270 ANCIENT SUPERSTITIONS. 



of every kind, the wherewithal to satisfy amply their insec- 

 tivorous tastes. It is the mole which generally produces that 

 rustling of the dry leaves the wanderer is so apt to attri- 

 bute to a snake or an adder. Stand still for a moment, and 

 patiently watch. Do you see that undulatory movement? 

 Thrust your stick rapidly into the uplifted heap. There is 

 our persevering hunter ; he struggles hard to escape from his 

 terrible enemy, but, with a little alacrity, you will not find it 

 difficult to capture him. 



Moles are among the most prolific of mammals j and, in 

 fact, were it not so, their race would have been long ago ex- 

 terminated. We may, perhaps, venture to say, that by multi- 

 plying so prodigiously, they wish to do us a service in spite of 

 ourselves. How tender is the solicitude of nature for the 

 ungrateful human species ! 



To see the marvellous qualities ascribed to the mole by the 

 ancients, one would suppose that they had made him the 

 object of their special study. Yet, as we have shown, they 

 could never have watched his habits with any degree of 

 patience. They saw everything through the delusive prism 

 of their imagination. As a proof, we will tell you what they 

 said of the mole. 



" Since this animal has been doomed to a perpetual blind- 

 ness, and lives interred beneath the surface of the earth, like 

 the dead, he possesses, by way of compensation, some extra- 

 ordinary qualities. His subterranean existence renders him, 

 of all animals, the most capable of religion (nulhim rdigionis 

 capacius animal). To acquire the gift of second-sight, you 



