Another anecdote is related of this huge beast:
One morning during the voyage, Hamet, from some cause or other, absented himself from Obaysch a little longer than usual, when he ran through his octave of cries, from the most plaintive to the most violent, and then was profoundly silent. “Hamet,” says the narrator, “thought his freedom was achieved, and then, with the air of an emancipated serf, he opened his wicket, and condescended to return to his tyrant—tyrant no longer, as he hoped. Hippo awaited him with a twinkle of his infant eye—that curious, prominent, versatile eye, which looks everywhere at once—as he floated in the tank, so as to command the interior of his home. Hamet, in his great fidelity, used to keep part of his wardrobe in an angle of the roof, for convenience of making his toilet without annoying his charge by unnecessary absence. The bundle in which these choice vestments were secured had been pushed down by the revengeful infant, rubbed open with his blunt nose during that ominous silence, and finally left in such a state, that neither Hamet, nor any other being, Mohammedan or Christian, could ever don them again. Hamet is a well-conducted Mussulman, and not given to indulging in profane language, but he addressed Hippo in terms of the strongest reprehension. Hippo twinkled his eye and shook his head, blew a little trumpet through his nostrils, and smiled in triumphant malevolence.”
Nothing among modern shows can compare with the old amphitheatrical exhibitions of the Romans. For these, large numbers of animals were collected from the shores of Africa and India; in the contests of the arena they were slaughtered by wholesale. Eutropius states, and his assertion is corroborated by other writers, that 5,000 wild beasts of all kinds were slain at the dedication of the amphitheater of Titus. Pompey, at the opening of his theater, exhibited a variety of games and battles with wild beasts in which 500 lions were killed in five days; and in another exhibition the tragedy consisted in “the massacre of 100 lions and an equal number of lionesses, 200 leopards, and 300 bears.” Even if public taste at the present day would tolerate such butchery, it would be rather too expensive with lions costing from $2,000 to $4,000 each. In those days, of course, the cost was much less; in fact, the price of wild beasts in this country is usually ten times their price in their native regions. This profit is necessary to cover the great cost of transportation, feeding and the risks of death or accidents on the passage. Insurance companies consider them too risky to insure. Prices, however, fluctuate greatly, according to the demand, and an animal worth to-day $1,000 may be worth only $200 next month, though he be in equally good condition.
In the days when “ordeals” were used to prove the guilt or innocence of accused persons, the Brahmin priests of Hindoostan made use of crocodiles for this purpose. The accused was compelled to swim across a river infested with these animals and his fate decided the question of his guilt or innocence. There is good reason to believe that there was trickery in these tests; that crocodiles were tamed and kept in one part of the river while those of the other portions of the stream remained in their savage state. The Brahmins could thus predetermine the fate of the persons submitting to the ordeal, and doubtless had those whom they desired to favor cross among the tame animals, while others whom they feared or hated were placed at the mercy of the wild ones. Tame crocodiles are by no means rarities; the Egyptian priests after rendering them docile, placed bracelets upon their forefeet, and hung rings and precious stones in the opercula of their ears, which were bored for the purpose, and then presented them for adoration of the people.
The means used in taming the crocodile seem to have been principally kind treatment and tempting food. This plan is pursued even to the present day in Egypt, India, and other countries. Several individual cases are on record giving details of the taming process. Mr. Laing saw at the house of the king of the Soulimas—a negro race occupying the country near the river Joliba, on the coast of Sierra Leone—a tamed crocodile as gentle as a dog; but this animal was confined a prisoner in a pond in the palace. The Scheik of Suakem—a seaport in Nubia, on the west coast of the Red Sea—having caught a young crocodile, tamed it, and kept it in a pond near the sea. The animal grew very large, but did not lose his docility. The prince placed himself upon the animal’s back, and was carried a distance of more than three hundred steps. In the island of Sumatra, in the year 1823, an immense crocodile established himself at the mouth of the Beanjang; he had chased away all the other crocodiles and devoured all of them who ventured to return. The inhabitants rendered him divine homage, and respectfully supplied him with food. “Pass,” said they to the English missionaries who relate the fact, and who were afraid to approach the formidable creature; “pass on, our god is merciful.” In fact he peacefully regarded the Europeans and their boat, without giving any signs either of anger, fear, or a desire to attack them.
