344 CHAPTER XLVIIL 



But they are common enough in the country. I 

 have found them in the chinks of a wooden bed- 

 stead, where I would much sooner find Scorpions 

 than certain other insects. Centipedes, again, are 

 much more disgusting. Out of doors you may discover 

 Scorpions under stones in any damp place. 



It is believed that these creatures will commit 

 suicide if surrounded by a ring of hot ashes, or 

 placed in any position from which they cannot 

 escape : 



" The mind that broods o'er guilty woes 



Ts like the scorpion girt by fire : 

 In circle narrowing as it glows, 

 The flames around their captive close." 



BYRON. 



I once saw one of these ugly little lobsters in a bad 

 predicament. He was on a small dry point of rock 

 which rose out of a mountain torrent. As far as I 

 could judge, he showed no signs of dejection or 

 despair; on the contrary, he ran towards my bare 

 foot at a great pace. I left him on his desolate 

 island. To save the life of a Scorpion (or a lawyer) 

 would be to push humanitarian principles to an absurd 

 extreme ! 



I wonder how the Scorpion gained a place in 

 the Zodiac. If the honour were bestowed on use or 

 beauty, the bee or the butterfly would have been 

 chosen instead. Perhaps he pushed his way up, as 

 some men do, by making everybody afraid of him. 

 " Sic itur ad astra ! " But it has been noticed that 

 Scorpions are very plentiful in Egypt when the water 

 of the inundation is subsiding. Thus, the Scorpion 

 would come to be associated with a certain period 



