? HABITS AND INSTINCTS OF ANIMALS. CHAP. III. 



submission to the scorns and bufferings of this world, 

 but is susceptible of great attachment towards its mas- 

 ter, whom it will scent at a considerable distance, dis- 

 tinguish in the midst of a crowd, faithfully follow, and 

 even caress him. Innumerable instances of this attach- 

 ment may be quoted. 



(93-) Quadrupeds are susceptible of many of the 

 softer emotions ; and of this, many interesting instances 

 are upon record. The docility and amiable qualities of 

 the elephant are well known ; while the perfect subjec- 

 tion into which it can be brought towards a creature so 

 inferior in bodily strength as man, is as admirable as it 

 is extraordinary. In their wild state, elephants are 

 very sociable, always marching in large troops, the 

 oldest being in the front, the young and sickly in the 

 centre, and the middle-aged making up the rear. Mr. 

 Bruce gives a striking instance of the affection of a 

 young elephant for its mother, as exhibited in a hunt, 

 in which the dam being severely wounded, it rushed 

 impetuously out of the thicket, in which it had taken 

 shelter, upon the men and horses ; and he adds, " I 

 was amazed, and as much as ever I was upon such an 

 occasion afflicted, at seeing the affection of the little 

 animal in defending its wounded mother, heedless of 

 its own life or safety. I therefore cried to them, for 

 God's sake to spare the mother ! but it was then too 

 late ;" and the young elephant, he tells us, fell a victim 

 to its filial affection. 



(9^-) Quadrupeds, more than any other animals, dis- 

 play the ungovernable passions of anger, hatred, cruelty, 

 and revenge ; and at these times are often formidable ene- 

 mies, not only to each other, but to mankind in general. 

 The whole of the carnivorous animals, whose lives are 

 supported by blood, naturally exhibit the most savage 

 dispositions. It has been aptly said of the tiger, that it 

 is fierce when unprovoked, and " cruel without neces- 

 sity."* The wolf is of a rapacity which nothing can 

 satisfy. The panther (Felis pardus) is much more 



* Smel. Phil. vol. i. p. 373. 



