[ Moses/ Sketches of India ]
Moses (? - ?) was an English doctor and writer, not to be confused with the 19th Century printmaker of the same name.
This work's full title: Sketches of India: with Notes on the Seasons, Scenery, and Society of Bombay, Elephantia, and Salsette (London: Simkin, Marshall, 1850). The title page bears the erroneous publication date of "MDCCL."
This book was first published in serial form in The Englishwoman's Magazine; the text below is from the 1850 edition.
Some years ago (for I cannot be certain as to the exact time), a party of officers from the barracks were strolling along shore, near Sion Fort, Bombay, when one of them, who was on the look-out for stray game, perceived something, which had evidently left Salsette, swimming towards Bombay; and, to all appearance, likely to land near the spot on which they stood. As the natives never bathe in this bay, on account of the sharks which infest it, the whole party felt satisfied that it was not a man. On a sudden, it altered its course, and landed higher up than was expected; when, greatly to the astonishment of the officers, they saw that it was neither more nor less than a fine, fullgrown tiger. The beast, having given himself two or three shakes, like a Newfoundland dog, trotted quietly up the beach, towards some small cottages, and seized, near the door of one of them, a little child who was there playing, and whom he had no doubt marked as he was swimming. (127 - 128)