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Waka Maori, Volume 11, Issue 11, 8 June 1875, Page 129

A Bear and Tiger Fight.— On one occasion a man named Lent, says a Chicago paper, was a part owner of a travelling circus and menagerie. One day he met a man out West who had a grizzly bear for sale. As the animal was a splendid specimen of a young grizzly, Lent purchased him, and after he got him he found himself in the position of the man who drew the elephant. There was but one cage in the menagerie that could contain the bear, and that already had an occupant in the shape of a large and finely-developed Bengal tiger. Lent told cne of his patrons that he was going to quarter the grizzly with the tiger. " Why, that tiger will make a square meal of him before you can wink!" "All right!" was the answer; "If he does, I'm satisfied. You look after your tiger, and I'll take care of my bear." The grizzly was accordingly lifted into the cage, the tiger having previously been driven into the opposite corner by the application of hot irons. Then all the employes of the circus gathered to witness the fight. The animals sighted each other at the same instant; but while the tiger's eyes blazed with fury and his tail lashed the bars in his excitement, the grizzly simply nodded in a sleepy manner, as if in recognition of the presence of the other beast, and crouched against the bars waiting developments. They remained as far apart as the cage would permit for at least five minutes; but every moment the rage of the tiger seemed to increase, while the bear seemed to be sinking into a deep slumber. At last the tiger began to growl and slide towards the bear, moving from side to side of the cage as he did so. The growling aroused the bear to life, and he had just time to measure his enemy, when, with the rapidity

of lightning, the tiger sprang forward and alighted upon his head and back. For a moment there was a •terriple howling from both animals, as they rolled over and over in the cage, and then they separated for an instant, the bear seeming to have shaken off his antagonist. During this brief cessation of hostilities it was feared that the bear had got decidedly the worst of the combat, as he was bleeding freely from several gaping wounds. The backer of the tiger was delighted, and wanted Lent to consent to have a stop put to the fight. <! No," said he, " let them fight, and I'll bet on the bear." So at it they went again, and there was terrible fighting for several minutes. It finally ended in the tiger giving several mournful howls, and when they were separated he slunk away to his corner as meek and submissivelooking as any animal could be. After that day the bear bossed that cage, and if the tiger became unruly he received a blow from the grizzly's paw that set him thinking over past events at once. Seventy years ago the heaviest naval gun was a thirty-two-pounder, weighing two tons and a half, and ten pounds of powder was a charge. A gun now in process of construction in "Woolwich, England, twenty-six feet and nine inches in length, will weigh eighty-one tons, throw a projectile 1,250 pounds weight, and require 210 pounds of powder to load it. The sugar crop at the Mauritius is this year threatened with destruction by means of a severe drought. Last year the planters lost nearly one million pounds sterling from the effects of a dreadful hurricane. It is calculated that there are 90,000,000 people who speak English, 75,000,000 German, 55,000,000 Spanish, 45,000,000 French, 30,000,000 Italian, and 5,000,000 Portuguese. The Bible is now printed in 200 different languages.