490 DEFENCE AGAINST ANIMALS OF 



DEFENCE AGAINST ANIMALS OF THE 

 FELINE AND CANINE TRIBES. 



A MAN, at some period or other of his life, may have the misfortune 

 to come in contact with the larger individuals of these two desperate 

 and sanguinary races of quadrupeds. Perhaps a few hints of a 

 precautionary nature, in case of collision, may not be altogether un- 

 acceptable to the reader. 



The dog and the lion are both most formidable foes to an unarmed 

 man ; and it is singular enough that the very resistance which he 

 would be forced to make, in order to escape being worried by the 

 former, would inevitably expose him to certain destruction from the 

 claws and teeth of the latter. 



All animals of the dog tribe must be combated with might and 

 main, and with unceasing exertion, in their attacks upon man ; for, 

 from the moment they obtain the mastery, they worry and tear their 

 victim as long as life remains in it. On the contrary, animals of the 

 cat tribe having once overcome their prey, they cease for a certain 

 time to inflict further injury on it. Thus, during the momentous 

 interval, from the stroke which has laid a man beneath a lion to the 

 time when the lion shall begin to devour him, the man may have it 

 in his power to rise again, either by his own exertions, or by the 

 fortuitous intervention of an armed friend. But then all depends 

 upon quiet, extreme quiet, on the part of the man, until he plunges his 

 dagger into the heart of the animal ; for if he tries to resist, he is sure 

 to feel the force of his adversary's claws and teeth with redoubled ven- 

 geance. Many years ago, Colonel Duff, in India, was laid low by 

 the stroke of a Bengal tiger. On coming to himself he found the 

 animal standing over him. Recollecting that he had his dirk by his 

 side, he drew it out of the case in the most cautious manner possible, 

 and by one happy thrust quite through the heart, he laid the tiger 

 dead at his side. 



I will here mention a trivial row I once had with two dogs. It 

 will tend to prove the advantage of standing up manfully when 



