376 THE HARMONIES OF NATURE. 



reindeer ; the life of the Eskimo is bound to that of the seal 

 or the walrus, and the Indian hunter would disappear from the 

 face of the earth if the deer were no longer to range the forest, 

 or the bison to scour the boundless prairie. The chase of the 

 whale, of the seals, and of several other animals, not only plays 

 an important part in the annals of commerce but forms a con- 

 spicuous feature in the history of the human race, as it has 

 influenced the destiny of numerous nations, and contributed 

 more than anything else to bring the remotest parts of the 

 earth within the influence of European civilisation. The sable 

 was the magnet which led the Eussians from Siberia to Kamt- 

 schatka, and the still more valuable sea-otter conducted them 

 to the Aleiitic chain, and to the opposite coast of America, as 

 the seal attracted them to the desolate solitudes of the Sea of 

 Behring. The English and American whalers have followed 

 the huge cetaceans both into the icy channels of Baffin's Bay 

 and the Antarctic Ocean ; and it is highly probable that, but 

 for the sperm-whale, the South Sea islanders would have re- 

 mained until now in total seclusion from the rest of mankind. 

 Thus Providence has made use of a few animals as the in- 

 struments for extending the intellectual horizon of man, and 

 for rendering the most inhospitable countries tributary to his 

 wants ! 



As the mammalia are his nearest relations, in a physical 

 point of view, they are also endowed with an intelligence 

 superior to that of the other animals, and not seldom prompting 

 them to actions which seem rather to belong to the sphere of 

 reason than to that of brutal instinct. The chimpanzee, for 

 instance, will lock and unlock a door or drawer, will thread any 

 needle, and cannot be taken in by the same thing twice. 



A dog in a monastery, perceiving that the monks received 

 their meals by rapping at a buttery-door, contrived to do so like- 

 wise, and, when the allowance was pushed through, and the door 

 shut, ran off with it. This was repeated till the theft was detected. 



Another dog, belonging to Mr. Taylor, a clergyman who lived 

 at Colton, near Wolseley Bridge, was accused of killing many 

 sheep. Complaints were made to his master, who asserted that 

 the thing was impossible, because he was muzzled every night. 

 The neighbours persisting in the charge, the dog one night was 

 watched, and he was seen to draw his neck out of the muzzle, 



