HAVING described in the last chapter a tribe of minute, fierce, rapacious animals, I come now to a race of minute animals, of a more harmless and gentle kind, that, without being enemies to any, are preyed upon by all. As Nature has fitted the former for hostility, so it has entirely formed the latter for evasion; and as the one kind subsist by their courage and activity, so the other find safety from their swift­ness and their fears. The Hare is the swiftest animal in the world for the time it continues; and few quadrupedes can overtake even the [Page 2] rabbit when it has but a short way to run. To this class also we may add the squirrel, some­what resembling the hare and rabbit in its form and nature, and equally pretty, inoffensive, and pleasing.

If we were methodically to distinguish animals of the hare kind from all others, we might say that they have but two cutting teeth above and two below, that they are covered with a soft downy fur, and that they have a bushy tail. The combination of these marks might per­haps distinguish them tolerably well; whether from the rat, the beaver, the otter, or any other most nearly approaching in form. But, as I have declined all method that rather tends to embarrass history than enlighten it, I am contented to class these animals together for no very precise reason, but because I find a general resemblance between them in their natural ha­bits, and in the shape of their heads and body. I call a squirrel an animal of the hare kind, be­cause it is something like a hare. I call the Paca of the same kind, merely because it is more like a rabbit than any other animal I know of. In short, it is fit to erect some parti­cular standard in the imagination of the reader, to refer him to some animal that he knows, in order to direct him in conceiving the figure of [Page 3] such as he does not know. Still, however, he should be apprized that his knowledge will be defective without an examination of each par­ticular species; and that saying an animal is of this or that particular kind is but a very trifling part of its history.

Animals of the hare kind, like all others that feed entirely upon vegetables, are inoffensive and timorous. As Nature furnishes them with a most abundant supply, they have not that ra­pacity after food remarkable in such as are often stinted in their provision. They are extremely active and amazingly swift, to which they chiefly owe their protection; for being the prey of every voracious animal, they are incessantly pursued. The hare, the rabbit, and the squirrel, are placed by Pyerius, in his Treatise of Ruminating Animals, among the number of those that chew the cud; but how far this may be true I will not pretend to determine. Certain it is that their lips continually move whether sleeping or waking. Nevertheless, they chew their meat very much before they swallow it, and for that reason I should suppose that it does not want a second mastication. All these animals use their fore-paws like hands; they are remarkably salacious, and are furnished by Nature with more ample powers than most others for the business of pro­pagation. [Page 4] They are so very prolific, that were they not thinned by the constant depredations made upon them by most other animals, they would quickly over-run the earth.

Of all these the hare is the largest, the most persecuted, and the most timorous; all its muscles are formed for swiftness; and all its senses seem only given to direct its flight. It has very large prominent eyes, placed back­wards in its head, so that it can almost see be­hind it as it runs. These are never wholly closed; but as the animal is continually upon the watch, it sleeps with them open. The ears are still more remarkable for their size; they are moveable and capable of being directed to every quarter; so that the smallest sounds are readily received, and the animal's motions di­rected accordingly. The muscles of the body are very strong, and without fat, so that it may be said to carry no superfluous burthen of flesh about it; the hinder feet are longer than the fore, which still adds to the rapidity of its mo­tions; and almost all animals that are remark­able for their speed, except the horse, are formed in the same manner.

An animal so well formed for a life of escape might be supposed to enjoy a state of tolerable security; but as every rapacious creature is its [Page 5] enemy, it but very seldom lives out its natural term. Dogs of all kinds pursue it by instinct, and follow the hare more eagerly than any other animal. The cat and the weasel kinds are con­tinually lying in ambush, and practising all their little arts to seize it; birds of prey are still more dangerous enemies, as against them no swiftness can avail, nor retreat secure; but man, an ene­my far more powerful than all, prefers its flesh to that of other animals, and destroys greater numbers than all the rest. Thus pursued and persecuted on every side, the race would long since have been totally extirpated, did it not find a resource in its amazing fertility.

The hare multiplies exceedingly; it is in a state of engendering at a few months old; the females go with young but thirty days, and ge­nerally bring forth three or four at a time^*. As soon as they have produced their young they are again ready for conception, and thus do not lose any time in continuing the breed. But they are in another respect fitted in an extraordinary manner for multiplying their kind; for the fe­male, from the conformation of her womb, is often seen to bring forth, and yet to continue pregnant at the same time; or, in other words, to have young ones of different ages in her [Page 6] womb together. Other animals never receive the male when pregnant, but bring forth their young at once. But it is frequently different with the hare; the female often, though already impregnated, admitting the male, and thus re­ceiving a second impregnation. The reason of this extraordinary circumstance is, that the womb in these animals is divided in such a manner that it may be considered as a double organ, one side of which may be filled while the other remains empty. Thus these animals may be seen to couple at every period of their pregnancy, and even while they are bringing forth young laying the foundation of another brood.

The young of these animals are brought forth with their eyes open, and the dam suckles them for twenty days, after which they leave her, and seek out for themselves^*. From this we observe, that the education these animals re­ceive is but trifling, and the family connexion but of short duration. In the rapacious kinds the dam leads her young forth for months to­gether; teaches them the arts of rapine; and, although she wants milk to supply them, yet keeps them under her care until they are able to hunt for themselves. But a long connexion of this kind would be very unnecessary as well [Page 7] as dangerous to the timid animals we are de­scribing; their food is easily procured; and their associations, instead of protection, would only expose them to their pursuers. They seldom, however, separate far from each other, or from the place where they were produced; but make each a form at some distance, having a predi­lection rather for the place than each other's so­ciety. They feed during the night rather than by day, chusing the most tender blades of grass, and quenching their thirst with the dew. They live also upon roots, leaves, fruits and corn, and prefer such plants as are furnished with a milky juice. They also strip the bark of trees during the winter, there being scarce any that they will not feed on, except the lime or the alder. They are particularly fond of birch, pinks, and parsley. When they are kept tame, they are fed with lettuce and other garden herbs; but the flesh of such as are thus brought up is always indifferent.

They sleep or repose in their forms by day, and may be said to live only by night^*. It is then that they go forth to feed and couple. They do not pair, however, but in the rutting season, which begins in February; the male pursues and discovers the female by the sagacity [Page 8] of its nose. They are then seen, by moon­light, playing, skipping, and pursuing each other; but the least motion, the slightest breeze, the falling of a leaf is sufficient to disturb their revels; they instantly fly off, and each takes a separate way.

As their limbs are made for running, they easily outstrip all other animals in the beginning; and could they preserve their speed it would be impossible to overtake them; but as they ex­haust their strength at their first efforts, and double back to the place they were started from, they are more easily taken than the fox, which is a much slower animal than they. As their hind legs are longer than the fore, they always chuse to run up hill, by which the speed of their pursuers is diminished while theirs remains the same. Their motions are also without any noise, as they have the sole of the foot furnished with hair; and they seem the only animals that have hair on the inside of their mouths.

They seldom live above seven or eight years at the utmost; they come to their full perfec­tion in a year; and this multiplied by seven, as in other animals, gives the extent of their lives^*. It is said, however, that the females live longer than the males: of this Mr. Buffon makes a [Page 9] doubt; but I am assured that it is so. They pass their lives, in our climate, in solitude and silence; and they seldom are heard to cry, ex­cept when they are seized or wounded. Their voice is not so sharp as the note of some other animals, but more nearly approaching that of the squalling of a child. They are not so wild as their dispositions and their habits seem to in­dicate; but are of a complying nature, and easily susceptible of a kind of education. They are easily tamed. They even become fond and ca­ressing, but they are incapable of attachment to any particular person, and never can be de­pended upon; for, though taken never so young, they regain their native freedom at the first opportunity. As they have a remarkable good ear, and sit upon their hind legs, and use their fore-paws as hands, they have been taught to beat the drum, to dance to music, and go through the manual exercise.

But their natural instincts for their preserva­tion are much more extraordinary than those artificial tricks that are taught them. They make themselves a form particularly in those places where the colour of the grass most re­sembles that of their skin; it is open to the south in winter and to the north in summer. The hare, when it hears the hounds at a di­stance, [Page 10] flies for some time through a natural impulse, without managing its strength, or consulting any other means but speed for its safety. Having attained some hill or rising ground, and left the dogs so far behind that it no longer hears their cries, it stops, rears on its hinder legs, and at length looks back to see if it has not lost its pursuers. But these, having once fallen upon the scent, pursue slowly and with united skill, and the poor animal soon again hears the fatal tidings of their approach. Sometimes when sore hunted it will start a fresh hare, and squat in the same form; sometimes it will creep under the door of a sheep-cot, and hide among the sheep; sometimes it will run among them, and no vigilance can drive it from the flock; some will enter holes like the rabbit, which the hunters call going to vault; some will go up one side of the hedge and come down the other; and it has been known that an hare sorely hunted has got upon the top of a cut quick-set hedge, and run a good way there­on, by which it has effectually evaded the hounds. It is no unusual thing also for them to betake themselves to furz bushes, and to leap from one to another, by which the dogs are frequently misled. However, the first doubling an hare makes is generally a key to [Page 11] all its future attempts of that kind, the latter being exactly like the former. The young hares tread heavier, and leave a stronger scent than the old, because their limbs are weaker; and the more this forlorn creature tires, the heavier it treads, and the stronger is the scent it leaves. A buck, or male hare, is known by its chusing to run upon hard highways, feeding farther from the wood-sides and making its doublings of a greater compass than the female. The male having made a turn or two about its form, frequently leads the hounds five or six miles on a stretch; but the female keeps close by some covert side, turns, crosses, and winds among the bushes like a rabbit, and seldom runs directly forward. In general, however, both male and female regulate their conduct according to the weather. In a moist day they hold by the high­ways more than at any other time, because the scent is then strongest upon the grass. If they come to the side of a grove or spring they for­bear to enter, but squat down by the side thereof until the hounds have overshot them; and then, turning along their former path, make to their old form, from which they vainly hope for pro­tection.

Hares are divided, by the hunters, into mountain and measled hares. The former are [Page 12] more swift, vigorous, and have their flesh better tasted; the latter chiefly frequent the marshes, when hunted keep among low grounds, and their flesh is moist, white, and flabby. When the male and female keep one particular spot, they will not suffer any strange hare to make its form in the same quarter, so that it is usually said that the more you hunt the more hares you shall have; for, having killed one hare, others come and take possession of its form. Many of these animals are found to live in woods and thickets, but they are naturally fonder of the open country, and are constrained only by fear to take shelter in places that afford them neither a warm sun nor an agreeable pasture. They are therefore, usually seen stealing out of the edges of the wood to taste the grass that grows shorter and sweeter in the open fields than under the shade of the trees; however, they seldom miss of being pursued; and every excursion is a new adventure. They are shot at by poachers; traced by their footsteps in the snow; caught in springs; dogs, birds, and cats, are all combined against them; ants, snakes, and adders, drive them from their forms, especially in summer; even fleas, from which most other animals are free, persecute this poor creature; and, so va­rious are its enemies, that it is seldom permitted [Page 13] to reach even that short term to which it is li­mited by nature.

The soil and climate have their influence upon this animal as well as on most others. In the countries bordering on the north pole, they become white in winter, and are often seen in great troops of four or five hundred, running along the banks of the river Irtish, or the Je­nisca, and as white as the snow they tread on. They are caught in toils for the sake of their skins, which on the spot are sold for less than seven shillings an hundred. Their fur is well known to form a considerable article in the hat manufacture; and we accordingly import vast quantities of it from those countries where the hare abounds in such plenty. They are found also entirely black, but these in much less quan­tity than the former^*; and even some have been seen with horns, though these but rarely^†.

The hares of the hot countries, particularly in Italy, Spain, and Barbary, are smaller than ours: those bred in the Milanese country are said to be the best in Europe^‡. There is scarce a country where this animal is not to be found, from the torrid zone to the neighbourhood of the polar circle. The natives of Guinea [Page 14] knock them on the head as they come down to the sides of the rivers to drink. They also sur­round the place where they are seen in numbers, and clattering a short stick, which every man carries, against that which the person next him carries, they diminish their circle gradually, till the hares are cooped up in the midst. They then all together throw their sticks in among them, and with such deadly force, that they seldom fail of killing great numbers at a time^*.

The flesh of this animal has been esteemed as a delicacy among some nations, and is held in detestation by others. The Jews, the ancient Britains, and the Mahometans, all considered it as an unclean animal, and religiously ab­stained from it. On the contrary, there are scarce any other people, however barbarous, at present, that do not consider it as the most agreeable food. Fashion seems to preside and govern all the senses; what mankind at one time consider as beautiful, fragrant, or sa­voury, may at another time, or among another nation, be regarded as deformed, disgustful, or ill tasted. That flesh which the ancient Romans so much admired as to call it the food of the wise, was, among the Jews and the Druids, thought unfit to be eaten; and even the mo­derns, [Page 15] who like the Romans consider the flesh of this animal as a delicacy, have very different ideas as to dressing it. With us it is simply serv'd up without any seasoning; but Apicius shews us the manner of dressing an hare in true Roman taste, with parsley, rice, vinegar, cummin seed, and coriander^*.

WERE it necessary to distinguish animals of the rat kind from all others, we might describe them as having two large cutting teeth, like the hare kind, in each jaw; as co­vered with hair; and as not ruminating. These distinctions might serve to guide us, had we not too near an acquaintance with this noxious race to be mistaken in their kind. Their numbers, their minuteness, their vicinity, their vast mul­tiplication, all sufficiently contribute to press them upon our observation, and remind us of their existence. Indeed, if we look through the different ranks of animals, from the largest to the smallest, from the great elephant to the diminutive mouse, we shall find that we suffer greater injuries from the contemptible mean­ness of the one, than the formidable invasions of the other. Against the elephant, the rhi­noceros, or the lion, we can oppose united strength; and by art make up the deficiencies of natural power: these we have driven into their native solitudes, and obliged to continue at a distance, in the most inconvenient regions and unhealthful climates. But it is otherwise [Page 65] with the little teizing race I am now describing: no force can be exerted against their unresist­ing timidity; no arts can diminish their amaz­ing propagation: millions may be at once de­stroyed, and yet the breach be repaired in the space of a very few weeks; and, in proportion as Nature has denied them force, it has sup­plied the defect by their fecundity.

Of these, the animal best known at present, and in every respect the most mischievous, is the Great Rat; which, though but a new comer into this country, has taken too secure a possession to be ever removed. This hateful and rapacious creature, though sometimes called the Rat of Norway, is utterly unknown in all the northern countries, and, by the best accounts I can learn, comes originally from the Levant. Its first arrival, as I am assured, was upon the coasts of Ireland, in those ships that traded in provisions to Gibraltar; and perhaps we owe to a single pair of these animals, the numerous progeny that now infests the whole extent of the British Empire.

This animal, which is called by Mr. Buffon the Surmalot, is in length about nine inches; its eyes are large and black; the colour of the head, and the whole upper part of the body, is of a light brown, mixed with tawny and ash colour. The [Page 66] end of the nose, the throat and belly, are of a dirty white, inclining to a grey; the feet and legs are almost bare, and of a dirty pale flesh colour; the tail is as long as the body, covered with minute dusky scales, mixed with a few hairs, and adds to the general deformity of its detestable figure. It is chiefly in the colour that this animal differs from the Black Rat, or the Common Rat, as it was once called; but now common no longer. This new invader, in a very few years after its arrival, found means to destroy almost the whole species, and to possess itself of their retreats.

But it was not against the Black Rat alone that its rapacity was directed; all other animals of inferior strength shared the same misfortunes. The contest with the black rat was of short continuance. As it was unable to contend, and had no holes to fly to for retreat, but where its voracious enemy could pursue, the whole race was soon extinguished. The Frog also was an animal equally incapable of combat or defence. It had been designedly introduced into the kingdom of Ireland some years before the Norway rat; and it was seen to multiply amazingly. The inhabitants were pleased with the propagation of an harmless animal, that served to rid their fields of insects; and even [Page 67] the prejudices of the people were in its fa­vour, as they supposed that the frog contributed to render their waters more wholesome. But the Norway rat soon put a stop to their encrease; as these animals were of an amphibious nature, they pursued the frog to its lakes and took it even in its own natural element. I am, there­fore, assured, that the frog is once more almost extinct in that kingdom; and that the Norway rat, having no more enemies left there to destroy, is grown less numerous also.

We are not likely, therefore, to gain by the destruction of our old domestics, since they are replaced by such mischievous successors. The Norway rat has the same disposition to injure us, with much greater power of mischief. It burrows in the banks of rivers, ponds, and ditches; and is every year known to do incre­dible damage to those mounds that are raised to conduct streams, or to prevent rivers from overflowing. In these holes, which it forms pretty near the edge of the water, it chiefly resides during the summer, where it lives upon small animals, fish, and corn. At the ap­proach of winter, it comes nearer the farm houses; burrows in their corn, eats much, and damages still more than it consumes. But no­thing that can be eaten, seems to escape its [Page 68] voracity. It destroys rabbits, poultry, and all kinds of game; and, like the polecat, kills much more than it can carry away. It swims with great ease, dives with great celerity, and easily thins the fish pond. In short, scarce any of the feebler animals escape its rapacity, ex­cept the mouse, which shelters itself in its little hole, where the Norway rat is too big to follow.

These animals frequently produce from fif­teen to thirty at a time^*; and usually bring forth three times a year. This great encrease would quickly be found to overrun the whole country, and render our assiduity to destroy them fruitless, were it not, happily for us, that they eat and destroy each other. The same insatiable appetite that impels them to indiscriminate carnage, also incites the strongest to devour the weakest, even of their own kind. The large male rat generally keeps in an hole by itself, and is as dreaded by its own species, as the most formidable enemies. In this man­ner the number of these vermin is kept within due bounds; and when their encrease becomes injurious to us, it is repressed by their own ra­pacity.

[Page 69]But beside their own enmities among each other, all the stronger carnivorous quadrupedes have natural antipathies against them. The dog, though he detests their flesh, yet openly declares his alacrity to pursue them; and attacks them with great animosity. Such as are trained up to killing these vermin, dispatch them often with a single squeeze: but those dogs that shew any hesitation, are sure to come off but indif­ferently; for the rat always takes the advantage of a moment's delay, and, instead of waiting for the attack, becomes the aggressor, seizing its pursuer by the lip, and inflicting a very painful and dangerous wound. From the in­flammation, and other angry symptoms that attend this animal's bite, some have been led to think that it was in some measure venemous; but it is likely that the difficulty of the wound's healing, arises merely from its being deep and lacerated by the teeth, and is rather a con­sequence of the figure of the instruments that inflict it, than any venom they may be sup­posed to possess.

The cat is another formidable enemy of this kind; and yet the generality of our cats neither care to attack it, nor to feed upon it when killed. The cat is a more prudent hunter than the dog, and will not be at the pains to take [Page 70] or combat with an enemy that is not likely to repay her time and danger. Some cats, however, will pursue and take the rat; though often not without an obstinate resistance. If hungry also, the cat will sometimes eat the head; but, in general, she is merely content with her victory.

A foe much more dangerous to these vermin is the weasel. This animal pursues them with avidity; and being pretty nearly of their own size, follows them into their holes, where a desperate combat ensues. The strength of each is pretty near equal; but the arms are very different. The rat, furnished with four long tusks at the extremity of its jaw, rather snaps than bites; but the weasel, where it once fastens, holds, and continuing also to suck the blood at the same time, weakens its antagonist, and always obtains the victory. Mankind have contrived several other methods of destroying these noxious intruders; ferrets, traps, and par­ticularly poison: but of all other poisons, I am told that the nux vomica, ground and mixed with meal, is the most certain, as it is the least dangerous.

To this species I will subjoin as a variety, the Black Rat, mentioned above, greatly resem­bling the former in figure, but very distinct in [Page 71] nature, as appears from their mutual antipathy. This animal was formerly as mischievous as it was common; but at present it is almost ut­terly extirpated by the great rat, one malady often expelling another. It is become so scarce, that I do not remember ever to have seen one. It is said to be possessed of all the voracious and unnatural appetites of the former; though, as it is less, they may probably be less noxious. Its length is about seven inches; and the tail is near eight inches long. The colour of the body is of a deep iron grey, bordering upon black, except the belly, which is of a dirty cinereous hue. They have propagated in America in great numbers, being originally introduced from Europe; and as they seem to keep their ground wherever they get footing, they are now become the most noxious animals in that part of the world.

To this also we may subjoin the Black Water Rat, about the same size with the latter, with a larger head, a blunter nose, less eyes, and shorter ears, and the tip of its tail a little white. It was supposed by Ray to be web footed; but this has been found to be a mistake, its toes pretty much resembling those of its kind. It never frequents houses; but is usually found on the banks of rivers, ditches and ponds, where [Page 72] it burrows and breeds. It feeds on fish, frogs, and insects; and in some countries it is eat on fasting days.

