 

 that period in commemoration of so striking and unprece- 

 dented a display.* 



The pursuit of this animal is of course attended by con- 

 siderable danger. In the following anecdote, however, as 

 related by Mr. Williamson, no damage appears to have 

 resulted either to the huntsman or his elephant. "The 

 tiger had satiated himself upon a bullock he had killed, and 

 lay lurking in the grass, which was as high as the backs of 

 the elephants, and very thick, not far from the remains of 

 the bullock. He was extremely cunning, and crouched so 

 close as to render it for a long time doubtful whether he was 

 in the jungle or not. The symptoms displayed by the ele- 

 phants, in approaching the place where he lay concealed, 

 induced the party to persevere in their efforts to rouse him. 

 One gentleman particularly urged his mahout to make his 

 elephant beat the spot where the scent was strongest, which 

 being done in spite of the tremendous tones of the agitated 

 animal, ihe tiger finding himself compelled either to resist or 

 to submit to being trodden upon, sprang upon the elephant's 

 quarter, and so far succeeded as to fix his claws in the pad ; 

 his hind-legs were somewhat spread, and their claws were 

 fixed into the fleshy membranes of the elephant's thigh. 

 Actuated by the excess of fear occasioned by so sudden and 

 so painful an attack, the elephant dashed through the corn 

 at a surprising rate, the tiger holding fast by its fore-paws, 

 and supported by its hinder ones ; unable, however, in con- 

 sequence of the rapid and irregular motions of the elephant, 

 either to raise himself any higher, or to quit the hold he had 



* See Ossemens fossiles, nouv. ed. torn. 4, p. 415. 



