I have quoted the above anecdote, not to prove the truth of the circumstance as regards the tiger's liver, but as a tradition among the inhabitants.
The people of Chittagong were alarmed by the appearance of a tigress, who was first discovered among some cattle that were grazing at the mouth of the river. On the first alarm, the natives of the vicinity assembled with all speed and advanced against her. Irritated by this, she sprang furiously on the person nearest to her, and wounded him severely. The immediate attack of the crowd, however, was successful in rescuing the man from her grasp. On this the tigress, finding herself hemmed in on all sides, and seeing no way of avoiding the multitude, except by the river, took to the water, and swam about five miles, closely pursued by the natives in their boats, until she landed under a tree in a dockyard. Here she laid herself down, apparently much fatigued; but before the people in the yard could get their fire arms ready, she had, in a great degree, recovered her strength. Several shots were fired at her, and two of them penetrated her body, one of which lamed her. Rendered desperate by this, she advanced against her new opponents, and singling out a European gentleman in the yard, who was provided with a cutlass, she sprang upon him before he could make use of his weapon; knocked him down with her fore paw, seized his head in her mouth, bit off a considerable part of the skin of his forehead, and wounded him in several places. After this, she sprang upon a native, fractured his skull, and otherwise lacerated him so dreadfully that he died next day. She then entered a thicket close by, where she was allowed to remain unmolested. On the morning of the following day, she had got about a mile further from the water side, and near to a sepoy village. Here she was surrounded by about a thousand natives, when, although she was very lame, she sprang furiously on several of them, and wounded one poor woman so dreadfully, as to occasion her death. A fortunate shot, however, laid the animal prostrate.
There is an account of a tame tiger which was brought from China in the Pitt East Indiaman, "who was so far domesticated as to admit of every kind of familiarity from the people on board. He seemed to be quite harmless and as playful as a kitten. He frequently slept with the sailors in their hammocks, and would suffer two or three of them to repose their heads on his back, as upon a pillow, while he lay stretched upon the deck. In return for this, he would, however, now and then steal their meat. Having one day carried off a piece of beef from the carpenter, the man followed the animal, took it out of his mouth, and beat him severely for the theft, which punishment he suffered with all the patience of a dog. He would frequently run out upon the bowsprit, climb about like a cat, and perform a number of tricks, with astonishing agility. There was a dog on board, with whom he often played in the most amusing manner; he was only a month or six weeks old when he was taken on board, and arrived in England before he had completed a year."
The tiger is not as fond of his children as the lion is, and often abandons the female while she is rearing her young. The tigress will destroy her offspring as the cat does; but the following is an instance of her affection, taken from Captain Williamson's "Oriental Field Sports." This officer had two tiger cubs brought to him, which had been discovered, with two more, by some villagers while their mother had been in quest of prey. The captain put them into a stable where they were very noisy during the night. A few days having elapsed, their mother at length discovered where they were, came to relieve them, and replied to their cries by tremendous howlings, which induced their keeper to set the cubs at liberty, lest the dam should break in. She had carried them off to an adjoining jungle before morning.
Bishop Heber happily compares the slight movement of the long grass of the jungle, which betrays the presence of the tiger, to the bubbles which rise to the surface of water, and show the lurking place of the otter.
The immense strength of the tiger is frequently shown by the manner in which he throws his prey over his shoulder, and conveys it to his lair to be devoured. One is said to have carried a buffalo in this manner, which weighed a thousand pounds. Captain Brown gives the following account of the innate love of flesh displayed by the tiger:—"A party of gentlemen from Bombay, one day visiting the stupendous temple of Elephants, discovered a tiger's whelp in one of the obscure recesses. Desirous of kidnapping the cub, without encountering the fury of its dam, they took it up hastily and cautiously retreated. Being left entirely at liberty, and extremely well fed, the tiger grew rapidly, appeared tame, and in every respect domesticated. At length, when it had attained a great size, and, notwithstanding its apparent gentleness, began to inspire terror by its tremendous powers of doing mischief. A piece of raw meat, dripping with blood, fell in its way. Hitherto it had been studiously kept from animal food; but the instant it had dipped its tongue in blood, something like madness seemed to have seized upon the animal. A destructive principle, hitherto dormant, was awakened; it darted fiercely and with glaring eyes upon its prey, tore it to pieces with fury, and roaring in the most fearful manner, rushed at once into the jungle."
I am not sorry to end this account of the tiger with an old story, which places the fierce beast of prey in rather a more amiable light than most of the previous histories. "A tigress of great beauty, from Bengal, being extremely docile on her passage home from Calcutta, was allowed to run about the vessel, and became exceedingly familiar with the sailors. On her arrival in the Thames, however, her temper became very irascible, and even dangerous. She was placed in the Tower, where she for some time continued to exhibit a sulky and savage disposition. One day, the person who had charge of her on board the ship, visited the Tower, and begged permission of the keeper to be allowed to enter her den, to which he at last agreed, though with much reluctance. No sooner did the tigress recognise her old friend, than she fawned upon him, licked, and caressed him, exhibiting the most extravagant signs of pleasure; and when he left her, she whined and cried the whole day afterwards."