The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-05-21 00:00:00

VARIETIES.

ANIMAL COMBATS AT THE COURT OF THE RAJAH OF
Mv sona.—On one side of the space within the ring two beau-
tiful leopards stood, chained to separate posts. As these ani-
mals had been caught in the jungle the day before, nothing
could be more sleek and glossy than their coats. Near these
noble beasts, as if in contrast, were turned in, quite loose, two
jackasses, each of which drew behind him, tied- to his tail, a
globular empty leathern bottle, called, I think, a dubbah, about
as large as a man could grasp in his arms. Into these machines
a handful of gravel or dried peas had been inserted, to make a
noise as the poor donkies moved about. On the other side of
- the arena two painted wooden figures of men were placed in a
leaning posture against stakes fastened in the ground. Exactly
opposite to the Rajah, at the further side of the ring, a huge
cage, composed of strong wooden bars, had been wheeled close
to the ropes. A door on that side of the cage which faced us
being now drawn up, we discovered a large royal tiger sitting
in the attitude of the sphinx, apparently all ready for a spring.
He looked exceedingly fierce, and no wonder, for the poor
wretch had been kept with little or no food ever since his cap-
ture in a pitfall in one of the great teak forests of the Malabar
Ghauts upwards of two days before. The royal animal seemed
very ill disposed to afford sport so folks who had treated him so
uucourteously, for not an inch would he budge even when the
netting was drawn up, and a clear course opened for him into
the ring. Perhaps he felt alarmed at the dreadful hullabaloo
of so many thousands of people bawling out, drums beating,
and horns sounding, rows of elephants tossing up their trunks,
and horses snorting and prancing all round. Possibly, too, he
might not have felt much tempted by the dainty company of
the jackasses with their bottles of peas. At all events, no poking
of sticks or thumping on the cage could make him start tack
or sheet, till his hind-quarters were blown up by a handful of
squibs and crackers cast into his den. The Instant the explo-
sion took place the tiger gave a tremendous roar, and sprung
forwards with great•violence into the circle, where he stopped
suddenly, and then glared his eyes round and round with a
molt suspicious scowl. After surveying the ground for a few
caeondg, ho turncd tail, and, in moat cowardly fashion, ran
back; but observing the door of his den closed, he swerved on
one side, and leaped. with prodigious violence against the ropes.
Had the cords not been let so loose that his force became ex-
panded before they were drawn tight, I verily believe he might
have broken through the meshes, or pulled down seine of the
posts. Instead of this he merely got entangled with the lines,
and losing all his patience, if he ever possessed any, he raged
and roared, lashing his tail about in the most furious style till
he got free. Then turning round, he shot across the area like
a Congreve rocket, and after making an immense cat-like
spring, pounced upon one of the mock figures of men, the head
of winch he twisted off in an instant. During this proceeding
he gave utterance to a fierce growl, or, murmur of satisfaction,
enough to make one's blood run cold. As soon as he detected
the trick, he first flung the head violently from him, and tore
the figure all to pieces with his claws, then made another at-
tempt to break through the enclosure, but with no better suc-
cess than at first. I really thought at on time he would have
effectedhis escape, by climbing over at the place where his cage
stood. Both his fore paws were actually.upon Abe roof, and,
with no great• struggle, he might have gained the top, from
whence his leap into the midst of the crowd must have pro-
duced' a pretty tolerable sensation, I guess! Fortunately, a
courageous little boy, about twelve years old, who had perched
himself on the cage to see the fun, stood quite firm when all his
older companions scattered to the right and left, in terror of the
tiger's open jaws close to them. 'lbis bold young fellow held
in his-hand a short stout club, and the instant the tiger skewed
himself above the ropes, he let him such a sound rap on the
nose, that the animal fell back again into the enclosure, heels
over head, with a sort of inverted somerset. While a shout of
applause rung over the whole space, an old Mahometan soldier,
an officer of the extinct dynasty, remarked to us in a whisper,
that this exploit was just the sort of thing which his former
master, Hyuer Ali, might have been expected to do in his
youth. The baffled tiger now attacked. the other figure of a
roan, and wrenched off his bead•as be had done that of the
other; but instead of getting. into a passion, as he had dune on
the first occasion, when he discovered the cheat, lie stood per-
fectly still, with his tail on the ground, his head drooped and
turned away from the figure, as if he felt ashamed of having
been twice deceived. In this attitude he remained several
minutes, with his eyes half closed, slightly moving his head
from side to side; after which he deliberately laid himself down.
A dozen yelping dogs were now turned in, some of which pru-
dently contented themselves with taking a distant look at the.
royal beast. Not one of them approached him except au Eng-
lish greyhound, and even he was not such a fool as to press
matters too tar, but merely barked and snarled; once or twice
he came so close to the tiger's nose that we wondered the mon-
ster had not.laid his paw upon hint, and crushed hint at a blow.
Meanwhile, the rest of the dogs, in a body, attacked one of the
chained-up leopards—a most unfair contest; but as he had the
good fortune to catch one of them on the hip, he gave such
evidence. of his capacity, that the barkers, leaving the nobler
game, one and all scampered off in chase of the donkies. These
poor beasts, terrified by the sound of the bottles at their tails,
and worried by the dogs, were soon dragged to the ground, after
which a distant action was recommenced against the leopards,
with,no results, as-military men express it. By this. time, pro-
bably the Rajah, and certainly his company, were pretty well
tired- of so much nonsense; and his highness, turning to one of
his courtiers, desired him to co down to the court with a bow
and -arrow which was handed- to him. Tlie officer descended
accordingly, awl having passed round to that side of the ring,
where the tiger lay, very deliberately shot an arrow at the un-
offending animal. He immediately sprang at the ropes; but
upon receiving another arrow in the breast, the poor creature
fell back, and stood looking reproachfully at his opponent.
'rids gave the unconcerned courtier time to draw a third arrow
from his quiver, and so on, till the wretched beast was literally
bristled all over like a• porcupine; yet, to our great • surpise, he
still kept his feet. As•the arrows pierced his side, he merely
turned round his head, and broke them off with his mouth, leav-
ing the barb far within. We observed one arrow pass clean
through his body from side to side,- and-could not but remember
the old song of Chevy Chase, wh*re the grey goose-quill, a cloth
yard long, is wet with the heart's blood of a warrior. As no-
ihing could be more disagreeable than this method of putting so
noble an animal to death, some-of us sent up a petition to the
Rajah; that one of the party might be allowed to go down for
the purpose of despatching him l'Anglaise,. This favour was
r,,adity.granted ; and it was curious to observe how instentatie-
oasiy 'ath followed the passage of a single musket-hail, though
eight or ten arrows had already gone through and through' hint
without producing any visible eifect,"—ffit4ilßaa't reirti Segies
Voyage: and 7', a i./.