187 



They hunt generally in the night, and <;. flic parts 

 of the East where they are most frequent, there never 

 is a night but they are heard, in one part or other of 

 the woods. The other beasts of prey understand the 

 sound : and frequently profit by it. If a lion, tyger, 

 or leopard happens to be near, he hears the cry, and 

 stands upon the watch. These large animals are all 

 Tcry swift, but they are lazy, and never make long 

 pursuits. If the creatures pursued be far off, and 

 runs another way, they never trouble themselves 

 about it. But if it be near, or if it runs toward the 

 place where the lion is, he will dart out upon it as it 

 goes by. And the little animals that hunted it down 

 must stand by, and be content with what their master 

 leaves* 



The Sable-mice, (which were first observed in 

 Lapland, in 1697) are near as big as a small squirrel. 

 Their skin is streaked and spotted with black and 

 light brown. They have two teeth above, and two 

 under, very sharp and pointed. Their feet are like 

 a squirrel's. They are so fierce, that if a stick be 

 held out to them, they will bite it, and hold so fast, 

 that they may be swinged about in the air. In their 

 march they keep a direct line, generally from north- 

 east to south-west. Innumerable thousands are in 

 each troop, which is usually a square. They He still 

 by day, and march by night. The distance of the 

 lines they go in, parallel to each other, is of some ells. 

 Whatever they meet in their way, though it were a 

 fire, a deep well, a torrent, lake, or morass, they 

 avoid it not, but rush forward. By this means many 

 thousands of them are destroyed. If they are met 

 swimming over a lake, and are forced out of their 

 course, they quickly return into it again. If they 

 are met in woods or fields and stopt, they raise them, 

 selves on their hinder legs, like a dog, and make a 

 kind of barking noise, leaping up as high as a man's 

 knee, and defending their line as long as they can. 

 if at last they are forced out of it, they creep into 