ANIMALS of the Hedge-hog kind require but very little accuracy to distinguish them from all others. That hair which serves the generality of quadrupedes for warmth and or­nament, is partly wanting in these; while its place is supplied by sharp spines or prickles, that serve for their defence. This general cha­racteristic, therefore, makes a much more ob­vious distinction than any that can be taken from their teeth or their claws. Nature, by this extraordinary peculiarity, seems to have se­parated them in a very distinguished manner; so that, instead of classing the hedge-hog among the moles, or the porcupine with the hare, as some have done, it is much more natural and obvious to place them, and others approaching them in this strange peculiarity, in a class by themselves: nor let it be supposed, that while I thus alter their arrangement, and separate them from animals with which they have been for­merly combined, that I am destroying any secret affinities that exist in nature. It is natural, in­deed, for readers to suppose, when they see two [Page 100] such opposite animals as the hare and the porcupine assembled together in the same groupe, that there must be some material rea­son, some secret connexion, for thus joining animals so little resembling each other in appearance. But the reasons for this union were very slight, and merely arose from a simi­litude in the fore teeth: no likeness in the in­ternal conformation; no similitude in nature, in habitudes, or disposition; in short, nothing to fasten the link that combines them, but the similitude in the teeth: this, therefore, may be easily dispensed with; and, as was said, it will be most proper to class them according to their most striking similitudes.

The Hedge-hog, with an appearance the most formidable, is yet one of the most harmless animals in the world: unable or unwilling to offend, all its precautions are only directed to its own security; and it is armed with a thou­sand points, to keep off the enemy, but not to invade him. While other creatures trust to their force, their cunning, or their swiftness, this animal, destitute of all, has but one ex­pedient for safety; and from this alone it often finds protection. As soon as it perceives itself attacked, it withdraws all its vulnerable parts, rolls itself into a ball, and presents nothing but its defensive thorns to the enemy; thus, while [Page 101] it attempts to injure no other quadrupede, they are equally incapable of injuring it: like those knights, we have somewhere read of, who were armed in such a manner, that they could neither conquer others, nor be themselves over­come.

This animal is of two kinds; one with a nose like the snout of an hog; the other, more short and blunt, like that of a dog. That with the muzzle of a dog is the most common, being about six inches in length, from the tip of the nose to the insertion of the tail. The tail is little more than an inch long; and so concealed by the spines, as to be scarce visible: the head, back, and sides, are covered with prickles; the nose, breast, and belly, are covered with fine soft hair^*; the legs are short, of a dusky colour, and almost bare; the toes on each foot are five in number, long and separated; the prickles are about an inch in length, and very sharp pointed; their lower part is white, the middle black, and the points white: the eyes are small, and placed high in the head; the ears are round, pretty large, and naked; the mouth is small, but well furnished with teeth; these, however, it only uses in chewing its food, [Page 102] but neither in attacking or defending itself against other animals. Its only reliance in cases of danger, is on its spines; the instant it per­ceives an enemy, it puts itself into a posture of defence, and keeps upon its guard until it supposes the danger over. On such occasions, it immediately alters its whole appearance: from its usual form, somewhat resembling a small animal, with a bunch on its back, the animal begins to bend its back, to lay its head upon its breast, to shut its eyes, to roll down the skin of its sides towards the legs, to draw these up, and, lastly, to tuck them in on every side, by drawing the skin still closer. In this form, which the hedge-hog always puts on when disturbed, it no way resembles an animal, but rather a roundish mass of prickles, impervious on every side. The shape of the animal thus rolled up, somewhat resembles a chestnut in the husk; there being, on one side, a kind of flat space, which is that on which the head and legs have been tucked in.

Such is the usual appearance of the hedge-hog, upon the approach of any danger. Thus rolled up in a lump, it patiently waits till its enemy passes by, or is fatigued with fruitless attempts to annoy it. The cat, the weasel, the ferret, and the martin, quickly decline the combat; and the dog himself generally spends [Page 103] his time in empty menaces, rather than in ef­fectual efforts. Every encrease of danger only encreases the animal's precautions to keep on its guard; its assailant vainly attempts to bite, since he thus more frequently feels than inflicts a wound; he stands enraged and barking, and rolls it along with his paws; still, however, the hedge-hog patiently submits to every indignity, but continues secure; and still more to disgust its enemy with the contest, sheds its urine, the smell of which is alone sufficient to send him away. In this manner the dog, after barking for some time, leaves the hedge-hog where he found him; who perceiving the danger past, at length peeps out from its ball, and, if not in­terrupted, creeps slowly to its retreat.

The hedge-hog, like most other wild ani­mals, sleeps by day, and ventures out by night. It generally resides in small thickets, in hedges, or in ditches covered with bushes; there it makes an hole of about six or eight inches deep, and lies well wrapped up, in moss, grass, or leaves. Its food is roots, fruits, worms, and insects. It is also said to suck cattle, and hurt their udders; but the smallness of its mouth will serve to clear it from this reproach. It is said also to be very hurtful in gardens and orchards, where it will roll itself in [Page 104] an heap of fruit, and so carry a large quantity away upon its prickles; but this imputation is as ill grounded as the former, since the spines are so disposed, that no fruit will stick upon them, even if we should try to fix them on. It rather appears to be a very serviceable animal, in ridding our fields of insects and worms, which are so prejudicial to vegetation.

Mr. Buffon, who kept these animals tame about his house, acquits them of the reproach of being mischievous in the garden; but then he accuses them of tricks, of which from the form and habits of this animal one would be never led to suspect them. ‘"I have often," says he, "had the female and her young brought me about the beginning of June: they are generally from three to five in number: they are white in the beginning, and only the marks of their spines appear: I was willing to rear some of them, and accordingly put the dam and her young into a tub, with abundant provision beside them; but the old animal, instead of suckling her young, devoured them all, one after another. On another occasion, an hedge-hog that had made its way into the kitchen, discovered a little pot, in which there was meat prepared for boiling; the mischievous animal drew out the meat, and left its excrements in [Page]

They couple in spring, and bring forth about the beginning of summer. They sleep during the winter; and what is said of their laying up provisions for that season, is conse­quently false. They at no time eat much, and can remain very long without any food whatso­ever. Their blood is cold, like all other animals that sleep during the winter. Their flesh is not good for food; and their skins are converted to scarce any use, except to muzzle calves, to keep them from sucking.

WHEN we talk of a quadrupede, the name seems to imply an animal covered with hair; when we mention a bird, it is natural to conceive a creature covered with feathers; when we hear of a fish, its scales are generally the first part that strikes our imagination. Nature, however, owns none of our distinctions; various in all her operations, she mixes her plans, groupes her pictures, and excites our wonder as well by her general laws as by her deviations. Quadru­pedes, which we have considered as making the first general class in animated nature, and next to man the most dignified tenants of the earth, are yet in many respects related to the classes beneath them, and do not in every respect pre­serve their usual distinctions. Their first cha­racter, which consists in having four feet, is [Page 117] common to the lizard kind as well as to them. The second prerogative, which is that of bring­ing forth living young, is found in the cetaceous tribe of fishes, and also in insects without num­ber. Their third and last attribute, which seems more general and constant than the former, that of being covered with hair, is yet found in various other animals, and is deficient in quadrupedes themselves. Thus we must be cautious of judging of the nature of animals from one single character, which is always found incomplete; for it often happens that three or four of the most general characters will not suffice. It must be by a general enumeration of the parts that we can determine precisely of the works of the creation; and, instead of de­finitions, learn to describe. Had this method been followed, much of the disgust and the in­tricacy of history might have been avoided, and that time, which is now employed in combating error, laid out in the promoting of science.

Were we to judge of nature from definitions only, we should never be induced to suppose that there existed races of viviparous quadru­pedes destitute of hair, and furnished with scales and shells in their stead. However, nature, every way various, supplies us with many in­stances [Page 118] of these extraordinary creatures; the old world has its quadrupedes covered with scales, and the new with a shell. In both they resemble each other, as well in the strangeness of their appetites as in their aukward conformation. Like animals but partially made up, and par­taking of different natures, they want those in­stincts which animals formed but for one ele­ment alone are found to possess. They seem to be a kind of strangers in nature, creatures taken from some other element, and capriciously thrown to find a precarious subsistence upon land.

The Pangolin, which has been usually called the Scaly Lizard, Mr. Buffon very judiciously restores to that denomination by which it is known in the countries where it is found The calling it a lizard, he justly observes, might be apt to produce error, and occasion its being confounded with an animal which it resembles only in its general form, and in its being covered with scales. The lizard may be considered as a reptile, produced from an egg; the pangolin is a quadrupede, and brought forth alive and perfectly formed. The lizard is all over covered with the marks of scales; the pangolin has scales neither on the throat, the breast, or the [Page]

[Page 119] belly. The scales of the lizard seem stuck upon the body even closer than those of fishes; the scales of the pangolin are only fixed at one end, and capable of being erected, like those of the porcupine, at the will of the animal. The lizard is a defenceless creature; the pangolin can roll itself into a ball, like the hedge-hog, and present the points of its scales to the enemy, which effectually defend it.

The Pangolin, which is a native of the torrid climates of the ancient continent, is, of all other animals, the best protected from external in­jury by Nature. It is about three or four feet long, or, taking in the tail, from six to eight. Like the lizard, it has a small head, a very long nose, a short thick neck, a long body, legs very short, and a tail extremely long, thick at the insertion, and terminating in a point. It has no teeth, but is armed with five toes on each foot, with long white claws. But what it is chiefly distinguished by is its scaly covering, which in some measure hides all the proportions of its body. These scales defend the animal on all parts, except the under part of the head and neck, under the shoulders, the breast, the belly, and the inner side of the legs; all which parts are covered with a smooth soft skin, with­out [Page] [...] [Page 119] [...] [Page 120] hair. Between the shells of this animal, at all the interstices, are seen hairs like bristles, brown at the extremity and yellow towards the root. The scales of this extraordinary creature are of different sizes and different forms, and stuck upon the body somewhat like the leaves of an artichoak. The largest are found near the tail, which is covered with them like the rest of the body. These are above three inches broad, and about two inches long, thick in the middle and sharp at the edges, and terminated in a roundish point. They are extremely hard, and their substance resembles that of horn. They are convex on the outside and a little con­cave on the inner; one edge sticks in the skin, while the other laps over that immediately be­hind it. Those that cover the tail conform to the shape of that part, being of a dusky brown colour, and so hard, when the animal has ac­quired its full growth, as to turn a musquet-ball.

Thus armed, this animal fears nothing from the efforts of all other creatures, except man. The instant it perceives the approach of an enemy, it rolls itself up like the hedge-hog, and presents no part but the cutting edges of its scales to the assailant. Its long tail, which, [Page 121] at first view, might be thought easily separable, serves still more to encrease the animal's se­curity. This is lapped round the rest of the body, and, being defended with shells even more cutting than any other part, the creature continues in perfect security. Its shells are so large, so thick, and so pointed, that they repel every animal of prey; they make a coat of ar­mour that wounds while it resists, and at once protects and threatens. The most cruel, the most famished quadrupede of the forest, the tiger, the panther, and the hyena, make vain attempts to force it. They tread upon, they roll it about, but all to no purpose; the pangolin remains safe within, while its invader almost always feels the reward of its rashness. The fox often destroys the hedge-hog by pressing it with his weight, and thus obliges it to put forth its nose, which he in­stantly seizes, and soon after the whole body; but the scales of the pangolin effectually sup­port it under any such weight, while nothing that the strongest animals are capable of doing can compel it to surrender. Man alone seems furnished with arms to conquer its obstinacy. The Negroes of Africa, when they find it, beat it to death with clubs, and consider its flesh as a very great delicacy.

[Page 122]But, although this animal be so formidable in its appearance, there cannot be a more harm­less inoffensive creature when unmolested. It is even unqualified by Nature to injure larger animals, if it had the disposition, for it has no teeth. It should seem that the bony matter, which goes in other animals to supply the teeth, is exhausted in this in supplying the scales that go to the covering of its body. However this be, its life seems correspondent to its peculiar conformation. Incapable of being carnivorous, since it has no teeth, nor of subsisting on ve­getables, which require much chewing, it lives entirely upon insects, for which Nature has fitted it in a very extraordinary manner. As it has a long nose, so it may naturally be supposed to have a long tongue; but, to encrease its length still more, it is doubled in the mouth, so that when extended it is shot out to above a quarter of a yard beyond the tip of the nose. This tongue is round, extremely red, and covered with an unctuous and slimy liquor, which gives it a shining hue. When the pangolin, therefore, approaches an ant hill, for these are the insects on which it chiefly feeds, it lies down near it, concealing as much as possible the place of its retreat, and stretching out its long tongue [Page 123] among the ants, keeps it for some time quite immoveable. These little animals, allured by its appearance, and the unctuous substance with which it is imeared, instantly gather upon it in great numbers; and when the pangolin supposes a sufficiency, it quickly withdraws the tongue, and swallows them at once. This peculiar manner of hunting for its prey is repeated either till it be satisfied, or till the ants, grown more cautious, will be allured to their destruction no longer. It is against these noxious insects, therefore, that its only force or cunning is exerted; and were the Negroes but sufficiently sensible of its utility in destroying one of the greatest pests to their country, they would not be so eager to kill it. But it is the nature of savage man to pursue the immediate good, with­out being solicitous about the more distant be­nefit they remove. They, therefore, hunt this animal, with the utmost avidity, for its flesh; and, as it is slow and unable to escape in an open place, they seldom fail of destroying it. However, it chiefly keeps in the most obscure parts of the forest, and digs itself a retreat in the clefts of rocks, where it brings forth its young, so that it is but rarely met with, and continues a solitary species, and an extraor­dinary instance of the varying of Nature.

[Page 124]Of this animal, there is a variety which is called the Phatagin, much less than the former, being not above a foot long from the head to the tail, with shells differently formed, with its belly, breast, and throat covered with hair, in­stead of a smooth skin as in the former; but that by which it is peculiarly distinguished is the ex­tent of its tail, which is above twice the length of its body. Both are found in the warm lati­tudes of the East, as well as in Africa; and, as their numbers are but few, it is to be supposed their fecundity is not great.

HAVING in the last chapter described a race of animals that unite the boundaries be­tween quadrupedes and insects, I come in this to a very different class, that serve to fill up the chasm between quadrupedes and birds. Some naturalists, indeed, have found animals of the bat kind so much partaking of the nature of both, that they have been at a loss in which rank to place them, and have doubted, in giving the history of the Bat, whether it was a beast or a bird they were describing. These doubts, however, no longer exist; they are now universally made to take their place among quadrupedes, to which their bringing forth their young alive, their hair, their teeth, as well as the rest of their habi­tudes and conformation, evidently entitle them. Pliny, Gesner, and Aldrovandus, who placed them among birds, did not consider that they wanted every character of that order of animals, except the power of flying. Indeed, when this animal is seen with an aukward and struggling motion, supporting itself in the air at the dusk of the evening, it presents in some measure the [Page 135] appearance of a bird; but naturalists, whose business it is to examine it more closely, to watch its habitudes, and inspect into its forma­tion, are inexcusable for concurring in the mistake.

The bat in scarce any particular resembles the bird, except in its power of sustaining itself in the air. It brings forth its young alive; it suckles them; its mouth is furnished with teeth; its lungs are formed like those of qua­drupedes; its intestines, and its skeleton, have a complete resemblance, and even are, in some measure, seen to resemble those of mankind^*.

The bat most common in England, is about the size of a mouse; or nearly two inches and an half long. The membranes that are usually called wings, are, properly speaking, an ex­tension of the skin all round the body, except the head, which, when the animal flies, is kept stretched on every side, by the four interior toes of the fore feet, which are enormously long, and serve like masts that keep the can­vass of a sail spread, and regulate its motions^†. The first toe is quite loose, and serves as a heel when the bat walks, or as an hook, when it would adhere to any thing. The hind feet are disengaged from the surrounding skin, [Page 136] and divided into five toes, somewhat resem­bling those of a mouse. The skin by which it flies is of a dusky colour. The body is covered with a short fur, of a mouse colour, tinged with red. The eyes are very small; the ears like those of a mouse.

This species of the bat is very common in England. It makes its first appearance early in summer, and begins its flight in the dusk of the evening. It principally frequents the sides of woods, glades, and shady walks; and is frequently observed to skim along the surface of pieces of water. It pursues gnats, moths, and nocturnal insects of every kind. It feeds upon these; but will not refuse meat, wherever it can find it. Its flight is a laborious, irre­gular movement; and if it happens to be in­terrupted in its course, it cannot readily pre­pare for a second elevation; so that if it strikes against any object, and falls to the ground, it is usually taken. It appears only in the most pleasant evenings, when its prey is generally abroad, and flies in pursuit with its mouth open. At other times it continues in its re­treat; the chink of a ruined building, or the hollow of a tree. Thus this little animal, even in summer, sleeps the greatest part of its time, never venturing out by day-light, nor in rainy [Page 137] weather; never hunting in quest of prey, but for a small part of the night, and then return­ing to its hole. But its short life is still more abridged by continuing in a torpid state during the winter. At the approach of the cold season, the bat prepares for its state of lifeless inactivity, and seems rather to chuse a place where it may continue safe from interruption, than where it may be warmly or conveniently lodged. For this reason it is usually seen hanging by its hooked claws to the roofs of caves, regardless of the eternal damps that surround it. The bat seems the only animal that will venture to remain in these frightful subterranean abodes, where it continues in a torpid state, unaffected by every change of the weather. Such of this kind as are not provident enough to procure themselves a deep retreat, where the cold and heat seldom vary, are sometimes exposed to great inconveniences, for the weather often becomes so mild in the midst of winter as to warm them prematurely into life, and to allure them from their holes in quest of food, when Nature has not provided a supply. These, therefore, have seldom strength to return; but, having exhausted themselves in a vain pursuit, after insects which are not to be found, are destroyed by the owl, or any other animal that follows such petty prey.

[Page 138]The bat couples and brings forth in summer, generally from two to five at a time: of this I am certain, that I have found five young ones in a hole together; but whether they were the issue of one parent, I cannot tell. The female has but two nipples, and those forward on the breast, as in the human kind. This was a suf­ficient motive for Linnaeus to give it the title of a Primas, to rank it in the same order with mankind; and to push this contemptible animal among the chiefs of the creation. Such ar­bitrary associations produce rather ridicule than instruction, and render even method contemp­tible: however, we are to forgive too strong an attachment to system in this able naturalist, since his application to the particular history of the animal, counterbalances the defect^*.

From Linnaeus we learn, that the female makes no nest for her young, as most birds and quadru­pedes are known to do. She is barely content with the first hole she meets, where sticking her­self by her hooks against the sides of her apart­ment, she permits her young to hang at the nipple, and in this manner to continue for the first or second day. When, after some time, the dam begins to grow hungry, and finds a necessity of stirring abroad, she takes her little [Page 139] ones and sticks them to the wall, in the manner she before hung herself; there they immoveably cling, and patiently wait till her return.

Thus far this animal seems closely allied to the quadrupede race. Its similitude to that of birds is less striking. As Nature has furnished birds with extremely strong pectoral muscles, to move the wings, and direct their flight, so has it also furnished this animal. As birds also have their legs weak, and unfit for the purposes of motion, the bat has its legs fashioned in the same manner, and is never seen to walk, or, more properly speaking, to push itself forward with its hind legs, but in cases of extreme ne­cessity. The toes of the fore legs, or, if we may use the expression, its extremely long fingers, extend the web like a membrane that lies between them; and this, which is ex­tremely thin, serves to lift the little body into the air: in this manner, by an unceasing per­cussion, much swifter than that of birds, the animal continues, and directs its flight; how­ever, the great labour required in flying, soon fatigues it; for, unlike birds, which continue for days together upon the wing, the bat is tired in less than an hour, and then returns to its hole, satisfied with its supply, to enjoy the darkness of its retreat.

[Page 140]If we consider the bat as it is seen in our own country, we shall find it an harmless, inoffensive creature. It is true that it now and then steals into a larder, and, like a mouse, commits its petty thefts upon the fattest parts of the bacon. But this happens seldom; the general tenor of its industry is employed in pursuing insects that are much more noxious to us than itself can possibly be; while its evening flight, and its unsteady wabbling motion, amuse the ima­gination, and add one figure more to the pleasing groupe of animated nature.

The varieties of this animal, especially in our country, are but few; and the differences scarce worth enumeration. Naturalists mention the Long ear'd Bat, much less than that generally seen, and with much longer ears; the Horse shoe Bat, with an odd protuberance round its upper lip, somewhat in the form of an horse-shoe; the Rhinoceros Bat, with an horn growing from the nose, somewhat similar to that animal from whence it has the name. These, with several others, whose varieties are too numerous, and differences too minute for a detail, are all in­offensive, minute, and contemptible; incapable, from their size, of injuring mankind, and not sufficiently numerous much to incommode him. But there is a larger race of bats, found in the [Page 141] East and West-Indies, that are truly for­midable; each of these is singly a dangerous enemy; but when they unite in flocks, they then become dreadful. Were the inhabitants of the African coasts^*, says Des Marchais, to eat animals of the bat kind, as they do in the East-Indies, they would never want a supply of provisions. They are there in such numbers, that, when they fly, they obscure the setting sun. In the morning, at peep of day, they are seen sticking upon the tops of the trees, and clinging to each other, like bees when they swarm, or like large clusters of coco. The Europeans often amuse themselves with shoot­ing among this huge mass of living crea­tures, and observing their embarrassment when wounded. They sometimes enter the houses, and the Negroes are expert at killing them; but although these people seem for ever hungry, yet they regard the bat with horror, and will not eat it, though ready to starve.

