BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEN. 41 



blood warm from the animal; others are satisfied 

 with the flesh newly killed: a third are not pleased 

 with it till it is in a state of putridity : ot those of 

 another description, some live upon fruits and roots; 

 otliers can partake of bark and leaves ; a third put 

 up with the soft herbage of the meadow ; and a 

 fourth. are content with the very refuse of our fields 

 and gardens: while each pursues that particular 

 path chalked out for him by Nature, without re- 

 pining or envying the lot of his neighbour. 



The unwieldly Whale in the Greenland seas, the* 

 numerous herds of Elephants which graze the ex- 

 tensive regions betwixt the river Senegal and the 

 Cape of Good Hope ; and the gigantic Ostrich of 

 the sandy borders of Egypt and Palestine, roam as 

 much at large as the winged insect that flits from 

 flower to flower, or the invisible Animalcule \\hich 

 swims in the liquid drop. The polar Bear of the 

 Arctic Circle, wrapt in his shaggy covering, the 

 Ermine of Siberia in his furry mantle, and the Wa- 

 ter-Fowl with her thick-set oily feathers, no doubt 

 feel as comfortable as the Barbary Cow, almost 

 naked, the rhinoceros, sheltered from the tropical 

 heats by his coat of mail, or the monstrous Hippo- 

 potamus (the Behemoth of Job,) when he retires to 

 cool himself at the bottom of the African rivers. 

 Those abhorred insects which feed upon ordure, or 

 still more loathsome, that riot in putrefaction, we 

 have reason to believe feed as deliciously as the 

 Racoon on his West-Indian sweets, or pampered 

 Lap-dog from the hand of its mistress. And if the 

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