of his disappointment, and waits for a more successful opportunity. In the deserts and forests his most usual prey are the gazelles and the monkeys, with which the torrid regions abound. The latter he takes when they happen to be upon the ground, for he cannot climb trees like the cat or the tiger. He devours a great deal at a time, and generally fills himself for two or three days to come. His teeth are so strong that he very easily breaks the bones, and swallows them with the rest of the body. It is reported that he sustains hunger a very long time, but thirst he cannot support in an equal degree, his temperament being extremely hot; some have even asserted that he is in a continual fever. He drinks as often as he meets with water, lapping it like a cat, which, as we know, drinks but slowly. He generally requires about fifteen pounds of raw flesh in a day; he prefers that of live animals, and particularly those which he has just killed. He seldom devours the bodies of animals when they begin to putrefy; and he chooses rather to hunt for a fresh spoil than to return to that which he had half devoured before. However, though he usually feeds upon fresh provision, his breath is very offensive and his urine insupportable.

The roaring of the lion is so loud, that when it is heard in the night and re-echoed by the mountains it resembles distant thunder. This roar is his natural note, for when enraged he has a different growl, which is short, broken, and reiterated. The roar is a deep hollow growl, which he sends forth five or six times a day, particularly before rain. The cry of anger is much louder and more formidable. This is always excited by opposition; and upon those occasions, when the lion summons up all his terrors for the combat, nothing can be more terrible. He then lashes his sides with his long tale, which alone is strong enough to lay a man level; he moves his mane in every direction-it seems to rise and stand like bristles round his head; the skin and muscles of his face are all in agitation; his huge eye-brows half cover his glaring eye-balls; he discovers his teeth, which are formed rather for destruction than chewing his food; he shows his tongue covered with points, and extends his claws, which appear almost as long as a man's fingers. Prepared in this manner for war, there are few animals that will venture to engage him; and even the boldest of the human kind are daunted at his approach. The elephant, the rhinoceros, the tiger, and the hippopotamus, are the only animals that are not afraid singly to make opposition. Nevertheless, neither the leopard nor the wild boar if provoked will shun the combat; they do not seek the lion to attack, but will not fly at his approach; they wait his onset, which he seldom makes unless compelled by hunger; they then exert all their strength, and are sometimes successful. We are told of a combat between a lion and a wild boar, in a meadow near Algiers, which continued for a long time with incredible obstinacy: at length, both were seen to fall from the wounds they had given each other, and the ground all about them was covered with their blood. These instances, however, are very rare, for the lion is in general the undisputed master of the forest. Man is the only creature that attacks him with almost certain success, with the assistance of dogs and horses, which are trained to the pursuit. These animals-which, in a state of nature, would have fled from the presence of the lion in an agony of consternation-when conscious of the assistance of man, become pursuers in their turn, and boldly hunt their natural tyrant. The dogs are always of the large breed; and the horses, as Gesner assures us, must be of that sort called "charossi," or lion-eyed-all others of this kind flying at the sight of the lion, and endeavour to throw their riders. When the lion is roused he recedes with a slow, stately motion; he never goes off directly forward, nor measures his paces equally, but takes an oblique course, going from one side to the other, and bounding rather than running. When the hunters

approach him they either shoot or throw their javelins, and in this manner disable him before he is attacked by the dogs, many of whom he would otherwise destroy. He is very vivacious, and is never killed at once, but continues to fight desperately even after he has received his mortal blow. He is also taken by pit-falls-the natives digging a deep hole in the ground, and covering it slightly over with sticks and earth, which, however, give way beneath his weight, and he sinks to the bottom, from whence he has no means of escape. But the most usual manner of taking this animal is while yet a cub, and incapable of resistance. The place near the den of the lioness is generally well known by the extent of her depredations on that occasion; the natives, therefore, watch the time of her absence, and, aided by a swift horse, carry off her cubs, which they sell to strangers, or to the great men of their country.