Of foreign bats, the largest we have any cer­tain accounts of, is the Rousette, or the Great Bat of Madagascar. This formidable creature is near four feet broad, when the wings are ex­tended; and a foot long, from the tip of the [Page 142] nose to the insertion of the tail. It resembles our bat in the form of its wings, in its manner of flying, and in its internal conformation. It differs from it in its enormous size; in its colour, which is red, like that of a fox; in its head and nose also, which resemble those of that animal, and which have induced some to call it the flying fox: it differs also in the number of its teeth; and in having a claw on the fore foot, which is wanting in ours. This formidable creature is found only in the ancient continent; particularly in Madagascar, along the coasts of Africa and Malabar, where it is usually seen about the size of a large hen. When they re­pose, they stick themselves to the tops of the tallest trees, and hang with their heads down­ward. But when they are in motion, nothing can be more formidable: they are seen in clouds, darkening the air, as well by day as by night, destroying the ripe fruits of the country, and sometimes settling upon animals, and man himself: they devour, indiscriminately, fruits, flesh, and insects, and drink the juice of the palm-tree: they are heard at night in the forests at more than two miles distance, with an hor­rible din; but at the approach of day, they usually begin to retire: nothing is safe from [Page]

[Page 142] [...] [Page] [...] [Page 143] their depredations; they destroy fowls and do­mestic animals, unless preserved with the ut­most care, and often fasten upon the inhabit­ants themselves, attack them in the face, and inflict very terrible wounds. In short, as some have already observed, the ancients seem to have taken their idea of harpies from these fierce and voracious creatures, as they both concur in many parts of the description, being equally deformed, greedy, uncleanly, and cruel.

An animal not so formidable, but still more mischievous than these, is the American Vam­pyre. This is less than the former; but more deformed, and still more numerous. It is furnished with an horn like the rhinoceros bat; and its ears are extremely long. The other kinds generally resort to the forest, and the most deserted places; but these come into towns and cities, and, after sun-set, when they begin to fly, cover the streets like a canopy^*. They are the common pest both of men and animals; they effectually destroy the one, and often distress the other. ‘"They are," says Ulloa, "the most expert blood-letters in the world. The inhabitants of those warm lati­tudes being obliged, by the excessive heats, to [Page 144] leave open the doors and windows of the cham­bers where they sleep, the vampyres enter, and if they find any part of the body exposed, they never fail to fasten upon it. There they continue to suck the blood; and it often happens that the person dies under the opera­tion. They insinuate their tooth into a vein, with all the art of the most experienced surgeon, continuing to exhaust the body, until they are satiated. I have been assured," continues he, "by persons of the strictest veracity, that such an accident has happened to them; and that, had they not providentially awaked, their sleep would have been their passage into eter­nity; having lost so large a quantity of blood as hardly to find strength to bind up the ori­fice. The reason why the puncture is not felt is, besides the great precaution with which it is made, the gentle refreshing agitation of the bat's wings, which contribute to encrease sleep, and soften the pain."’

The purport of this account has been con­firmed by various other travellers; who all agree that this bat is possessed of a faculty of drawing the blood from persons sleeping; and thus often destroying them before they awake. But still a very strong difficulty re­mains [Page 145] to be accounted for; the manner in which they inflict the wound. Ulloa, as has been seen, supposes that it is done by a single tooth; but this we know to be impossible, since the animal cannot infix one tooth without all the rest accompanying its motions; the teeth of the bat kind being pretty even, and the mouth but small. Mr. Buffon therefore supposes the wound to be inflicted by the tongue; which, however, appears to me too large to inflict an unpainful wound; and even less qualified for that purpose than the teeth. Nor can the tongue, as Mr. Buffon seems to suppose, serve for the purposes of suction, since for this it must be hollow, like a syringe, which it is not found to be. I should therefore suppose, that the animal is endowed with a strong power of suction; and that, without inflicting any wound whatsoever, by continuing to draw, it enlarges the pores of the skin in such a manner that the blood at length passes, and that more freely the longer the operation is continued; so that, at last, when the bat goes off, the blood con­tinues to flow. In confirmation of this opinion we are told, that where beasts have a thick skin, this animal cannot injure them; whereas, in horses, mules, and asses, they are very liable [Page 146] to be thus destroyed. As to the rest, these animals are considered as one of the great pests of South America; and often prevent the peopling of many parts of that continent: having destroyed at Barja, and several other places, such cattle as were brought there by the missionaries, in order to form a settle­ment.

THE gradations of Nature from one class of beings to another are made by imperceptible devi­ations. As we saw in the foregoing chapters qua­drupedes almost degraded into the insect tribe, or mounted among the inhabitants of the air, we are at present to observe their approach to fishes, to trace the degrees by which they become more unlike terrestrial animals, till the similitude of the fish prevails over that of the quadrupede.

As in opposite armies the two bodies are di­stinct and separated from each other, while yet between them are various troops that plunder on both sides and are friends to neither, so be­tween terrestrial and aquatic animals there are tribes that can scarce be referred to any rank, but lead an amphibious life between them. Sometimes in water, sometimes on land, they seem fitted for each element, and yet completely adapted to neither. Wanting the agility of quadrupedes upon land, and the perseverance of fishes in the deep, the variety of their powers only seems to diminish their force; and, though possessed of two different methods of living, [Page 148] they are more inconveniently provided than such as have but one.

All quadrupedes of this kind, though co­vered with hair in the usual manner, are fur­nished with membranes between the toes, which assist their motion in the water. Their paws are broad and their legs short, by which they are more completely fitted for swimming, for taking short strokes at a time they make them oftner and with greater rapidity. Some, how­ever, of these animals are more adapted to live in the water than others; but, as their power encreases to live in the deep, their unfitness for living upon land encreases in the same propor­tion. Some, like the otter, resemble quadrupedes in every thing except in being in some measure web-footed; others depart still further, in being, like the beaver, not only web-footed, but hav­ing the tail covered with scales, like those of a fish. Others depart yet farther, as the seal and the morse, by having the hind feet stuck to the body like fins; and others, as the lamentin, almost entirely resemble fishes, by having no hind feet whatsoever. Such are the gradations of the amphibious tribe. They all, however, get their living in the water, either by habit or conformation; they all continue a long time under water; they all consider that element as [Page 149] their proper abode; whenever prest by danger, they fly to the water for security; and, when upon land, appear watchful, timorous, and un­wieldy.

In the first step of the progression from land to amphibious animals, we find the Otter, re­sembling those of the terrestrial kind in shape, hair, and internal conformation; resembling the aquatic tribes in its manner of living, and in having membranes between the toes to assist it in swimming. From this peculiar make of its feet, which are very short, it swims even faster than it runs, and can overtake fishes in their own element. The colour of this animal is brown; and it is somewhat of the shape of an overgrown weasel, being long, slender, and soft skinned. However, if we examine its figure in detail, we shall find it unlike any other animal hitherto described, and of such a shape as words can but weakly convey. Its usual length is about two feet long, from the tip of the nose to the in­sertion of the tail; the head and nose are broad and flat; the mouth bears some similitude to that of a fish; the neck is short, and equal in thickness to the head; the body long; the tail broad at the insertion, but tapering off to a point at the end; the eyes are very small, and placed nearer the nose than usual in quadru­pedes. [Page 150] The legs are very short, but remarkably strong, broad, and muscular. The joints are articulated so loosely, that the animal is capable of turning them quite back, and bringing them on a line with the body, so as to perform the office of fins. Each foot is furnished with five toes, connected by strong broad webs like those of water fowl. Thus Nature, in every part, has had attention to the life of an animal whose food is fish, and whose haunts must necessarily be about water.

This voracious animal is never found but at the sides of lakes and rivers, but particularly the former, for it is seldom fond of fishing in a running stream, for the current of the water having more power upon it than the fishes it pursues, if it hunts against the stream it swims too slow; and if with the stream, it overshoots its prey. However, when in rivers, it is always observed to swim against the stream, and to meet the fishes it preys upon rather than to pursue them. In lakes it destroys much more than it de­vours, and is often seen to spoil a pond in the space of a few nights. But the damage they do by destroying fish is not so great as their tearing in pieces the nets of the fishers, which they infal­libly do whenever they happen to be entangled. The instant they find themselves caught, they [Page]

[Page 150] [...] [Page] [...] [Page 151] go to work with their teeth, and in a few mi­nutes destroy nets of a very considerable value.

The otter has two different methods of fishing; the one by catching its prey from the bottom upward, the other by pursuing it into some little creek and seizing it there. In the former case, as this animal has longer lungs than most other quadrupedes, upon taking in a quantity of air, it can remain for some minutes at the bottom; and whatever fish passes over at that time is certainly taken; for, as the eyes of fish are placed so as not to see under them, the otter attacks them off their guard from be­low; and, seizing them at once by the belly, drags them on shore, where it often leaves them untouched, to continue the pursuit for hours together. The other method is chiefly practised in lakes and ponds, where there is no current; the fish thus taken are rather of the smaller kind, for the great ones will never be driven out of deep water.

In this manner the otter usually lives during the summer, being furnished with a supply much greater than its consumption; killing for its amusement, and infecting the edges of the lake with quantities of dead fish, which it leaves there as trophies rather of its victory than its necessities. But in winter, when the lakes are [Page 152] frozen over, and the rivers pour with a rapid torrent, the otter is often greatly distressed for provisions; and is then obliged to live upon grass, weeds, and even the bark of trees. It then comes upon land, and, grown courageous from necessity, feeds upon terrestrial animals, rats, insects, and even sheep themselves. Na­ture, however, has given it the power of con­tinuing a long time without food; and, although during that season it is not rendered quite tor­pid, like the marmout or the dormouse, yet it keeps much more within its retreat, which is usually the hollow of a bank worn under by the water. There it often forms a kind of gal­lery, running for several yards along the edge of the water; so that when attacked at one end, it flies to the other, and often evades the fowler by plunging into the water at forty or fifty paces distance, while he expects to find it just before him.

We learn from Mr. Buffon that this animal, in France, couples in winter and brings forth in the beginning of spring. But it is certainly different with us, for its young are never found till the latter end of summer; and I have fre­quently, when a boy, discovered their retreats, and pursued them at that season. I am, there­fore, more inclined to follow the account given [Page 153] us of this animal by Mr. Lots, of the Academy of Stockholm, who assures us that it couples about the middle of summer, and brings forth, at the end of nine weeks, generally three or four at a time. This, as well as the generality of his other remarks on this subject, agrees so ex­actly with what I remember concerning it, that I will beg leave to take him for my guide, as­suring the reader that, however extraordinary the account may seem, I know it to be certainly true.

In the rivers and the lakes frequented by the otter, the bottom is generally stony and uneven, with many trunks of trees, and long roots stretching underneath the water^*. The shore also is hollow and scooped inward by the waves. These are the places the otter chiefly chuses for its retreat; and there is scarce a stone which does not bear the mark of its residence, as upon them its excrements are always made. It is chiefly by this mark that its lurking places are known, as well as by the quantity of dead fish that are found lying here and there upon the banks of the water. To take the old ones alive is no easy task, as they are extremely strong, and there are few dogs that will dare to encounter them. They bite with great fierce­ness, [Page 154] and never let go their hold when they have once fastened. The best way, therefore, is to shoot them at once, as they never will be thoroughly tamed; and, if kept for the purposes of fishing, are always apt to take the first opportunity of escaping. But the young ones may be more easily taken, and con­verted to very useful purposes. The otter brings forth its young generally under the hol­low banks, upon a bed of rushes, flags, or such weeds as the place affords it in greatest quan­tities. I see in the British Zoology a description of its habitation, where that naturalist observes, ‘"that it burrows under ground, on the banks of some river or lake, and always makes the entrance of its hole under water, then works up to the surface of the earth, and there makes a minute orifice for the admission of air; and this little air-hole is often found in the middle of some thicket."’ In some places this may be true, but I have never observed any such con­trivance; the retreat, indeed, was always at the edge of the water, but it was only sheltered by the impending bank, and the otter itself seemed to have but a small share in its formation. But, be this as it may, the young ones are always found at the edge of the water; and, if under the protection of the dam, she teaches [Page 155] them instantly to plunge, like herself, into the deep, and escape among the rushes or weeds that fringe the stream. At such times, there­fore, it is very difficult to take them; for, though never so young they swim with great rapidity, and in such a manner that no part of them is seen above water, except the tip of the nose. It is only when the dam is absent that they can be taken; and in some places there are dogs purposely trained for discovering their retreats. Whenever the dog comes to the place, he soon, by his barking, shews that the otter is there; which, if there be an old one, instantly plunges into the water, and the young all follow. But if the old one be absent, they continue terrified, and will not venture forth but under her guidance and protection. In this manner they are secured and taken home alive, where they are carefully fed with small fish and water. In proportion, however, as they gather strength, they have milk mixed among their food, the quantity of their fish provision is retrenched, and that of vegetables is encreased, until at length they are fed wholly upon bread, which perfectly agrees with their constitution. The manner of training them up to hunt for fish requires not only assiduity but patience; however, their activity and use, when [Page 156] taught, greatly repays the trouble of teaching; and, perhaps, no other animal is more bene­ficial to its master. The usual way is, first to learn them to fetch as dogs are instructed; but, as they have not the same docility, so it requires more art and experience to teach them. It is usually performed by accustoming them to take a truss stuffed with wool, of the shape of a fish, and made of leather, in their mouths, and to drop it at the word of command; to run after it when thrown forward, and to bring it to their master. From this they proceed to real fish, which are thrown dead into the water, and which they are taught to fetch from thence. From the dead they proceed to the live, until at last the animal is perfectly instructed in the whole art of fishing. An otter thus taught is a very valuable animal, and will catch fish enough to sustain not only itself but a whole family. I have seen one of these go to a gentleman's pond at the word of command, drive up the fish into a corner, and, seizing up the largest of the whole, bringing it off, in its mouth, to its master.

Otters are to be met with in most parts of the world, and rather differ in size and colour from each other, than in habitudes or confor­mation^*. In North America and Carolina [Page 157] they are usually found white, inclining to yellow. The Brasilian otter is much larger than ours, with a roundish head, almost like a cat. The tail is shorter, being but five inches long; and the hair is soft, short, and black, except on the head, where it is of a dark brown, with a yel­lowish spot under the throat.

QUADRUPEDES may be considered as a numerous groupe, terminated on every side by some that but in part deserve the name. On one quarter we see a tribe covered with quills, or furnished with wings, that lift them among the inhabitants of air; on another, we behold a diversity cloathed with scales and shells, to rank with insects; and still, on a third, we see them descending into the waters, to live among the mute tenants of that element. We now come to a numerous tribe, that, leaving the brute creation, seem to make approaches even to humanity; that bear an aukward resemblance of the human form, and discover some faint efforts at intellectual sagacity.

Animals of the monkey class are furnished with hands instead of paws; their ears, eyes, eye-lids, lips, and breasts, are like those of man­kind; their internal conformation also bears some distant likeness; and the whole offers a picture that may well mortify the pride of such as make their persons alone the principal object of their admiration.

These approaches, however, are gradual; and [Page 188] some bear the marks of this our boasted form, more strongly than others.

In the Ape kind we see the whole external machine strongly impressed with the human like­ness, and capable of the same exertions: these walk upright, want a tail, have fleshy posteriors, have calves to their legs, and feet nearly like ours.

In the Baboon kind we perceive a more distant approach to the human form; the quadrupede mixing in every part of the animal's figure: these generally go upon all fours; but some, when upright, are as tall as a man; they have short tails, long snouts, and are possessed of brutal fierceness.

The Monkey kind are removed a step fur­ther: these are much less than the former, with tails as long, or longer than their bodies, and flattish faces.

Lastly, the Maki and Opassum kind, seem to lose all resemblance of the human figure, ex­cept in having hands; their noses are length­ened out, like those of quadrupedes, and every part of their bodies totally different from the human; however, as they grasp their food, or other objects, with one hand, which quadru­pedes cannot do, this single similitude gives them an air of sagacity, to which they have scarce any other pretensions.

From this slight survey it may be easily seen [Page 189] that one general description will not serve for animals so very different from each other: ne­vertheless, it would be fatiguing to the last de­gree, as their varieties are so numerous, and their differences so small, to go through a particular description of each. In this case it will be best to give an history of the foremost in each class; at the same time marking the distinctions in every species. By this we shall avoid a tedious repetition of similar characters, and consider the manners and the oddities of this phantastic tribe in general points of view; where we shall perceive how nearly they ap­proach to the human figure, and how little they benefit by the approximation.

The foremost of the Ape kind is the Ourang Outang, or Wild Man of the Woods. This name seems to have been given to various ani­mals, agreeing in one common character of walking upright, but coming from different countries, and of very different proportions and powers. The Troglodyte of Bontius, the Drill of Purchas, and the Pygmy of Tyson, have all received this general name; and have been ranked, by some naturalists, under one general description. If we read the accounts of many remote travellers, under this name we are presented with a formidable animal, from [Page 190] six to eight feet high; if we examine the books of such as have described it nearer home, we find it a pigmy not above three. In this di­versity we must be content to blend their va­rious descriptions into one general account; observing, at the same time, that we have no reason to doubt any of their relations, although we are puzzled which to follow.

The Ouran Outang, which, of all other ani­mals, most nearly approaches to the human race, is seen of different sizes, from three to seven feet high. In general, however, its sta­ture is less than that of a man; but its strength and agility much greater. Travellers who have seen various kinds of these animals in their native solitudes, give us surprizing relations of their force, their swiftness, their address, and their ferocity. Naturalists who have observed their form and manners at home, have been as much struck with their patient, pliant, imitative dispositions; with their appearance and con­formation, so nearly human. Of the smallest sort of these animals we have had several, at different times, brought into this country, all nearly alike; but that observed by Dr. Tyson, is the best known, having been described with the greatest exactness.

The animal which was described by that [Page 191] learned physician, was brought from Angola in Africa, where it had been taken in the internal parts of the country, in company with a female of the same kind, that died by the way. The body was covered with hair, which was of a coal black colour, more resembling human hair than that of brutes. It bore a still stronger similitude in its different lengths; for in those places where it is longest on the human species, it was also longest in this; as on the head, the upper lip, the chin, and the pubes. The face was like that of a man, the forehead larger, and the head round. The upper and lower jaw were not so prominent as in monkies; but flat, like those of a man. The ears were like those of a man in most respects; and the teeth had more resemblance to the human, than those of any other creature. The bending of the arms and legs were just the same as in a man; and, in short, the animal, at first view, presented a figure entirely human.

In order to discover its differences, it was ne­cessary to take a closer survey; and then the imperfections of its form began to appear. The first obvious difference was in the flatness of the nose; the next in the lowness of the forehead, and the wanting the prominence of the chin. The ears were proportionably too large; the [Page 192] eyes too close to each other; and the interval between the nose and mouth too great. The body and limbs differed, in the thighs be­ing too short, and the arms too long; in the thumb being too little, and the palm of the hand too narrow. The feet also were rather more like hands than feet; and the animal, if we may judge from the figure, bent too much upon its haunches.

When this creature was examined anato­mically, a surprizing similitude was seen to prevail in its internal conformation. It differed from man in the number of its ribs, having thirteen; whereas, in man, there are but twelve. The vertebrae of the neck also were shorter, the bones of the pelvis narrower, the orbits of the eyes were deeper, the kidnies were round­er, the urinary and gall bladders were longer and smaller, and the ureters of a different figure. Such were the principal distinctions between the internal parts of this animal and those of man; in almost every thing else they were entirely and exactly the same, and dis­covered an astonishing congruity. Indeed, many parts were so much alike in confor­mation, that it might have excited wonder how they were productive of such few advantages. The tongue, and all the organs of the voice, [Page 193] were the same, and yet the animal was dumb; the brain was formed in the same manner with that of man, and yet the creature wanted rea­son: an evident proof (as Mr. Buffon finely ob­serves) that no disposition of matter will give mind; and that the body, how nicely soever formed, is formed in vain, when there is not infused a soul to direct its operations.

Having thus taken a comparative view of this creature with man, what follows may be necessary to compleat the general description. This animal was very hairy all behind, from the head downwards; and the hair so thick, that it covered the skin almost from being seen: but in all parts before, the hair was much thinner, the skin every where appeared; and in some places it was almost bare. When it went on all fours, as it was sometimes seen to do, it appeared all hairy; when it went erect, it appeared before less hairy, and more like a man. Its hair, which in this particular animal was black, much more resembled that of men than the fur of brutes; for, in the latter, be­sides their long hair, there is usually a finer and shorter intermixed; but in the ouran outang it was all of a kind; only about the pubes the hair was greyish, seemed longer, and somewhat different; as also on the upper lip and chin, [Page 194] where it was greyish, like the hair of a beard. The face, hands, and soles of the feet, were without hair; and so was most part of the forehead: but down the sides of the face the hair was thick, it being there about an inch and an half long, which exceeded that on any other part of the body. In the palms of its hands were remarkable those lines which are usually taken notice of in palmistry; and, at the tips of the fingers, those spiral lines ob­served in man. The palms of the hands were as long as the soles of the feet; and the toes upon these were as long as the fingers; the middle toe was the longest of all, and the whole foot differed from the human. The hinder feet being thus formed as hands, the animal often used them as such; and, on the contrary, now and then made use of its hands instead of feet. The breasts appeared small and shrivelled, but exactly like those of a man: the navel also appeared very fair, and in exact dis­position, being neither harder nor more pro­minent than what is usually seen in children. Such is the description of this extraordinary creature; to which little has been added by succeeding observers, except that the colour of the hair is often found to vary: in that de­scribed by Edwards it was of a reddish brown.

[Page 195]From a picture so like that of the human species, we are naturally led to expect a cor­responding mind; and it is certain, that such of these animals as have been shewn in Europe, have discovered a degree of imitation beyond what any quadrupede can arrive at.

