1553.—"... Beginning from the point of Çingapura and all the way to Pulloçambilam, i.e. the whole length of the Kingdom of Malaca ... there is no other town with a name except this City of Malaca, only some havens of fishermen, and in the interior a very few villages. And indeed the most of these wretched people sleep at the top of the highest trees they can find, for up to a height of 20 palms the tigers can seize them at a leap; and if anything saves the poor people from these beasts it is the bonfires they keep burning at night, which the tigers are much afraid of. In fact these are so numerous that many come into the city itself at night in search of prey. And it has happened, since we took the place, that a tiger leapt into a garden surrounded by a good high timber fence, and lifted a beam of wood with three slaves who were laid by the heels, and with these made a clean leap over the fence."—Barros, II. vi. 1. Lest I am doing the great historian wrong as to this Munchausen-like story, I give the original: "E jà aconteceo ... saltar hum tigre em hum quintal cercado de madeira bem alto, e levou hum tronco de madeira com trez (tres?) escravos que estavam prezos nelle, com os quaes saltou de claro em claro per cima da cerca."
1583.—"We also escaped the peril of the multitude of tigers which infest those tracts" (the Pegu delta) "and prey on whatever they can get at. And although we were on that account anchored in midstream, nevertheless it was asserted that the ferocity of these animals was such that they would press even into the water to seize their prey."—Gasparo Balbi, f. 94v.
1586.—"We went through the wildernesse because the right way was full of thieves, when we passed the country of Gouren, where we found but few Villages, but almost all Wildernesse, and saw many Buffes, Swine, and Deere, Grasse longer than a man, and very many Tigres."—R. Fitch, in Purchas, ii. 1736.
1675.—"Going in quest whereof, one of our Soldiers, a Youth, killed a Tigre-Royal; it was brought home by 30 or 40 Combies ([Koonbee]), the Body tied to a long Bamboo, the Tail extended ... it was a Tigre of the Biggest and Noblest Kind, Five Feet in Length beside the Tail, Three and a Half in Height, it was of a light Yellow, streaked with Black, like a Tabby Cat ... the Visage Fierce and Majestick, the Teeth gnashing...."—Fryer, 176.
1683.—"In ye afternoon they found a great Tiger, one of ye black men shot a barbed arrow into his Buttock. Mr. Frenchfeild and Capt. Raynes alighted off their horses and advanced towards the thicket where ye Tiger lay. The people making a great noise, ye Tiger flew out upon Mr. Frenchfeild, and he shot him with a brace of Bullets into ye breast: at which he made a great noise, and returned again to his den. The Black Men seeing of him wounded fell upon him, but the Tiger had so much strength as to kill 2 men, and wound a third, before he died. At Night ye Ragea sent me the Tiger."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 66-67.
1754.—"There was a Charter granted to the East India Company. Many Disputes arose about it, which came before Parliament; all Arts were used to corrupt or delude the Members; among others a Tyger was baited with Solemnity, on the Day the great Question was to come on. This was such a Novelty, that several of the Members were drawn off from their Attendance, and absent on the Division...."—A Collection of Letters relating to the E.I. Company, &c. (Tract), 1754, p. 13.
1869.—"Les tigres et les léopards sont considérés, autant par les Hindous que par les musalmans, comme étant la propriété des pirs (see [PEER]): aussi les naturels du pays ne sympathisent pas avec les Européens pour la chasse du tigre."—Garcin de Tassy, Rel. Mus. p. 24.
1872.—"One of the Frontier Battalion soldiers approached me, running for his life.... This was his story:—
'Sahib, I was going along with the letters ... which I had received from your highness ... a great tiger came out and stood in the path. Then I feared for my life; and the tiger stood, and I stood, and we looked at each other. I had no weapon but my kukri ([Kookry]) ... and the Government letters. So I said, 'My lord Tiger, here are the Government letters, the letters of the Honourable Kumpany Bahadur ... and it is necessary for me to go on with them.' The tiger never ceased looking at me, and when I had done speaking he growled, but he never offered to get out of the way. On this I was much more afraid, so I kneeled down and made obeisance to him; but he did not take any more notice of that either, so at last I told him I should report the matter to the Sahib, and I threw down the letters in front of him, and came here as fast as I was able. Sahib, I now ask for your justice against that tiger.'"—Lt.-Col. T. Lewin, A Fly on the Wheel, p. 444.
TINCALL, s. Borax. Pers. tinkār, but apparently originally Skt. ṭaṇkaṇa, and perhaps from the people so called who may have supplied it, in the Himālaya—Τάγγανοι of Ptolemy. [Mr. Atkinson (Himalayan Gazz. ii. 357) connects the name of this people with that of the tangun pony.]