303 
TIGER* 
is fierce without provocation, and cruel without 
necessity. The lion seldom ravages, except when 
excited by hunger ; the tiger, on the contrary, 
though glutted with slaughter, is not satisfied, 
still continues the carnage, and seems to have 
its courage only inflamed by not finding re- 
sistance. In falling in among a flock or a herd, 
it gives no quarter, but levels all with indiscri- 
minate cruelty, and scarce finds time to appease 
its appetite, while intent upon satisfying the ma- 
lignity of its nature. It thus becomes the scourge 
of the country where it is found ; it fears neither 
the threats nor the opposition of mankind ; the 
beasts, both w ild and tame, fall equally a sacrifice 
to its insatiable fury ; the young elephant and 
the rhinoceros become equally its prey, and it 
not unfrequently ventures to attack even the lion 
himself. 
Happily for the rest of nature, that this ani- 
mal is not common, and that the species is chiefly 
confined to the warmest provinces of the East. 
The tiger is found iti Malabar, in Siam, in Ben- 
gal, and in all the countries which are inhabit- 
ed by the elephant or the rhinoceros. Some even 
pretend that it has a friendship for, and often ac- 
companies the latter, in order to devour its ex- 
crements, which serve it as a purge. Be this as 
it will, there is no doubt but that they are often 
seen together at the sides of lakes and rivers ; 
where they arc probably both compelled to go 
by the thirst which, in that torrid climate, they 
must very often endure. It is likely enough also 
that they seldom make war upon each other, the 
rhinoceros being a peaceable animal, and the tiger 
knowing its strength too well to venture the en- 
gagement. It is still more likely that the tiger finds 
this a very convenient situation, since it can there 
gurprize a greater number of animals, which are 
