232 FACULTIES OF BIRDS. 



up in India from two months old, accompanied him 

 and a friend from Pondicherry to Benglour, a dis- 

 tance of more than three hundred leagues. " Our 

 journey," he goes on to say, " occupied nearly three 

 weeks ; and we had to traverse numerous plains and 

 mountains, and to ford rivers and go along several 

 by-paths. The animal, which had certainly never 

 been in that country before, lost us at Benglour, and 

 immediately returned to Pondicherry. He went di- 

 rectly to the house of M. Beylier, then commandant 

 of artillery, my friend, and with whom I had gener- 

 ally lived. Now the difficulty is not so much to 

 know how the dog subsisted on the road (for he was 

 very strong and able to procure himself food), but 

 how he could so well have found his way after an 

 interval of more than a month." 



A still more extraordinary instance of returning 

 is recorded on the authority of Lieutenant Alder- 

 son, of the Royal Engineers, who was personally 

 acquainted with the facts. In March, 1816, an ass, 

 the property of Captain Dundas, R. N.,then at Mal- 

 ta, was shipped on board the Ister frigate, Captain 

 Forrest, bound from Gibraltar for that island. The 

 vessel having struck on some sands off the Point 

 de Gat, at some distance from the shore, the ass 

 was thrown overboard to give it a chance of swim- 

 ming to land ; a poor one, for the sea was running 

 so high that a boat which left the ship was lost. A 

 few days afterward, however, when the gates of 

 Gibraltar were opened in the morning, the ass pre- 

 sented himself for admittance, and proceeded to *he 

 stable of Mr. Weeks, a merchant, which he had 

 formerly occupied, to the no small surprise of this 

 gentleman, who imagined that, from some accident, 

 the animal had never been shipped on board the 

 Ister. On the return of the vessel to repair, the 

 mystery was explained ; and it turned out that Vali- 

 ante (so the ass was called) had not only swam 

 safely to shore, but, without guide, compass, or 