The lion, while young and active, lives by hunting in the forest at a great distance from any human habitation, and seldom quits this retreat while able to subsist by his natural industry; but when he becomes old and unfit for the purposes of surprise, he boldly comes down into places more frequented, attacks the flocks and herds that take shelter near the habitation of the shepherd or the husbandman, and depends rather upon his courage than his address for support. It is remarkable, however, that when he makes one of these desperate sallies, if he finds men and quadrupeds in the same field he only attacks the latter, and never meddles with men unless they provoke him to engage. It is said that he prefers the flesh of camels to any other food; he is likewise said to be fond of that of young elephants; these he often attacks before their trunk is yet grown; and unless the old elephant comes to their assistance he makes them an easy prey.

The lion is terrible upon all occasions, but particularly at those seasons when he is incited by desire, or when the female has brought forth. It is then that the lioness is seen followed by eight or ten males, who fight most bloody battles among each other, till one of them be come victorious over all the rest. She is said to bring forth in spring, and to produce but once a year. With respect to the time of gestation naturalists have been divided, some affirming that the lioness went with young six months, and others but two. The time, also, of their growth and their age have hitherto been lost in obscurity-some asserting that they acquired their full growth in three years, and others that they required a longer period to come to perfection; some saying (and among thiş number is Mr. Buffon) that they lived to but twenty years, or twenty-two at most; others making their lives even of shorter duration. All these doubts are now reduced to certainty-for we have had several of these animals bred in the Tower; so that the manner of their copulation, the time of their gestation, the number they bring forth, and the time they take to come to perfection, are all pretty well known. Although the lion emits his urine backwards, yet he couples in the ordinary manner; and, as was said before, his internal structure in almost every respect resembles that of a cat. The lioness, however, is upon these occasions particularly fierce, and often wounds the lion in a terrible manner. She goes with young, as I am assured by her keeper, no more than five months; the young ones, which are never more than two in number when brought forth, are about the size of a large pug dog-harmless, pretty, and playful; they continue the teat for twelve months, and the animal is more than five years in coming to perfection. As to its age, from its imprisoned state we can have no certainty; since it is very probable that, being deprived of its natural climate, food, and exercise, its life must be very much abridged. However, naturalists have hitherto been greatly mistaken as to the length of its existence The great he lion, called "Pompey," which died in the year 1760, was known to

have been in the Tower for above seventy years; and one lately died there, which was brought from the river Gambia, that died above sixty-three. The lion, therefore, is a very long-lived animal; and, very probably, in his native forests his age exceeds even that of man himself. In this animal all the passions, even of the most gentle kind, are in excess, but particularly the attachment of the female to her young. The lioness, though naturally less strong, less courageous, and less mischievous than the lion, becomes terrible when she has got young ones to provide for. She then makes her incursions with even more intrepidity than the lion himself; she throws herself indiscriminately among men and other animals-destroys without distinction-loads her self with the spoil, and brings it home reeking to her cubs, whom she accustoms betimes to cruelty and slaughter. She usually brings forth in the most retired and inaccessible places; and, when she fears to have her retreat discovered, often hides her tracks by retracing her ground, or by brushing them out with her tail. She sometimes, also, when her apprehensions are great, transports them from one place to another, and, if obstructed, defends them with determined courage, and fights to the last.

The lion is chiefly an inhabitant of the torrid zone, and, as was said, is always most formidable there; and yet he can subsist in more temperate climates: there was a time when even the southern parts of Europe were infested by him. At present he is only found in Africa and the East Indies, in some of which countries he grows to an enormous height. The lion of Bildulgerid is said to be nearly five feet high, and between nine and ten feet from the tip of the nose to the insertion of the tail. We have in the Tower at present one above four feet high, which was brought from Morocco, and which is the largest that for some time past has been seen in Europe. The ordinary size is between three and four feet-the female being in all her dimensions about one-third less than the male. There are no lions in America: the puma, which has received the name of the "American lion," is comparatively a very contemptible animal, having neither the shape, the size, For the mane of the lion-being known to be extremely cowardly, to climb trees for its prey, to subsist rather by its cunning than its courage, and to be inferior even to the animal that goes by the name of the "American tiger." We ought not, therefore, to confound this little treacherous creature with the lion, which all the ancients have concurred in denominating the "king of beasts," and which they have described as brave and merciful. Indeed, the numerous accounts which they have given us of this animal's generosity and tenderness show that there must be some foundation for the general belief of its good qualities; for mankind seldom err when they are all found to unite in the same story. However, perhaps the caution of Aristophanes, the comic poet, is better followed in practice, who advises us to have nothing to do with this creature, but to let the lioness suckle her own whelps.

