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Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume V, Issue 115, 19 May 1853, Page 4

Captain Basil Hall, in his Fragments of Voyages and Travels, gives the following anecdote of a tiger kept at the British Residency at Calcutta:—"But what annoyed him Tar more than our poking him with » stick, or tantalising him with a shin of

beef or logs of million, was introducing n mouse into In's cage. No lino lady over exhibited more terror at llio sight of a spider than litis magnificent royal tiger lictrayed on seeing a mouse. Our mischievous plan was lo lie llie lillle animal by a string to the cud of a pole, and llirusl it close to the tiger's nose. The moment he saw il ho leaped to I lie opposite side; and when llio mouse was made lo run near him, he jammed himself into a corner, ar.d slood trembling and roaring in such an ccsiacy of fear, thai we were always obliged to desist in pity lo the poor brute. Sometimes we insisted on his passing over the spot where llio unconscious Utile mouse ran backwards and forwards. For a long time, however, we could not get him to move till al length I believe by the help of a st|uib, we obliged him lo start; but instead of pacing leisurely across his den, or of making a detour lo avoid llio object of his alarm, lie generally look a kind of flying leap, so high as nearly to bring bis back in contact wild the roof of his cage." Oi.n Tan a Hkmedv kou the I'oiatok Diskask.—Owing to llie prevalence of disease, I am again induced lo recommend planting in old tan, which has proved the best and only remedy I have yet met wild ; and, as a proof or my success, I grew nearly sixlv bushels on this principle, and scarcely a bad potaloe was lo be found, although planted on heavy clay soil. They were the admiration of all who saw them; while others planted in the same garden without tan were entirely destroyed. As a further proof of the excellence oi' this remedy I was resolved lasl year, by way of experiment, lo try them on the same ground without lan, and the result was thai nearly half was bad. I write this after three years' experience, which has proved mos't satisfactory. I usually had the ground thrown up in ridges about'.November, and [ allowed it to remain in thai condition until llie first week in February, when the sides were chopped slightly down, and about three inches of old tan and a portion of soil. There is likewise anolher advantage, viz., when ihe potatoes are dug Ihey leave the ground so clean that they require no rubbing, which assists their keeping.—/!. Ilcnml, <j>: lo Sir O/jley }Vakei/id/i, Hart., PendeitreU. S-rimv or mi; Urn I.ion at lliwuhiifoiw. —" There is an anecdote told al the lied I.ion Inn, llungerford, of a circumstance which occurrd there some years ago. A traveller, coming into llio iun-jard with his chaise, ran oyer and bruised the legs of a Newfoundland dog, and while ihe injury was being examined, a raven stood by as a concerned spectator ; for as soon as the dog was lied up under the manager, ihe raven not only visited him, but brought him bones, and attended him with particular and repealed marks of kindness. licsides Ihe sympathy in the bird, there was also a remarkable instance of recollection and of association of ideas, for the bird dad been brought up with a dog who having broken its leg, Ihe raven attended il constantly while it was confined, waiting on il, carrying it provisions, and never scarcely leaving it. On one occasion, when the stable door had been shut, and the raven bad been deprived of the company of its friend all night, the ostler found in the morning Ihe door so pecked away, that, had il not been opened, the raven would have made its enlrance in another hour. Several other acts of kindness lo dogs had been noticed, and particularly to maimed or wounded ones."