J18 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Singular instance of recollection. 



A remarkable instance of memory in a mastiff 

 is related by M. D'Obsonville. This animal, 

 which he had brought up in India from two 

 months old, accompanied himself and a friend 

 from Pondicherry to Benglour, a distance of 

 more than three hundred leagues. " Our jour- 

 ney," says he, " occupied nearly three weeks; 

 and we had to traverse plains and mountains, 

 and to ford rivers, and go along several bye- 

 paths. The animal, which had certainly never 

 been in that country before, lost us at Benglour, 

 and immediately returned to Pondicherry. He 

 went directly to the house of M. Beylier, then 

 commandant of artillery, my friend, and with 

 whom I had generally lived. Now the difficulty 

 is, not so much to know how the dog subsisted 

 on the road, for he was very strong and able to 

 procure himself food; but how he should so well 

 have found his way, after an interval of more 

 than a month !" 



A curious account is related in Stow's Annals 

 of an engagement between three mastiffs and a 

 lion, in the presence of king James the First. 

 One of the dogs, being put into the den, was 

 soon disabled by the lion ; which took him by 

 the head and neck, and dragged him about. 

 Another dog was then let loose ; and was served 

 in the same manner. But the third, being put 

 in, immediately seized the lion by the lip, and 

 held him for a considerable time ; till, being se- 

 verely torn by his claws, the dog was obliged 

 6 



