SOCIETY OP ANIMALS. 



villages, but content themselves with digging holes in the 

 earth. Like men under the oppression of despotic govern- 

 ments, the spirit of the European beavers is depressed, and 

 their genius is extinguished by terror, and by a perpetual and 

 necessary attention to individual safety. The northern parts 

 of Europe are now so populous, and the animals there are so 

 perpetually hunted for the sake of their furs, that they have 

 cno opportunity of associating p of course, those wonderful 

 marks of their sagacity, which they exhibit in the remote and 

 uninhabited regions of North America, are no longer to be 

 found. The society of beavers is a society of peace and of 

 affection. They never quarrel or injure one another, but live 

 together in different numbers, according to the dimensions of 

 particular cabins, in the most perfect harmony. The princi- 

 ple of their union is neither monarchical nor despotic ; for 

 the inhabitants of the different cabins, as well as those of the 

 whole village, seem to acknowledge no chief or leader what- 

 ever. Their association presents to our observation a model 

 of a pure and perfect republic, the only basis of which is mutual 

 and unequivocal attachment. They have no law but the law 

 of love and of parental affection. Humanity prompts us to 

 wish that it were possible to establish republics of this kind 

 among mankind. But the dispositions of men have little af- 

 finity to those of the beavers. 



The hampster, or German marmot, and some other quadru- 

 peds of this kind, live in society, and assist each other in dig- 

 ging and rendering commodious their subterraneous habita- 

 tions. The operations of the marmots have already been de- 

 scribed ; and the nature of their society, as they continue 

 during the winter in a torpid state, is either less known, or 

 does not excite so much admiration, as that of the beavers. 



Pairing birds, in some measure, may be considered as form- 

 ing proper society ; because, in general, the males and fe- 

 males mutually assist each other in building nests and feeding 

 their young. But this society, except in the eagle tribes, com- 

 monly continues no longer than their mutual offspring are fully 

 able to provide for themselves. None of the feathered tribes, 

 as far as we know, unite in bodies, in order to carry on any 

 operation common to the whole. 



Neither do we learn from history that fishes ever associate 

 for the purpose of executing any common operation. Many 

 of them, as herrings, salmon, &c., assemble in multitudes at 

 particular seasons of the year ; but this association, to which 

 they are impelled by instinct, has no common object ; for 



