348 



BLACK TIGERS. 



head and a fold of their body, and swallowed it with deliberation. 

 I imagine that they would live entirely without food for six months. 



Many gentlemen had tigers about their establishments. They were 

 docile, and playful in their intercourse with acquaintances; but they 

 were generally kept chained for fear of injury to strangers. Their play, 

 too, was not very gentle, for their claws could scarcely touch without 

 leaving a mark. 



Mr. Pond, an American, had a pair of black tigers, that were the 

 most beautiful animals I have ever seen. The ground color of the 

 body was a very dark maroon ; but it was so thickly covered with 

 black spots that, to a casual glance, the animal appeared coal black. 

 The brilliancy of the color — the savage glare of the eye — the for- 

 midable appearance of their tusks and claws — and their evidently 

 enormous strength — gave them a very imposing appearance. They were 

 not so large as the Bengal tiger ; but much larger than the common 

 ounce. They were bred in Para from cubs. 



Electric eels are found in great numbers in the creeks and ditches 

 about Para. The largest I have seen was about four inches in diameter, 

 and five feet in length. Their shock, to me, was unpleasant, but not 

 painful. Some persons, however, are much more susceptible than 

 others. Captain Lee, of the Dolphin, could not feel at all the shock of 

 an eel, which affected a lady so strongly as to cause her to reel, and 

 nearly fall. Animals seem more powerfully affected than men. Mr. 

 Norris told me that he had seen a horse drinking out of a tub, in which 

 was one of these eels, jerked entirely off his feet. It may be that the 

 electric shock was communicated directly to the stomach by means of 

 the water he was swallowing; but Humboldt gives a very interesting 

 account of the manner of taking these eels by means of horses, which 

 shows that they are peculiarly susceptible to the shock. He says: 



"Impatient of waiting, and having obtained very uncertain results 

 from an electrical eel that had been brought to us alive, but much en- 

 feebled, we repaired to the cafio de Bera to make our experiments, in 

 the open air, on the borders of the water itself. To catch the gymnoti 

 with nets is very difficult, on account of the extreme agility of the 

 fish, which bury themselves in the mud like serpents. "We would not 

 employ the barbasco. These means would have enfeebled the gymnoti. 

 The Indians, therefore, told us that they would 'fish with horses,' 

 1 embarbascar con cavallos? "We found it difficult to form an idea of this 

 extraordinary manner of fishing; but we soon saw our guides return 

 from the Savannah, which they bad been scouring for wild horses and 

 mules. They brought about thirty with them, which they forced to 

 enter the pool. 



