Mammiferous Animals. 77 



all the faculties — which have the propensity to unite together, 

 and form large herds, — appear to possess the conditions most 

 favorable for receiving the influence of our means of taming, — 

 and yet no adult male of this numerous tribe has ever submitted 

 to man, whatever good treatment it may have received. At the 

 moment when they are giving the most striking tokens of affec- 

 tion, they may be induced to tear one with fury; and there is 

 no treason in this, for all their vicious qualities depend upon 

 their excessive mobility. 



It appears, however, that, by violence, and by continually 

 keeping them in torment, they may be induced to perform cer- 

 tain exercises. It is in this manner that the islanders of Su- 

 matra succeed in teaching the Macacus ncmestrinus to ascend 

 trees on being ordered, and collect the fruits. 



We should better succeed in taming the American quadru- 

 niana with pendent tails, such as the atales, and sapagons, 

 which, to a high degree of intellect and the social instinct, may 

 join an extreme gentleness and a lively desire of being caressed. 

 With regard to the Lemuridie, so many difficulties would be 

 encountered in taming them, and so few advantages obtained, 

 on account of their untractable and timid nature, that the use- 

 lessness of making the attempt would have been discovered, 

 had it been tried. And the same remark applies to the Insec 

 tivora, which would, moreover, have the disadvantage of a very 

 limited intellect, and of an unfavorable organization of limbs. 



The carnivora, such as the lions, panthers, martins, civets, 

 wolves, bears, &c. all of them species which live a solitary life, 

 are very accessible to benefits, and little susceptible of fear. In 

 a state of liberty, they retire from danger; in captivity, violence 

 irritates them, and seems especially to carry confusion iiuo 

 their intellect; anger and fury then possess them. But let 

 their wants be satisfied when they feel them keenly ; let them 

 experience goodness only on the part of their masters; let no 

 sound of the voice, no motion, give indication of a menacing 

 character; and these terrible animals will soon be seen ap- 

 proaching their benefactors with confidence, manifesting the 

 satisfaction which they experience on seeing them, and afford- 

 ing the most unequivocal demonstrations of their affection. A 

 hundred times has the apparent mildness of a monkey been 

 followed by treachery ; but never have the outward signs of a 

 carnivorous animal proved deceitful. If it is disposed to hurt, 

 every thing in its gestures and look will announce it, and the 

 same will be the case when it is animated by a benevolent 

 feeling. 



The seals, which are all social animals, and possessed of un- 

 common degree of intellect, are, perhaps, of all the carnivora 