That of Tyson was a gentle, fond, harmleis creature. In its passage to England, those that it knew on ship-board it would embrace with the greatest tenderness, opening their bosoms, and clasping its hands about them. Monkies of a lower species it held in utter aversion; it would always avoid the place where they were kept in the same vessel; and seemed to consider itself as a creature of higher extraction. After it was taken, and a little used to wear cloaths, it grew very fond of them; a part it would put on without any help, and the rest it would carry in its hands to some of the company, for their assistance. It would lie in a bed, place its head on the pillow, and pull the cloaths up­wards, as a man would do.

That which was seen by Edwards, and de­scribed by Buffon, shewed even a superior de­gree of sagacity. It walked, like all of its kind, upon two legs, even though it carried burthens. Its air was melancholly, and its deportment grave. Unlike the baboon or monkey, whose [Page 196] motions are violent and appetites capricious, who are fond of mischief and obedient only from fear, this animal was slow in in its mo­tions, and a look was sufficient to keep it in awe. I have seen it, says Mr. Buffon, give its hand to show the company to the door: I have seen it sit at table, unfold its napkin, wipe its lips, make use of the spoon and the fork to carry the victuals to its mouth, pour out its drink into a glass, touch glasses when invited, take a cup and saucer and lay them on the table, put in sugar, pour out its tea, leave it to cool be­fore drinking, and all this without any other instigation than the signs or the command of its master, and often of its own accord. It was gentle and inoffensive; it even approached strangers with respect, and came rather to re­ceive caresses than to offer injuries. It was par­ticularly fond of sugared comfits, which every body was ready to give it; and, as it had a de­fluxion upon the bread, so much sugar contri­buted to encrease the disorder and shorten its life. It continued at Paris but one summer, and died in London. It ate indiscriminately of all things, but it preferred dry and ripe fruits to all other aliments. It would drink wine, but in small quantities, and gladly left it for milk, tea, or any other sweet liquor.

[Page 197]Such these animals appeared when brought into Europe. However, many of their extra­ordinary habits were probably the result of edu­cation, and we are not told how, long the in­structions they received for this purpose were continued. But we learn from another account that they take but a very short time to come to a great degree of imitative perfection. Mr. L. Brosse bought two young ones, that were but a year old, from a Negroe; and these at that early age discovered an astonishing power of imitation^*. They even then sat at the table like men, ate of every thing without distinc­tion, made use of their knife, spoon, and fork, both to eat their meat and help themselves. They drank wine and other liquors. When carried on shipboard, they had signs for the cabbin boys expressive of their wants; and whenever these neglected attending upon them as they desired, they instantly flew into a pas­sion, seized them by the arm, bit them, and kept them down. The male was sea-sick, and required attendance like an human creature; he was even twice bled in the arm; and every time afterwards when he found himself out of order, he shewed his arm, as desirous of being relieved by bleeding.

[Page 198]Pyrard relates, that in the province of Sierra Leona, in Africa, there are a kind of apes, called Baris, which are strong and muscular, and which, if properly instructed when young, serve as very useful domestics. They usually walk upright; they pound at a mortar; they go to the river to fetch water, this they carry back in a little pitcher, on their heads; but if care be not taken to receive the pitcher at their return, they let it fall to the ground, and then, seeing it broken, they begin to lament and cry for their loss. Le Compte's account is much to the same purpose of an ape, which he saw in the Streights of Molucca. ‘"It walked upon its two hind feet, which it bent a little, like a dog that had been taught to dance. It made use of its hands and arms as we do. Its visage was not much more disagreeable than that of an Hottentot; but the body was all over covered with a woolly hair of different colours. As to the rest, it cried like a child; all its outward ac­tions were so like the human, and the passions so lively and significant, that dumb men could scarce better express their conceptions and de­sires. It had also that expression of passion or joy which we often see in children, stamping with its feet, and striking them against the ground, to shew its spight, or when refused [Page 199] any thing it passionately longed for. Although these animals," continues he, "are very big, for that I saw was four feet high, their nimble­ness is incredible. It is a pleasure beyond expression to see them run up the tackling of a ship, where they sometimes play as if they had a knack of vaulting peculiar to themselves, or as if they had been paid, like our rope-dancers, to divert the company. Sometimes, suspended by one arm, they poize themselves, and then turn all of a sudden round about a rope, with as much quickness as a wheel, or a sling put into motion. Sometimes holding the rope suc­cessively with their long fingers, and, letting their whole body fall into the air, they run full speed from one end to the other, and come back again with the same swiftness. There is no posture but they imitate, nor motion but they perform. Bending themselves like a bow, rolling like a bowl, hanging by the hands, feet, and teeth, according to the different fan­cies with which their capricious imagination supplies them. But what is still more amazing than all is, their agility to fling themselves from one rope to another, though at thirty, forty, and fifty feet distance."’

Such are the habitudes and the powers of the smaller class of these extraordinary creatures; [Page 200] but we are presented with a very different pic­ture in those of a larger stature and more mus­cular form. The little animals we have been describing, which are seldom found above four feet high, seem to partake of the nature of dwarfs among the human species, being gentle, assiduous, and playful, rather fitted to amuse than terrify. But the gigantic races of the Ourang Outang, seen and described by travellers, are truly formidable; and in the gloomy forests, where they are only found, seem to hold undis­puted dominion. Many of these are as tall or taller than a man; active, strong and intrepid, cunning, lascivious and cruel. This redoubtable rival of mankind is found in many parts of Africa, in the East-Indies, in Madagascar, and in Borneo^*. In the last of these places, the people of quality course him as we do the stag; and this sort of hunting is one of the favourite amusements of the king himself. This creature is extremely swift of foot, endowed with extra­ordinary strength, and runs with prodigious celerity. His skin is all hairy, his eyes sunk in his head, his countenance stern, his face tanned, and all his lineaments, though exactly human, harsh and blackened by the sun. In Africa this creature is even still more formidable. Battel calls [Page 201] him the Pongo, and assures us that in all his proportions he resembles a man, except that he is much larger, even to a gigantic state. His face resembles that of a man, the eyes deep sunk in the head, the hair on each side ex­tremely long, the visage naked and without hair, as also the ears and the hands. The body is lightly covered, and scarcely differing from that of a man, except that there are no calves to the legs. Still, however, the animal is seen to walk upon his hinder legs, and in an erect posture. He sleeps under trees, and builds himself an hut, which serves to protect him against the sun and the rains of the tropical climates, of which he is a native. He lives only upon fruits, and is no way carnivorous. He cannot speak, although furnished with greater instinct than any other animal of the brute creation. When the Negroes make a fire in the woods, this animal comes near and warms him­self by the blaze. However, he has not skill enough to keep the flame alive by feeding it with fuel. They go together in companies; and if they happen to meet one of the human species, remote from succour, they shew him no mercy. They even attack the elephant, which they beat with their clubs, and oblige to leave that part of the forest which they claim [Page 202] as their own. It is impossible to take any of these dreadful creatures alive, for they are so strong that ten men would not be a match for but one of them. None of this kind, therefore, are taken except when very young, and these but rarely, when the female happens to leave them behind, for in general they keep clung to the breast, and adhere both with legs and arms. From the same traveller we learn, that when one of these animals dies, the rest cover the body with a quantity of leaves and branches. They sometimes also shew mercy to the human kind. A Negroe boy, that was taken by one of these, and carried into the woods, continued there a whole year, without receiving any in­jury^*. From another traveller we learn, that these animals often attempt to surprize the fe­male Negroes as they go into the woods, and frequently keep them against their wills for the pleasure of their company, feeding them very plentifully all the time. He assures us that he knew a woman of Loango that had lived among these animals for three years. They grow from six to seven feet high, and are of unequalled strength. They build sheds, and make use of clubs for their defence. Their faces are broad, their noses flat, their ears without a tip, [Page 203] their skins are more bright than that of a Mul­latoe, and they are covered on many parts of the body with long and tawny coloured hair. Their belly is large, their heels flat, and yet rising behind. They sometimes walk upright, and sometimes upon all fours, when they are phantastically disposed.

From this description of the Ouran Outang, we perceive at what a distance the first animal of the brute creation is placed from the very lowest of the human species. Even in countries peopled with savages, this creature is considered as a beast; and in those very places where we might suppose the smallest difference between them and mankind, the inhabitants hold it in the greatest contempt and detestation. In Borneo, where this animal has been said to come to its greatest perfection, the natives hunt it in the same manner as they pursue the elephant or the lion, while its re­semblance to the human form procures it neither pity nor protection. The gradations of Nature in the other parts of nature are minute and in­sensible; in the passage from quadrupedes to fishes we can scarce tell where the quadrupede ends and the fish begins; in the descent from beasts to insects we can hardly distinguish the steps of the progression; but in the ascent from brutes to man, the line is strongly drawn, well [Page 204] marked, and unpassable. It is in vain that the Ouran Outang resembles man in form, or imi­tates many of his actions; he still continues a wretched, helpless creature, pent up in the most gloomy part of the forest, and, with regard to the provision for his own happiness, inferior even to the elephant or the beaver in sagacity. To us, indeed, this animal seems much wiser than it really is. As we have long been used to measure the sagacity of all actions by their similitude to our own, and not their fitness to the animal's way of living, we are pleased with the imitations of the ape, even though we know they are far from contributing to the convenience of its situation. An ape, or a quadrupede, when under the tramels of human education, may be an admirable object for human curiosity, but is very little advanced by all its learning in the road to its own felicity. On the contrary, I have never seen any of these long instructed animals that did not, by their melancholly air, appear sensible of the wretch­edness of their situation. Its marks of seeming sagacity were merely relative to us and not to the animal; and all its boasted wisdom was merely of our own making.

There is, in fact, another circumstance re­lative to this animal which ought not to be [Page]

[Page 204] [...] [Page] [...] [Page 205] concealed. I have many reasons to believe that the most perfect of the kind are prone, like the rest of the quadrupede creation, and only owe their erect attitude to human education. Almost all the travellers who speak of them mention their going sometimes upon all fours, and sometimes erect. As their chief residence is among trees, they are without doubt usually seen erect while they are climbing; but it is more than probable that their efforts to escape upon the ground are by running upon the hands and feet together. Schouten, who mentions their education, tells us that they are taken in traps, and taught in the beginning to walk upon their hind legs; which certainly implies that in a state of nature they run upon all fours. Add to this, that, when we examine the palms of their hands and the soals of their feet, we find both equally cal­lous and beaten; a certain proof that both have been equally used. In those hot countries, where the apes are known to reside, the soals of the Ne­groes feet, who go bare-foot, are covered with a skin above an inch thick; while their hands are as soft as those of an European. Did the apes walk in the same manner, the same exercise would have furnished them with similar advan­tages, which is not the case. Besides all this, I have been assured by a very credible traveller, [Page 206] that these animals naturally run in the woods upon all fours; and when they are taken, their hands are tied behind them, to teach them to walk upright. This attitude they learn after some time; and, thus instructed, they are sent into Europe to astonish the speculative with their near approaches to humanity, while it is never considered how much is natural, and how much has been acquired in the savage schools of Benin and Angola.

The animal next to these, and to be placed in the same class, is the Ape, properly so called, or the Pithekos of the ancients. This is much less than the former, being not above a foot and an half high, but walks erect, is without a tail, and is easily tamed.

Of this kind also is the Gibbon, so called by Buffon, or the Long Armed Ape, which is a very extraordinary and remarkable creature. It is of different sizes, being from four feet to two feet high. It walks erect, is without a tail, has a face resembling that of a man, with a circle of bushy hair all round the visage; its eyes are large and sunk in its head; its face tanned and its ears exactly proportioned. But that in which it chiefly differs from all others of the monkey tribe is the extraordinary length of its arms, which, when the animal [Page]

[Page 206] [...] [Page] [...] [Page]

[Page 207] stands erect, are long enough to reach the ground; so that it can walk upon all fours and yet keep its erect posture at the same time. This animal, next to the Ouran Outang and the Ape, most nearly resembles mankind, not only in form, but in gentle manners and tractable disposition. It is a native of the East-Indies, and particularly found along the coasts of Co­romandel.

The last of the ape kind is the Cynocephalus, or the Magot of Buffon. This animal wants a tail, like the former, although there is a small protuberance at that part, which yet is rather formed by the skin than the bone. It differs also in having a large callous red rump. The face is prominent, and approaches more to that of quadrupedes than of man. The body is covered with a brownish hair, and yellow on the belly. It is about three feet and an half, or four feet high, and is a native of most parts of Africa and the East. As it recedes from man in its form, so also it appears different in its dispositions, being sullen, vicious, and un­tractable^*.

HAVING gone through the description of those quadrupedes that, by resembling each other in some striking particular, admit of being grouped together and considered under one point of view, we now come to those insulated sorts that bear no similitude with the rest, and that to be distinctly described must be separately con­sidered.

The foremost of these, and in every respect the noblest quadrupede in nature, is the ele­phant, not less remarkable for its size than its docility and understanding. All historians con­cur in giving it the character of the most saga­cious animal next to man; and yet, were we to take our idea of its capacity from its outward appearance, we should be led to conceive very meanly of its abilities. The elephant, at first view, presents the spectator with an enormous mass of flesh that seems scarcely animated. Its huge body, covered with a callous hide, with­out hair; its large mis-shapen legs, that seem scarcely formed for motion; its little eyes, large ears, and long trunk; all give it an air of ex­treme stupidity. But our prejudices will soon [Page]

[Page 253] [...] [Page] [...] [Page 254] subside when we come to examine its history; they will even serve to encrease our surprize when we consider the various advantages it derives from so clumsy a conformation.

The elephant is seen from seven to no less than fifteen feet high. Whatever care we take to imagine a large animal beforehand, yet the first sight of this huge creature never fails to strike us with astonishment, and in some measure to exceed our idea. Having been used to smaller animals, we have scarce any conception of its magnitude; for a moving column of flesh, four­teen feet high, is an object so utterly different from those we are constantly presented with, that to be conceived it must be actually seen. Such, I own, were the suggestions that natu­rally arose to me when I first saw this animal, and yet for the sight of which I had taken care to prepare my imagination. I found my ideas fall as short of its real size as they did of its real figure; neither the pictures I had seen, nor the descriptions I had read, giving me adequate conceptions of either.

It would, therefore, be impossible to give an idea of this animal's figure by a description; which, even assisted by the art of the engraver, will but confusedly represent the original. In general it may be observed, that the forehead is [Page 254] very high and rising, the ears very large and dependant, the eyes extremely small, the pro­boscis, or trunk, long, the body round and full, the back rising in an arch, and the whole ani­mal short in proportion to its height. The feet are round at the bottom; on each foot there are five flat horny risings, which seem to be the ex­tremities of the toes, but do not appear out­wardly. The hide is without hair, full of scratches and scars, which it receives in its pas­sage through thick woods and thorny places. At the end of the tail there is a tuft of hair, a foot and a half long. The female is less than the male, and the udder is between the fore­legs. But a more accurate, as well as a more entertaining description of the parts, will natu­rally occur in the history of their uses.

Of all quadrupedes, the elephant is the strongest, as well as the largest; and yet, in a state of nature, it is neither fierce nor for­midable^*. Mild, peaceful, and brave, it never abuses its power or its strength, and only uses its force for its own protection, or that of its community. In its native desarts, the elephant is seldom seen alone, but appears to be a social [Page 255] friendly creature. The oldest of the company conducts the band; that which is next in se­niority brings up the rear. The young, the weak, and the sickly, fall into the center; while the females carry their young, and keep them from falling by means of their trunks. They maintain this order only in dangerous marches, or when they desire to feed in cultivated grounds; they move with less precaution in the forests and solitudes; but without ever separat­ing, or removing so far asunder as to be in­capable of lending each other any requisite as­sistance. Nothing can be more formidable than a drove of elephants as they appear at a distance in an African landscape; wherever they march, the forest seems to fail before them; in their passage, they bear down the branches upon which they feed; and, if they enter into an inclosure, they destroy all the labours of the husbandman in a very short time. Their in­vasions are the more disagreeable as there is no means of repelling them; since it would require a small army to attack the whole drove when united. It now and then happens that one or two is found lingering behind the rest, and it is against these that the art and force of the hunters are united; but an attempt to molest the whole body would certainly be fatal. They [Page 256] go forward directly against him who offers the insult, strike him with their tusks, seize him with their trunks, fling him into the air, and then trample him to pieces under their feet. But they are thus dreadful only when offended, and do no manner of personal injury when suf­fered to feed without interruption. It is even said that they are mindful of injuries received; and, when once molested by man, seek all oc­casions for the future to be revenged; they smell him with their long trunks at a distance; follow him with all their speed upon the scent; and, though slow to appearance, they are soon able to come up with and destroy him.

In their natural state, they delight to live along the sides of rivers, to keep in the deepest vales, to refresh themselves in the most shady forests and watery places. They cannot live far from the water; and they always disturb it before they drink. They often fill their trunk with it, either to cool that organ, or to divert themselves by spurting it out like a fountain. They are equally distressed by the extremes of heat and cold; and, to avoid the former, they frequently take shelter in the most obscure re­cesses of the forest, or often plunge into the water, and even swim from the continent into islands some leagues distant from the shore.

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[Page 257]Their chief food is of the vegetable kind, for they loath all kind of animal diet. When one among their number happens to light upon a spot of good pasture, he calls the rest, and in­vites them to share in the entertainment; but it must be a very copious pasture indeed that can supply the necessities of the whole band. As with their broad and heavy feet they sink deep wherever they go, they destroy much more than they devour; so that they are fre­quently obliged to change their quarters, and to migrate from one country to another. The Indians and Negroes, who are often incom­moded by such visitants, do all they can to keep them away, making loud noises, and large fires round their cultivated grounds; but these precautions do not always succeed; the ele­phants often break through their fences, destroy their whole harvest, and overturn their little habitations. When they have satisfied them­selves, and trod down or devoured whatever lay in their way, they then retreat into the woods in the same orderly manner in which they made their irruption.

Such are the habits of this animal considered in a social light; and, if we regard it as an in­dividual, we shall find its powers still more ex­traordinary. With a very aukward appearance, [Page] [...] [Page 257] [...] [Page 258] it possesses all the senses in great perfection, and is capable of applying them to more useful purposes than any other quadrupede. The elephant, as we observed, has very small eyes, when compared to the enormous bulk of its body. But, though their minuteness may at first sight appear deformed, yet, when we come to examine them, they are seen to exhibit a va­riety of expression, and to discover the various sensations with which it is moved. It turns them with attention and friendship to its master; it seems to reflect and deliberate; and as its pas­sions slowly succed each other, their various workings are distinctly seen.

The elephant is not less remarkable for the excellence of its hearing. Its ears are extremely large, and greater in proportion than even those of an ass. They are usually dependent; but it can readily raise and move them. They serve also to wipe its eyes, and to protect them against the dust and flies that might otherwise incom­mode them. It appears delighted with music, and very readily learns to beat time, to move in measure, and even to join its voice to the sound of the drum and the trumpet.

This animal's sense of smelling is not only exquisite, but it is in a great measure pleased with the same odours that delight mankind. [Page 259] The elephant gathers flowers with great plea­sure and attention; it picks them up one by one, unites them into a nosegay, and seems charmed with the perfume. The orange flower seems to be particularly grateful both to its sense of taste and smelling; it strips the tree of all its verdure, and eats every part of it, even to the branches themselves. It seeks in the meadows the most odoriferous plants to feed upon; and in the woods it prefers the coco, the banana, the palm, and the sago tree, to all others. As the shoots of these are tender and filled with pith; it eats not only the leaves and the fruits, but even the branches, the trunk, and the whole plant to the very roots.

But it is in the sense of touching that this animal excels all others of the brute creation, and perhaps even man himself. The organ of this sense lies wholly in the trunk, which is an instrument peculiar to this animal, and that serves it for all the purposes of an hand. The trunk is, properly speaking, only the snout lengthened out to a great extent, hollow like a pipe, and ending in two openings, or nostrils, like those of an hog. An elephant of fourteen feet high has the trunk about eight feet long and five feet and an half in circumference at the mouth, where it is thickest. It is hollow [Page 260] all along, but with a partition running from one end of it to the other; so that though out­wardly it appears like a single pipe, it is in­wardly divided into two. This fleshy tube is composed of nerves and muscles, covered with a proper skin of a blackish colour, like that of the rest of the body. It is capable of being moved in every direction, of being lengthened and shortened, of being bent or streightened, so pliant as to embrace any body it is applied to, and yet so strong that nothing can be torn from the gripe. To aid the force of this grasp, there are several little eminences, like a cater­pillar's feet, on the underside of this instrument, which without doubt contribute to the sen­sibility of the touch as well as to the firmness of the hold. Through this trunk the animal breathes, drinks, and smells, as through a tube; and at the very point of it, just above the nostrils, there is an extension of the skin, about five inches long, in the form of a finger, and which in fact answers all the purposes of one; for, with the rest of the extremity of the trunk, it is capable of assuming different forms at will, and consequently of being adapted to the mi­nutest objects. By means of this, the elephant can take a pin from the ground, untie the knots of a rope, unlock a door, and even write with [Page 261] a pen. ‘"I have myself seen," says Aelian, "an elephant writing Latin characters on a board, in a very orderly manner, his keeper only shew­ing him the figure of each letter. While thus employed, the eyes might be observed studiously cast down upon the writing, and exhibiting an appearance of great skill and erudition."’ It sometimes happens that the object is too large for the trunk to grasp; in such a case the ele­phant makes use of another expedient as ad­mirable as any of the former. It applies the extremity of the trunk to the surface of the object, and, sucking up its breath, lifts and sustains such a weight as the air in that case is capable of keeping suspended. In this manner this instrument is useful in most of the purposes of life; it is an organ of smelling, of touching, and of suction; it not only provides for the animal's necessities and comforts, but it also serves for its ornament and defence.