THE TIGER-The ancients had a saying, "That as the peacock is the most beautiful among birds, so is the tiger among quadrupeds." In fact, no quadruped can be more beautiful than this; the glossy smoothness of its hair-which lies much smoother and shines with greater brightness than even that of the leopard-the extreme blackness of the streaks with which he is marked, and the bright yellow colour of the ground which they diversify, at once strike the beholder. To this beauty of colouring is added an extremely elegant form, much larger, indeed, than that of the leopard, but more slender, more delicate, and bespeaking the most extreme swiftness and agility. Unhappily, however, this animal's desposition is as mischievous as its form is admirable, as if Providence was willing to show the small value

of beauty by bestowing it on the most noxious of quadrupeds. We have at present one of these animals in the Tower, which to the view appears the most goodatured and harmless creature in the world; its physi ognomy is far from fierce or angry; it has not the commanding, stern countenance of the lion, but a gentle, placid air; yet for all this it is fierce and savage beyond measure; neither correction can terrify it nor iudulgence can tame.

The chief and most observable distinction in the tiger, and in which it differs from all others of the mottled kind, is in the shape of its colours, which run in streaks or bands in the same direction as his ribs, from the back down to the belly. The leopard, the panther, and the ounce are all partly covered like this animal, but with this difference-their colours are broken in spots all over the body, whereas in the tiger they stretch lengthwise, and there is scarce a round spot to be found on his skin. Besides, there are other observable distinc tions: the tiger is much larger, and often found bigger than even the lion himself; it is also much more slender in proportion to its size-its legs shorter, and its neck and body longer. In short, of all other animals it most resembles the cat in shape; and, if we conceive the latter magnified to a very great degree, we shall have a tolerable idea of the former.

In classing carnivorous animals we may place the lion foremost; and immediately after him follows the tiger which seems to partake of all the noxious qualities of the lion without sharing any of his good ones. To pride, courage, and strength the lion joins greatness, clemency, and generosity: but the tiger is fierce without provoca tion, and cruel without necessity. The lion seldom ravages except when excited by hunger; the tiger, on the contrary, though glutted with slaughter, is not satis fied, still continues the carnage, and seems to have its courage only inflamed by not finding resistance. In falling in among a flock or a herd it gives no quarter, but levels all with indiscriminate cruelty, and scarce finds time to appease its appetite while intent upon satisfying the malignity of its nature. It thus becomes the scourge of the country where it is found; it fears neither the threats nor the opposition of mankind; the beasts, both wild and tame, fall equally a sacrifice to its insatiable fury; the young elephant and the rhinoceros become equally its prey; and it not unfrequently ventures to attack even the lion himself.

Happily for the rest of Nature, this animal is not very common, and the species is chiefly confined to the warmest provinces of the East. The tiger is found in Malabar, in Siam, in Bengal, and in all the countries which are inhabited by the elephant or the rhinoceros. Some even pretend that it has a friendship for and often accompanies the latter in order to devour its excrements, which serve it as a purge. Be this as it will, there is no doubt but that they are often seen together at the sides of lakes and rivers, where they are probably both com pelled to go by the thirst which in that torrid climate they must very often endure. It is likely enough, also, that they seldom make war upon each other-the rhinoceros being a peaccable animal, and the tiger knowing its strength too well to venture the engagement. It is still more likely that the tiger finds this a very convenient situation, since it can there surprise a greater number of animals which are compelled thither from the same motives. In fact, it is generally known to lurk near such places where it has an opportunity of choosing its prey, or rather of multiplying its massacres. When it has killed one it often goes to destroy others, swallowing their blood down at large draughts, and seeming rather glutted than satiated with its abundance.

