444 



THE JERBOA. 



Its note," according to Kircher, is an as- 

 cending and descending hexachord, which it 

 utters only by night; its look is so piteous, as 

 to move compassion ; it is also accompanied 

 with tears, that dissuade every body from in- 

 juring so wretched a being. Its abstinence 

 from food is remarkably powerful ; one that 

 had fastened itself by its feet to a pole, and 

 was so suspended across two beams, remain- 

 ed forty days, without meat, drink, or sleep ; 

 the strength of its feet is so great, that what- 

 soever it seizes on cannot possibly be freed 

 from its claws. A dog was let loose at the 

 above mentioned animal, taken from the pole; 

 after some time the sloth laid hold of the dog 

 with its feet, and held him four days, till he 

 perished with hunger. 



[In addition to the two here mentioned, 



another, and by far the largest of its kind, has 

 lately been introduced to the notice of natu- 

 ralists from India. This animal approaches 

 in size and shape to that of the common bear, 

 being clothed with a very long black shaggy 

 hair. Its snout is a little elongated, and ap- 

 pears as if cut off at the end. The feet are 

 all armed with five crooked pointed claws; 

 and the tail is short, and hardly visible. In 

 its motions, it was not, as in the others, slow 

 and languid; but it appeared moderately 

 lively, and made a kind of short abrupt roar 

 when disturbed or irritated. It fed princi- 

 pally upon vegetables and milk, and was 

 much delighted with honey and sweet things. 

 It was said to burrow, and to have been dug 

 out of its subterraneous retreat when first 

 discovered.] 



CHAPTER LXX1H. 



THE JERBOA." 



THIS animal as little resembles a quadru- 

 ped, as that which has been described in a 

 former chapter. If we should suppose a bird, 

 divested of its feathers, and walking upon its 

 legs, it might give us some idea of its figure. 

 It has four feet indeed, but in running, or rest- 

 ing, it never makes use of any but the hinder. 

 The number of legs, however, do not much 

 contribute to any animal's speed ; and the 

 jerboa, though, properly speaking, furnished 

 but with two, is one of the swiftest creatures 

 in the world. 



a Pennant's Synopsis. 



b These curious animals have two front teeth in each 

 jaw; the fore legs are very short, and the hind legs very 

 long; they have perfect collarbones. M. Sonnini, while 

 he was in Egypt, fed for some time six of these animals in 

 a large cage of iron wire. The very first night, they en- 

 tirely gnawed asunder the upright and cross sticks of their 

 prison ; and he was under the necessity of having the in- 

 side of the cage lined with tin. They were fond of bask- 

 ing in the sun, and as soon as they were placed in the 

 shade, they clung close to each other, and seemed to suffer 

 from the privation of warmth. They did not usually 

 sleep during the day. Though they had much agility in 

 their movements, gentleness and tranquillity seemed to 

 form their character. They suffered themselves to be 



The jerboa is not above the size of a large 

 rat, and its head is sloped somewhat in the 

 manner of a rabbit ; the teeth also are form- 

 ed like those of the rat kind, there being two 

 cutting teeth in each jaw; it has a very long 

 tail, tufted at the end ; the head, the back, 

 and sides, are covered with long ash-colour- 

 ed soft hair; the breast and belly is whitish; 

 but what most deserves our attention in the 

 formation of this little animal, is the legs ; the 

 fore legs are not an inch long, with four claws 

 and a thumb upon each, while the hinder 



stroked with great composure, and never made a noise or 

 quarrelled among themselves, even when food was scatter- 

 ed among them. No distinguishing symptoms of joy, 

 fear, or gratitude, were discoverable; and even their 

 gentleness was by no means either amiable or interesting; 

 it appeared the effect of a cold and comple'e indifference, 

 approaching to stupidity. Three of these died before he 

 left Alexandria; two died on a rou<*h passage to the isle 

 of Rhodes ; and the last was lost, and, as he supposes, de- 

 voured by cats while he was on the island. 



He observes, that they do not ruminate, and that it is 

 difficult to transport them, on account of the quickness 

 and facility with which they gnaw through the thickest 

 and strongest boards. 



