FEBRUARY. 39 



or going in a circle. The men put a rope round her^ and 

 led her to the town. In the woods they found her den, 

 strewed with a vast number of deer's bones^ fragments of 

 flesh;, &c. all around which, the snow, though three feet deep, 

 was trodden hard and smooth, and from the number of paths 

 leading to this spot, it appeared evident that this aged wolf 

 had for a long time been supplied with prey by the assiduous 

 attentions of others. 



C. — This story raises the wolf in my estimation : I had 

 always had a very bad opinion of his moral character. 



F. — All carnivorous animals are on a par in this respect : 

 it is absurd to say that any animal is " fierce without pro- 

 vocation, and cruel without necessity ;" or that " it scarcely 

 r, finds time to appease its appetite, while intent upon satisfy- 

 lu ing the malignity of its nature." Their thirst for blood is 

 '^an irresistible instinct implanted in them by an all wise 

 God, and the tiger or the wolf could no more exist without 

 slaughter, than the sheep without cropping the herbage. 

 That they often kill without devouring the carcasses, is not 

 by any means the effect of a blind and aimless ferocity, but 

 a proof that to their palates the blood is the most agreeable 

 part of their victim ; and of course it is ridiculous to expect 

 that they should manifest any moral scruples of indulging 

 their appetite, whenever they have the power or opportunity. 

 Some are more sluggish, or more timid, or less desirous of 

 blood than others, but surely no praise is due to them for 

 superior virtue. 



C. — Is the wolf the most formidable of our beasts of 

 prey? 



F. — I suppose he may be esteemed such ; though there 

 is reason to believe that a much nobler animal, the Couguar, 

 or Puma, has, formerly at least, been seen in this province. 

 I have heard both Nathan and Amos Merrill speak of a 

 large cat, which was killed in the township of Bolton, about 



