THE TIGER. 235 



thrust quite through the heart, he laid the tiger dead at his 

 side."* 



A remarkable instance of courage and presence of mind on 

 the part of a man, who was attacked by a tiger, occurred not 

 far from Bhaugundee in 1823. "A party of wood- cutters, under 

 the protection of five armed Burgundauzes, were proceeding to 

 their work, when, being in a very thick part of the jungle, they 

 perceived a large tiger at a short distance, approaching them 

 slowly in a crouching attitude. On the alarm being given, the 

 whole gang immediately fled, excepting two brothers (slender 

 up-countrymen), who were in advance of the others, and either 

 saw the inutility of following their example, or judged it safer 

 to oppose the tiger ; one of them accordingly, levelling his piece, 

 fired at the moment when the animal was in the act of springing. 

 The ball pierced the tiger's breast, and caused him to drop on 

 his knees for a second, but instantly recovering, he rushed 

 forward and threw himself upon the Burgundauz. At this 

 critical period the tiger must have been in a dying state, for 

 the man declared he retained his standing position, and instinc- 

 tively grasping the fore-legs of the tiger, he was able, by exerting 

 all his strength, to bend the head and shoulders towards the 

 ground, and his brother, who was at hand, gave the coup de grace 

 with his fixed bayonet. The man received some scratches about 

 the face, neck, and breast ; but none of these wounds were very 

 serious, and he recovered entirely in a fortnight." f 



Tigers, if taken young, may be tamed quite as easily as the 

 lion, and they become equally submissive and attached to their 

 keepers. From the antique sculptures representing Bacchus 

 riding in cars drawn either by tigers, leopards, or panthers, 

 we may reasonably infer that the art of taming these creatures 

 was practised at an early period - } and as one of the severest 

 laws of Budhism enjoins its votaries to feed an old sick tiger 

 with their own blood, it may even be concluded that the Indians 

 were accustomed to domesticate this species. 



* Mag. Nat. Hist. vii. (1834), p. 2. 



f Abridged from The Asiatic Journal (1823). 