But, though the elephant be thus admirably supplied by its trunk, yet, with respect to the rest of its conformation, it is unwieldy and help­less. The neck is so short that it can scarce turn the head, and must wheel round in order to discover an enemy from behind. The hun­ters that attack it upon that quarter, generally thus escape the effects of its indignation; and [Page 262] find time to renew their assaults while the ele­phant is turning to face them The legs are, indeed, not so inflexible as the neck, yet they are very stiff and bend not without difficulty. Those before seem to be longer than the hinder; but, upon being measured, are found to be something shorter. The joints, by which they bend, are nearly in the middle, like the knee of a man; and the great bulk which they are to support makes their flexure ungainly. While the elephant is young, it bends the legs to lie down or to rise; but when it grows old, or sickly, this is not performed without human as­sistance; and it becomes, consequently, so incon­venient, that the animal chuses to sleep stand­ing. The feet, upon which these massy co­lumns are supported; form a base scarce broader than the legs they sustain. They are divided into five toes, which are covered beneath the skin, and none of which appear to the eye; a kind of protuberance like claws are only ob­served, which vary in number from three to five. The apparent claws vary; the internal toes are constantly the same. The soal of the foot is furnished with a skin as thick and hard as horn, and which completely covers the whole under part of the foot.

To the rest of the elephant's incumbrances may [Page 263] be added its enormous tusks, which are unser­viceable for chewing, and are only weapons of defence. These, as the animal grows old, become so heavy, that it is sometimes obliged to make holes in the walls of its stall to rest them in, and ease itself of the fatigue of their support. It is well known to what an amazing size these tusks grow; they are two in number, proceeding from the upper jaw, and are sometimes found above six feet long. Some have supposed them to be rather the horns than the teeth of this animal; but, besides their greater similitude to bone than to horn, they have been indisputably found to grow from the upper jaw, and not from the frontal bones, as some have thought proper to assert^*. Some also have asserted, that these tusks are shed in the same manner as the stag sheds its horns; but it is very probable, from their solid consistence, and from their accidental defects, which often appears to be the effect of a slow decay, that they are as fixt as the teeth of other animals are generally found to be. Cer­tain it is that the elephant never sheds them in a domestic state, but keeps them till they be­come inconvenient and cumbrous to the last degree. An account of uses to which these [Page 264] teeth are applied, and the manner of chusing the best ivory, belongs rather to an history of the arts than of nature.

This animal is equally singular in other parts of its conformation; the lips and the tongue in other creatures serve to suck up and direct their drink or their food; but in the elephant they are totally inconvenient for such purposes; and it not only gathers its food with its trunk, but sup­plies itself with water by the same means. When it eats hay, as I have seen it frequently, it takes up a small wisp of it with the trunk, turns and shapes it with that instrument for some time, and then directs it into the mouth, where it is chewed by the great grinding teeth, that are large in proportion to the bulk of the animal. This pacquet, when chewed, is swallowed, and never ruminated again as in cows or sheep, the stomach and intestines of this creature more re­sembling those of an horse. Its manner of drinking is equally extraordinary. For this purpose, the elephant dips the end of its trunk into the water, and sucks up just as much as fills that great fleshy tube compleatly. It then lifts up its head with the trunk full, and turning the point into its mouth, as if it intended to swallow trunk and all, it drives the point below the opening of the wind-pipe. The trunk being [Page 265] in this position and still full of water, the ele­phant then blows strongly into it at the other end, which forces the water it contains into the throat, down which it is heard to pour with a loud gurgling noise, which continues till the whole is blown down. From this manner of drinking, some have been led into an opinion that the young elephant sucks with its trunk and not with its mouth; this, however, is a fact which no traveller has hitherto had an op­portunity of seeing, and it must be referred to some future accident to determine.

The hide of the elephant is as remarkable as any other part. It is not covered over with hair as in the generality of quadrupedes, but is nearly bare. Here and there indeed, a few bristles are seen growing in the scars and wrinkles of the body, and very thinly scattered over the rest of the skin; but in general the head is dry, rough, and wrinkled, and resembling more the bark of an old tree than the skin of an animal. This grows thicker every year; and, by a constant addition of substance, it at length contracts that disorder well known by the name of the ele­phantiasis, or Arabian leprosy; a disease to which man, as well as the elephant, is often subject. In order to prevent this, the Indians rub the elephant with oil, and frequently bathe [Page 266] it to preserve its pliancy. To the inconve­niences of this disorder is added another, arising from the great sensibility of those parts that are not callous. Upon these the flies settle in great abundance, and torment this animal unceas­ingly; to remedy which, the elephant tries all its arts; uses not only its tail and trunk in the natural manner to keep them off, but even takes the branch of a tree, or a bundle of hay, to strike them off with. When this fails, it often gathers up the dust with its trunk, and thus covers all the sensible places. In this man­ner it has been seen to dust itself several times a day, and particularly upon leaving the bath.

Water is as necessary to this animal as food itself. When in a state of nature, the elephant rarely quits the banks of the river, and often stands in water up to the belly. In a state of servitude, the Indians take equal care to pro­vide a proper supply; they wash it with great address; they give it all the conveniences for lending assistance to itself; they smooth the skin with a pumice stone, and then rub it over with oils, essences, and odours.

It is not to be wondered at that an animal furnished with so many various advantages, both of strength, sagacity, and obedience, should be taken into the service of man. We accord­ingly [Page 267] find that the elephant, from time immemo­rial, has been employed either for the purposes of labour, of war, or of ostentation; to encrease the grandeur of eastern princes, or to extend their dominions. We have hitherto been describing this animal in its natural state; we now come to consider it in a different view, as taken from the forest and reduced to human obedience. We are now to behold this brave harmless crea­ture as learning a lesson from mankind, and in­structed by him in all the arts of war, massacre, and devastation. We are now to behold this half reasoning animal led into the field of battle, and wondering at those tumults and that madness which he is compelled to encrease. The elephant is a native of Africa and Asia, being found neither in Europe nor America. In Africa he still retains his natural liberty. The savage inhabitants of that part of the world, instead of attempting to subdue this powerful creature to their necessities, are happy in being able to protect themselves from his fary. For­merly, indeed, during the splendour of the Carthaginian empire, elephants were used in their wars; but this was only a transitory gleam of human power in that part of the globe; the natives of Africa have long since degenerated, and the elephant is only known among them [Page 268] from his devastations. However, there are no elephants in the northern parts of Africa at present, there being none found on this side of Mount Atlas. It is beyond the river Senegal that they are to be met with in great numbers, and so down to the Cape of Good Hope, as well as in the heart of the country. In this extensive region they appear to be more numerous than in any other part of the world. They are there less fearful of man; less retired into the heart of the forests, they seem to be sensible of his im­potence and ignorance; and often come down to ravage his little labours. They treat him with the same haughty disdain which they shew to other animals, and consider him as a mis­chievous little being, that fears to oppose them openly.

But, although these animals are most plentiful in Africa, it is only in Asia that the greatest elephants are found, and rendered subservient to human command. In Africa, the largest do not exceed ten feet high; in Asia they are found from ten to fifteen. Their price en­creases in proportion to their size; and when they exceed a certain bulk, like jewels, their value then rises as the fancy is pleased to estimate.

The largest are entirely kept for the service [Page 269] of princes; and are maintained with the utmost magnificence, and at the greatest expence. The usual colour of the elephant is a dusky black, but some are said to be white; and the price of one of these is inestimable. Such a one is peculiarly appropriated for the monarch's own riding; he is kept in a palace, attended by the nobles, and almost adored by the people^*. Some have said that these white elephants are larger than the rest^†; others assert, that they are less; and still others entirely doubt their existence.

As the art of war is but very little improved in Asia, there are few princes of the east who do not procure and maintain as many elephants as they are able, and place great confidence on their assistance in an engagement. For this purpose, they are obliged to take them wild in their native forests, and tame them; for the ele­phant never breeds in a state of servitude. It is one of the most striking peculiarities in this extraordinary creature, that his generative pow­ers totally fail when he comes under the dominion of man; as if he seemed unwilling to propagate a race of slaves, to encrease the pride of his con­queror. There is, perhaps, no other quadrupede that will not breed in its own native climate, if [Page 270] indulged with a moderate share of freedom; and we know, that many of them will copulate in every climate. The elephant alone has never been seen to breed; and though he has been re­duced under the obedience of man for ages, the duration of pregnancy, in the female^*, still re­mains a secret. Aristotle, indeed, asserts, that she goes two years with young; that she con­tinues to suckle her young for three years, and that she brings forth but one at a time: but he does not inform us of the manner in which it was possible for him to have his information. From authorities equally doubtful, we learn, that the little one is about as large as a wild boar, the instant it is brought forth; that its tusks do not yet appear; but that all the rest of its teeth are apparent; that, at the age of six months, it is as large as an ox, and its tusks pretty well grown; and that it continues, in this manner, for near thirty years, advancing to maturity. All this is doubtful; but it is certain, that, in [Page 271] order to recruit the numbers which are con­sumed in war, the princes of the east are every year obliged to send into the forests, and to use various methods to procure a fresh supply. Of all these numerous bands, there is not one that has not been originally wild; nor one that has not been forced into a state of subjection. Men themselves are often content to propagate a race of slaves, that pass down in this wretched state through successive generations; but the elephant, under subjection, is unalterably bar­ren; perhaps from some physical causes, which are as yet unknown.

The Indian princes having vainly endea­voured to multiply the breed of elephants, like that of other animals, have been, at last, con­tent to separate the males from the females, to prevent those accesses of desire, which debilitated, without multiplying the species. In order to take them wild in the woods, a spot of ground is fixed upon, which is surrounded with a strong pallisade. This is made of the thickest and the strongest trees; and strengthened by cross bars, which give firmness to the whole. The posts are fixed at such distances from each other, that a man can easily pass between them; there being only one great passage left open, through which an elephant can easily come; and [Page 272] which is so contrived as to shut behind, as soon as the beast is entered. To draw him into this enclosure, it is necessary first to find him out in the woods; and a female elephant is conducted along into the heart of the forest, where it is obliged by its keeper to cry out for the male. The male very readily answers the cry, and hastens to join her; which the keeper per­ceiving, obliges her to retreat, still repeating the same cry, until she leads the animal into the enclosure already described, which shuts the moment he is entered. Still, however, the female proceeds calling, and inviting, while the male proceeds forward in the enclosure, which grows narrower all the way, and until the poor animal finds himself completely shut up, without the power of either advancing or retreating; the female, in the mean time, being let out by a private way, which she has been previously accustomed to. The wild elephant, upon seeing himself entrapped in this manner, instantly attempts to use violence; and, upon seeing the hunters, all his former desires only turn to fury. In the mean time, the hunters, having fixed him with cords, attempt to soften his indignation, by throwing buckets of water upon him in great quantities, rubbing the body with leaves, and pouring oil down his ears. Soon [Page 273] after, two tame elephants are brought, a male and a female, that caress the indignant animal with their trunks; while they still continue pouring water to refresh it. At last, a tame elephant is brought forward, of that number which is employed in instructing the new comers, and an officer riding upon it, in order to shew the late captive that it has nothing to fear. The hunters then open the enclosure; and, while this creature leads the captive along, two more are joined on either side of it, and these compel it to submit. It is then tied by cords to a massy pillar provided for that purpose, and suffered to remain in that position for about a day and a night, until its indignation be wholly subsided. The next day it begins to be somewhat submissive; and, in a fortnight, is completely tamed like the rest. The females are taken when accompanying the males; they often come into these enclosures, and they shortly after serve as decoys to the rest. But this method of taking the elephant, differs, according to the abilities of the hunter; the Negroes of Africa, who hunt this animal merely for its flesh, are content to take it in pit­falls; and often to pursue it in the defiles of a mountain, where it cannot easily turn, and so wound it from behind till it falls.

[Page 274]The elephant, when once tamed, becomes the most gentle and obedient of all animals. It soon conceives an attachment for the person that attends it, caresses him, obeys him, and seems to anticipate his desires. In a short time it begins to comprehend several of the signs made to it, and even the different sounds of the voice; it perfectly distinguishes the tone of command from that of anger or approbation, and it acts accordingly. It is seldom deceived in its master's voice; it receives his orders with attention, and executes them with prudence, eagerly, yet without precipitation. All its mo­tions are regulated; and its actions seem to par­take of its magnitude; being grave, majestic, and secure. It is quickly taught to kneel down, to receive its rider; it caresses those it knows with its trunk; with this salutes such as it is ordered to distinguish, and with this, as with an hand, helps to take up a part of its load. It suffers itself to be arrayed in harness; and seems to take a pleasure in the finery of its trappings. It draws either chariots, cannon, or shipping, with surprizing strength and perseverance; and this with a seeming satisfaction, provided that it be not beaten without a cause, and that its master appears pleased with its exertions.

The elephant's conductor is usually mounted [Page 275] upon its neck, and makes use of a rod of iron to guide it, which is sometimes pointed, and at others bent into a hook. With this the animal is spurred forward, when dull or dis­obedient; but, in general, a word is sufficient to put the gentle creature into motion, espe­cially when it is acquainted with its conductor. This acquaintance is often perfectly necessary; for the elephant frequently takes such an af­fection to its keeper, that it will obey no other: and it has been known to die for grief, when, in some sudden fit of madness, it has killed its conductor. We are told, that one of these, that was used by the French forces in India for the drawing their cannon, was promised, by the conductor, a reward, for having per­formed some painful service; but being disap­pointed of its expectations, it slew him in a fury. The conductor's wife, who was a spec­tator of this shocking scene, could not restrain her madness and despair; but running with her two children in her arms, threw them at the elephant's feet, crying out, that since it had killed her husband, it might kill her and her children also. The elephant, seeing the child­ren at its feet, instantly stopped, and mode­rating its fury, took up the eldest with its trunk, and placing him upon its neck, adopted [Page 276] him for its conductor, and obeyed him ever after with great punctuality.

But it is not for drawing burthens alone, that the elephants are serviceable in war; they are often brought into the ranks, and compelled to fight in the most dangerous parts of the field of battle. There was a time, indeed, in India, when they were much more used in war than at present. A century or two ago, a great part of the dependance of the general, was upon the number and the expertness of his elephants; but of late, since war has been contented to adopt fatal instead of formidable arts, the elephant is little used, except for drawing cannon, or transporting provisions. The princes of the country are pleased to keep a few for orna­ment, or for the purposes of removing their seraglios: but they are seldom led into a field of battle, where they are unable to withstand the discharge of fire-arms, and have been often found to turn upon their employers. Still, however, they are used in war, in the more re­mote parts of the east; in Siam, in Cochin China, in Tonquin, and Pegu. In all these places, they not only serve to swell the pomp of state, being adorned with all the barbarian splendour that those countries can bestow, but they are actually led into the field of battle, [Page 277] armed before with coats of mail, and loaded on the back each with a square tower, contain­ing from five combatants to seven. Upon its neck sits the conductor, who goads the animal into the thickest ranks, and encourages it to encrease the devastation: wherever it goes, nothing can withstand its fury; it lev [...]s the ranks with its immense bulk, flings such as op­pose it into the air, or crushes them to death under its feet. In the mean time, those who are placed upon its back, combat as from an emi­nence, and fling down their weapons with double force, their weight being added to their ve­locity. Nothing, therefore, can be more dread­ful, or more irresistible, than such a moving machine, to men unacquainted with the modern arts of war; the elephant, thus armed and con­ducted, raging in the midst of a field of battle, inspires more terror than even those machines that destroy at a distance, and are often most fatal, when most unseen. But this method of combating, is rather formidable than effectual: polished nations have ever been victorious over those semi-barbarous troops that have called in the elephant to their assistance, or attempted to gain a victory by merely astonishing their op­posers. The Romans quickly learned the art of opening their ranks, to admit the elephant; [Page 278] and thus separating it from assistance, quickly compelled its conductors to calm the animal's fury, and to submit. It sometimes also hap­pened that the elephant became impatient of control; and, instead of obeying its conductor, turned upon those forces it was employed to assist. In either case, there was a great deal of preparation to very little effect; for a single elephant is known to consume as much as forty men in a day.

At present, therefore, they are chiefly employed in carrying or drawing burthens, throughout the whole Peninsula of India; and no animal can be more fitted by nature for this employment. The strength of an elephant is equal to its bulk, for it can, with great ease, draw a load that six horses could not remove: it can readily carry upon its back three or four thousand weight; upon its tusks alone it can support near a thousand: its force may also be estimated from the velocity of its motion, compared to the mass of its body. It can go, in its ordinary pace, as fast as an horse at an easy trot; and, when pushed, it can move as swiftly as an horse at full gallop. It can travel with ease fifty or sixty miles a day; and when hard pressed, almost double that quantity. It may be heard trotting on at a great distance; it [Page 279] is easy also to follow it by the track, which is deeply impressed on the ground, and from fifteen to eighteen inches in diameter.

In India they are also put to other very dis­agreeable offices; for in some courts of the more barbarous princes, they are used as execu­tioners; and this horrid task they perform with great dexterity: with their trunks they are seen to break every limb of the criminal at the word of command; they sometimes trample him to death, and sometimes impale him on their enor­mous tusks, as directed. In this the elephant is rather the servant of a cruel master, than a voluntary tyrant, since no other animal of the forest is so naturally benevolent and gentle; equally mindful of benefits as sensible of neg­lect, he contracts a friendship for his keeper, and obeys him even beyond his capacity.

In India, where they were at one time em­ployed in launching ships, a particular elephant was directed to force a very large vessel into the water: the work proved superior to its strength, but not to its endeavours; which, however, the keeper affected to despise. ‘"Take away," says he, "that lazy beast, and bring another better fitted for service."’ The poor animal instantly upon this redoubled its efforts, fractured its scull, and died upon the spot.

[Page 280]In Deli, an elephant, passing along the streets, put his trunk into a taylor's shop, where several people were at work. One of the per­sons of the shop, desirous of some amusement, pricked the animal's trunk with his needle, and seemed highly delighted with this slight pu­nishment. The elephant, however, passed on without any immediate signs of resentment; but coming to a puddle filled with dirty water, he filled his trunk, returned to the shop, and spurted the contents over all the finery upon which the taylors were then employed.

An elephant in Adsmeer, which often passed through the bazar or market, as he went by a certain herb-woman, always received from her a mouthful of greens. Being one day seized with a periodical fit of madness, he broke his fetters, and, running through the market, put the crowd to flight; and, among others, this woman, who in her haste forgot a little child at her stall. The elephant recollecting the spot where his benefactress was accustomed to fit, took up the infant gently in his trunk, and conveyed it to a place of safety.

At the Cape of Good Hope it is customary to hunt those animals for the sake of their teeth. Three horsemen, well mounted, and armed with lances, attack the elephant alter­nately, [Page 281] each relieving the other, as they see their companion pressed, till the beast is sub­dued. Three Dutchmen, brothers, who had made large fortunes by this business, deter­mined to retire to Europe, and enjoy the fruits of their labours; but they resolved, one day be­fore they went, to have a last chace, by way of amusement: they met with their game, and began their attack in the usual manner; but, unfortunately, one of their horses falling, hap­pened to fling his rider; the enraged elephant instantly seized the unhappy huntsman with his trunk, flung him up to a vast height in the air, and received him upon one of his tusks as he fell; and then turning towards the other two brothers, as if it were with an aspect of revenge and insult, held out to them the impaled wretch, writhing in the agonies of death.

The teeth of the elephant are what produces the great enmity between him and mankind; but whether they are shed, like the horns of the deer, or whether the animal be killed to obtain them, is not yet perfectly known. All we have as yet certain is, that the natives of Africa, from whence almost all our ivory comes, assure us, that they find the greatest part of it in their forests; nor would, say they, the teeth of an elephant recompence them for their trouble [Page 282] and danger in killing it: notwithstanding, the elephants which are tamed by man, are never known to shed their tusks; and from the hard­ness of their substance, they seem no way ana­logous to deers horns.

The teeth of the elephant are very often found in a fossile state. Some years ago, two great grinding-teeth, and part of the tusk of an elephant, were discoved, at the depth of forty-two yards, in a lead mine in Flintshire^*.

The tusks of the Mammouth, so often found fossile in Siberia, and which are converted to the purposes of ivory, are generally supposed to belong to the elephant: however, the animal must have been much larger in that country than it is found at present, as those tusks are often known to weigh four hundred pounds; while those that come from Africa, seldom ex­ceed two hundred and fifty. These enormous tusks are found lodged in the sandy banks of the Siberian rivers; and the natives pretend that they belong to an animal which is four times as large as the elephant.

