THE SALAMANDER. 881 



rivers to drink, and, upon these occasions, the croco- 

 dile, if near, never tails to seize them. The ferocious 

 beast, however, seldom falls unrevenged; for the in- 

 stant he finds himself seized, he .turns with great agi- 

 lity and fierceness on his enemy, and endeavours to 

 strike his claws into the crocodile's eyes, while the 

 latter drags him into the water, where they continue 

 to struggle until the tyger be drowned, and his tri- 

 umphant antagonist feasts upon his carcase. Not- 

 withstanding the formidable teeth and claws- of the 

 crocodile, its tail is an instrument of destruction 

 scarcely less formidable; for with a single stroke of 

 it this animal has frequently been known to overturn 

 a canoe, and then devour the poor savage, its con* 

 ductor. 



THE SALAMANDER 



is an animal of the lizard kind, concerning which a 

 number of fables have been invented, and propagated 

 from age to age, and from country to country. The 

 ancients have described it as engendered by heat, 

 living in flames, and feeding on fire as its proper nu* 

 triment. This fictitious picture of an animal that ne^- 

 ver existed, has vanished before modern investigation, 

 and the salamander, divested of its fabulous proper- 

 ties, is found to be no more than a particular kind of 

 lizard, about seven or eight inches long, and gene- 

 rally of a black colour, spotted with yellow. When 

 touched, it feels extremely cold to the hand; and it 

 is not improbable that this circumstance may have 

 contributed somewhat to the fabulous descriptions of 

 which it has been the subject. When thrown into 

 the fire it bursts, and by ejecting its fluids, may seem 

 to have power in regard to extinguishing a small 

 flame; but it immediately loses its life, and conse- 

 quently the experiment must be condemned as a re- 

 proach to humanity. 



In forming an idea of the figure of a salamander, 

 we ou;ht to suppose the tail of a lizard joined to the 

 body of a frog, and then we shall not be far short oi % 

 precision. It differs also from the rest of the lizard 



