THE LION AT HOME—THE TIGER. 



705 



get goats or children, he is often reduced to such straits as to be obliged to make his 

 meals of mice and such small prey. ''Upon the whole," concludes Livingstone, "in 

 the dark, or at all hours when breeding, the lion is an ugly enough customer ; but if 

 a man will stay at home by night, and not go out of his way to attack him, he runs 

 less risk in Africa of being devoured by a lion, than he does in our cities of being run 

 over by an omnibus." 



The lion reigns in Africa, but the Tiger is lord and master of the Indian jungles. 

 A splendid animal — elegantly striped with black on a white and golden ground ; 

 graceful in every movement, but of a most sanguinary and cruel nature. The length- 

 ened body resting on short legs wants the proud bearing of the lion, while the naked 

 head, the wildly rolling eye, the scarlet tongue constantly lolling from the jaws, and 

 the whole expression of the tiger's physiognomy indicate an insatiable thirst of blood, 

 a pitiless ferocity, which he wreaks indiscriminately on every living thing that comes 

 within his grasp. In the bamboo jungle on the banks of pools and rivers, he waits 

 for the approaching herd ; there he seeks his prey, or rather multiplies his murders, 

 for he often leaves the carcase of the axis or the nylghau still writhing in the agony 

 of death to throw himself upon new victims, whose bodies he rends with his claws, 

 and then plunges his head into the gaping wound to absorb with deep and luxurious 

 draughts the blood whose fountains he has just laid open. 



Nothing can be more delightful than the aspect of a J avanese savannah, to which 

 clumps of noble trees, planted by Nature's hand, impart a park-like character ; yet 

 even during the day-time, the traveler rarely ventures to cross these beautiful wilda 

 without being accompanied by a numerous retinue. In Italy armed guards are neces- 

 sary to scare the bandit ; here the tiger calls for similar precautions. The horses fre- 

 quently stand still, trembling all over, when their road leads them along some denser 

 patch of the jungle, rising like an island from the grassy plain, for their acute scent 

 informs them that a tiger lies concealed in the thicket, but a few paces from their path. 

 It is a remarkable fact that the peacock and the tiger are so frequently seen together. 

 The voice of the bird is seldom heard during the day-time, but as soon as the shades 

 of evening begin to veil the landscape, his loud and disagreeable screams awaken the 

 echoes, announcing, as the Javanese say, that the tiger is setting forth on his mur- 

 derous excursions. Then the traveler carefully bolts the door of his hut, and the sol- 

 itary Javanese retreats to his palisaded dwelling, for the tyrant of the wilderness is 

 abroad. At night his dreadful roar is heard, sometimes accompanied by the peacock's 

 discordant voice. Even in the villages, thinly scattered among the grass or alang- 

 wilds of Java, there is no security against his attacks, in spite of the strong fences 

 with which they are enclosed, and the watch fires carefully kept burning between 

 these and the huts. 



India, South China, Sumatra, and Java, are the chief seats of the tiger, who is un- 

 known both in Ceylon and Borneo, while to the north he ranges as far as Manchuria 

 and the Upper Obi, and Yennisei, (55° — 56° N. lat.) A species of tiger identical 

 with that of Bengal is common in the neighborhood of Lake Aral, near Sussac (45 ^ 

 N. lat.), and Tennant mentions that he is found among the snows of Mount Ararat in. 

 Armenia. As Hindostan is separated from these northern tiger haunts by the great 

 mountain chains of Kuen-Lun (35° N,), and of Mouztagh (42° N. lat.), each cov- 

 ered with perpetual snows, mere summer excursions are quite out of the question, an'' 



