,:s CASSKLL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY 



l.u-hes and tree-, c\ cr\ -thing yielding to his monstrous strength. The agonies of horror, regret, and, I 

 must say, fear (for there were two tigers), rushed on me at once; the only effort 1 could make was to 

 fire at him. though the poor youth was still in his mouth. J relied partly on Providence, partly on 

 my own aim, and fired a musket. The tiger staggered, and seemed agitated, which I took notice of to 

 my companion-. Captain Downey then fired two shots, and I one more. We retired from the jungle, 

 and a few minutes after Mr. Munro came up to us, all over blood, and fell. We took him on our 

 backs to the boat, and got every medical assistance for him from the Valentine Indiaman, which lay 

 at anchor near the island, but in vain. He lived twenty-four hours, in the utmost torture ; his head 

 and skull were all torn and broke to pieces, and he was also wounded by the animal's claws all over 

 his neck and shoulders ; but it was better to take him away, though irrecoverable, than leave him to 

 be mangled and devoured. We have just read the funeral service over his body, and committed it to 

 the deep. Mr. Munro was an amiable and promising youth. 



"I must observe, there was a large fire blazing close to us, composed of ten or a dozen whole 



. 



TUB TIGER AND THE CROCODILE. 



trees. I made it myself, on purpose to keep the tigers off, as I had always heard it would. There 

 were eight or ten of the natives about us ; many shots had been fired at the place ; there was much 

 noise and laughing at the time, but this ferocious animal disregarded all. 



" The human mind cannot form an idea of the scene : it turned my very soul within me. The 

 beast was about four feet and a half high, and nine long. His head appeared as large as that of an 

 ox, his eyes darting fire, and his roar, when he first seized his prey, will never be out of my recollec- 

 tion. We had scarcely pushed our boat from that cursed shore when the tigress made her appearance, 



_', almost mad, and remained on the sand as long as the distance would allow me to see 

 her." 



per will sometimes attack an alligator, but the latter may prove a redoubtable antagonist, as 

 tin- following fact will show, related by the captain of a (Juineaman vessel : "The ocean was very 

 smooth and the heat very great, which made us so languid, that almost a general wish overcame us, on 

 the approach of the evening, to bathe in the waters of the Congo. However, I and Johnson were 

 deterred from it by an apprehension of sharks, many of which we had observed in the course of our 

 u'e, and th.-c vi-ry lai^'e. 



