496 THE PHILOSOPHY 



country is fo ftrong, that, after gratifying the migrating 

 principle, almofh every man feels a longing defire to return. 



Savages, as long as their ftore of food remains unexhauft- 

 ed, continue in a liftlefs inaftive flate. They exhauft many 

 days fitting in perfeft indolence, and feem not to be prompt* 

 ed by any motives of curiofity. They have not a concep- 

 tion of a man's walking either for amufement or exercife. 

 But, when their provifions Uegin to fail, an aftonifhing re- 

 ■verfe takes place. They then roufe as from a profound 

 ileep. In queft of wild beafts, birds, and fiflies, they mi- 

 grate to immenfe diftances, exert the greateft feats of adtivi- 

 ty, and undergo incredible hard {hips and fatigue. After ac- 

 quiring a ftore of provifions, they return to their wonted 

 haunts, and remain inadtive till their food again begins to 

 fail. 



Quadrupeds likewife perform partial migrations. At the 

 approach of winter, the ftag, the rein-deer, and the roebuck, 

 leave the tops of the lofty mountains, and come down to the 

 plains and copfes. Their chief objects, in thefe flittings, are 

 food and fhelter. When fummer commences, they are har^ 

 rafted with diff*erent fpecies of winged infedls, and, to avoid 

 thefe enemies, they regain the fummits of the mountains,^ 

 where the cold and the heighth of the fituation proteiSl them 

 from the attacks of the flies. In ;^Jorway, and the more 

 northern regions of Europe, the oxen, during the winter, 

 migrate to the fliores of the fea, where they feed upon fea- 

 plants and the bones of fifties ; and Pontoppidan remarks, 

 that the cattle know by inftin<SV when the tide retires, and 

 leaves thefe articles of food upon the fliorc. In Orkney and 

 Shetland, the ftieep in winter, for the fame purpofes, uni- 

 formly repair to the ftiore at the ebbing of the tides. Rats, 

 particularly thofe of the northern regions of Europe, ap- 

 pear, from time to time, in fuch myriads, that the inhabi- 

 tants of Norway and Lapland imagine the animals fall from 



