PETS. 209 



come out with a bagful of mice, live or dead, at the 

 option of his employer. Their incantations are con- 

 fessedly a " blind," a sham imitation of an art which the 

 masters of their guild reserve for themselves, for the 

 exploits of the Oriental jugglers leave no doubt that 

 musical instruments form the essential tools of their 

 trade, and I have often wondered if the story of the 

 Pied Piper, and even that of Orpheus, may not be some- 

 thing more than an allegory. The undoubted ability of 

 the professional guruwallas to convene a troop of rats in 

 broad daylight is not a whit less marvellous : the tricks 

 of the crocodile-wardens might be founded upon a char- 

 acter-study of individual saurians ; but the exorcism of 

 a swarm of wary and timid domestic parasites seems to 

 imply the discovery of a key to a generic peculiarity of 

 such creatures. 



Much less miraculous is the tameness of an old house- 

 hold pet, no matter of what species, for the daily inter- 

 course with human beings has an almost incalculable 

 effect in transforming the character of a captive animal. 

 Next to the love of liberty the love of life is certainly 

 the master-instinct of every living creature ; yet domesti- 

 cation has subordinated this instinct to the wholly arti- 

 ficial sentiment of man-worship. At the bidding of a 

 revered master, dogs, gerfalcons, horses, camels, and 

 even elephants, will rush to certain death, and not 

 blindly, either, but open-eyed and with a persistent sup- 

 pression of the horror naturalis and a disregard of well- 



