29 



tiles, the skins of Crocodiles, and even of some Fishes, and 

 the shells of the inferior tribes, are employed to cover his 

 body, and in many countries canoes and houses are also 

 covered with the skins of animals. In Polar regions, 

 where the scanty vegetation can supply him neither with 

 clothing nor food, the periodical migrations of Quadru- 

 peds and birds, and the great abundance of the lowest 

 tribes of animals, more than supply all his wants. The 

 rein-deer, the Polar-bear, the musk-bull, the wolf, and 

 several other Quadrupeds, were found by our enter- 

 prizing countrymen in the sterile and frozen solitudes 

 of Melville Island. The Naturalist who accompanied 

 Kotzebue, describes the waters of the Polar seas as swarm- 

 ing with animal life. " Medusae and Zoophytes, Mol- 

 lusca and Crustacea, innumerable species of Fishes in 

 incredibly crowded shoals, the gigantic swimming Mamma- 

 lia, whales, physeters, dolphins, morses, and seals, fill the 

 sea and its shores ; and countless flights of water-fowl rock 

 themselves on the bosom of the ocean, and in the twilight 

 resemble floating islands." 



The productions of nature are subjected to numerous 

 changes tp suit them for administering to our wants and 

 enjoyments : hence have arisen the various arts which oc- 

 cupy so large a portion of the intellectual and physical 

 powers of man. The employment of the physical powers 

 of the lower animals in conducting the operations of art, 

 enables mankind to devote a larger share of intellectual 

 energy towards their improvement, and affords a power 

 more certain in its operation, more susceptible of every 

 modification, more extensively applicable, and more com- 

 pletely under control, than any mechanical forces ever 

 contrived by man. The employment of animals in the 

 operations of agriculture is almost coeval with the exist- 

 ence of the human race. Their use is no less ancient and 

 important in the operations of war, in travelling, hunting, 

 conveying over land the productions of industry and com- 

 merce, and in communicating or regulating the motion of 



