362 
MAMMALIA. 
blood-thirsty propensity, and confines itself, when threatened, to 
defence. The expression relative to the “ Tiger thirsting for 
blood ” is a form of rhetoric which can only be accepted as a 
figurative expression. 
What may have been the cause for attributing a high degree 
of ferocity to the Tiger is its incredible audacity. In this it 
differs from the Lion, for when hungry no obstacle, not even 
the most certain danger, will arrest it. Nor does it delay, 
nor employ artifice to entrap its prey, nor will it abandon it 
if too powerful ; neither does it wait to be reduced by hunger 
to the last extremity before it braves every obstacle. No ; it 
throws itself without hesitation on the first object that presents, 
whether Man or animal, and will face death a thousand times 
in order to carry it off. This temerity is too frequently crowned 
with success. 
A large body of Indian horsemen are traversing a forest.* A 
Tiger glides through the underwood that skirts the road, springs 
upon one of them, drags him down from his horse, grasps him in 
its terrible jaws, and rushes back again to the wood, where it 
devours the unfortunate at leisure. These various movements are 
executed so rapidly, that there is scarcely time to see the marauder. 
(Fig. 139.) 
The Tiger is even bolder than this ; for it will carry off soldiers 
in the middle of their encampment beneath the eyes of the sentries. 
A feat of this kind has been reported by an English officer in every 
respect trustworthy, and who was an eye-witness. 
A Tiger has been seen to select a victim from the midst of an 
immense assemblage of men. This happened at the fair at 
Hurdwar, where a considerable concourse of people annually 
gather from all parts of India. The animal sprang out from a 
thicket situated in a field of barley, and in the sight of a terror- 
stricken crowd, struck down a native who was peacefully occupied 
in cutting spice. 
These facts, and many others which would be too long to 
enumerate, fully justify the terror that the Tiger inspires in 
Asia. Each year it marks its presence by the destruction of 
numerous human beings. According to statistics recently pub- 
* Tigers very rarely attack persons on horseback. The Hindoos attribute this to 
their inability to comprehend such a combination. — Ed. 
