I04 QJJ ADHUPEDS. 



THELEMING 



|S a native of Scandinavia, larger than a dormoufe, with a bujfhy taiL 

 I half an inch long J covered with thin hair; the upper part of the 

 head, the neck and fhoulders, black; the reft of the body reddilh, with 

 fmall black fpots to the tail; eyes little and black; ears round, in- 

 clining toward the back; the legs before {hort, thofe behind longer, 

 which renders it very fwift. 



In wet feafons, all the rat kind multiply j but this fpecies fo remarka- 

 bly, that the Laplanders believe they drop from the clou'ds ; they quit 

 their native mountains in troops of millions, moving by night, in a 

 fquare often more than a mile broad, covering the ground, the hind- 

 moft touching its leader. They generally move in lines, about three 

 feet apart, and parallel, from north-weft to fouth-eaft. They go for- 

 wardf directed by fome ftrange impulfe. If extenfive water inter- 

 rupt their progrefs, they fwim over it ; if a fire, or a deep. weH, 

 they plunge into the flames, or leap down the well ; if a boat acrofs a 

 river, while they are fwimming, they mount direflly up its fides; if a 

 Hack of hay or corn, they gnaw their way through itj if a houfe through 

 which they cannot get, they continue there till they die. Happily they 

 eat nothing ftored for human fubfiftence ; but confume roots and vegeta- 

 bles. If they pafs through a meadow, they deftroy it quickly, and give 

 it an appearance of being burnt up and ftrewed with alhes. If a man 

 fhould venture to interrupt one of them in its courfe, the little animal 

 furioufly flies up at its opponent, barking fomewhat like a puppy, and, 

 wherever it faftens, does not eafily quit the hold. If the leader be 

 forced out of its line, which is very rare, it exprefles its grief by a 

 plaintive cry, and is faid not to furvive it. Even their breeding does not 

 hinder their march ; for fome have been obferved to carry one young in 

 their mouth, another on their back. Their rapacity, at laft, impels 

 them to devour each other. After committing incredible devaftations, 

 they feparate into two armies, along the coafts of the larger lakes and 

 rivers. The Laplanders, who obferve them thus drawn up to fight, 

 confider their combat? as prefages of war, and expeft invafion from 

 Ruflia or Sweden, as the fides next thofe kingdoms happen to conquer. 

 They fight till one party overcomes, and from that time difappear, moft 

 probably being entirely devoured, either in rage, or as food. Often 

 7 they 



