Retrospective Criticism, 167 



natural decay. How did he learn this ? At the time that he 

 abandoned the carcass to its fate, the insufferable smell 

 clearly proved that there was plenty of carrion still on the 

 bones ; but, as the author's own olfactory nerves prevented 

 him from watching it any longer, I will take upon myself to 

 make up the hiatus valde deflendus [omission much to be 

 regretted], which his sudden retreat occasioned, by a con- 

 jecture of my own ; namely, that the dogs and vultures, like 

 the devil and the king, in " Sir Balaam," divided the prize. 

 It would have taken a lapse of weeks to have destroyed the 

 smell putrescent which came from the remains of so large an 

 animal ; and even granted that the vultures had been too dull 

 of nose to have smelled it, still it could not have failed to 

 have attracted other dogs, or the same dogs when their 

 stomachs had become empty ; and they themselves would 

 have gnawed off" all the flesh, and squandered the bones, 

 without allowing " natural decay" to consume that which 

 was so palatable to them. Be this as it may, the author 

 immediately returned, and commenced a new operation about 

 the same place. This fortifies me in my conjecture that the 

 carcass must have had some greedy customers after the 

 author's departure, otherwise the insufferable smell must 

 have been still there ; and then the author, by his own 

 account, would have been ill able to stand the attack on his 

 nasal feelings during the new operation. 



He says, " I then took a young pig, put a knife through 

 its neck, and made it bleed on the earth and grass about the 

 same place, and, having covered it closely with leaves, also 

 watched the result. The vultures saw the* fresh blood, 

 alighted about it, followed it down into the ravine, discovered 

 by the blood, the pig, and devoured it when yet quite fresh, 

 within my sight." I must here own I am astonished that the 

 vultures could see this, and still have seen nothing of the 

 large hog while several dogs were feeding on it. However, 

 I request the reader to ruminate for a while on these two 

 experiments with the large hog and the little pig ; and then 

 he will be able to draw his own conclusion as to the blind- 

 ness of the vultures during the first experiment, and their 

 keenness of vision during the second. 



I will now take a peep at the vultures marshalled in aerial 

 columns. 



The author tells us, " a flock of twenty may easily survey 

 an area of two miles, as they go turning in large circles, often 

 intersecting each other in their lines, as if forming a vast 

 chain of rounded links; some are high, whilst others are low; 

 not a spot is passed over unseen; and, consequently, the 



m 4 