The following account is given of a tame crocodile, in a private letter, quoted in a review of the Erpètologie Gènèrale, and affords corroborative proof of the foregoing statements. The writer, having ridden a considerable distance to a village about eight miles from Kurachee, in Scinde, and feeling thirsty, went to a pool to procure some water. “When I got to the edge,” says he, “the guide who was with me pointed out something in the water, which I had myself taken to be the stump of a tree; and although I had my glasses on, I looked at it for some time before I found that I was standing within three feet of an immense alligator. I then perceived that the swamp was crowded with them, although they were all lying in the mud so perfectly motionless that a hundred people might have passed without observing them. The guide laughed at the start I gave, and told me that they were quite harmless, having been tamed by a saint, a man of great piety, whose tomb was to be seen on a hill close by; and that they continued to obey the orders of a number of fakirs, who lived around the tomb. I proceeded to the village immediately, and got some of the fakirs to come down to the water with a sheep. One of them then went close to the water with a long stick, with which he struck the ground, and called to the alligators, which immediately came crawling out of the water, great and small together, and lay down on the bank all around him. The sheep was then killed and quartered; and while this was going on, the reptiles continued crawling until they had made a complete ring around us. The fakir kept walking about within the circle, and if any one attempted to encroach, he rapped it unmercifully on the snout with his stick, and drove it backward. Not one of them attempted to touch him, although they showed rows of teeth that seemed able to snap him in two at a bite. The quarters of the sheep were then thrown to them, and the scene that followed was so indescribable that I shall not attempt it; but I think that if you will turn to Milton, and read his account of the transformation of Satan and his crew in Pandemonium, you may form some faint idea ‘how dreadful was the din.’ In what manner these monsters were first tamed I cannot say. The natives, of course, ascribe it to the piety of the saint, who is called Miegger Pier, or Saint Crocodile.”
The alligators of this country, though seldom tamed even for public exhibition, might readily be, as they do not differ in any important respect from the crocodiles.
CHAPTER XV.
EDUCATION OF CATS AND GOATS.
Cats do not appear to be favorite subjects of the trainer’s art, and it is rare that they are met with among performing animals. Perhaps their sly, treacherous nature inspires a prejudice, or perhaps their capacity for learning is underrated. Certainly with proper and patient training they may be taught nearly all of the simpler tricks performed by dogs, and some which dogs cannot, from lack of equal agility. That cats possess considerable intelligence is shown by the many well authenticated stories related of them. A specimen is that told by Mr. Crouch, of a cat who learned to unlock a door of her own accord. “There was,” writes this gentleman, “within my knowledge, in the house of my parentage, a small cupboard in which were kept milk, butter, and other requisites for the tea table, and the door was confined by a lock, which from age and frequent use could easily be made to open. To save trouble the key was always kept in the lock, in which it revolved on a very slight impulse. It was often a subject of remark, that the door of this cupboard was found wide open, and the milk or butter greatly diminished without any imaginable reason, and notwithstanding the persuasion that the door had certainly been regularly locked. On watching carefully, the cat was seen to seat herself on the table, and by repeated pulling on the side of the bow of the key, it was at last made to turn, when a slight pull of the door caused it to move on its hinges. It had proved a fortunate discovery for puss, for a long time before she was taken in the act.”
Cats may easily be taught to jump through hoops, climb poles, fetch and carry, and many similar performances, by adopting pretty nearly the same means as for instructing dogs. As cats are passionately fond of fish, this article will be found a valuable incentive to induce them to comply with your wishes. A small morsel should be given as a reward for each instance of obedience, while refractory conduct may be punished by a slight box on the ear.