[Three Hundred Animals Contents]
IS the largest of the animals belonging to the feline kind; for he exceeds the lion in size, and is of an unconquerable fierceness. His body is elegantly marked with longitudinal dark spots, or brown streaks, on a tawny ground. The Tiger is swift, and afraid of no beasts, which he attacks most furiously; yet he seems to be awed by the presence of man, as he never attacks him but when pressed by hunger, or the fear of losing his young. The cubs of the Royal Tiger are most elegant in their shape, and as playful as kittens. The marshy banks and swampy meadows of the Indus and Ganges harbour great numbers of these animals, whose stripes adorn the standard of the Mogul princes from time immemorial. The Tiger is perfectly untamable. Correction cannot terrify, nor indulgence reclaim him, from his ferocious propensities; and he is naturally so cruel, that when he attacks a flock or herd, he destroys all indiscriminately, and will hardly suspend his rage to satisfy his hunger.