However, when it has killed a large animal, such as a horse or a buffalo, it immediately begins to devour it on the spot, fearing to be disturbed. In order to feast at his ease, he carries off his prey to the forest, dragging it

along with such ease, that the swiftness of its motion seems scarce retarded by the enormous load it sustains. From this alone we may judge of its strength; but to have a more just idea of this particular, let us stop a moment to consider the dimensions of this most for midable creature. Some travellers have compared it for size to a horse, and others to a buffalo, while others have contented themselves with saying that it is much larger than a lion. We have recent accounts of this animal's magnitude that deserve the utmost confidence. Mr. Buffon has been assured by one of his friends that he saw a tiger in the East Indies of fifteen feet long. Supposing he means including the tail, this animal, allowing four feet for that, must have been eleven feet from the tip of the nose to the insertion of the tail. Indeed, that which is now in the Tower is not so large, being, as well as I could measure, six feet from the tip to the insertion, and the tail was three feet more. Like all the rest of its kind its motions are irregular and desultory; it bounds rather than runs; and, like them, rather chooses to take its prey by surprise than to be at the trouble of hunting it down. How large a leap it can take at once we may easily judge, by comparing what it might do to what we see so small an animal as the cat actually perform. The cat can leap several feet at a bound; and the tiger, who is ten times as long, can no doubt spring proportionably.

The tiger is the only animal whose spirit seems untameable. Neither force nor constraint, neither violence nor flattery, can prevail in the least on its stubborn nature. The caresses of the keeper have no influence on their heart of iron; and time, instead of mollifying its disposition, only serves to increase its fierceness and malignity. The tiger snaps at the hand that feeds it as well as that by which it is chastised; every object seems considered only as its proper prey, which it mentally devours with a look; and, although confined by bars and chains, still makes fruitless efforts, as if to show its malignity when incapable of exerting its force.

To give a still more complete idea of the strength of this terrible creature we shall quote a passage from Tacbard, who was an eye-witness of a combat between a tiger and three elephants at Siam. For this purpose, the king ordered a lofty pallisade to be built of bamboo cane, about a hundred feet square; and in the midst of this were three elephants appointed for combating the tiger. Their heads and a part of their trunk were covered with a kind of armour, like a mask, which defended that part from the assaults of the fierce animal with which they were to engage. As soon, says this writer, as we arrived at the place a tiger was brought forth from its den, of a size much larger than we had ever seen before. It was not at first let loose, but held with cords, so that one of the elephants approaching gave it three or four terrible blows with its trunk on the back, with such force that the tiger was for some time stunned, and lay without motion as if it had been dead. However, as soon as it was let loose and at full liberty, although the first blows had greatly abated its fury, it made at the elephant with a loud shriek, and aimed at seizing his trunk; but the elephant, wrinkling it up with great dexterity, received the tiger on his great teeth and tossed it up into the air. This so discouraged the furious animal that it no more ventured to approach the elephant, but made several circuits sound the pallisade, frequently attempting to fly at the spectators. Shortly afterwards three elephants were sent against it, and they continued to strike it with such terrible force with their trunks that it once more lay for dead; and they certainly would have killed it had not there been a stop put to the combat.

From this account we may readily judge of the great strength and courage of this animal, which, though reduced to captivity and held by cords-though first disabled and set alone against three, yet ventured to

continue the engagement-and even that against animals covered and protected from its fury. Captain Hamilton informs us that in the Sundah Rajah's dominions there are three sorts of tigers in the woods, and that the smallest are the fiercest. This is not above two feet high, appears to be extremely cunning, and delights in human flesh. The second kind is about three feet high, and hunts deer and wild hogs, besides the little animal which has been already described under the name of the "chevrotain," or " Guinea deer." The tiger of the largest sort is above three feet and a half high; but, although endowed with greater powers, it is by no means so rapacious as either of the former. This formidable animal, which is called the "royal tiger (one of which we have at present in the Tower), does not appear to be so ravenous nor so dangerous, and is even more cowardly. A peasant in that country, as the same traveller informs us, had a buffalo which fell into a quagmire, and while he went for assistance there came a large tiger, and with its single strength drew forth the animal, which the united force of many men could not effect. When the people returned to the place the first object they beheld was the tiger, who had thrown the buffalo over its shoulder as a fox does a goose, and was carrying it away with the feet uppermost towards its den; however, as soon as it saw the men it relinquished its prey, and instantly fled to the woods; but it had previously killed the buffalo and sucked its blood-and no doubt the people were perfectly well satisfied with its retreat. It may be observed that some East Indian buffaloes weigh above a thousand pounds, which is twice as heavy as the ordinary run of black cattle; so that from hence we may form a conception of the enor mous strength of this rapacious animal, that could thus run off with a weight at least twice as great as that of itself.

