Note 78 — Chapter V · Magic Rites connected with the Several Departments of Nature
Reading edition
“The Tiger is sometimes believed to be a man or demon in the form of a wild beast, and to the numerous aboriginal superstitions which attach to this dreaded animal Muhammadanism has added the notion which connects the Tiger with the Khalif Ali. One of Ali’s titles throughout the Moslem world is ‘the Victorious Lion of the Lord,’ and in Asiatic countries, where the lion is unknown, the tiger generally takes the place of the ‘king of beasts.’”78