118 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



prevent their sinking deeper in the mud; and the driver 

 was dreadfully afraid lest the animal should have seized 

 Dr. Hooker and crushed him to death. But the driver 

 himself,, as Dr. Hooker was assured, ran no risk. This for- 

 bearance, under an emergency so dreadful for a heavy 

 animal, is a wonderful proof of noble fidelity. * 



All animals living in a body, which defend themselves or 

 attack their enemies in concert, must indeed be in some 

 degree faithful to one another ; and those that follow 

 a leader must be in some degree obedient. When the 

 baboons in Abyssiniaf plunder a garden, they silently follow 

 their leader; and if an imprudent young animal makes a 

 a noise, he receives a slap from the others to teach him 

 silence and obedience. Mr. Gralton, who has had excellent 

 opportunities for observing the half -wild cattle in S. Africa, 

 says4 that they cannot endure even a momentary separa- 

 tion from the herd. They are essentially slavish, and 

 accept the common determination, seeking no better lot 

 than to be led by any one ox who has enough self-reliance 

 to accept the position. The men who break in these ani- 

 mals for harness, watch assiduously for those who, by graz- 

 ing apart, show a self-reliant disposition, and these they 

 train as fore oxen. Mr. Galton adds that such animals are 

 rare and valuable; and if many were born they would soon 

 be eliminated, as lions are always on the lookout for the 

 individuals which wander from the herd. 



With respect to the impulse which leads certain animals 

 to associate together, and to aid one another in many ways, 

 we may infer that in most cases they are impelled by the 

 same sense of satisfaction or pleasure which they experi- 

 ence in performing other instinctive actions ; or by the 

 same sense of dissatisfaction as when other instinctive 

 actions are checked. We see this in innumerable instances 

 and it is illustrated in a striking manner by the acquired 

 instincts of our domesticated animals; thus a young shep- 

 herd-dog delights in driving and running round a flock of 

 sheep, but not in worrying them ; a young fox-hound 

 delights in hunting a fox, while some other kinds of dogs, 



* See also Hooker's "Himalayan Journals," vol. ii, 1854, p. 333. 

 fBrehni, ' ' Thierleben, " B. i, s. 76. 



| See his extremely interesting paper on " Gregariousness in Cat- 

 tle and in Man," ' Macmillan's Mag.," Feb., 1871. p. 353. 