Were this animal as common as the panther, or even the lion himself, thus furnished as it is with the power to destroy and the appetite for slaughter, the country would be uninhabitable where it resides. But luckily the species is extremely scarce, and has been so since the earliest accounts we have had of the tiger. About the time of Augustus, we are assured by Pliny that when panthers were brought to Rome by hundreds a single tiger was considered as an extraordinary sight; and he says that the Emperor Claudius was able to obtain four only, which shows with what difficulty they were procured. The incredible fierceness of this animal may in some measure be the cause of the scarcity which was then felt in Rome, since it was the opinion of Varo that the tiger was never taken alive; but its being a native only of the East Indies, and that particularly of the warmer regions, it is not to be wondered that the species should be so few.

We may therefore consider the species of the true streaked tiger as one of the scarcest of animals, and much less diffused than that of the lion. As to the number of its young we have no certain accounts; however, it is said that it brings forth four or five at a time. Although furious at all times, the female on such occasions exceeds her usual rapacity; and, if her young are taken from her, she pursues the spoiler with incredible rage. To save a part he drops one of her cubs, which she picks up and again returns to her den, when again she pursues him; he then drops another-and by the time she has returned with that he generally escapes with the remainder. If she loses her young entirely she then becomes desperate-boldly approaches even the towns themselves, and commits terrible slaughter. The tiger expresses its resentment in the same manner as the lion; it moves the muscles and skin of its face, shows its teeth, and shrieks in the most frightful manner. Its note is very different from that of the lion-being rather a scream than a roar.

The skin of these animals is much esteemed in all

Of all this tribe, whose skins are so beautifully spotted and whose natures are so mischievous, the panther may be considered as the foremost. This animal has been by many naturalists mistaken for the tiger; and, in fact, it approaches next to it in size, fierceness, and beauty. It is distinguished, however, by one obvious and leading character-that of being spotted, not streaked; for in this particular the tiger differs from the panther, the leopard, and almost all the inferior ranks of this mischievous family.

This animal, which Mr. Buffon calls simply the "panther," Linnæus the "pard," Gesner the "pardalis," and the modern Latins the "leopardus"-this animal, I say, which goes by too many names, and which the English have indiscriminately called by the name of the "panther" or the "leopard," may be considered as the largest of the kind, and is spotted in a manner somewhat different from those that are smaller. As these spots, however, make the principal difference between it and the lesser animals, which it otherwise resembles in shape, size, disposition, and beauty, I will first show these slight distinctions, and mention the names each animal has received in consequence thereof; and then proceed to give their history together, still marking any peculiarity observable in one of the species which is not found in the rest.

