FELIS. 



It is recorded by Mr. Pennant, that, in 

 the beginning of the last century as a 

 British party in India were indulging 

 themselves in rural recreation and festi- 

 vity, totally unsuspicious of danger, an 

 immense tiger was seen advancing to- 

 wards them, and was so near as to be al- 

 most in the act to bound upon them. 

 Dismay and consternation instantly per- 

 vaded every individual present but one, 

 who was a lady, and who, a with prompt- 

 ness and self-possession probably never 

 exceeded, furled a large umbrella in the 

 face of the tiger, and thus most happily 

 effected its retreat. 



The catastrophe of Mr. Monro, in si- 

 milar circumstances, was recorded by one 

 of his companions, and may be not im- 

 properly notice din this connection. In 

 the year 1792, several British gentlemen, 

 together with Mr. Monro, went to shoot 

 deer on Sangar island, on the shores of 

 which they observed innumerable traces 

 of the feet of both these animals, not 

 only of the deer, but of the tiger. They 

 continued their sport, however, for a 

 very considerable time ; and after com- 

 pleting it, were sitting down for refresh- 

 ment near a jungle, when a tiger, with a 

 most horrible roar, darted from the jun- 



fle, and seizing on Mr, Monro, hurried 

 ack with him to the thicket, dragging 

 him through the thickest bushes with a- 

 mazing rapidity, and making every thing 

 bend and yield to its prodigious strength. 

 A tigress accompanied it in its progress. 

 The tiger was fired at by the two remain- 

 ing gentlemen, and was obliged to drop 

 its prey ; and in a few moments after- 

 wards, their unfortunate friend was ad- 

 vancing towards them weltering in his 

 blood. He had received, however, such 

 deep wounds from the teeth and claws 

 of the tiger, as precluded the possibility 

 of recovery, and after twenty -four hours 

 of agony, he expired. The scene was 

 dreadful beyond all the expression of 

 words. At the time of the assault, an 

 immense fire of ^veral whole trees was 

 burning by the spot, and shortly after 

 their departure from these fatal shores 

 the gentlemen observed the tigress to 

 make her re-appearance, in all the agita- 

 tion of unbounded fierceness and dis- 

 appointed vengeance. The tigress pro- 

 duces but one litter, consisting generally 

 of five young in a year. In her defence 

 of these, that fury, which, even in ordina- 

 ry times, seems to mark her character, 

 is wrought up to a paroxysm, in which 

 she defies all danger, and exposes herself 



frequently to certain destruction. Sefc 

 Mammalia, Plate XIV. fig. 3. 



F. pardus, the panther. It was for 

 some time a question, whether the pan- 

 ther were not to be found in the new as 

 well as in the old world ; it is now, how- 

 ever, fully ascertained not to belong to 

 America. It is found in Africa, from the 

 coast of Barbary to the south of Guinea, in 

 the last of which it is found in considerable 

 numbers. Its length is about six feet and 

 a half without the tail, which generally 

 measures three; its colour is a bright 

 tawny yellow, thickly studded along the 

 upper part of its body, with circles of 

 black spots containing a single spot in the 

 centre. It is extremely ferocious, and its 

 depredations in Africa resemble those of 

 the tiger in Asia ; though the panther, in- 

 deed, abstains, unless when urged by ex- 

 treme hunger, from attack on man. Its 

 mode of attack is always by surprise, and 

 bursting from the thicket with an im- 

 mense spring, or approaching with ex- 

 treme silence and caution on its belly, it 

 lights' instantly upon its prey, and the mo- 

 ment of alarm is made by it, frequently, 

 the moment of destruction. In China, 

 where the skins of beautiful and brilliant 

 quadrupeds are in high estimation, there is 

 a variety of this species, the skin of which 

 is sold for about six guineas. The num- 

 ber of panthers imported by the rich and 

 ambitious among the Romans, to supply 

 the popular sports of that city, is almost 

 incredible ; four hundred and ten were 

 exibibitedby Augustus within only afevr 

 days, and the immense demands whick 

 were made on Africa, for this purpose, 

 tended at length to render them procura- 

 ble, in the territory of Mauritania, only 

 with very great labour and expence. la 

 that country they are at present rare, 

 comparatively with what they must have 

 been before those vast exportations ; but 

 farther to the south they are extremely 

 numerous. See Mammalia, Plate XIV. 

 'fig. 2. 



F. leopardus, or the leopard. This ani- 

 mal is principally distinguished from the 

 preceding by its less lively yellow colour,, 

 its inferior size, and the closer arrange- 

 ment of the spots with which it is diver- 

 sified. Its manners are similar to those of 

 the panther, and both inhabit the same 

 territories. Among the vast herds of 

 Lower Guinea they commit the most de- 

 structive havoc ; and when they are im- 

 pelled by hunger, every creature s ex- 

 posed to their attack. They are often 



