CHAP. IV. MOTIONS OF QUADRUPEDS. 105 



slow ; although, when used as beasts of burden, their 

 strength and perseverance compensate in a great degree 

 for their want of speed. Denon tells us, that, when first 

 mounted on one of these animals, he was fearful that the 

 swinging motion which accompanies their usual high 

 trot would have thrown him over the creature's head ; 

 but, when firmly fixed, he soon found that there was 

 no danger of such a catastrophe : on the contrary, his 

 situation, on the whole, was an agreeable one. " It 

 was," he says, " entertaining enough to see us mount 

 our beasts. The camel, who is so deliberate in all his 

 actions, as soon as the rider leans on his saddle, pre- 

 paratory to mounting, rises very briskly, first on his 

 hind, and then on his fore legs : the rider is thus first 

 thrown forward, and then backward ; and it is not 

 until the fourth motion that the animal is entirely 

 erect, and the rider finds himself firm in his seat." 



(127.) Some quadrupeds, on the contrary, unite both 

 strength and agility. Among these, the American bison 

 is conspicuous. This animal is so strong, that some- 

 times, when pursued, it has been known to knock down 

 trees, as thick as a man's arm, in his flight j and yet 

 so quick as to plunge even through deep snow faster 

 than an Indian can run upon it in snow shoes.* " To 

 this," observes Mr. Hearne, ee I have been an eye-wit- 

 ness many times ; and once had the vanity to think that 

 I could have kept pace with them ; but, though I was 

 at that time celebrated for being particularly fleet in 

 snow shoes, I found that I was no match for the 

 bisons, notwithstanding they were then plunging through 

 such deep snow, that their bellies made a trench as 

 large as if many heavy sacks had been hauled through 

 it." That invaluable animal, the horse, is still more 

 celebrated for its fleetness ; and there is one instance 

 upon record of a racehorse (Childers) which passed 

 over eighty-two feet and a half of ground in a second 

 of time. The ass, in its wild state, is remarkably fleet ; 

 though all celerity appears to desert it when subjected 



* Bing. Anim. Biog. voL i. p. 476. 



