THE TIGER. 3l 
the simple and sufficiently disgusting fact has been 
amplified and exaggerated with all the refinements upon 
horror which the terrified imagination could suggest. 
In making these observations it is far from our inten- 
tion to become the apologists of this ferocious beast: our 
object is simply to place him in the rank which he 
deserves to hold, on a level with those animals with 
whom Nature has decreed that he should be associated 
no less in character than in form. In his wild and unre- 
stricted state, he is unquestionably one of the most ter- 
rible of the living scourges, to whose fatal ravages the 
lower animals, and even man himself, are exposed. But 
in captivity, and especially if domesticated while young, 
his temper is equally pliant, his disposition equally docile, 
and his manners and character equally susceptible of 
amelioration, with those of any other animal of his class. 
All the stories that have been so frequently reiterated, 
until they have at length passed current without exami- 
_nation as accredited truths, of his intractable disposition 
and insensibility to the kind treatment of his keepers, 
towards whom it is alleged that he never exhibits the 
slightest feelings of gratitude, have been proved by 
repeated experience to be utterly false and groundless. 
He is tamed with as much facility, and as completely, 
as the Lion; and soon becomes familiarised with those 
who feed him, whom he learns to distinguish from others, 
and by whom he is fond of being noticed and caressed. 
Like the cat, which he resembles so closely in all his 
actions, he arches his broad and powerful back beneath 
the hand that caresses him; he licks his fur and smooths 
himself with his paws; and purrs in the same mild and 
expressive manner when he is particularly pleased. He 
