The Strand Magazine, Vol. 01, No. 04 (April 1891)Various
General
The Strand Magazine, Vol. 01, No. 04 (April 1891)
Various
English literature -- Periodicals; Short stories, English -- Periodicals
and alligators' skulls, toward the other and main department of this
remarkable warehouse--that devoted to natural history.
We cross Britten's-court, where we observe a van with a small crowd
of boys collected about it. A crane is swung out from a high floor,
and from the end of the dependent chain hangs a wooden case or cage,
violently agitated by the movements of the active inhabitant. He is a
black panther, the most savage sort of beast with which Mr. Jamrach has
to deal, and, as this one feels himself gradually rising through the
air, his surprise and alarm manifest themselves in an outburst strongly
reminding the spectator of Mark Twain's blown-up cat "a-snorting, and
a-clawing, and a-reaching for things like all possessed." He arrives at
his appointed floor at last, however, and, as the cage is swung in, the
blazing eyes and gleaming teeth turn from our side toward the attendant
who receives him.
The wide doors on the ground floor are swung open, and we enter a large
apartment fitted with strong iron-barred cages on all sides. This is
the lowest of three floors, similarly fitted, in which is carried on
a trade in living creatures which is known from one end of the earth
to the other. Jamrach's is _the_ market for wild animals from all the
world over, and whatever a menagerie-keeper or a zoological collection
may want, from an elephant to an Angora cat, can be had in response to
an order sent here. Whatever animal a man may have to sell, here he
may sell it, providing that it be in good and healthy condition. Mr.
Jamrach has lived a lifetime among his beasts, and has had his troubles
and adventures with them. One of the most exciting of these adventures
took place some thirty years ago. A fine, full-grown Bengal tiger was
deposited, in his rough wooden cage, on this very spot at the gates,
having just been delivered from a ship in the docks. The lair at the
back was being prepared for his reception, when, the attention of Mr.
Jamrach and his merry men being otherwise engaged, _Tigris regalis_
set his hind quarters against the back of his temporary receptacle,
and, using all his strength, managed to burst out the boards. Then he
quietly trotted out, and down the main street. The sudden appearance of
a full-sized tiger at mid-day on the pavement of Ratcliff-highway was
the signal for a general skedaddle, excepting on the part of a little
boy of about eight years of age, who, never having seen a thing of the
sort before, innocently extended his hand and stroked the big cat. A
playful tap of the great soft paw at once knocked the child upon his
face, stunned; and, picking him up by the loose part of the jacket, the
animal was proceeding up the next turning, when Mr. Jamrach, who had
just discovered the escape, came running up. Empty-handed as he was, he
sprang at the tiger's neck from behind, and, grasping the throat with
both hands, drove his thumbs into the soft place behind the jaw. Mr.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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