Ch. XV.] TIGEES. 253 



temperate climes cannot fail to regard with intense in- 

 terest. 



A great deal is said of the number of tigers which are 

 supposed to infest Singapore. A recent writer* estimates 

 the deaths from these animals at 365 per annum, chiefly 

 among Chiaese cultivators of the Grambier plantations in 

 the interior of the island. Eesidents at Singapore, how- 

 ever, always assured me that there was no danger whatever 

 from them, and that they are never seen now. Indeed the 

 officers at Fort Canning expressed their belief that many of 

 the instances of disappearance of Chinese which were attri- 

 buted to the ravages of tigers, were really cases of murder 

 by other Chinese ; and truly it would not be difficult in 

 distant and secluded plantations for one man to secure the 

 disappearance of another to whom he owed a grudge. I do 

 not, however, accuse them of this. That there are tigers 

 in Singapore no one doubts ; but while Mr. Cameron sup- 

 poses that there are as many as 20 couples in the island, 

 others believe that six or eight tigers would be a sufficiently 

 high estimate. Formerly they came much nearer to the 

 town, but stiU it is long since the jungle near plantations 

 was infested. A gentleman who has lived aU his life in 

 Singapore, and had possessed large plantations in various 

 places, assured me that the only occasion on which he had 

 been alarmed by a tiger was many years ago, when he was 

 residing on a plantation about three miles from the town. 

 One night he was startled by a very peculiar, terrified cry 

 from nearly under his window, which he threw open, and 

 found it proceeded from a watchman employed about the 

 premises, who could only exclaim, " Tiger ! tiger ! " On 

 being questioned, he declared he had seen two eyes like 



* Our Malayan Possessions in Tropical India, by John Cameron, F.E.G.S. 



