new prey with equal fury and rapacity, the very moment 
after devouring a former one ; lie lays wafle the country 
around him, puts to death whole troops of domeftic ani¬ 
mals ; and attacks young elephants, rhinoceros’s, and 
fometimes even the lion himfelf. He feeifi's to have no 
other inftin6t than a conftant third after blood, which of¬ 
ten dimulates him to devour his own young, and to tear 
the mother in pieces for endeavouring to defend them. 
He lies in wait on the banks of rivers, where the heat of 
the climate obliges other animals to repair for drink: 
Here he feizes his prey, and multiplies his maflacres'often 
with no other view than to drink their blood. However,' 
when he kills a large animal, as a horfe or a buffalo, he 
fometimes does not tear Out the entrails on the fpotj bur, 
to prevent interruption, drags it off to the 'wood. This 
is a fufficient proof of the ftrength of this rapacious ani¬ 
mal. They feldom ptirfue their prey ; but bound upon 
it from the place Of their ambufli, with' an elafticity fcarce- 
ly-credible.' This is the true character of all the cat kind. 
It is highly probable, that, from this circuinftance, the 
tiger may derive its name, which, in the Armenian lan¬ 
guage, dignifies an arrow-, to the flight ofwhich this crea¬ 
ture may be aptly enough compared in the fwifinefs of 
its bounds. Neither force, refiraint, or violence, can 
tame this animal. He is equally irritated with good or 
with bad treatment: lie feizes the hand which nouriflies 
him, with equal fury as that which adminiders blows-, 
lie roars and is enraged at the dght of every living crea¬ 
ture. AlrnQd every natural hidorian agrees in this fero¬ 
cious character. 
There is a fort of cruelty in their devadations, unknown 
to tire generous lion; as well as fomething dadardly in 
their hidden retreat on any difappointment. “ I was in¬ 
formed (fays Mr. Pennant) by very good authority, that 
fome gentlemen and ladies, being on a party of pleafure, 
under a Biade of'trees) on the banks of a river in Bengal, 
obferved a tiger preparing for its fatal fpriiTg ; one of the 
ladies, with amazing prefence of mind, laid hold of an 
umbrella, and furled it full in tlie animal’s face, which 
indantly retired, and gave the company time to efcape 
from fo terrible an animal. Another party had not the 
fame good fortune : a tiger darted among them while 
they were“at dinner, feized on one gentleman, and carried 
him off, and he never more was heard of.” A fate fimi- 
larly Blocking was experienced by the fon of fir Heftor 
Monro. The particulars are given in a letter w ritten to 
England by one of the party, dated December 23, 1792, 
as follows: “Yefterday morning, Mr; Downey, of the 
company’s troops, lieutenant Pyefinch, and poor Mr. 
Munro, and I, went on SaUgur-itland, to flioot deer; we 
favv innumerable tracks of tigers and deer, but Bill were 
induced to purfue our fport. About half pad three we 
fat down on the edge of the jungle or wood, to eat fome 
cold meat fent us from the Blip, and had jufl: commenced 
our meal, when Mr. Pyefinch and a black fervant told us 
there was a fine deer within fix yards of us : Mr. Downey 
and I immediately jumped up to take our guns, when I 
heard a roar, like thunder, and faw an immenfe royal tiger 
fpring on the unfortunate Munro, who was fitting down ; 
in a moment his head was in the beaft’s mouth, which 
rufiied into the jungle with him, with as much eafe as 1 
could lift a kitten, tearing him through the thiekeft 
buflies and trees—every thing yielding to his monftrous 
firength. The agonies of horror, regret, and, I mult 
fay, fear, (for there were two tigers, a male and female,) 
ruflied on us at once ; the only effort I could make was to 
fire at him, though the poor youth was ftill in his mouth. 
I relied partly on Providence, partly on my own aim, and 
fired a mufquet. I faw the tiger ftagger, and the youth 
was releafed. Mr. Downey then fired, two Biots, and I 
one more. Mr. Munro now came up to 11s, all over 
blood, and fell ; w-e took him on our backs to the boat, 
and got every medical aBiftance from the Valentine India- 
men, which lay at anchor near the bland ; but in vain. 