There have lately been discovered several enormous skeletons, five or six feet beneath the surface, on the banks of the Ohio, not remote from the river Miume in America, seven [Page 283] hundred miles from the sea-coast. Some of the tusks are near seven feet long; one foot nine inches in circumference at the base, and one foot near the point; the cavity at the root or base, nineteen inches deep. Besides their size, there are yet other differences: the tusks of the true elephant have sometimes a very slight la­teral bend; these have a larger twist, or spiral curve, towards the smaller end: but the great and specific difference consists in the shape of the grinding-teeth; which, in these newly found, are fashioned like the teeth of a carnivorous animal; not flat and ribbed transversely on their surface, like those of the modern elephant, but furnished with a double row of high and conic processes, as if intended to masticate, not to grind their food. A third difference is in the thigh bone, which is of a great disproportionable thickness to that of the elephant; and has also some other anatomical variations. These fossile bones have been also found in Peru and the Brazils; and, when cut and polished by the workers in ivory, appear, in every respect, similar. It is the opinion of Doctor Hunter that they must have belonged to a larger animal than the elephant; and differing from it, in being carnivorous. But as yet this formidable [Page 284] creature has evaded our search; and if, indeed, such an animal exists, it is happy for man that it keeps at a distance; since what ravage might not be expected from a creature, endued with more than the strength of the elephant, and all the rapacity of the tiger!

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[Page 285] NEXT to the elephant, the Rhinoceros is the most powerful of animals. It is usually found twelve feet long, from the tip of the nose to the insertion of the tail; from six to seven feet high; and the circumference of its body is nearly equal to its length. It is, there­fore, equal to the elephant in bulk; and if it appears much smaller to the eye, the reason is, that its legs are much shorter. Words can convey but a very confused idea of this ani­mal's shape; and yet there are few so remark­ably formed: its head is furnished with an horn, growing from the snout, sometimes three feet and an half long; and but for this, that part would have the appearance of the head of an hog; the upper lip, however, is much longer in proportion, ends in a point, is very pliable, serves to collect its food, and deliver it into the mouth: the ears are large, erect, and pointed; the eyes are small and piercing; the skin is naked, rough, knotty, and, lying upon the body in folds, after a very peculiar fashion: there are two folds very remarkable; one above [Page] [...] [Page 285] [...] [Page 286] the shoulders, and another over the rump: the skin, which is of a dirty brown colour, is so thick as to turn the edge of a scymitar, and to resist a musquet-ball: the belly hangs low; the legs are short, strong and thick, and the hoofs divided into three parts, each pointing forward.

Such is the general outline of an animal that appears chiefly formidable from the horn grow­ing from its snout; and formed rather for war, than with a propensity to engage. This horn, is sometimes found from three to three feet and an half long, growing from the solid bone, and so disposed, as to be managed to the greatest advantage. It is composed of the most solid substance; and pointed so as to in­flict the most fatal wounds. The elephant, the boar, or the buffalo, are obliged to strike trans­versely with their weapons; but the rhinoceros employs all his force with every blow; so that the tiger will more willingly attack any other animal of the forest, than one whose strength is so justly employed. Indeed, there is no force which this terrible animal has to apprehend: defended, on every side, by a thick horny hide, which the claws of the lion or the tiger are unable to pierce, and armed before with a weapon that even the elephant does not chuse [Page 287] to oppose. The missioners assure us, that the elephant is often found dead in the forests, pierced with the horn of a rhinoceros; and though it looks like wisdom to doubt whatever they tell us, yet I cannot help giving credit to what they relate on this occasion, particularly when confirmed by Pliny. The combat between these two, the most formidable animals of the forest, must be very dreadful. Emanuel, king of Portugal, willing to try their strength, actually opposed them to each other; and the elephant was defeated.

But though the rhinoceros is thus formi­dable by nature, yet imagination has not failed to exert itself, in adding to its terrors. The scent is said to be most exquisite; and it is affirmed, that it consorts with the tiger. It is reported also, that when it has overturned a man, or any other animal, it continues to lick the flesh quite from the bone with its tongue, which is said to be extremely rough. All this, however, is fabulous: the scent, if we may judge from the expansion of the olfactory nerves, is not greater than that of an hog, which we know to be indifferent; it keeps company with the tiger, only because they both frequent watery places in the burning climates where they are bred; and as to its rough [Page 288] tongue, that is so far from the truth, that no animal of near its size has so soft a one. ‘"I have often felt it myself," says Ladvocat, in his description of this animal; "it is smooth, soft, and small, like that of a dog; and to the feel it appears as if one passed the hand over velvet. I have often seen it lick a young man's face who kept it; and both seemed pleased with the action."’

The rhinoceros which was shewn at London in 1739, and described by Doctor Parsons, had been sent from Bengal. Though it was very young, not being above two years old, yet the charge of his carriage and food from India, cost near a thousand pounds. It was fed with rice, sugar, and hay: it was daily supplied with seven pounds of rice, mixed with three of sugar, di­vided into three, portions; it was given great quantities of hay and grass, which it chiefly preferred; its drink was water, which it took in great quantities. It was of a gentle dis­position, and permitted itself to be touched and handled by all visitors, never attempting mischief, except when abused, or when hungry; in such a case, there was no method of ap­peasing its fury, but by giving it something to eat. When angry, it would jump up against the walls of its room, with great violence; and, [Page 289] many efforts to escape, but seldom attempted to attack its keeper, and was always submissive to his threats. It had a peculiar cry, somewhat a mixture between the grunting of a hog, and the bellowing of a calf.

The age of these animals is not well known; it is said by some, that they bring forth at three years old, and if we may reason from analogy, it is probable they seldom live till above twenty. That which was shewn in London, was said by its keeper, to be eighteen years old, and even at that age, he pretended to consider it as a young one; however, it died shortly after, and that probably in the course of nature.

The Rhinoceros is a native of the desarts of Asia and Africa, and is usually found in those extensive forests, that are frequented by the elephant and the lion. As it subsists entirely up­on vegetable food, it is peaceful and harmless among its fellows of the brute creation; but, though it never provokes to combat, it equally disdains to fly. It is every way fitted for war, but rests content in the consciousness of its security. It is particularly fond of the prickly branches of trees, and is seen to feed upon such thorny shrubs as would be dangerous to other animals, either to gather, or to swallow. The prickly points of these, however, may only [Page 290] serve to give a poignant relish to this animal's palate, and may answer the same grateful ends in seasoning its banquet, that spices do in heightening ours.

In some parts of the kingdom of Asia, where the natives are more desirous of appearing war­like than shewing themselves brave, these ani­mals are tamed, and led into the field to strike terror into the enemy; but they are always an unmanageable and restive animal, and probably more dangerous to the employers, than those whom they are brought to oppose.

The method of taking them, is chiefly watching them, till they are found either in some moist or marshy place, where, like hogs, they are fond of sleeping and wallowing. They then destroy the old one with fire-arms, for no weapons, that are thrown by the force of man, are capable of entering this animal's hide. If, when the old one is destroyed, there happens to be a cub, they seize and tame it: these animals are sometimes taken in pit-falls, cover­ed with green branches, laid in those paths which the Rhinoceros makes in going from the forest to the river side.

There are some varieties in this animal, as in most others; some of them are found in Africa with a double horn, one growing above [Page 291] the other; this weapon, if considered in itself, is one of the strongest, and most dangerous, that nature furnishes to any part of the animal creation. The horn is entirely solid, formed of the hardest bony substance, growing from the upper maxilary bone, by so strong an apo­physe, as seemingly to make but one part with it. Many are the medicinal virtues that are ascribed to this horn, when taken in powder, but these qualities have been attributed to it, without any real foundation, and make only a small part of the many fables which this ex­traordinary animal has given rise to.

THE hippopotamos is an animal as large, and not less formidable than the Rhinoceros; its legs are shorter, and its head rather more bulky than that of the animal last described. We have had but few opportunities in Europe of examining this formidable creature mi­nutely, its dimensions, however, have been pretty well ascertained, by a description given us by Zerenghi, an Italian surgeon, who procured one of them to be killed on the banks of the river Nile. By his account it appears, that this terrible animal, which chiefly resides in the waters of that river, is above seventeen feet long, from the extre­mity of the snout, to the insertion of the tail; above sixteen feet in circumference round the body, and above seven feet high: the head is near four feet long, and above nine feet in cir­cumference. The jaws open about two feet wide, and the cutting teeth, of which it hath four in each jaw, are above a foot long.

[Page 293]Its feet, in some measure, resemble those of the elephant, and are divided into four parts. The tail is short, flat, and pointed; the hide is amazingly thick, and though not capable of turning a musket ball, is impenetrable to the blow of a sabre; the body is covered over with a sew scattered hairs, of a whitish colour. The whole figure of the animal is something between that of an ox and a hog, and its cry is something between the bellowing of the one, and the grunting of the other.

This animal, however, though so terribly furnished for war, seems no way disposed to make use of it's prodigious strength against an equal enemy; itchiefly resides at the bottom of the great rivers and lakes of Africa; the Nile, the Niger, and the Zara; there it leads an in­dolent kind of life, and seems seldom disposed for action, except when excited by the calls of hunger. Upon such occasions, three or four of them are often seen at the bottom of a river, near some cataract, forming a kind of line, and seizing upon such fish as are forced down by the violence of the stream. In that element they pursue their prey with great swiftness and perseverance; they swim with much force, and remain at the bottom for thirty or forty minutes without rising to take breath. They traverse the [Page 294] the bottom of the stream, as if walking upon land, and make a terrible devastation where they find plenty of prey. But it often happens, that this animal's fishy food is not supplied in suffi­cient abundance, it is then forced to come up­on land, where it is an awkward and unweildy stranger; it moves but slowly, and, as it seldom forsakes the margin of the river, it sinks at every step it takes; sometimes, however, it is forced, by famine, up into the higher grounds, where it commits dreadful havock among the plantations of the helpless natives, who see their possessions destroyed, without daring to resist their invader. Their chief method is, by lighting fires, striking drums, and raising a cry to frighten it back to its favourite element; and, as it is extremely timorous upon land, they generally succeed in their endeavours. But if they happen to wound, or otherways irritate it too closely, it then becomes formid­able to all that oppose it: it overturns what­ever it meets, and brings forth all its strength, which it seemed not to have discovered before that dangerous occasion. It possesses the same inoffensive disposition in its favourite element, that it is found to have upon land; it is never found to attack the mariners in their boats, as they go up or down the stream; but should [Page 295] they inadvertently strike against it, or otherwise disturb its repose, there is much danger of its sending them, at once, to the bottom. ‘"I have seen, says a mariner, as we find it in Dampier, one of these animals open its jaws, and seizing any boat between his teeth, at once, bite and sink it to the bottom. I have seen it upon another occasion, place itself under one of our boats, and rising under it, overset it with six men which were in it; who, however, happily received no other injury."’ Such is the great strength of this animal; and from hence, pro­bably, the imagination has been willing to match it in combat against others more fierce and equally formidable. The crocodile and shark have been said to engage with it, and yield an easy victory; but as the shark is only found at sea, and the hippopotomos never ventures beyond the mouth of fresh-water rivers, it is most probable that these engage­ments never occurred; it sometimes happens, indeed, that the princes of Africa amuse them­selves with combats, on their fresh-water lakes, between this and other formidable animals; but whether the rhinoceros or the crocodile are of this number, we have not been particularly informed. If this animal be attacked at land, and finding itself incapable of vengeance from [Page 296] the swiftness of its enemy, it immediately returns to the river, where it plunges in head foremost, and after a short time rises to the surface, loudly bellowing, either to invite or intimidate the enemy; but though the negroes will venture to attack the shark, or the crocodile, in their natural element, and there destroy them, they are too well apprised of the force of the hippo­potamos to engage it; this animal, therefore, continues the uncontrouled master of the river, and all others fly from its approach and become an easy prey.

As the hippopotomos lives upon fish and ve­getables, so it is probable the flesh of terrestrial animals may be equally grateful: the natives of Africa assert, that it has often been found to devour children and other creatures that it was able to surprise upon land; yet it moves but slowly, almost every creature, endued with a common share of swiftness, is able to escape it; and this animal, therefore, seldom ventures from the river side, but when pressed by the necessities of hunger, or of bringing forth its young.

The female always comes upon land to bring forth, and it is supposed that she seldom pro­duces above one at a time; upon this occasion, these animals are particularly timorous, and [Page 297] dread the approach of a terrestrial enemy; the instant the parent hears the slightest noise, it dashes into the stream, and the young one is seen to follow it with equal alacrity.

The young ones are said to be excellent eat­ing; but the negroes, to whom nothing that has life comes amiss, find an equal delicacy in the old. Dr. Pocock has seen their flesh sold in the shambles, like beef; and it is said, that their breast, in particular, is as delicate eating as veal. As for the rest, these animals are found in great numbers, and as they produce very fast, their flesh, might supply the countries where they are found, could those barbarous regions produce more expert huntsmen; it may be remarked, however, that this creature, which was once in such plenty at the mouth of the Nile, is now wholly unknown in Lower Egypt, and is no where to be found in that river, except above the cataracts.

WERE we to be told of an animal so tall, that a man on horseback could with ease ride under its belly, without stooping, we should hardly give credit to the relation; yet, of this extraordinary size is the camelopard, an animal that inhabits the Desarts of Africa, and the ac­counts of which are so well ascertained, that we cannot deny our assent to their authority. It is no easy matter to form an adequate idea of this creature's size, and the oddity of its formation. It exhibits somewhat the slender shape of the deer, or the camel, but destitute of their symme­try, or their easy power of motion The head somewhat resembles that of the deer, with two round horns, near a footlong, and which it is pro­bable, it sheds as deer are found to do; its neck resembles that of a horse; its legs and feet, those of the deer; but with this extra­ordinary difference, that the fore legs are near twice as long as the hinder. As these creatures [Page]

[Page 298] [...] [Page] [...] [Page 299] have been found eighteen feet high, and ten from the ground to the top of the shoulders, so allowing three feet for the depth of the body seven feet remains, which is high enough to admit a man mounted upon a middle sized horse. The hinder part, however, is much lower, so that when the animal appears stand­ing, and at rest, it has somewhat the appearance of a dog sitting, and this formation of its legs, gives it an awkward and laborious motion; which, though swift, must yet be tiresome. For this reason, the camelopard is an animal very rarely found, and only finds refuge in the most internal desart regions of Africa. The dimen­sions of a young one, as they were accurately taken by a person, who examined its skin, that was brought from the Cape of Good Hope, were found to be as follow: the length of the head, was one foot eight inches; the height of the fore leg, from the ground to the top of the shoulder, was ten feet; from the shoulder, to the top of the head, was seven; the height of the hind leg, was eight feet five inches; and from the top of the shoulder, to the insertion of the tail, was just seven feet long.

No animal, either from its disposition, or its formation, seems less fitted for a state of natural [Page 300] hostility; its horns are blunt, and even knobbed at the ends; its teeth are made entirely for vegetable pasture; its skin is beautifully speckled with white spots, upon a brownish ground; it is timorous and harmless, and not­withstanding its great size, rather flies from, than resists the slightest enemy; it partakes very much of the nature of the camel, which it so nearly resembles; it lives entirely upon vegeta­bles, and when grazing, is obliged to spread its fore legs very wide, in order to reach its pasture; its motion is a kind of pace, two legs on each side moving at the same time, whereas in other animals they move trans­versely. It often lies down with its belly to the earth, and like the camel, has a callous sub­stance upon its breast, which, when reposed, defends it from injury. This animal was known to the ancients, but has been very rarely seen in Europe. One of them was sent from the East to the Emperor of Germany, in the year 1559, but they have often been seen tame at Grand Cairo, in Egypt; and I am told, there are two there at present. When ancient Rome was in its splendour, Pompey exhibited, at one time, no less than ten, upon the theatre. It was the barbarous pleasure of the people, at that [Page 301] time, to see the most terrible, and the most ex­traordinary animals produced in combat against each other. The lion, the lynx, the tiger, the elephant, the hippopotamos, were all let loose promiscuously, and were seen to inflict indiscri­minate destruction.

THESE names do not make two distinct kinds, but are only given to a variety of the same animal, which has, however, subsisted time immemorial. The principal, and perhaps the only sensible difference, by which those two races are distinguished, consists in this, that the camel has two bunches upon his back, whereas the dromedary has but one; the latter also, is neither so large, nor so strong, as the camel. These two races, however, produce with each other, and the mixed breed formed between them is considered the best, the most patient, and the most indefatigable of all the kind.

Of the two varieties, the dromedary is, by far the most numerous; the camel being scarcely found, except in Turkey, and the countries of the Levant, while the other is found spread over all the Desarts of Arabia, the southern parts of Africa, Persia, Tartary, and a great part of the eastern Indies. Thus, the one in­habits an immense tract of country, the other, [Page]

[Page 202] [...] [Page] [...] [Page]

[Page 203] in comparison, is confined to a province; the one inhabits the sultry countries of the Torrid Zone, the other delights in a warm, but not a burning climate; neither, however, can sub­sist, or propagate, in the variable climates to­wards the north, they seem formed for those countries, where shrubs are plenty and water scarce; where they can travel along the sandy desart, without being impeded by rivers, and find food at expected distances; such a country is Arabia, and this of all others, seems the most adapted to the support and production of this animal.

The camel is the most temperate of all ani­mals, and it can continue to travel several days without drinking. In those vast desarts, where the earth is every where dry and sandy, where there are neither birds nor beasts, neither insects nor vegetables, where nothing is to be seen but hills of sand and heaps of bones, there the camel travels, posting forward, without requir­ing either drink or pasture, and is often found six or seven days without any sustenance what­soever. Its feet are formed for travelling upon sand, and utterly unfit for moist or marshy places; the inhabitants, therefore, find a most useful assistant in this animal, where no other could subsist, and by its means, cross those de­sarts [Page 204] with safety, which would be unpassable by any other method of conveyance.

An animal, thus formed for a sandy and desart region, cannot be propagated in one of a different nature. Many vain efforts have been tried to propagate the camel, in Spain; they have been transported into America, but have multiplied in neither. It is true, in­deed, that they may be brought into these countries, and may, perhaps, be found to pro­duce there, but the care of keeping them is so great, and the accidents to which they are exposed, from the changeableness of the cli­mate, are so many, that they cannot answer the care of keeping. In a few years also, they are seen to degenerate; their strength and their patience forsake them; and instead of making the riches, they become the burthen of their keepers.

But it is very different in Arabia, and those countries where the camel is turned to useful purposes. It is there considered as a sacred animal, without whose help, the natives could neither subsist, traffick, or travel; its milk makes a part of their nourishment; they feed upon its flesh particularly when young; they clothe themselves with its hair, which it is seen to molt regularly once a year, and if they fear an [Page 305] invading enemy, their camels serve them in flight, and in a single day, they are known to travel above an hundred miles. Thus, by means of the camel, an Arabian finds safety in his de­sarts; all the armies upon earth might be lost in the pursuit of a flying squadron of this country, mounted upon their camels, and taking refuge in solitudes where nothing interposes to stop their flight, or to force them to wait the in­vader. Nothing can be more dreary than the aspect of these sandy plains, that seem entirely forsaken of life and vegetation: wherever the eye turns, nothing is presented but a sterril and dusty soil, sometimes torn up by the winds, and moving in great waves along, which, when viewed from an eminence, resemble less the earth than the ocean; here and there a few shrubs appear that only teach us to wish for the grove that remind us of the shade in these sultry climates, without affording its re­freshment; the return of morning, which, in other places, carries an idea of chearfulness here serves only to enlighten the endless and dreary waste, and to present the tra­veller with an unfinished prospect of his forlorn situation; yet in this chasm of nature, by the help of the camel, the Arabian finds safety and subsistance There are here and there [Page 306] found spots of verdure, which, though remote from each other, are, in a manner, ap­proximated by the labour and industry of the camel. Thus these desarts, which present the stranger with nothing but objects of danger and sterility, afford the inhabitant protection, food, and liberty. The Arabian lives independant and tranquil in the midst of his solitudes; and, instead of considering the vast solitudes spread round him as a restraint upon his happiness, he is, by experience, taught to regard them as the ramparts of his freedom.

The camel is easily instructed in the methods of taking up and supporting his burthen; their legs, a few days after they are produced, are bent under their belly; they are in this manner loaded, and taught to rise; their burthen is every day thus encreased, by insensible degrees, till the animal is capable of supporting a weight adequate to its force: the same care is taken in making them patient of hunger and thirst: while other animals receive their food at stated times, the camel is restrained for days together, and these intervals of famine are encreased in proportion as the animal seems capable of sustain­ing them. By this method of education, they live five or six days without food or water; and their stomach is formed most admirably by [Page 307] nature, to fit them for long abstinence: besides the four stomachs, which all animals have, that chew the cud, (and the camel is of the number) it has a fifth stomach, which serves as a reservoir, to hold a greater quantity of wa­ter than the animal has an immediate occasion for. It is of a sufficient capacity to contain a large quantity of water, where the fluid remains without corrupting, or without being adulterat­ed by the other aliments: when the camel finds itself pressed with thirst, it has here an easy resource for quenching it; it throws up a quantity of this water by a simple contraction of the muscles, into the other stomachs, and this serves to macerate its dry and simple food; in this manner, as it drinks but seldom, it takes in a large quantity at a time, and travellers, when straightened for water, have been often known to kill their camels for that which they expected to find within them.

