302 MEMOIR OF 



sea above Porlock Weir, a fortnight ago, was 

 drowned ; that the body was washed across the 

 Channel and picked up on the Welsh coast. 

 He didn't run three miles before he went to 

 sea, and I saw him battling with the waves, 

 now riding on their topmost crest, and now lost 

 in foam ; there was a very heavy sea on, not 

 half a minute before he went down. William 

 Deane was by my side, and said, 'He has sunk.' 

 My reply was, ' If he has, 'tis a very unusual 

 circumstance ; for I have known a deer out in 

 the sea for four hours, after he has stood two 

 hours before the hounds ; and have seen him 

 come in again apparently quite fresh.' He was 

 drowned, however, if he did not sink ; and so 

 ends my tale." 



The buoyancy of a deer in water, even w^hen 

 dead, is not a little remarkable. His body, 

 though the lungs are no longer inflated with 

 air, will still float on the surface ; while that 

 of an otter, an animal commonly but falsely 

 supposed to be amphibious, will sink to the 

 bottom like a lump of lead. Mr. Collyns relates 

 that a stag "getting on Slippery Rock fell over 

 the cliffs and killed himself ; fortunately no 

 hound followed him. The tide was up, and 

 he was carried out to sea for a considerable 

 distance ; and the boat sent out to secure 

 him arrived just in time to save him 

 from the hands of those on board a smack 



