ANIMALS. 157 



offence ; and the pursuing animal must owe suc- 

 cess only to patience, perseverance, and industry. 

 The feet of some, that live upon fish alone, are 

 made for swimming. The toes of those animals 

 are joined together with membranes, being web- 

 footed, like a goose or a duck, by which they 

 swim with great rapidity. Those animals that 

 lead a life of hostility, and live upon others, have 

 their feet armed with sharp claws, which some 

 can sheath and unsheath at will. Those, on the 

 contrary, who lead peaceful lives, have generally 

 hoofs, which serve some as weapons of defence, 

 and which in all are better fitted for traversing 

 extensive tracts of rugged country, than the claw 

 foot of their pursuers. 



The stomach is generally proportioned to the 

 quality of the animal's food, or the ease with which 

 it is obtained. In those that live upon flesh and 

 such nourishing substances, it is small and glan- 

 dular, affording such juices as are best adapted to 

 digest its contents ; their intestines also are short, 

 and without fatness. On the contrary, such ani- 

 mals as feed entirely upon vegetables, have the 

 stomach very large ; and those who chew the cud 

 have no less than four stomachs, all which serve 

 as so many laboratories to prepare and turn their 

 coarse food into proper nourishment. In Africa, 

 where the plants afford greater nourishment than 

 in our temperate climates, several animals that 

 with us have four stomachs have there but two.* 

 However, in all animals the size of the intestines 



* BufiTon. 



