THE BADGER 



drawn a badger when possible by the tail, as 

 the use of the tongs is sometimes difficult, 

 especially in certain holes and at great depths, 

 and there is a liability for the tongs to give 

 way, and then the badger charges in your 

 face or through your legs. I have seen a 

 badger's teeth break and fly off in chips from 

 iron tongs, a sight and sound that is not 

 pleasant. To one who knows how to do it, 

 drawing by the tail is a simple, quiet, and 

 effective way of " taking the brock." 



A badger has the proverbial nine lives 

 that John Chinaman attributes to women 

 and we to cats. You cannot kill a badger 

 by a blow on the head, the structure is so 

 dense. His brain is so well protected by the 

 ridges of bone along his skull and over his 

 eye-sockets, and by the strength and pro- 

 jection of his cheek-bones, as to make him 

 all but invulnerable in that quarter. His 

 skin is so thick and tough, and his coat so 

 heavy and coarse, that shot will scarcely 

 penetrate it ; but he has one place as tender 

 as a nigger's shins, and that is his nose, 

 where, if he is struck once, he is instantly 

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