ANECDOTE. 119 



when the herdsman, having lighted his cigar, 

 began to speak about the ravages a tiger had 

 been committing in the woods, not far from 

 where they were sitting. The Spaniard, 

 whom I will call Don ^liguel, and who was 

 evidently making his debut in the forest, and 

 that only in transitu, began to declare that 

 the tiger was a humbug, un engano, a mere 

 cat ; that he had seen one in a cage at Cadiz, 

 and that it was only the want of courage 

 and enterprise among the natives that pre- 

 vented the whole race being exterminated. 

 Several Indians^ had by this time joined the 

 audience, and one old man, with that natural 

 politeness that often characterises a savage 

 people, remarked that, " though the Oaballero 

 had seen a cat in a cage, he might perhaps 

 not have seen a tigre in the forest ready to 

 spring, with his eyeballs like two red hot 

 coals, and roaring like thunder ; and he 

 thought that the Senor might perhaps make 

 a mistake between two different animals." 

 To this the Don would by no means agree ; 

 but, excited no doubt by the subject as well 

 as the " hot with'' that he was imbibing, 

 swore he should like to see the " tigre that 

 would not run away from him ;*" and pulling 

 out a long Toledo sword that was buckled to 



