104< ANI3IALS IN MENAGERIES. 



who has been endowed with higher perceptions, but 

 who is destined for nobler purposes. 



The tiger of Bengal is at once distinguished from all 

 other ferocious animals, by its formidable size, and 

 its beautiful skin, marked throughout with narrow dark 

 stripes upon a yellowish buff' ground. Beautiful as it 

 is in apppearance, it may be considered the emblem 

 of savageness and butchery, since it delights in slaughter 

 even after its hunger has been satisfied. It will kill as 

 many victims as come in its way, for the mere purpose 

 of sucking their blood ; and although instances are on 

 record, where, under peculiar circumstances, this monster 

 has been partially tamed, its natural disposition is al- ' 

 most incapable of improvement. 



In its native state, the tiger is the scourge of India 

 and the adjacent islands. In size it is equal to the lion, 

 and it possesses both the courage and the ferocity to at- 

 tack that animal ; but, although the combat is sometimes 

 furious, the tiger generally falls a victim to its teme- 

 rity. Its swiftness and strength are so greats that it will 

 seize a mounted horseman, and drag, or rather carry, 

 him in its mouth, by bounds and leaps, into the forest, 

 in spite of all missiles short of musket balls : indeed, 

 the weight of a man, or even of a bulky quadruped, 

 in its mouth, does not appear to incommode or delay 

 the ordinary swiftness of this terrible creature. Mr. 

 Marsden, the enlightened and veracious author of The 

 History of Sumatra affirms that the tigers of that 

 island are fatal and destructive enemies to the natives, 

 not only in their journeys, but even while engaged in 

 their domestic occupations, so that the numbei of lives 

 so lost is almost incredible : whole villages, in fact, are ♦ 

 sometimes depopulated. The increase, however, of these 

 destructive beasts seems to be almost entirely owing to 

 the superstitious feelings of the natives, who are with 

 difficulty persuaded to destroy them, even by large re- 

 wards offered by the India company. It seems, how- 

 ever, that when roused, by sustaining injury in their 

 own family, these people contrive several ingenious 