Next to the great panther, already mentioned, is the animal which Mr. Buffon calls the "leopard"-a name which he acknowledges to be given arbitrarily for the sake of distinction. Other naturalists have not much attended to the slight differences between this and the great panther, or have they considered its discriminations as sufficient to entitle it to another name. It has hitherto, therefore, gone under the name of the "leopard," or panther of Senegal," where it is chiefly found. The differences between this animal and the former are these the large panther is often found to be six feet long from the tip of the nose to the insertion of the tail; the panther of Senegal is not above four. The large panther is marked with spots in the manner of a rosethat is, five or six make a kind of circle, and there is generally a large one in the middle; the leopard of Senegal has a much more beautiful coat-the yellow is more brilliant and the spots are smaller, and not disposed in rings, but in clusters. As to the rest, they are both whitish under the belly; the tail in both is pretty long, but rather longer in proportion in the latter than the former. To these two animals, whose differences seem to be so very minute, we may add a thirdnamely the "jaguar,” or “panther of America." This in every respect resembles the two former, except in the disposition of its spots, and t at its neck and head are rather streaked than spotted. The jaguar is also said to be lower upon its legs, and less than the leopard of Senegal. These three quadrupeds, as we see, have but very slight differences, and the principal distinction used by Mr. Buffon is taken from the size; the first, as he says, is usually six feet long, the second four feet, and the last about three; however, it appears from the particular subjects of his description that the panther in his possession was not above three feet seven inches long; that the leopard's skin which he describes was about four; and the jaguar at two years old was between two and three feet long, which, when come to its full growth, would no doubt be four feet long as well as the two former. From hence, therefore, we may conclude that the size in these animals is not sufficient to make a distinction among them; and that those who called them all three by the indiscriminate names of the leopard and the panther, if not right, were at least excuseable. Of these which are now to be seen in the Tower, the jaguar or the American panther is rather the largest of

which Mr. Buffon describes it to be; the leopard is the least of them, and has by some travellers been sup posed to be an animal produced between the panther and the ounce-an animal which resembles but is less than any of the former. These three animals we may therefore rank together, as they agree pretty nearly in their robe, their size, their dispositions, and their ferocity We come next to an animal confessedly different from any of the former, being much smaller, and its colour more incliuing to white. Its name, however, in our language has caused no small confusion. It has been generally called by foreigners the "ouza" or "ounce," and this name some of our own writers have thought proper to give it; but others of them, and these the most celebrated, such as Willoughby, have given the name to a different animal, with a short tail, and known to the ancients and moderns by the name of the "lynx." I confess myself at a loss in this case whom to follow; the alteration of names should be always made with great caution, and never but in cases of necessity. If we follow Willoughby, there will be an animal of the panther kind very distinguishable from all the rest left without a name; and if we recede from him, it will serve to produce some confusion among all the nume rous class of readers and writers who have taken him for their guide: however, as he seems himself to have been an innovator, the name of the lynx having been long adopted into our language before, it was unneces sary to give the animal that bore it another name, and to call that creature an ounce which our old writers had been accustomed to know by the Latin appellation; for this reason, therefore, we may safely venture to take a name, which has long been misapplied, from the lynx, and restore it to the animal in question. We will therefore call that animal of the panther kind which is less than the panther, and with a longer tail, the "ounce; and the lynx may remain in possession of that name by which it was known among our old Eng lish writers as well as by all antiquity.

The "bunce," or the "onza' of Linnæus, is much less than the panther, being no more at most than three feet and a half long: however, its hair is much longer than that of the panther, and its tail more so. The panther of four or five feet long has a tail but of two feet, or two feet and a half. The ounce, which is about three feet, has a tail often longer than the rest of its body. The colour of the ounce is also apparently different, being rather more inclining to a cream-colour, which is deeper on the back and whiter towards the belly. The hair on the back is an inch and a half long, and that on the belly two inches and a half, which is much longer than that of the panther. Its spots are disposed pretty much in the same manner as the large panther, except that on the haunches it is rather marked with stripes than with spots.

Descending to animals of this kind that are still smaller, we find the " catamountain," which is the ocelot of Mr. Buffon, or the tiger-cat of most of those who exhibit as a show. It is less than the ounce, but its robe more beau tifully variegated. It is an American animal, and is about two feet and a half in length from the nose to the insertion of the tail. It is extremely like a cat, except that it is larger and slenderer-that its colours are more beautiful and its tail rather shorter. The fur is of a redish colour, the whole beautified with black spots and streaks of different figures. They are long on the back, and round on the belly and paws. On the ears are black stripes, which run across; but in other respects they entirely resemble those of a cat. These colours, however, which naturalists have taken great pains minutely to describe, are by no means permanent, being differently disposed in different animals of the same species. I remember to have seen an animal of this size-but whether of this species I will not pretend to say-some years ago