HOW ANIMALS GET HOME. 905 
tion, however, whether this phenomenon comes properly 
within the scope of this article. 
Many domestic animals show a true homing faculty, and 
often in a degree which excites our surprise. One of the 
most remarkable cases I knew was that of two of the mules 
of a pack-train which, plainly by concerted action, left our 
camp one morning without cause or provocation. We were 
in south-western Wyoming, about seventy-five miles north- 
west of Rawlins Station, where we had begun our march. 
Our course, however, had been an exceedingly roundabout 
one, including a great deal of very bad country, where no 
road or trail existed. These mules made no attempt to 
trace it back, but struck straight across the country. They 
were chased many miles, and showed not the least hesitancy 
in choosing their way, keeping straight on across the rolling 
plain, with a haste which seems not to have been. diminished 
until Rawlins was almost reached, when they were caught 
by some prospectors. For weeks they had to be kept care- 
fully hobbled to prevent a repetition of the experiment. 
Ilow did these animals know the direction with such 
certainty? Mules frequently follow a very obscure trail 
backward for many miles, and, even more than horses, may 
be trusted to find the way home in the dark; but this is 
only when they have been over the road before, and is 
