54 ANIMALS OF THE 



others the most esteemed, a single skin often 

 selling for forty or fifty crowns. The hair of 

 these is so disposed, that it is impossible to tell 

 which way the grain lies ; for if we hold the skin 

 by the head, the hair hangs to the tail ; and if 

 we hold it by the tail, it hangs down equally 

 smooth and even to the head. These are often 

 made into men's muffs, and are at once very 

 beautiful and warm. In our temperate climate, 

 however, furs are of very little service, there 

 being scarcely any weather so severe in England 

 from which our ordinary clothes may not very 

 well defend us. 



THE JACKALL. 



THE Jackall is one of the commonest wild ani T 

 mals in the East j and yet there is scarcely any 

 less known in Europe, or more confusedly de- 

 scribed by natural historians. In general, we are 

 assured that it resembles the fox in figure and 

 disposition, but we are still ignorant of those nice 

 distinctions by which it is known to be of a dif- 

 ferent species. It is said to be of the size of a 

 middling dog, resembling the fox in the hinder 

 parts, particularly the tail ; and the wolf in the 

 fore-parts, especially the nose. Its legs are 

 shorter than those of the fox, and its colour is of a 

 bright yellow, or sorrel, as we express it in horses. 

 This is the reason it has been called in Latin the 

 Golden Wolf; a name, however, which is entirely 



