210 



A HISTORY OF 



But not their appetites, or their figure alone, 

 but their very dispositions, and their natural 

 sagacity, are altered by the vicinity of man. 

 In those countries where men have seldom in- 

 truded, some animals have been found, estab- 

 lished in a kind of civil state of society. Re- 

 mote from the tyranny of man, they seem to 

 have a spirit of mutual benevolence, and mu- 

 tual friendship. The beavers, in those distant 

 solitudes, are known to build like architects, 

 and rule like citizens. The habitations that 

 these have been seen to erect, exceed the 

 houses of the human inhabitants of the same 

 country, both in neatness and convenience. 

 But as soon as man intrudes upon their society, 

 they seem impressed with the terrors of their 

 inferior situation, their spirit of society ceases, 

 the bond is dissolved, and every animal looks 

 for safety in solitude, and there tries all its 

 little industry to shift only for itself. 



Next to human influence, the climate seems 

 to have the strongest effects both upon the 

 nature and the form of quadrupeds. As in 

 man we have seen some alterations produced 

 by the variety of his situation ; so in the lower 

 ranks, that are more subject to variation, the 

 influence of climate is more readily perceived. 

 As these are more nearly attached to the earth, 

 and in a manner connected to the soil ; as 

 they have none of the arts of shielding off the 

 inclemency of the weather, or softening the 

 rigours of the sun, they are consequently more 

 changed by its variations. In general it may 

 be remarked, that the colder the country, the 

 larger and the warmer is the fur of each ani- 

 mal ; it being wisely provided by Nature, 

 that the inhabitant should be adapted to the 

 rigours of its situation. Thus the fox and 

 wolf, which in temperate climates have but 

 short hair, have a fine long fur in the frozen 

 regions near the pole. On the contrary, those 

 dogs which with us have long hair, when car- 

 ried to Guinea or Angola, in a short time cast 

 their thick covering, and assume a lighter dress, 

 and one more adapted to the warmth of the 

 country. The beaver, and the ermine, which 

 are found in the greatest plenty in the cold re- 

 gions, are remarkable for the warmth and 

 delicacy of their furs ; while the elephant, and 

 the rhinoceros, that are natives of the line, have 

 scarcely any hair. Not but that human in- 

 dustry can, in some measure, co-operate with, 

 or repress, the effects of climate in this par- 



ticular. It is well known what alterations are 

 produced by prop< r eai , in the sheep's fleece, 

 in different parts of our own country ; and the 

 same industry is pursued with alike success in 

 Syria, where many of their animals are cloth- 

 ed with a long and beautiful hair, which they 

 take care to improve, as they work it into that 

 stuff call'-d camblet, so well known in different 

 parts of Europe. 



The disposition of the animal seems also not 

 less marked by the climate than the figure. 

 The same causes that seem to have rendered 

 the human inhabitants of the rigorous climates 

 savage and ignorant, have also operated upon 

 their animals. Both at the line and the pole, 

 the wild quadrupeds are fierce and untame- 

 able. In these latitudes, their savage disposi- 

 tions having not been quelled by any efforts 

 from man, and being still farther stimulated by 

 the severity of the weather, they continue 

 fierce and uutrnetable. Most of the attempts 

 which have hitherto been made to tame the 

 wild beasts brought home from the pole or the 

 equator, have proved ineffectual. They are 

 gentle and harmless enough while young; hut 

 as they grow up, they acquire their natural 

 ferocity, and snap at the hand that feeds them. 

 It may indeed, in general, be asserted, that in 

 all countries where the men are most barba- 

 rous, the beasts are most fierce and cruel : and 

 this is but a natural consequence of the strug- 

 gle between man and the more savage animals 

 of the forest; for in proportion as he is weak 

 and timid, they must be bold and intrusive; 

 in proportion as his dominion is but feebly 

 supported, their rapacity must be more ob- 

 noxious. In the extensive countries, therefore, 

 lying round the pole, or beneath the line, the 

 quadrupeds are fierce and formidable. Africa 

 has ever been remarked for the brutality of its 

 men, and the fierceness of its animals : its lions 

 and its leopards are not less terrible than its 

 crocodiles and its serpents ; their dispositions 

 seem entirely marked with the rigours of the 

 climate, and being hred in an extreme of heat, 

 they show a peculiar f rocity, that neither the 

 force of man can conquer, nor his arts allay. 

 However, it is happy for the wretched inhabi- 

 tants of those climates, that its most formidable 

 animals are all solitary ones ; that they have 

 not learnt the art of uniting, to oppress man- 

 kind ; but each depending on its own strength, 

 invades without any assistant. 



