290 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 



of the sky and their forms are aerial ; and their 

 aerial nature is not in touch with ours. For the 

 mammalians we, who are also mammals and bound 

 to earth, have a greater sympathy, and their 

 beauty has for us a more enduring charm. If it 

 is out of our sight and far removed from most of 

 us, and growing farther year by year, we have 

 only ourselves to blame. For how rich are the 

 mountains and forests and desert places of the 

 earth, where we sometimes go to slay Nature's 

 untamed beautiful children, assisted in our task by 

 that servant and friend that is so worthy of us ! 

 And on the other hand, how poor are our houses 

 and villages and cities ! The dog is there, inherited 

 from barbarous progenitors, who tamed him not 

 to be a pet or friend, but to assist them in their 

 quest for flesh, and for other purposes ; to be a 

 scavenger, as he still is in Eastern countries, or, 

 as in the case of the ancient Hyrcanians, to devour 

 the corpses of their dead. He is there, but his 

 title is bad ; why should we suffer him ? We may 

 wash him daily with many waters, but the jackal 

 taint remains. That which Nature has made 

 unclean let it be unclean still, for we cannot make 

 it different. Her lustral water which purifies for 

 ever is a secret to our chemistry. Or if not alto- 

 gether a secret, if, as some imagine, the ingredients 

 may be dimly guessed, they are too slow for us in 

 their working. Man's years are limited and his 

 purposes change. Nature has all time for her 

 processes ; " the eternal years of God are hers." 



