BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEN. 49 



to the middle of the back, which both enables them 

 to support their burden with ease, and to recover 

 their head at pleasure. 



In the particular construction of the various spe- 

 cies of Quadrupeds, with their several dispositions 

 and appetites, there are several things very remark- 

 able ; but we will only mention a few of them, in 

 which the wisdom and goodness of the Creator, in 

 adapting them so wonderfully to their different si- 

 tuations, habits, and manners of living, are very 

 conspicuous. 



Animals of the graminivorous kinds, such as the 

 Horse, the Ox, and the Sheep, are furnished with 

 masticating organs, adapted to the soft herbage they 

 eat ; being of harmless dispositions, they are only 

 armed with defensive weapons, and for mutual safety 

 associate together in herds 



Those whose natures are fierce and savage, and 

 whose cruel dispositions, like those of the Tiger and 

 Hyena, cannot be satisfied but at the expense of 

 blood, come forth solitary and alone ; but they are 

 armed with fearful claws and horrid tusks, and 

 monstrous jaw^s, wonderfully fitted for the seizure 

 and destruction of Hieir victims. 



The Camel doomed to traverse the parched and 

 .burning deserts of Arabia, where continued drought 

 and ^erility reign, has not only a foot admirably 

 fitted for his element, and endowed with a remark- 

 able abstinence, but carries along with him a natu- 

 ral reservoir which he fills with water at every well. 



F 



