182 CHILDREN'S BOOK FOR SABBATH HOURS.

 to the lion. All his appearance and move-
 STORIES ABOUT TIGERS. ments show a mean, malicious, blood-
 SHE Tiger, like the lion, is of the thirsty cunning.
 cat kind, and it is one of the His method of taking his prey is, in gen-
 strongest and fiercest animals eral, by concealing himself, and springing
 S now known to exist. The roy- suddenly on his victim, with a voice or
al Bengal Tiger, especially, is large in roar horrible beyond description. He
size, and very ferocious and strong. It will leap at a great distance, and does not
is said that he has been known to kill an miscalculate his strength.
ox with a few powerful strokes of his A company, seated under some shady
paw, and then drag away the entire car- trees near the banks of a river in Ben-
cass at a rapid trot. gal, were alarmed by the unexpected sight
 It was proverbial among the ancients, of a tiger, preparing for its fatal spring,
says an English writer, that, as the pea- when a lady, with great presence of mind,
cock is the most beautiful among birds, unfurled a large umbrella in the animal's
so is the tiger among quadrupeds." Noth- face, which, being confounded by so ex-
ing can be more beautiful than this ani- traordinary and sudden an appearance,
mal: the glossy smoothness of his hair, instantly retired, and thus gave them an
the extreme blackness of the streaks with opportunity of escaping.
which he is marked, and the bright yel- It is said that a tiger will very seldom
low color of the ground which they di- attack a man who has nerve and courage
versify, cannot fail of exciting the ad- enough to stand and look him calmly and
miration of every beholder; while his steadily in the eye. He will try to get
slender, delicate, and truly elegant form, behind him, that he may spring upon him
bespeaks extreme swiftness and agility. unseen. If he is foiled, he will at length
 Unhappily, however, this animal's dis- turn away and depart. The cruel are gen-
position is as mischievous as his form is erally cowardly.
admirable; for he is fierce without prov- The jungles of India are the favorite
location, and cruel without necessity. In lurking-places of tigers; and as some
attacking a flock or a herd, he gives no roads pass close to them, the tigers often
quarter, but levels all indiscriminately, spring from them upon travelers, and
and scarcely finds time to appease his bear them away. Once, during the march
appetite, while intent upon satisfying the of an army, a tiger sprang upon a horse-
malignity of his nature. The beasts, both man, snatched him from the saddle, and
wild and tame, become the victims of his carried him off into the woods before
insatiable fury, and he not unfrequently any one could give help to the poor man.
ventures to attack the lion himself. Sometime since," says a writer, "sev-
 The tiger lacks the nobleness of ap- eral English gentlemen and ladies left
pearance and disposition which belongs Bengal to visit a neighboring district.