CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 5. CARNIVORA. 26.' J , 



ing the ring unbroken, and thus driving before them the wild animals within the circle; but they 

 are forbidden to kill or wound any of them, however ferocious they may be. They encamp evei j 

 night, when all the martial manoeuvres are punctually executed. The march lasts many weeks; 

 the space lessens; and the creatures, finding themselves closely pressed, flee to the mountains 

 and forests, whence they are soon dislodged by the hunters opening their dens and kennels with 

 spades and mattocks, and even searching them out with ferrets. 



As the narrowed ring brings the bewildered animals together, the strong, growing furious. 

 devour the weak, and the air is rent with horrid bowlings, yells, and screams of ferocity ot agony. 

 The soldiers are scarce able to drive the beasts forward by incessant shouts. At length, when 

 they are pent into so small a space that they can all be seen, the drums, cymbals, and other music 

 set up a deafening clangor. This, joined to the fierce cries of the hunters and soldiers, so terrifies 

 and astonishes the beasts, that they lose all their ferocity; lions and tigers, bears, wolves, and 

 wild boars, crouch subdued, and endeavor to skulk one behind the other. 



The emperor, accompanied by his sons and chief officers, first enters the circle, holding his 

 drawn saber and bow and arrows, and begins the terrific slaughter by striking the most savage of 

 the animals. Many of these, at their last extremity, on being wounded, resume their ferocity, and 

 struggle hard for their lives. The sovereign now retires to an eminence, where a throne has been 

 raised, wdience he views the fight, from which no one shrinks, however great the peril. When 

 the princes and nobles have sufficiently displayed their prowess, the youths continue the carnage. 



" What yet remain 

 Alive, with vain assault, contend to break 

 Th' impenetrable line. Others, whom fear 

 Unnerves, with self-preserving wiles, beneath 

 The bodies of the slain for shelter creep. *- * * 

 When, lo ! the bright sultanas of the court ! — 

 Suppliant they bend, and humbly sue to save 

 The vanquish'd host. * * * 

 At beauty's high behest, the khan commands, — 

 Opening to right and left, the well-train' d troops 

 Leave a large void : — impetuous forth the foe 

 Fly frantic, on the wings of fear upborne." 



The tiger has often been represented as untamable, but this is now known to be a mistake. 

 Not only is it capable of being tamed, but instances have happened in which it has shown sirong 

 attachment to its keepers. A young tigress, brought to London and placed in the Tower 

 Menagerie, had been, during her passage from Calcutta, allowed to range about the vessel unre- 

 strained, and had become perfectly familiar with the sailors, showing not the slightest symptom 

 of ferocity. On her arrival in the Thames the irritation produced by the sight of Strang 

 instantly changed her temper, rendering her irascible and dangerous. So sulky and savage was 

 she, that Mr. Cops, who then kept the lions in the Tower, could hardly be prevailed on by her 

 former keeper, who came to see her, to allow him to enter her den; but as soon as the tigri ss 

 recognized her old friend, she fawned on him, licked him, caressed him, and manifested the mosl 

 extravagant signs of pleasure ; and when at last he left her, she cried and whined for the remain- 

 der of the day. The tame tigers of the mendicant priests, or fakirs, of Hindostan are well known. 

 But while there can be no doubt of the tamable qualities of the tiger, and indeed of all the great 

 cats, they are not to be incautiously trusted. The natural disposition is always ready to break 

 out ; and the mildest of them, though 



" Ne'er so tame, so cherish'd, and lock'd up, 



Will have a wild trick of his ancestors." 



It is a curious fact that the lion and tigress, in confinement, will breed together: this- has 

 twice happened in England. The young ones appeared more like tigers than lions. In both casi s 

 'they died young. The fundamental character of man is well illustrated in the emblems he o 

 jto express his will. 



In the East the tiger is the favorite type of royalty, and royalty is the representative of God 

 on earth. In old, Rome the eagle was" placed upon the national banners; in modern Chris- 



