royed
by the tiger. His habitat is in those jungles, and near those
localities, which are most highly prized by the herdsmen of India for
their pastures, and the numbers of cattle that yearly fall before his
thirst for blood, and his greed for living prey, are almost
incredible. I have scarcely known a day pass, during the hot months,
on the banks of the Koosee, that news of a _kill_ has not been sent in
from some of the villages in my _ilaka_, and as a tiger eats once in
every four or five days, and oftener if he can get the chance, the
number of animals that fall a prey to his insatiable appetite, over
the extent of Hindustan, must be enormous. The annual destruction of
tame animals by tigers alone is almost incredible, and when we add to
this the wild buffalo, the deer, the pig, and other untamed animals,
to say nothing of smaller creatures, we can form some conception of
the destruction caused by the tiger in the course of a year.

His whole frame is put together to effect destruction. In cutting up a
tiger you are impressed with this. His tendons are masses of nerve and
muscle as hard as steel. The muscular development is tremendous. Vast
bands and layers of muscle overlap each other. Strong ligaments, which
you can scarcely cut through, and which soon blunt the sharpest knife,
unite the solid, freely-playing, loosely-jointed bones. The muzzle is
broad, and short, and obtuse. The claws are completely retractile. The
jaws are short. There are two false molars, two grinders above, and
the same number below. The upper carnivorous tooth has three lobes,
and an obtuse heel; the lower has two lobes, pointed and sharp, and no
heel. There is one very small tuberculous tooth above as an auxiliary,
and then the strong back teeth. The muscles of the jaws are of
tremendous power. I have come across the remains of a buffalo killed
by a tiger, and found all the large bones, even the big strong bones
of the pelvis and large joints, cracked and crunched like so many
walnuts, by the powerful jaws of the fierce brute.

The eye is peculiarly brilliant, and when glaring with fury it is
truly demoniac. With his bristles rigid, the snarling lips drawn back,
disclosing the formidable fangs, the body crouching for his spring,
and the lithe tail puffed up and swollen, and lashing restlessly from
side to side, each muscle tense and strung, and an undulating movement
perceptible like the motions of a huge snake, a crouching tiger at bay
is