He lived twenty-four hours in the extreme!! torture ■ Iris 
I S'. 205 
head and flctill were all torn and broke to pieces, and he 
.was wounded by the beaft’s claws all over his neck and 
Bioulders; but it was better to take him away, though 
irrecoverable, than leave him to be devoured limb by 
limb. I niuft obferve, there was a large fire blazing clofe 
to us, compofed of ten or a dozen whole trees: I made it 
myfelf on purpofe to keep tigers off, as 1 had always heard 
it would. There were eight or ten of the natives about 
us - ; many Biot had been fired at the place, and much 
noife and laughing at the time; but this ferocious animal 
difregarded all. The human mind cannot form an idea 
of the feene; it turned my very foul within me. The 
beaft was about four feet and a half high, and nine long. 
His head appeared as large as that of an ox ; his eyes 
darted fire ; and his roar, when lie firft feized his prey, 
will never be out of my recollection.” 
The funderbunds or forefts on the banks of the Ganges, 
are more infefied with tigers than any other part of India, 
Seneca diftinguiflies this diftriCt, in his Oedipus, by the 
epithet of Gangetica Tigris. Tliofe which fupplied the 
Roman amphitheatres with thefe objects of fport, are 
faid to have been procured from thefe forefts, which pro¬ 
duce the largeft and the fierceft. The firft tigers that 
appeared in the fpeCtacula at Rome, was in the time of 
Augu Bus, and were prefented to him by the anibaffadors 
from India. In the funderbunds, fays Pennant, in his 
“ View of Hindooftan,” the tigers are particularly fatal 
to the wood-cutters and falt-makers, who re fort there in 
the dry feafon ; they will not only feize oivthem in the 
illands, but even fwim to the boats at anchor, and fnatch 
the men from on-board. The Pietifts,- who annually vifit 
one particular ifland for the lake of wafiiing themfelves 
in the facred water, often, fall victims-to thefe terrible 
animals. 
Tachard gives an account'cf a ba;tie between a tiger 
and two elephants, at Siam ; of which he was an eye- 
witnefs. The heads and part of the trunks of the ele¬ 
phants were defended from the claws of the tiger by a 
covering made for the purpofe. They were placed in the 
midft of a large inclofure. One of them vwis buffered to 
.approach the tiger, which was confined by cords, and re¬ 
ceived two or tiiree fevere blows from the trunk of the 
elephant upon its back, which beat it to the ground, 
where it lay for fome time as if it were dead ; but, though 
this ftroke had a great deal abated its fury, it was 110 
fooner untied, than, with a horrible roar, it made a fpring 
£Tt the elephant’s trunk, which that animal dexterouiiy 
avoided by drawing it up ; and, receiving the tiger on 
its tulks, threw it up into the air. Both the elephants 
were then allowed to come up ; and, after giving it feve- 
ral blows, would undoubtedly have killed it, if an end 
had not been put to the combat. Under Inch difad- 
vantages, we cannot wonder that the conteft was unfa¬ 
vourable to the tiger. We may, however, by this, judge 
of its great ftrength and fiercenels; that, after being dis¬ 
abled by the firft attack of the elephant, wliillt it was 
held by its cords, it would venture to continue fuch an 
unequal engagement. 
Pliny lias been frequently taken to tnfic by the moderns, 
for calling the tiger animal tremend.ee velocitatis : they allow 
it great agility in its bounds, but deny it fwiftnefs in pur- 
fuit. Two travellers of authority, however, both eye- 
witneftes, confirm what Pliny fays : the one indeed only 
mentions in general its vaft fieetnefs; the other faw a 
trial between one and a fwift horfe, whole rider efcaped 
merely by getting in time amidft a circle of armed men. 
The chace of this animal was a favourite diverlion with 
the great Cam-hi, the Chinefe monarch, m whole com¬ 
pany Mr. Bel!, that entertaining traveller, and Pere Ger- 
bilion, law thefe proofs of the tiger’s fpeed. This animal 
abounds in Cochin-China, and is found in the Chinefe 
province of Tche-tchiang; but they are moll frequent on 
the borders of Tartary. I11 fo very populous an empire 
as China, one would have thought it impollible that this, 
animal could have remained fo long unextirpated 3. but 
in 
