402 DIFFERENCES IN THE EXTERNAL SENSES. 



miiig of the insect, than they squat themselves on the 

 ground, and having caught it with the eye, follow it to an 

 incredible distance *." 



He relates the following anecdote of one whom he had left 

 behind ill on a journey : " He had fallen asleep about the 

 middle of the preceding day, and had not awakened till night. 

 Though very dark, and unacquainted with a single step of 

 our route, he had found us by following the track of the 

 waggon. At this sort of business a Hottentot is uncom- 

 monly clever. There is not an animal among the numbers 

 that range the wilds of Africa, if he be at all acquainted 

 with it, the print of whose foot he cannot distinguish. The 

 print of any of his companions' feet he would single out 

 among a thousand f." 



Dr. SoMERViLLE confirms this statement, and refers the 

 superiority of the Hottentots in these points to constant 

 exercise of the organs J. 



In his frequent intercourse with the Nomadic tribes of 

 Asia, Pallas had the best opportunities of observing their 

 capabilities. '^The Calmucks," he says, "have a fine nose, 

 a good ear, and an extremely acute eye. On their journeys 

 and military expeditions they often smell out a fire or a 

 camp, and thus procure quarters for the night, or obtain 

 booty. Many of them can distinguish, by smelling at the 

 hole of a fox or other animal, whether the creature be there 

 or not. By lying flat, and putting their ear to the ground, 

 they can catch at a great distance the noise of horses, of a 

 flock, or of a single strayed animal. But nothing is so sur- 

 prising as the perfection of their eyes, and the extraordinary 

 distance at which they often perceive, from inconsiderable 

 heights, small objects, such as the rising dust caused by 

 cattle or horsemen, more particularly as the undulation of 



* Travels in Southern Africa, v. i. p. 160. + Ibid. p. 370. 



I '' NonnuUi feras venandi aut hostcs eflTiigiendi perpctua fere consuetudine, 

 liac facultate (visus) adeo pollebant, ut in cainpis arenosis vestigia observare 

 possent, lib) aliis nihil oranino appareret : banc facultatem enim, iitpote turn 

 ad victiun, turn ad salutetn ipsam proisus necessariam, assidue exercent, et sic 

 minim in modum acumit." Medko-Chir. Trans, v. vii. p. 155-6. 



