File:Narrative of the expedition of an American squadron to the China seas and Japan (1857) (14598059177).jpg

Identifier: narrativeofexped05perr (find matches)
Title: Narrative of the expedition of an American squadron to the China seas and Japan
Year: 1857 (1850s)
Authors: Perry, Matthew Calbraith, 1794-1858 Hawks, Francis L. (Francis Lister), 1798-1866
Subjects: United States Naval Expedition to Japan (1852-1854)
Publisher: New York, D. Appleton and company (etc., etc.)
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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confirmed it, he could nolonger hesitate to accept it as truth. He was told by them that so much ofan every day occurrence was this fatality, that many of the cases were notreported, in order to avoid the trouble and expense of a coroners inquest,which the laws require. Death by tiger, however, is a verdict that mightbe rendered daily were the legal formalities complied with. It is said, and probably with truth, that the tiger, after he has oncetasted of human flesh, becomes so fond of it that he prefers its flavor to thatof his ordinary venison or wild boar, and will make every effort to obtain asupply of his favorite food. It is this intense longing for human flesh whichmakes the tiger so very dangerous to the inhabitants of Singapore, especiallyto the poor Malay or Chinese who may be obliged to expose himself in thejungle and the forest. It was said, too, that the animal showed decidedpreference for a Chinaman. Nor do these stories of the tiger seem very wonderful, when the fact is
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SINGAPORE. 15.5 well established, that those savages who are addicted to cannibalism becomepassionately fond of their horribly unnatural food. There is a tribe ofMalays, called Battas, who, like their fellow Malay tigers, are said by SirStamford Raffles to eat one another, and to prefer such food to any other.Nor are they to be classed entirely among barbarians, for these Battas canread and write, and have codes of laws of great antiquity; and yet, accord-ing to the authority just named, not less than from sixty to a hundredBattas are eaten annually, even during a time of peace. In addition to the tigers there are deer and wild boars found upon theisland, and several varieties of smaller animals, the monkey, the wild hogor peccary, the porcupine and the sloth. Birds abound, and among them aresome of great beauty. Serpents are not very numerous, but among them isthe venomous cobra. A singular animal, called the water buffalo, was moreparticularly observed at Singapore. It approaches in

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