TIGER-HUNTING IN CHINA 245 



of a visit to Japan before returning to America, and 

 realizing that I might stay for weeks in this region 

 without having the fortune to find another tiger, it 

 seemed unwise to remain longer. The following 

 morning I returned to Amoy, where the skin was 

 thoroughly coated with alum and rolled up to be 

 taken to Hongkong. The Englishmen at the club 

 were so fired with enthusiasm at my luck that they 

 forthwith began to plan trips for themselves, and I 

 do not doubt that several eventually went to the 

 village which I had just left. 



Unfortunately it was two days before I could get 

 away from Amoy. A typhoon came up the coast 

 and burst on the town with full violence, preceded 

 by that black silence which seems to me the most 

 terrifying of natural phenomena. No steamers 

 would put out, while some twenty ships entered the 

 harbor for refuge. When finally I did get away, it 

 was on a little tub called the Thales, whose passen- 

 ger-list was composed of ninety-three Chinese and 

 myself, to say nothing of the live stock on board in 

 the shape of a full complement of fleas, cockroaches, 

 and rats. Stopping at Swatow, and arriving at Hong- 

 kong two days later, I had the tiger-skin cured at 

 the Museum. The claws, which inadvertently had 

 been left on my hotel window-sill to dry, were all 

 stolen by the room-boy, except two which I fortu- 



