THE SEA-HORSE. 179 



to look about them, and often play with each other in a gay and 

 frolicksome manner. If any thing moveable be put into their 

 small apartment, they appear highly pleased, and drag it about, 

 but have never been known to carry any thing about on their 

 tails. They subsist principally on the bark of trees and bread 

 but such is their propensity to gnaw timber, that they would soon 

 eat their way out, if allowed the full range of a room. 



We have been somewhat particular in giving a description of 

 this extraordinary animal and its astonishing works stupendous 

 fabrics indeed they may be called, when we reflect on the sim- 

 plicity of the means employed, and consider that their teeth, 

 their feet, and their tails, are all the instruments which they use 

 for the accomplishment of such great undertakings. The bea- 

 ver, indeed, is a subject on which all zoologists have expatiated, 

 and which exhibits a remarkable display of instinctive sagacity, 

 worthy the attention of every mind that delights in contemplating 

 the wonders of creation ; especially when we consider the regu- 

 larity with which their works are carried on, and the order and 

 discipline which pervade their societies. 



An overseer is always chosen among them, whose orders are 

 punctually obeyed ; and a smart stroke with his tail upon the 

 water, is his word of command, whenever the united force of 

 numbers is necessary to be applied. The same signal is also 

 used on the approach of an enemy, to warn the society of its 

 danger. On such occasions, each beaver, as he thinks it expe- 

 dient, either conceals himself in his habitation, or plunges into 

 the water, and immediately disappears. 



Beavers are never found farther south than the thirtieth de- 

 gree of latitude, but they are the most common from the fiftieth 

 to the sixtieth, and much more numerous in the new than the old 

 continent. They were known to the ancients, and the killing of 

 them was forbidden by the religion of the Magi. t 



It may be asked, by what secret counsels are these animals 

 moved to unanimity of design, by what power impelled to uni- 

 formity of action ? They are guided by that Being who has regu- 

 lated the propensities, the instincts, and operations, of all ani- 

 mal existence ; the God of Nature is their unerring director. 



THE WALRUS, OR SEA-HORSE, 



Is an animal perfectly amphibious, and far more attached to 

 the watery element, than the beaver. In its habits, indeed, it 

 seems to approach nearer to the nature of fishes, than to that of 

 quadrupeds, although naturalists have generally included it in 

 the latter denomination. 



The sea-horse grows to a large size, and has sometimes been 

 bund eighteen feet in length, and twelve in circumference at the 



