ANIMALS. 



207 



upon others, have their feet armed with sharp 

 claws, which some can sheath and unsheath 

 at will. Those, on the contrary, who lead 

 peaceful lives, have generally hoofs, which 

 serve some as weapons of defence; and which, 

 in all, are better fitted for traversing extensive 

 tracts of rugged country than the claw-foot 

 of their pursuers. 



The stomach is generally proportioned to 

 the quality -of the animal's food, or the ease 

 with which it is obtained. In those that live 

 upon flesh, and such nourishing substances, 

 it is small and glandular, affording such juices 

 as are best adapted to digest its contents; 

 their intestines also are short, and without 

 fatness. On the contrary, such animals as 

 feed entirely upon vegetables, have the sto- 

 mach very large ; and those who chew the 

 cud have no less than four stomachs, all which 

 serve as so many laboratories, to prepare and 

 turn their coarse food into proper nourish- 

 ment. In Africa, where the plants afford 

 greater nourishment than in our temperate 

 climates, several animals, that with us have 

 four stomachs, have there but two." How- 

 ever, in all animals the size of the intestines 

 is proportioned to the nature of the food : 

 where that is furnished in large quantities, 

 the stomach dilates to answer the increase. 

 In domestic animals, that are plentifully sup- 

 plied, it is large ; in the wild animals, that 

 live precariously, it is much more contracted, 

 and the intestines are much shorter. 



In this manner, all animals are fitted by na- 

 ture to fill up some peculiar station. The 

 Mtest animals are made for an inoffensive 

 life, to range the plains and the forest without 

 injuring others; to live upon the productions 

 of the earth, the grass of the field, or the ten- 

 df-i branches of trees. These, secure in their 

 own strength, neither fly from any other quad- 

 rupeds, nor yet attack them : Nature, to the 

 greatest strength, has added the most gentle 

 and harmless dispositions : without this, those 

 enormous creatures would be more than a 

 match for all the rest of the creation; for 

 what devastation might not ensue, were the 

 elephant, or the rhinoceros, or the buffalo, as 

 fierce -and as mischievous as the tiger or the 

 rat ? In order to oppose these larger animals, 



Bufion. 



and in some measure to prevent their exuber- 

 ance, there is a species of the carnivorous 

 kind, of inferior strength indeed, but of greater 

 activity and cunning. The lion and the tiger 

 generally watch for the larger kinds of prey, 

 attack them at some disadvantage, and com- 

 monly jump upon them by surprise. None 

 of the carnivorous kinds, except the dog alone, 

 will make a voluntary attack, but with the odds 

 on their side. They are all cowards by na- 

 ture, and usually catch their prey by a bound 

 from some lurking-place, seldom attempting 

 to invade them openly; for the larger beasts 

 are too powerful for them, and the smallei 

 too swift. 



A lion does not willingly attack a horse ; 

 and then only when compelled by the keen- 

 est hunger. The combats between a lion 

 and a horse are frequent enough in Italy ; 

 where they are both enclosed in a kind of 

 amphitheatre, fitted for that purpose. The 

 lion always approaches wheeling about, while 

 the horse presents his hinder parts to the ene- 

 my. The lion in this manner goes round and 

 round, still narrowing his circle, till he comes 

 to the proper distance to make his spring; 

 just at the time the lion springs, the horse 

 lashes with both legs from behind, and, in ge- 

 neral, the odds are in his favour ; it more often 

 happening that the lion is stunned, and struck 

 motionless by the blow, than that he effects 

 his jump between the horse's shoulders. If 

 the lion is stunned, and left sprawling, the 

 horse escapes, without attempting to improve 

 his victory ; but if the lion succeeds, he sticks 

 to his prey, and tears the horse in pieces in 

 a very short time. 



But it is not among the larger animals of 

 the forest alone, that these hostilities are car- 

 ried on ; there is a minuter, and a still more 

 treacherous contest, between the lower ranks 

 of quadrupeds. The panther hunts for the 

 sheep and the goat ; the catamountain for the 

 hare or the rabbit; and the wild cat for the 

 squirrel or the mouse. In proportion as each 

 carnivorous animal wants strength, it uses all 

 the assistance of patience, assiduity, and cun- 

 ning. However, the arts of these to pursue, 

 are not so great as the tricks of their prey to 

 escape; so that the power of destruction in 

 one class, is inferior to the power of safety 

 in the other. Were this otherwise, the forest 



