This Institution
Would Have Served Very Well For A Model Of Noah's Ark.
In the first
yard, however, we saw no animals, but, instead, a few hundred human
skeletons - old men, women and children.
They were the remaining
natives of the, so-called, famine districts, who had crowded into
Bombay to beg their bread. Thus, while, a few yards off, the official
"Vets." were busily bandaging the broken legs of jackals, pouring
ointments on the backs of mangy dogs, and fitting crutches to lame
storks, human beings were dying, at their very elbows, of starvation.
Happily for the famine-stricken, there were at that time fewer
hungry animals than usual, and so they were fed on what remained
from the meals of the brute pensioners. No doubt many of these
wretched sufferers would have consented to transmigrate instantly
into the bodies of any of the animals who were ending so snugly
their earthly careers.
But even the Pinjarajala roses are not without thorns. The
graminivorous "subjects," of course, could mot wish for anything
better; but I doubt very much whether the beasts of prey, such
as tigers, hyenas, and wolves, are content with the rules and the
forcibly prescribed diet. Jainas themselves turn with disgust
even from eggs and fish, and, in consequence, all the animals of
which they have the care must turn vegetarians. We were present
when an old tiger, wounded by an English bullet, was fed. Having
sniffed at a kind of rice soup which was offered to him, he lashed
his tail, snarled, showing his yellow teeth, and with a weak roar
turned away from the food.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 34 of 357
Words from 9048 to 9318
of 96531
