The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1891-03-14

equally apocryphal the tales of lions
jumping fences with full grown bull
locks in their grip. They may burst
through fences under such circum
stances, bit not jump them. 1t is,
Sir Samuel assures us, an impossi.
bllity for lion to carry a full grown
OK. All it can do is to partially lift
the torequarters of the victim ard
drag the carcass along the ground
We find two other interesting details
in the observations of this veteran
sportsman. The lion and the tiger,
we are told, attack in different way.
The tiger, when springing on it,
enemy, does not strike a crushing
blow, but merely seizes it with its
claws. The lion, 'on the other hand,
strikes with such terrific force that
n any a man has been killed outright
as + hit by a tri p hammer. As to
the thorn alleged to exist in the ex
treme end of a lions tail, Sir
Samuel says that this phenomenon,
though often disputed, is a, fact. The
so called thorn is sharp, horny
point, although only quarter{of an
inch in length and concealed by a
tuft OF black hair, will, if pressed by
the finger, make itself felt unmis
takably.
The sizei OF the tiger is overrated
by those who accept the tales OF
travellers, 7 or who judge from the
length Of the skinsssold in the Euro
pean or American market. The
average weight of the Bengal tiger,
according to Sir Samuel Baker, is
from three hundred and fifty to four
hundred pounds. 1t is not impos
sible that the..weight may sometimes
reach five hundred and fifty pounds,
but the author OF this book has
never seen SO heavy an animal.
When the animal is fairly measured,
without stretching, the average
length from point of nose to tip of
tail is nine feet six inches. This is
seldom exceeded by more than few
inches. One tiger, when measured
by Sir Samuel, proved to be nine
feet seven inches long but the hide,
when cured, was feleven feet four
inches in length.
The strength of the tiger is also
exaggerated in the popular concep
ton. Thus it is often asserted that
this animal can lift andl carry off
COW simply through the power of
its jaws and neck. This notion is
pronounced preposterous. Extremely
small as are, the cattle of India, their
height exceeds that of the tiger, and
therefore, cows body must drag
on the ground. As the weight OF an
ordinary native COW is just about
that OF the average tiger. (three hum
dred and fifty to four hundred
pounds), the latter can, OF course,
drag its own weight by lifting its
victims body partially in its mouth
and thus lessening the friction on
the surface of the soil. 1t is a mis-
take to suppose that any tiger lex
cept the so-called man eater) attacks
man with the intention of eating
him, as natural prey. The greater
number of accidents are occasioned
by tigers which have no idea of max
ing a meal of their victims, and
which, as matter of fact, leave un-
eaten the men that they have killed.
They are usually prompted by the
instinct of self defense. Even the
man-eater, which is usually an old
and cowardly tiger, or more COM
mon tigress, attacks men not so
much because of any acquired pref
erence for human flesh, as because it
is easier to kill a native villager than
to hunt for the scarce Jungle game.
The difficulty experienced in killing
name eater is due, not to any superb
orlty of courage over other tigers,
but on the contrary, to its excep-
tional cunning and caution. 1t is
sneak thief.
Of the chapter devoted by Sir
Samuel to the various species of
leopards, by far the most interesting
sections relate to the cheetah, or
hunting leopard, which in India and
Persia has from time immemorial
been tanned and trained for the pur-
pose of hunting deer and antelopes.
This animal is entirely different from
other leopards, having long l. gs, a
light body, long neck, a small
head and large and piercing eyes.
The cheetah is generally admitted to
be the fastest animal in the world,
being able to overtake, on open
ground, the black buck, which sur
passes in speed the highest-bred
English greyhound. 1t may be kept
about a house with comparative
safety, as it seldom attacks domestic
animals, but continues its attention
to the beasts of plain and forest.
The domesticated cheetahs that Sir
Samuel has seen were as gentle as
dogs. When game is expected,
therefore, this animal is conveyed to
the scene Of the hunt in a cart,
seated on the outside OF his cage be-
sides his master, who has his arm
around him. He is blinded by a
hood, like falcon, and sits upright,
like a dog, waiting for his eyes to
be uncovered. After a successful
hunt, the cheetah is allowed to lap a
quantity of fresh blood, from a
wooden ladle. This ladle, copse-
quently, has for him the same at
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