202 Wild Beasts 



springing power that the expressions, " tiger's leap," and 

 " tiger's bound," have passed into the colloquial phrases of 

 more than one language. Nevertheless, when the experi- 

 ences of eye-witnesses of his performances in this way are 

 referred to, nothing but contradictions are to be met with. 



Sanderson ("Thirteen Years among the Wild Beasts 

 of India") thinks "the tiger's powers of springing are in- 

 considerable." Sir Joseph Fayrer (" The Royal Tiger ") 

 says that " it is doubtful whether a tiger ever bounds when 

 charging," and Inglis supports him in this particular. Cap- 

 tain Shakespear regarded a machan twelve feet high as 

 perfectly secure, and Captain Baldwin felt that he was safe 

 when fifteen feet above the ground. Moray Brown saw a 

 tiger jump fourteen'feet high. J. H. Baldwin (" The Large 

 and Small Game of Bengal ") reports a case in which a 

 tiger leaped the stockade of a cattle-pen " with a large full- 

 grown ox in his mouth," and Dr. Fayrer gives, in the 

 work referred to, the only authentic story of a tiger's hav- 

 ing taken a man out of a howdah while the elephant was 

 on his feet. Major G. A. R. Dawson describes the acci- 

 dent that occurred to General Morgan from a wounded 

 tigress that sprang across a ravine twenty-five feet wide 

 and struck him down. Captain W. Rice (" Tiger Shoot- 

 ing in India ") measured the leap of a tigress he shot, and 

 found it to be " over seven yards.", 



Professor Blyth and Dr. Jerdon concluded from their 

 researches at the Calcutta Museum and elsewhere that 

 tigers could not climb. It was certainly a very singular 

 conclusion to come to on anatomical grounds ; but waiving 

 this point, we have the statements of Inglis and Shakes- 



