HOW ANIMALS GET HOME. 205 



tion, however, whether this phenomenon comes properly 

 within the scope of this article. 



Many domestic animals show a true homing faculty, and 

 often in a degree which excites our surprise. One of the 

 most remarkable cases I knew was that of two of the mules 

 of a pack-train which, plainly by concerted action, left our 

 cainp one morning without cause or provocation. We were 

 in south-western Wyoming, about seventy-five miles north- 

 west of Rawlins Station, where we had begun our march. 

 Our course, however, had been an exceedingly roundabout 

 one, including a great deal of very bad country, where no 

 road or trail existed. These mules made no attempt to 

 trace it back, but struck straight across the country. They 

 were chased many miles, and showed not the least hesitancy 

 in choosing their way, keeping straight on across the rolling 

 plain, with a haste which seems not to have been diminished 

 until Rawlins was almost reached, when they were caught 

 by some prospectors. For weeks they had to be kept care- 

 fully hobbled to prevent a repetition of the experiment. 



How did these animals know the direction with such 

 certainty ? Mules frequently follow a very obscure trail 

 backward for many miles, and, even more than horses, may 

 be trusted to find the way home in the dark ; but this is 

 only when they have been over the road before, and is 