In Turky, Persia, Arabia, Barbary, and Egypt, their whole commerce is carried on by means of camels, and no carriage is more speedy, and none less expensive in these coun­tries. Merchants and travellers unite them­selves into a body, furnished with camels, to secure themselves from the insults of the rob­bers that infest the countries in which they [Page 308] live. This assemblage is called a caravan, in which the numbers are sometimes known to amount to above ten thousand, and the num­ber of camels is often greater than those of the men: each of these animals is loaded according to his strength, and he is so sensible of it him­self, that when his burthen is too great, he remains still upon his belly, the posture in which he is loaden, refusing to rise, till his burthen be lessened or taken away. In general, the large camels are capable of carrying a thousand weight, and sometimes twelve hun­dred; the dromedary from six to seven. In these trading journies, they travel but slowly, their stages are generally regulated, and they seldom go above thirty, or at most about five and thirty miles a day. Every evening, when they arrive at a stage, which is usually some spot of verdure, where water and shrubs are in plenty, they are permitted to feed at liberty; they are then seen to eat as much in an hour, as will supply them for twenty-four, they seem to prefer the coarsest weeds to the softest pasture, the thistle, the nettle, the casia, and other prickly vegetables, are their favourite food; but their drivers take care to supply them with a kind of paste composition, which serves as a more permanent nourishment. As these animals [Page 309] have often gone the same track, they are said to know their way precisely, and to pursue their passage when their guides are utterly astray: when they come within a few miles of their baiting-place, in the evening, they sagaciously scent it at a distance, and encreasing their speed, are often seen to trot, with vivacity to their stage.

The patience of this animal is most extraor­dinary; and it is probable, that its sufferings are great, for when it is loaded, it sends forth most lamentable cries, but never offers to resist the tyrant that oppresses it. At the slightest sign, it bends its knees and lies upon its belly, suffer­ing itself to be loaded in this position; by this practice the burthen is more easily laid upon it, than if lifted up while standing; at another sign it rises with its load, and the driver getting upon its back, between the two panniers, which, like hampers, are placed upon each side, he encourages the camel to proceed with his voice and with a song. In this manner the creature proceeds contentedly forward, with a slow un­easy walk, of about four miles an hour, and when it comes to its stage, lies down to be unloaded, as before.

Mr. Buffon seems to consider the camel to be the most domesticated of all other creatures, [Page 310] and to have more marks of the tyranny of man imprinted on its form. He is of opinion, that this animal is not now to be found in a state of nature, that the humps on its back, the calo­sities upon its breast, and its legs, and even the great reservoir for water, are all marks of long servitude and domestic constraint. The deformities he supposes to be perpetuated by generation, and what at first was accident at last becomes nature. However this be, the humps upon the back grow large in proportion as the animal is well fed, and if examined, they will be found composed of a substance not unlike the udder of a cow.

The inhabitants generally leave but one male to wait on ten females, the rest they castrate; and though they thus become weaker, they are more manageable and patient. The female receives the male in the same posi­tion as when these animals are loaded; she goes with young for about a year, and, like all other great animals, produces but one at a time. The camel's milk is abundant and nourishing, and mixed with water makes a principle part of the beverage of the Arabians. These animals begin to engender at three years of age, and they ordinarily live from forty to fifty years. The genital part of the male resembles that of [Page 311] the bull, but is placed pointing backwards, so that its urine seems to be ejected in the manner of the female. This, as well as the dung, and al­most every part of this animal, is converted to some useful purpose by the keepers. Of the urine falmoniac is made; and of the dung, lit­ter for the horses, and fire, for the purpose of dressing their victuals. Thus, this animal alone seems to comprise within itself, a variety of qualities, any one of which serves to render other quadrupedes absolutely necessary for the welfare of man; like the elephant, it is man­ageable and tame; like the horse, it gives the rider security; it carries greater burthens than the ox, or the mule, and its milk is furnished in as great abundance as that of the cow; the flesh of the young ones is supposed to be as deli­cate as veal; their hair is more beautiful, and more in request than wool; while even of its very excrements, no part is useless.

AS almost all the quadrupedes of America are smaller than the resembling ones of the ancient continent, so the lama, which may be consi­dered as the camel of the new world, is every way less than that of the old. This animal, like that described in the former chapter, stands high upon its legs, has a long neck, a small head, and resembles the camel, not only in its natural mildness, but its aptitude for servitude, its moderation, and its patience. The Ameri­cans early found out its useful qualities, and availed themselves of its labours: like the camel, it serves to carry goods over places in­accessible to other beasts of burthen; like that it is obedient to its driver, and often dies under, but never resists his cruelty.

Of these animals, some are white, others black, but they are mostly brown; its face re­sembles that of the camel, and its height is about equal to that of an ass. They are not found in the ancient continent, but en­tirely [Page 313] belong to the new; nor are they found spread over all America, but are found chiefly upon those mountains, that stretch from New Spain to the Streights of Magellan. They inhabit the highest regions of the globe, and seem to require purer air than animals of a lower situation are found to enjoy. Peru seems to be the place where they are found in greatest plenty. In Mexico, they are introduced rather as curiosities than beasts of burthen; but in Potosi, and other provinces of Peru, they make the chief riches of the Indians and Spaniards who rear them: their flesh is excellent food; their hair or rather wool, may be spun into beautiful cloathing, and they are capable, in the most rugged and dangerous ways, of carrying burthens not ex­ceeding a hundred weight, with the greatest safety. It is true indeed that they go but slowly, and seldom above fifteen miles a day; their tread is heavy, but sure, they descend precipices, and find footing among the most craggy rocks where even men can scarce ac­company them; they are, however, but feeble animals, and after four or five days labour, they are obliged to repose for a day or two. They are chiefly used in carrying the riches of the mines of Potosi, and we are told that there [Page 314] are above three hundred thousand of these animals in actual employ.

This animal, as was said before, is above three feet high, and the neck is three feet long, the head is small and well proportioned, the eyes large, the nose long, the lips thick, the upper divided, and the lower a little depending, like all those animals that feed upon grass, it wants the upper cutting teeth; the ears are four inches long, and move with great agility; the tail is but five inches long, it is small, strait, and a little turned up at the end; it is cloven footed, like the ox, but it has a kind of spear­like appendage behind, which assists it in mov­ing over precipices and rugged ways; the wool on the back is short, but long on the sides and the belly; it resembles the camel in the for­mation of the genital parts in the male, so that it makes urine backwards; it couples also in the same manner, and though it finds much difficulty in the action, it is said to be much inclined to venery. A whole day is often passed, before this necessary business can be compleated, which is spent in growling, quarrelling, and spitting at each other; they seldom produce above one at a time, and their age never extends above ten or twelve years at farthest.

[Page 315]Though the lama is no way comparable to the camel, either for size, strength, or per­severance, yet the Americans find a substitute in it, with which they seem perfectly content­ed. It appears formed for that indolent race of masters, which it is obliged to serve; it re­quires no care, nor no expence in the attending or providing for its sustenance; it is supplied with a warm covering, and therefore does not require to be housed; satisfied with vegetables and grass, it wants neither corn nor hay to subsist it; it is not less moderate in what it drinks, and exceeds even the camel in tem­perance. Indeed, of all other creatures, it seems to require water least, as it is supplied by nature with saliva in such large quantities, that it spits it out on every occasion: this saliva seems to be the only offensive weapon that the harmless creature has to testify its resentment. When overloaded, or fatigued, and driven on by all the torturing acts of its keeper, it falls on its belly, and pours out against him, a quantity of this fluid; which, though probably no way hurtful, the Indians are much afraid of They say, that wherever it falls, it is of such an acrimonious nature, that it will either burn the skin, or cause very dangerous erup­tions.

[Page 316]Such are these animals in their domestic state; but as they are found wild in very great numbers, they exhibit marks of great force and agility, in their state of nature. The stag is scarcely more swift, or the goat, or the shamoy a better climber. All its shapes are more delicate and strong; its colour is tawney, and its wool is but short; in their native for­rests, they are gregarious animals, and are often seen in flocks of two or three hundred at a time. When they perceive a stranger, they regard him at first with astonishment, without marking any fear or surprize; but shortly, as if by common consent, they snuff up the air, somewhat like horses, and at once, by a common flight take refuge on the tops of the mountains; they are fonder of the northern than the southern side of the Andes; they often climb above the snowy tracts of the mountain, and seem vigorous in proportion to the cold­ness of their situation. The natives hunt the wild lama for the sake of its fleece. If the dogs surprize one upon the plain, they are generally successful; but if once the lama ob­tains the rocky precipice of the mountain, the hunters are obliged to desist in their pursuit.

The lama seems to be the largest of the camel kind in America; there are others, which are [Page 317] called guanacoes and pacos, that are smaller and weaker, but endued with the same nature, and formed pretty much in the same manner. They seem to bear the same proportions to each other, that the horse does to the ass, and are employed with the same de­gree of subordination. The wool, however, of the paco, seems to be the most valuable, and it is formed into stuffs, not inferiour to silk, either in price or beauty. The natural colour of the paco, is that of a dried rose leaf; the manufacturers seldom give its wool any other dye, but form it into quilts and carpets, which exceed those from the Levant. This manufacture forms a very considerable branch of commerce in South America, and probably too, might be extended to Europe, were the beauty, and the durability of what is thus wrought up suffi­ciently known.

THIS animal, the name of which is pro­nounced nylgaw is a native of India, and has but lately been imported into Europe; it seems to be of a middle nature, between the cow and the deer, and carries the appearance of both in its form. In size, it is as much smaller than the one, as it is larger than the other; its body, horns, and tail, are not unlike those of a bull; and the head, neck, and legs, are very like those of a deer. The colour, in ge­neral, is ash or grey, from a mixture of black hairs and white; all along the ridge or edge of the neck, the hair is blacker, larger, and more erect, making a short thin and upright mane. Its horns are seven inches long, they are six inches round at the root, growing smaller by degrees, they terminate in a blunt point. The bluntness of these, together with the form of its head and neck, might incline us to suppose it was of the deer kind; but, as it never sheds its horns, it has a greater affinity to the cow.

[Page 319]From the disposition of that brought over to this country, which has been very accurately and minutely described by Dr. Hunter, their manners were harmless and gentle. Although in its native wildness, it is said to be fierce and vicious, this seemed pleased with every kind of familiarity, and always licked the hand that stroked, or gave it bread, and never once attempted to use its horns offensively; it seemed to have much de­pendance on its organs of smell, and snuffed keenly, and with noise, whenever any person came within sight; it did so likewise, when any food or drink was brought to it; and was so easily offended with smells, or so cautious, that it would not taste the bread which was offered, when the hand happened to smell strong of turpentine. Its manner of fighting is very par­ticular. It was observed, at Lord Clive's, where two males were put into a little inclosure, that, while they were at a considerable distance from each other, they prepared for the attack, by falling upon their fore-knees, then they shuffled towards each other, with a quick pace, keeping still upon their fore-knees; and when they were come within some yards, they made a spring and darted against each other. The intrepidity and force with which they dart against any object, appeared by the strength with which [Page 320] one of them attempted to over-turn a poor labourer who unthinkingly stood on the outside of the pales of its inclosure. The Nyl ghau, with the quickness of lightning, darted against the wood-work with such vio­lence, that he broke it to pieces, and broke off one of his horns close to the root, which occa­sioned the animal's death. At all the places in India where we have settlements, they are considered as rarities, and brought from the distant interiour parts of the country. The Emperor, sometimes, kills them in such num­bers, as to distribute quarters of them to all his omrahs; which shews that they are internally wild and in plenty, and esteemed good or dili­cious food. The nyl-ghaus, which have been brought to England, have been most, if not all of them, received from Surat or Bombay; and they seem to be less uncommon in that part of India, than in Bengal; which gives room for a conjecture, that they may be indigenous, per­haps in the province of Guzarat, one of the most western and the most considerable of the Hindostan empire, lying to the northward of Surat, and stretching away to the Indian ocean.

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[Page 321]OF the bear, there are three different kinds, the brown bear of the Alps, the black bear of North-America, which is smaller, and the great Greenland, or white bear. These, tho' diffe­rent in their form, are no doubt of the same original, and owe their chief variations to food and climate. They have all the same habitudes, being equally carnivorous, treacherous and cruel. It has been said indeed, that the black bear of America, rejects animal food, but of the contrary I am certain, as I have often seen the young ones, which are brought over to London, prefer flesh to every kind of veget­able aliment.

The brown bear, is properly an inhabitant of the temperate climates; the black finds sub­sistance in the northern regions of Europe and America, while the great white bear takes re­fuge in the most icy climates, and lives where scarce any other animal can find subsistence.

[Page 322]The brown bear ^* is not only savage but so­litary; he takes refuge in the most unfrequent­ed parts, and the most dangerous precipices of uninhabited mountains. It chuses its den in the most gloomy parts of the forest, in some cavern that has been hollowed by time, or in the hollow of some old enormous tree. There it retires alone, and passes some months of the winter without provisions, or without ever stir­ring abroad. However this animal is not intirely deprived of sensation like the bat, or the dor­mouse, but seems rather to subsist upon the exuberance of its former flesh, and only feels the calls of appetite, when the fat it had ac­quired in summer, begins to be entirely wasted away. In this manner, when the bear retires to its den, to hide for the winter, it is ex­tremely fat, but at the end of forty or fifty days, when it comes forth to seek for fresh nourishment, it seems to have slept all its flesh away. It is a common report, that during this time, they live by sucking their paws, which is a vulgar error that scarce requires confuta­tion. These solitary animals couple in au­tumn, but the time of gestation with the fe­male is still unknown; the female takes great care to provide a proper retreat for her young, [Page 323] she secures them in the hollow of a rock, and provides a bed of hay in the warmest part of the den; she brings forth in winter, and the young ones begin to follow her in spring. The male and female, by no means inhabit the same den; they have each their separate retreat, and seldom are seen together but upon the accesses of genial desire.

The voice of the bear is a kind of growl, interrupted with rage, which is often caprici­ously exerted; and tho' this animal seems gen­tle and placid to its master, when tamed; yet it is still to be distrusted and managed with caution, as it is often treacherous and resentful without a cause.

This animal is capable of some degree of in­struction. There are few but have seen it dance in aukward measures upon its hind feet, to the voice or the instrument of its leader; and it must be confessed that the dancer is of­ten found to be the best performer of the two. I am told, that it is first taught to perform in this manner, by setting it upon hot plates of iron, and then playing to it, while in this un­easy situation.

The bear, when come to maturity, can ne­ver be tamed; it then continues in its native fierceness, and tho' caged, still formidably im­potent, [Page 324] at the approach of its keeper flies to meet him. But notwithstanding the fierce­ness of this animal, the natives in those coun­tries where it is found, hunt it with great perseverance and alacrity. The least danger­ous method of taking it is by intoxicating it, by throwing brandy upon honey, which it seems to be chiefly fond of, and seeks for in the hollow of trees. In Canada, where the black bears are very common, and where their dens are made in trees, that are hollow towards the top, they are taken by setting fire to their retreats, which are often above thirty feet from the ground. The old one is generally seen first to issue from her den, and is shot by the hunters. The young ones, as they descend, are caught in a noose, and are either kept or killed for provision. Their paws are said to be a great delicacy, and their hams are well enough known at the tables of the luxurious here. Their fat also, which still preserves a certain degree of fluidity, is supposed to be an efficacious remedy in white or indolent tumours, tho' probably very little superior to hogs lard.

The white Greenland bear differs greatly, both in figure and dimensions, from those al­ready described; and tho' it preserves in gene­ral the external form of its more southern [Page]

[Page 324] [...] [Page] [...] [Page 325] kindred, yet it grows to above three times the size. The brown bear is seldom above six feet long; the white bear is often known from twelve to thirteen. The brown bear is made rather strong and sturdy, like the mastiff; the Greenland bear, tho' covered with very long hair, and apparently bulky, is nevertheless more slender, both as to the head, neck, and body, and more inclining to the shape of the grey­hound. In short, all the variations of its fi­gure and its colour, seem to proceed from the coldness of the climate, where it resides, and the nature of the food it is supplied with.

The white bear, seems the only animal, that by being placed in the coldest climate, grows larger than those that live in the temperate zones. All other species of animated nature, diminish as they approach the poles, and seem contracted in their size, by the rigours of the ambient atmosphere, but the bear, being un­molested in these desolate climates, and meet­ing no animal, but what he can easily con­quer, finding also a sufficient supply of fishy provisions, he grows to an enormous size, and as the lion is the tyrant of an African forest, so the bear remains undisputed master of the icy mountains in Spitzbergen and Green­land. When our mariners land upon those [Page 326] shores, in such parts as have not been frequent­ed before, the white bears come down to view them with an aukward curiosity; they ap­proach slowly, seeming undetermined whether to advance or retreat, and being naturally a timorous animal, they are only urged on by the conscious experience of their former vic­tories; however, when they are shot at, or wounded, they endeavour to fly, or finding that impracticable, they make a fierce and des­perate resistance till they die. As they live upon fish and seals, their flesh is too strong for food, and the captors have nothing but the skin, to reward them, for the dangers incur­red in the engagement.

The number of these animals that are found about the north-pole, if we consider the scar­city thereof, of all other terrestrial creatures is very amazing. They are not only seen at land, but often on ice-floats, several leagues at sea. They are often transported in this manner to the very shores of Iceland, where they no soon­er land, but all the natives are in arms to re­ceive them. It often happens, that when a greenlander and his wife are paddling out at sea, by coming too near an ice-float, a white bear unexpectedly jumps into their boat, and if he does not overset it, sits calmly where [Page 327] he first came down, and like a passenger, suf­fers himself to be rowed along. It is probable the poor little greenlander is not very fond of his new guests, however he makes a virtue of necessity, and hospitably rows him to shore.

As this animal lives chiefly upon fish, seals, and dead whales, it seldom removes far from the shore. When forced by hunger, it often ventures into the deep, swims after seals, and devours whatever it can seize; it is however but a bad swimmer, and it is often hunted in this manner by boats, till it is fatigued, and at last destroyed. It often happens a battle en­sues between a bear and a morse or a whale, as the latter are more expert in their own element, they generally prove victorious. However, when the bear can find a young whale, it re­pays him for the danger he incurs of meeting with the parent.

THE badgers legs are so short, that its belly seems to touch the ground; this however is but a deceitful appearance, as it is caused by the length of the hair, which is very long all over the body, and makes it seem much more bulky that it really is. It is a solitary stupid animal, that finds refuge, remote from man, and digs itself a deep hole, with great assiduity. It seems to avoid the light, and seldom quits its retreat by day, only stealing out at night to find sub­sistence. It burrows in the ground very easy, its legs being short and strong, and its claws, stiff and horny. As it continues to bury itself, and throw the earth behind it, to a great dis­tance, and thus forms to itself a winding hole, at the bottom of which it remains in safety. As the fox is not so expert at digging into the earth, it often takes possession of that which has been quitted by the badger, and some say, forces it from its retreat, by laying its excre­ments at the mouth of the badger's hole.

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[Page 329]This animal, however, is not long in making itself a new habitation, from which it seldom ventures far, as it flies but slowly, and can find safety only in the strength of its retreat. When it is surprized by the dogs at some distance from its hole, it then combats with desperate resolution; it falls upon its back, defends itself on every side, and seldom dies unrevenged in the midst of its enemies.

The badger, like the fox, is a carnivorous animal, and nothing that has life can come amiss to it. It sleeps the greatest part of its time, and thus without being a voracious feed­er, it still keeps fat, particularly in winter. They always keep their hole very clear, and when the female brings forth, she makes a com­fortable warm bed of hay, at the bottom of her hole for the reception of her young. She brings forth in summer, generally to the num­ber of three or four, which she feeds at first with her milk, and afterwards with such petty prey as she can surprize. She seizes the young rab­bets in their warren, robs birds nests, finds out where the wild bees have laid up their honey, and brings all to her expecting brood.

The young ones when taken are easily tamed, but the old still continues savage and incorri­gible; the former, after a short time, play with [Page 330] the dogs, follow their master about the house, but seem of all other animals the most fond of the fire. They often approach it so closely, that they burn themselves in a dangerous man­ner. They are sometimes also subject to the mange, and have a gland under their tail, which scents pretty strongly. The poor of some countries eat their flesh; which, tho' fat, is at best, but rank and ill tasted.

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[Page 331]THERE seems to be a rude, but inferiour resemblance between many animals of the old and the new world. The congar of America, resembles the tiger in natural ferocity, tho' far inferior in its dimensions. The lama bears some affinity to the camel, but is far behind it in strength and utility. The tapir may be considered as the hippopotamos of the New Continent, but, degraded both as to its size and ferocity.

This animal bears some distant resemblance in its form to a mule. It has a long snout, which it lengthens or contracts at pleasure. Its ears are small, long, and pendant. Its neck and tail are short, and its claws strong and firm, of which it has four upon each foot. Its skin is thick, and covered with brown hair, and the natives make shields of it, which can­not be pierced by an arrow.

This animal may in some measure be termed amphibious, as it chiefly resides in the water. [Page] [...] [Page 331] [...] [Page 332] It differs however from all others of this kind, in feeding entirely upon vegetables, and not making this element the place of its depreda­tions. It feeds upon the pastures by the river­side, and as it is very timorous, the instant it hears the least noise, it plunges into the stream. They are greatly sought after by the natives, as their flesh is considered as a delicacy, and thought by some not inferior to beef,

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[Page 333]THE racoon, which some authors have called the Jamaica rat, is about the size of a small bad­ger; its body is short and bulky; its fur is fine, long and thick, blackish at the surface, and grey towards the bottom; the nose is rather shorter, and more pointed than that of a fox; the eyes large and yellow, the teeth resembling those of a dog, the tail thick, but tapering to­wards a point, regularly marked with rings of black, and at least as long as the body; the fore-feet are much shorter than the hinder, both armed with five sharp claws, with which, and his teeth, the animal makes a vigorous resistance. Like the squirrel, it makes use of its paws to hold its food while eating, but it dif­fers from the monkey-kind, which use only but one hand on those occasions, whereas the racoon and the squirrel, use both; as wanting the thumb, their paws singly are unfit for grasping or holding; tho' this animal be short and bulky, it is however very active; its [Page] [...] [Page 333] [...] [Page 334] pointed claws, enable it to climb trees with great facility; it runs on the trunk with the same swiftness that it moves upon the plain, and sports among the most extreme branches with great agility, security and ease; it moves forward chiefly by bounding, and tho' it pro­ceeds in an oblique direction, it has speed e­nough most frequently to escape its pursuers.

