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.