The Arizona sentinel., 1886-03-13
THE REAL KING,

Proud Distinction.
The lion is called the king of beasts
but after all, he is rather sneaking
sort of fellow, and not what we have a
right to expect monarch to be. He
is very strong, and when he must fight,
does so fiercely; but as he is not any
more powerful than the tiger, and is
not even as good fighter, he ought to
take rank next to that first cousin OF
his.
But even the tiger is not entitled to
the first place, for he is not by any
means the master of the brute creation.
If any animal can be said to hold that
place, it is certainly the elephant.
Only, the elephant, not being flesh
eater, very seldom has trouble with his
comrades of the forests, and conse-
quently has no reputation as a fighter.
And yet he can fight, even in captivity,
as was seen only few weeks ago,
when in the winter quarters of men
agerie at Philadelphia according to the
newspapers-an enraged lion, escaping
from his broken cage, dashed madly
upon great elephant, only to be
crushed to death by the powerful beast
which he had dared to attack.
All animals, indeed, respect the ele-
phant and give him a wide birth. Once
in while, a rhinoceros will lose his
wits and 60 tearing through the jungle,
regardless of consequences, and he
might then attack even an elephant,
As a rule, the result is very disastrous
to the rhinoceros, which is quite likely
to discover that his horn is no match for
the two shining white tusks of the ele-
phant.
When used by man for hunting the
tiger, the elephant will frequently dis
play the most abject fear, should the
tiger suddenly spring up in his path;
and this fact has led to the belief that
the elephant has natural fear of the
tiger. The truth is, the tanned elephant
has been taught to so bend his will to
his human masters that he has lost his
ability to act upon his own impulse,
and, moreover, is so hampered by his
crowded howdah, and his other trap
pings, that he has not full liberty of
action.
. Stories without number are told by
hunters of combats witnessed in the
jungle between elephants and other
animals, and all go to show the pro-
digious strength and activity of the
huge creatures. Strength, of course,
the elephant would be expected to have,
but it is hard to comprehend how so
ungainly-loOking a creature can be so
active and agile as he really is. That
he can outrun fleet horse seems in
credible enough, but it is even more
wonderful that he can vie in quicknesS
of movement with the muscular tiger.
One of a party of hunters in India
left camp one evening, intending to
shoot one of the peacocks which were
heard screaming in their discOrdant
way not very far from camp. He knew
from experience that he might find a
tiger in the neighborhood, though up
to that time no traces of that animal
had been seen. But the tiger is so fond
of peacock that experienced hunters
always go cautiously to shoot the birds.
In this case the caution was wise, for
when near the spot where the birds
were the hunter just saved himself from
stumbling on large tiger, which fort
unately was so much taken up with
stealing upon the birds that it did
not notice the man. The latter
anticipating some interesting sport,
watched the tiger move stealthily
through the underbrush and come
upon the noisy birds. Whoever
has seen an ordinary cat crouch and
spring can comprehend what the hun
ter saw. The spring was unsuccessful,
however; and, as is its custom, the |
tiger, as if ashamed of its failure, was
sinking away, when there came the |
noise Of crashing underbrush, and the |
graceful creature crouched closely to |
the ground.
The noise, as the hunter had at once |
suspected, was caused by the approach
of herd of elephants. Again he wait
ed silently for further developments.
The huge creatures made their way |
toward the clearing where the
peacocks had been feeding on the grain
which grew there. At the head of the |
herd gamboled baby elephant. Un-
conscious of the presence of the tiger,
the little creature was almost upon it,
when the great cat, as if unable to re-
slst the temptation, darted toward it.
Like magic the whole herd responded
to the shrill cry of the mother, and the
leader of the herd charged to the res
cue.
The tiger seemed willing to retreat,
but that the leader would not permit;
and then began a fierce combat, in
which the tiger with all its agility
Strove to take the elephant anywhere
but in front. To avoid this, the ele-
phant moved about with astonishing
,elerity, and finally with aquick plunge
caught the tiger under its ponderous
loot, and with one terrible thrust
pierced it with its tusks. Is not the
elephant the real king?-John r. Cor
0eA. in 81. Nicholas, !