This animal is a native of the southern parts of America, nor have any travellers mentioned its being found in the Ancient Continent. But in the climates of which it is a native; it is found in noxious abundance, particularly in Jamaica, where it keeps in the mountains, and where it often descends to feed upon the plan­tations of sugar-cane. The planters of these climates, consider these animals as one of their greatest miseries; they have contrived various methods of destroying them, yet still they pro­pagate in such numbers, that neither traps nor fire-arms can set them free; so that a swarm of these famished creatures are found to do more injury in a single night, than the labours of a month can repair.

But tho', when wild they are thus troublesome, in a state of tameness no animal is more harm­less or amusing; they are capable of being in­structed in various little amusing tricks. The [Page 335] racoon is playful and cleanly, and is very easily supported; it eats of every thing that's given it, and if left to itself, no cat can be a better pro­vider; it examines every corner, eats of all flesh, either boiled or raw, eggs, fruits or corn, insects themselves cannot escape it, and if left at liber­ty in a garden, it will feed upon snails, worms and beetles; but it has a particular fondness for sweets of every kind, and to be possest of these in its wild state, it incurs every danger. Though it will eat its provisions dry, it will for choice dip them in water if it happens to be in the way; it has one particularity which few other animals have been found to possess, it drinks as well by lapping, like the dog, as by sucking like the horse.

THE first peculiarity with which this animal strikes the spectator, is the extreme length of its snout, which in some measure resembles that of the hog, but elongated to a surprizing degree; it bears some distant resemblance to the animal last described, except that the neck and the body are longer, the fur shorter, and the eyes smaller; but its principal distinction, as was said before, consists in the shape of its nose, the upper jaw being an inch longer than the lower, and the snout, which is moveable in every division, turning up at the end. Like the racoon, it sets up on its hinder legs with great ease, and in this position, with both paws, carries the food to its mouth.

This animal is very subject to eat its own tail, which is rather longer than its body, but this strange appetite is not peculiar to the coati alone; the mococo, and some of the monkey kinds do the same, and seem to feel no pain in [Page]

[Page 336] [...] [Page] [...] [Page 337] wounding a part of the body, so remote from the center of circulation.

It seems possest of the same playful qualities, and indiscriminate appetites with the animal described in the last chapter; if left at liberty in a state of tameness, it will pursue the poul­try, and destroy every living thing that it has strength to conquer; tho' it is playful with its keeper, yet it seems obstinately bent against receiving any instruction, and neither threats nor caresses can induce it to practise any arts to which it is not naturally inclined. When it sleeps, it rolls itself up in a lump, and in that position often continues for fourteen or fifteen hours together.

THERE are many animals that live upon ants in Africa and America; the pangolin or scaly lizard of Guinea may be considered among this number; but there are a greater variety in America, which makes those minute insects their only subsistence. Though they are of different figures and sizes, yet in general they go under one common name of the ant-bear; the peculiar length and slenderness of their snout, their singular appetites, and their man­ner of taking their prey, striking us too strong­ly to attend to the minute differences of their size or form.

They have been classed by Mr. Buffon into the larger tamandua, the smaller tamandua, and the ant-eater. The longest of this kind is four feet long, from the tip of the snout to the in­sertion of the tail; their legs are short and arm­ed with four strong claws; their tail is long and tuffy, and the animal often throws it on [Page]

[Page 338] [...] [Page] [...] [Page]

[Page] [...] [Page 339] its back like the squirrel. The second of this kind is not above eighteen inches long, the tail is without hair, and it sweeps the ground as the animal moves. The ant-eater, which is the third variety, is still smaller than either of the former, as it is not above seven inches from the tip of the snout to the insertion of the tail. The two former are of a brown dusky colour, but this of a beautiful reddish, mixed with yel­low; tho' they differ in figure, they all re­semble each other in one peculiarity, which is the extreme slenderness of their snout, and the amazing length of their tongue.

The snout is produced in so disproportionate a manner, that the length of it makes near a fourth part of the whole figure. A horse has one of the longest heads of any animal we know, and yet the ant-bear has one above twice as long, in proportion to its body. The snout of this animal is almost round and cylindrical; it is extremely slender, and is scarce thicker near the eyes than at its extremity. The mouth is very small, the nostrils are very close to each other, the eyes are little, in proportion to the length of the nose, the neck is short, the tongue is extremely long, slender, and flatted on both sides; this it keeps generally doubled up in the mouth, and is the only instrument by [Page 340] which it finds subsistence; for the whole of this tribe are entirely without teeth, and find safety only in the remoteness and security of their retreat.

If we examine through the various regions of the earth, we shall find that all the most active, sprightly, [...]nd useful quadrupedes have been gathered round man, and either served his pleasures, or still maintained their indepen­dence by their vigilance, their cunning, or their industry. It is in the remote solitudes that we are to look for the helpless, the deformed, and the monstrous births of nature. These wretch­ed animals being incapable of defending them­selves, either by their agility, or their natural arms, fall a prey to every creature that attacks them; they therefore retire for safety into the darkest forests, or the most desart mountains, where none of the bolder, or swifter animals chuse to reside.

It may well be supposed that an animal so helpless as the ant-bear is, with legs too short to fit it for flight, and unprovided with teeth to give it a power of resistance, is neither nu­merous, nor often seen; its retreats are in the most barren and uncultivated parts of South-America. It is a native only of the new con­tinent, and intirely unknown to the old. It [Page 341] lives chiefly in the woods, and hides itself un­der the fallen leaves. It seldom ventures from its retreat, and the industry of an hour sup­plies it with sufficient food for several days to­gether. Its manner of procuring its prey, is one of the most singular in all natural history; as its name implies, it lives entirely upon ants and insects; these, in the countries where it is bred, are found in the greatest abundance, and often build themselves hills, five or six feet high, where they live in community. When this animal approaches an ant-hill, it creeps slowly forward on its belly, taking every pre­caution to keep itself concealed, till it comes within a proper distance of the place where it intends to make its banquet; there lying close­ly along at its length, it thrusts forth its round red tongue, which is often two feet long, across the path of these busy insects, and there lets it lye motionless for several minutes together. The ants of that country, some of which are half an inch long, considering it as a piece of flesh accidentally thrown before them, come forth and swarm upon it in great numbers, but wherever they touch, they stick; for this in­strument is covered with a slimy fluid, which like bird-lime, entangles every creature that lights upon it. When therefore the ant-bear [Page 342] has found a sufficient number for one morsel, it instantly draws in the tongue, and devours them all in a moment; after which it still con­tinues in its position, practising the same arts until its hunger is entirely appeased; it then retires to its hiding-place once more, where it continues in indolent existence, till again excited by the calls of hunger.

Such is the luxurious life of a creature, that seems of all others the most helpless and deformed. It finds safety in its hiding-places from its enemies, and an ample sup­ply in some neighbouring ant-hill, for all its appetites. As it only tries to avoid its pur­suers, it is seldom discovered by them; yet helpless as this animal is, when driven to an extremity, though without teeth, it will fight with its claws, with great obstinacy. With these arms alone, it has often been found to oppose the dog, and even the Jaguar. It throws itself upon its back, fas­tens upon its enemy with all its claws, sticks with great strength and perseverance, and even after killing its invader, which is sometimes the case, does not quit its hold, but remains fastened upon him with vindic­tive desperation.

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[Page 343]OF the sloth there are two different kinds, distinguished from each other by their claws; the one, which in its native country is called the unan, having only two claws upon each foot, and being without a tail; the other, which is called the ai, having a tail and three claws upon each foot. The unan has the snout longer, the ears more apparent, and the fur very different from the other. It differs also in the number of its ribs, this having forty-six, while the ai has but twenty-eight. These dif­ferences, however, which though very appa­rent, have been but little regarded in the de­scription of two animals which so strongly re­semble each other in the general out-lines of their figure, in their appetites, and their help­less formation.

They are both, therefore, described under the common appellation of the sloth, and their habitudes well deserve our wonder and curio­sity. [Page] [...] [Page 343] [...] [Page 344] Nature seems cramped and constrained in their formation; other animals are often in­dolent from choice, these are slow from necessi­ty; the ai, from which I shall take my descrip­tion, and from which the other differs only in the slight particulars above-mentioned, and in being rather more active, is of about the size of a badger. Its fur is coarse and staring, some­what resembling dried grass; the tail very short, and scarce appearing; the mouth extending from ear to ear; the eye dull and heavy; the feet armed with three claws each, and made so short, and set on so aukwardly, that a few paces is often the journey of a week; but though the feet are short, they are still longer than its legs, and these proceed from the body in such an oblique direction, that the sole of the foot seldom touches the ground. When the animal therefore is compelled to make a step forward, it scrapes on the back of the nails along the surface, and wheeling the limbs circularly about, yet still touching the ground, it at length places its foot in a progressive position; the other three limbs are all brought about with the same dif­ficulty; and thus it is seen to move, not above three feet in an hour. In fact, this poor crea­ture seldom changes place but by constraint, and when impelled by the severest stings of hunger.

[Page 345]The sloth seems to be the meanest and most ill-formed of all those animals that chew the cud; it lives entirely upon vegetable food, on the leaves, the fruit, and the flowers of trees, and often even on the very bark, when nothing else is left on the tree for its subsistence. Like all other ruminant animals, it has four stomachs; and these requiring a large share of provision to supply them, it generally strips a tree of all its verdure in less than a fortnight. Still how­ever it keeps aloft, unwilling to descend, while any thing remains that can serve it for food; it therefore falls to devouring the bark, and thus in a short time kills the tree upon which it found its support. Thus destitute of pro­visions above, and crawling slowly from branch to branch, in hopes of finding something still left, it is at last obliged to encounter all the dangers that attend it below. Though it is formed by nature for climbing a tree with great pain and difficulty, yet it is utterly unable to descend; it therefore is obliged to drop from the branches to the ground, and as it is inca­pable of exerting itself to break the violence of its descent, it drops like a shapeless heavy mass, and feels no small shock in the fall. There, after remaining some time torpid, it prepares for a journey to some neighbouring tree; but [Page 346] this of all migrations is the most tedious, dan­gerous, and painful; it often takes a week in crawling to a tree not fifty yards distant; it moves with imperceptible slowness, and often baits by the way. All motions seem to torture it, every step it takes it sets forth a most plaintive, melancholy cry, which from some distant similitude to the human voice, excites a kind of disgust, mixed with pity. This plaintive sound seems its chief defence, few quadrupedes appear willing to interrupt its pro­gress, either that the flesh is offensive, or that they are terrified at its cries. When at length they reach their destined tree, they mount it with much greater ease than when they moved upon the plain. They fall to with famished appetite, and as before, destroy the very source that supplies them.

How far these may be considered as the un­finished productions of nature, I will not take upon me to determine; if we measure their happiness by our sensations, nothing, it is cer­tain, can be more miserable; but it is probable, considered with regard to themselves, they may have some stores of comfort unknown to us, which may set them upon a level with some other inferior ranks of the creation; if a part of their life be exposed to pain and labour, it [Page 347] is compensated by a larger portion of plenty, indolence, and safety. In fact, they are formed very differently from all other quadrupedes, and it is probable, they have different enjoy­ments. Like birds, they have but one com­mon vent for the purposes of propagation, excrement, and urine. Like the tortoise, which they resemble, in the slowness of their motion, they continue to live some time af­ter their nobler parts are wounded, or even taken away. They bear the marks of all those comely-formed animals, that like rude machines are not easily discomposed.

^* Its note, according to Kircher, is an as­cending and descending hexachord, which it utters only by night; its look is so piteous, as to move compassion; it is also accompa­nied with tears, that dissuade every body from injuring so wretched a being. Its ab­stinence from food is remarkably powerful; one that had fastened itself by its feet to a pole, and was so suspended cross two beams, remained forty days without meat, drink, or sleep; the strength of its feet is so great, that whatsoever it seizes on, cannot possibly be freed from its claws. A dog was let [Page 348] loose at the above-mentioned animal, taken from the pole; after some time the sloth laid hold of the dog with its feet, and held him four days, till he perished with hun­ger.

THIS animal as little resembles a qua­drupede, as that which has been described in a former chapter. If we should suppose a bird, divested of its feathers, and walking upon its legs, it might give us some idea of its figure. It has four feet indeed, but in running or resting, it never makes use of any but the hinder. The number of legs, however, do not much contribute to any animal's speed; and the gerbua, though pro­perly speaking, furnished but with two, is one of the swiftest creatures in the world.

The gerbua is not above the size of a large rat, and its head is sloped somewhat in the manner of a rabbit, the teeth also are formed like those of the rat kind, there being two cutting teeth in each jaw; it has a very long tail, tufted at the end; the head, the back, and sides are covered with large ash-coloured soft hair; the breast and belly is whitish, but what most de­serves [Page 350] our attention in the formation of this lit­tle animal, is the legs; the fore-legs are not an inch long, with four claws and a thumb upon each, while the hinder-legs are two inches and a quarter, and exactly resemble those of a bird, there being but three toes, the middlemost of which is longest.

The gerbua is found in Egypt, Barbary, Pa­lestine, and the desarts between Busserah and Aleppo; its hind-legs, as was said before, are only used in running, while the fore-paws, like those of a squirrel, grasp its food, and in some measure perform the office of hands. It is of­ten seen by travellers as they pass along the desarts, crossing their way, and jumping six or eight feet at every bound, and going so swiftly, that scarce any other quadrupede is able to over­take them. They are a lively, harmless race of animals, living entirely upon vegetables, and burrowing like rabbits in the ground. Mr. Pennant tells us of two that were lately brought to London, that burrowed almost through the brick wall of the room where they were kept; they came out of their hole at night for food, and when caught, were much fatter and slicker than when confined to their burrows. A variety of this animal is found also in Siberia and Cir­cassia, and is most probably, common enough [Page 351] over all Asia. They are more expert diggers than even the rabbit itself; and when pursued for a long time, if they cannot escape by their swiftness, they try to make a hole instantly in the ground, in which they often bury themselves deep enough to find security before their pursuers come up. Their burrows, in some places, are so thick, as to be dangerous to travellers, the horses perpetually falling in them. It is a provident little animal, and lays up for the winter. It cuts grass in heaps of a foot square, which when dried, it carries into its burrow, therewith to serve it for food, or to keep its young warm during the rigours of the winter.

But of all animals of this kind, that which was first discovered and described by Mr. Banks, is the most extraordinary. He calls it the kan­guroo; and though from its general outline, and the most striking peculiarities of its figure, it greatly resembles the gerbua, yet it entirely differs, if we consider its size, or those minute distinctions which direct the makers of systems in assorting the general ranks of nature.

The largest of the gerbua kind which are to be found in the ancient continent, do not ex­ceed the size of a rabbit. The kanguroo of New Holland, where it is only to be found, is [Page 351] [...] [Page 352] often known to weigh above sixty pounds, and must consequently be as large as a sheep. Al­though the skin of that which was stuffed and brought home by Mr. Banks, was not much above the size of a hare, yet it was greatly superiour to any of the gerbua kind that have been hitherto known, and very different in ma­ny particulars. The snout of the gerbua, as has been said, is short and round, that of the new-discovered animal long and slender; the teeth also entirely differ; for as the gerbua has but two cutting teeth in each jaw, making four in all, this animal, besides its cutting teeth, has four canine teeth also; but what makes a more striking peculiarity, is the formation of its low­er jaw, which, as the ingenious discoverer sup­poses, is divided into two parts, which open and shut like a pair of scissars, and cut grass, probably this animal's principal food. The head, neck, and shoulders are very small in proportion to the other parts of the body; the tail is nearly as long as the body, thick near the rump, and tapering towards the end, the skin is covered with a short fur, excepting the head and the ears, which bear a slight resemblance to those of the hare. We are not told, how­ever, from the formation of its stomach, to what class of quadrupedes it belongs, from its eating [Page 353] grass, which it has been seen to do; one would be apt to rank it among the ruminant animals, but from the canine teeth which it is found to have, we may on the other hand suppose it to bear some relation to the carnivorous. Upon the whole, however, it can be classed with none more properly, than with animals of the ger­bua kind, as its hind legs are so much longer than the fore; it moves also precisely in the same manner, taking great bounds of ten or twelve feet at a time, and thus sometimes escap­ing even the fleetest greyhound, with which Mr. Banks pursued it. One of them, that was killed, proved to be good food; but a second, which weighed eighty-four pounds, and was not yet come to its full growth, was found to be much inferior.

With this last described and last discovered animal, I shall conclude the history of quadru­pedes, which of all parts of natural knowledge seems to have been described the most accurate­ly. As these, from their figure, as well as their sagacity, bear the nearest resemblance to man, and from their uses or enmities are the most respectable parts of the inferior creation, so it was his interest, and his pleasure, to make him­self acquainted with their history. It is proba­ble therefore that time, which enlarges the sphere [Page 354] of our knowledge in other parts of learning, can add but very little to this. The addition of a new quadrupede to the catalogue already known, is of no small consequence, and hap­pens but seldom; for the number of all is so few, that wherever a new one is found, it becomes an object worthy our best attention. It may take refuge in its native desarts from our pursuits, but not from our curiosity.

But it is very different with the inferior ranks of the creation; the classes of birds, of fishes, and of insects, are all much more nume­rous, and more incompletely known. The quadrupede is possessed of no arts of escaping, which we are not able to overcome; but the bird removes itself by its swiftness, the fishes find protection in their native element, and in­sects are secured in their minuteness, num­bers, and variety. Of all these therefore, we have but a very inadequate catalogue, and though the list be already very large, yet every hour is adding to its extent.

In fact, all knowledge is pleasant only as the object of it contributes to render man happy, and the services of quadrupedes being so very necessary to him in every situation, he is particularly interested in their history: with­out their aid, what a wretched and forlorn [Page 355] creature would he have been! the principal part of his food, his cloathing, and his amusements are derived wholly from them, and he may be considered as a great lord, sometimes cherish­ing his humble dependants, and sometimes ter­rifying the refractory, to contribute to his de­light and conveniencies.

The horse and the ass, the elephant, the ca­mel, the lama, and the rein-deer, contribute to ease his fatigues, and to give him that swiftness which he wants from nature. By their assistance, he changes place without labour; he attains health without weariness; his pride is inlarged by the elegance of equipage, and other animals are pursued with a certainty of success. It were happy indeed for man, if while converting these quadrupedes to his own benefit, he had not turned them to the destruction of his fellow-creatures; he has employed some of them for the purposes of war, and they have conformed to his noxious ambition with but too fatal an obedience.

The cow, the sheep, the deer, and all their varieties, are necessary to him, though in a dif­ferent manner. Their flesh makes the princi­pal luxuries of his table, and their wool or skins the chief ornament of his person. Even those nations that are forbid to touch [Page 356] any thing that has life, cannot wholly dispense with their assistance. The milk of these ani­mals makes a principal part of the food of every country, and often repairs those consti­tutions that have been broken by disease or intemperance.

The dog, the cat, and the ferret, may be considered as having deserted from their fellow-quadrupedes, to list themselves under the con­duct and protection of man. At his command they exert all their services against such ani­mals as they are capable of destroying, and follow them into places where he himself wants abilities to pursue.

As there is thus a numerous tribe, that he has taken into protection, and that sup­plies his necessities and amusements, so there is also a still more numerous one, that wages an unequal combat against him, and thus call forth his courage and his industry. Were it not for the lion, the tyger, the panther, the rhinoceros, and the bear, he would scarce know his own powers, and the superiority of human art over brutal fierceness. These serve to excite, and put his nobler passions into motion. He attacks them in their retreat, faces them with resolution, and seldom fails of coming off with a victory. He thus be­comes [Page 357] hardier and better in the struggle, and learns to know and to value his own supe­riority.

As the last mentioned animals are called forth by his boldest efforts, so the numerous tribe of the smaller vermin kind excite his continual vigilance and caution; his various arts and powers have been no where more manifest, than in the extirpation of those that multiply with such prodigious fecundity. Neither their agility nor their minuteness can secure them from his pursuits; and though they may infest, they are seldom found materially to injure him.

In this manner we see, that not only human want is supplied, but that human wit is shar­pened, by the humbler partners of man in the creation. By this we see, that not only their benefits, but their depredations are useful, and that it has wisely pleased Providence to place us like victors in a subdued country, where we have all the benefit of conquest, without being so secure, as to run into the sloth and excesses of a certain and undisturbed possession. It ap­pears therefore, that those writers who are con­tinually finding immediate benefit in every pro­duction, see but half way into the general sys­tem of nature. Experience must every hour [Page 538] inform us, that all animals are not formed for our use; but we may be equally well assured, that those conveniencies which we want from their friendship, are well repaid by that vigilance which we procure from their enmity.