THE TIGER'S SWIFTNESS. 307 



prompts him to kill in provision for coming as well as for present 

 hunger. This is the reason that Buffon has stigmatized him as 

 " unnecessarily cruel." 



"The bound with which he throws himself upon his prey," says an 

 English naturalist, "is as wonderful in its extent as it is terrible hi 

 its effects." Pennant justly observes that the distance which it clears 

 in this deadly leap is scarcely credible. Man is a mere puppet in his 

 gripe ; and the Indian buffalo is not only borne down by the ferocious 

 beast, but carried off by his enormous strength. If he fails in his 

 spring, it has been said that he will take to flight. This may be true 

 in certain instances ; but, in general, far from slinking away, he pur- 

 sues the affrighted prey with a speedy activity which is seldom 

 exerted in vain. Hence we are led to the observation of Pliny cele- 

 brating his swiftness, for which the Roman zoologist has been censured, 

 and apparently most unjustly ; nor is he the only author among the 

 ancients who notices his speed. Appian speaks of the swift tiger as 

 the offspring of the zephyr. Pliny, says Pennant, has been fre- 

 quently taken to task by the moderns for calling the tiger " animal 

 tremendse velocitatis ; " they allow it great agility in its bounds, but 

 deny it swiftness in pursuit. Two travellers of authority, both eye- 

 witnesses, confirm what Pliny says : the one, indeed, only mentions 

 in general his vast fleetness ; the other saw a trial between one and 

 a swift horse, whose rider escaped merely by getting in time amidst 

 a circle of armed men. The chase of this animal was a favourite 

 diversion with the great Cam-Hi, the Chinese monarch, in whose 

 company our countryman, Mr. Bell, that faithful traveller, and the 

 Pere Gerbillon, saw these proofs of the tiger's speed. 



The Latin " tigris " is from a Persian word signifying " swift as 

 an arrow," which we find incorporated in the name of the river Tigris. 



The tiger's habits are essentially nocturnal, and almost aquatic. 

 His favourite haunts are the banks of rivers and lakes, not only 

 because he may there pounce upon the herbivora which come to 

 drink, but because he can there satisfy himself with a banquet of 

 fish. To this he is as partial as any European epicure, and in 



