66 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
the jungle. We distinctly heard them forcing a path 
for their unwieldy bodies, and tearing down the large 
branches of trees that interrupted their progress. They 
seemed to be conscious of our vicinity, for they never 
came in sight of us, though we could continually hear 
that they were almost close at hand. We had, 
however, very little apprehension about them, as 
they are known never to attack except when mo- 
lested. It is, in truth, a wise ordination of Providence 
that animals are generally mild in their character, 
and gentle in their habits, in proportion to their bulk. 
How admirably is this merciful distribution of nature 
adapted to the condition of things since the fall of man 
in Paradise ! If the elephant were ferocious in pro- 
portion to his might, every country in which he could 
find a refuge would soon become a scene of utter de- 
vastation. If the tiger had the elephant’s amazing 
bulk and prodigious strength, combined with the lion’s 
courage and his own peculiar fierceness, what would 
become of the population of those countries where he 
now prowls in search of baser prey than man, only 
because he fears the highest order of God’s creatures 
upon earth, and is by nature as cowardly as he is 
ravenous ? The crocodile, indeed, and the shark, are 
ferocious in proportion to their size and strength, but 
their sphere of action is circumscribed ; so that man, 
under any circumstances, could have comparatively 
little to apprehend from those tremendous powers of 
destruction with which they are gifted. 
Our only fear during our journey to these falls was 
of the tiger, whose footmarks we could frequently 
trace in the more open passages of the jungle. At 
