RAT KIND. 193 



impracticable. They generally move in lines, 

 which are about three feet from each other, and 

 exactly parallel. Their march is always directed 

 from the north-west to the south-east, and regu- 

 larly conducted from the beginning. Wherever 

 their motions are turned, nothing can stop them ; 

 they go directly forward, impelled by some 

 strange power ; and from the time they first set 

 out, they never once think of retreating. If a 

 lake or a river happens to interrupt their pro- 

 gress, they all together take the water, and 

 swim over it ; a fire, a deep well, or a torrent, 

 does not turn them out of their straight-lined 

 direction ; they boldly plunge into the flames, 

 or leap down the well, and are sometimes seen 

 climbing up on the other side. If they are 

 interrupted by a boat across a river while they 

 are swimming, they never attempt to swim round 

 it, but mount directly up its sides ; and the boat- 

 men, who know how vain resistance in such a 

 case would be, calmly suffer the living torrent to 

 pass over, which it does without further damage. 

 If they meet with a stack of hay or corn that in- 

 terrupts their passage, instead of going over it 

 they gnaw their way through ; if they are stop- 

 ped by a house in their course, if they cannot go 

 through it, they continue there till they die. It 

 is happy, however, for mankind, that they eat 

 nothing that is prepared for human subsistence ; 

 they never enter a house to destroy the provi- 

 sions, but are contented with eating every root 

 and vegetable that they meet. If they happen 

 to pass through a meadow, they destroy it in a 



VOL. III. N 



