VISION. 17 



on board the Ister frigate, Captain Forrest, bound 

 from Gibraltar for that island. The vessel having 

 struck on some sands off the Point de Gat, at some 

 distance from the shore, the ass was thrown over- 

 board to give it a chance of swimming to land a 

 poor one, for the sea was running so high that a boat 

 which left the ship was lost. A few days afterwards, 

 however, when the gates of Gibraltar were opened in 

 the morning, the ass presented himself for admittance, 

 and proceeded to the stable of Mr. Weeks, a mer- 

 chant, which he had formerly occupied, to the no 

 small surprise of this gentleman, who imagined that 

 from some accident the animal had never been ship- 

 ped on board the Ister. On the return of the vessel 

 to repair, the mystery was explained ; and it turned 

 out that Valiante (so the ass was called) had not only 

 swam safely to shore, but, without guide, compass, 

 or travelling map, had found his way from Point de 

 Gat to Gibraltar, a distance of more than two hun- 

 dred miles, through a mountainous and intricate 

 country, intersected by streams which he had never 

 traversed before, and in so short a period that he 

 could not have made one false turn. His not having 

 been stopped on the road was attributed to the cir- 

 cumstance of his having been formerly used to whip 

 criminals upon, which was indicated to the peasants 

 (who have a superstitious horror of such asses) by 

 the holes in his ears, to which the persons flogged, 

 were tied*. 



It would appear, from an observation of Professor 

 Lichenstein, that birds which feed on carrion may 

 probably resort to making circular flights, similar to 

 the pigeon, in order to discover a carcass. He re- 

 marked, when travelling in Southern Africa, that if 

 an animal chanced to die, in the very midst of the 

 most desert wilderness, in less than half an hour 

 * Intr, to Entom, ii. 502, note. 



