THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 303 



These pretty mammals of Lapland, the lemmings, which 

 are not much larger than mice, accomplish still more ex- 

 traordinary and daring migrations. At a certain period of 

 the year these adventurers, urged by a mysterious instinct, 

 descend from the mountains in troops so numerous that 

 over considerable spaces of country the face of the land is 

 absolutely covered by the compact moving army. Always 

 advancing without halt or pause, no obstacle checks them, 

 neither rivers, lakes, nor arms of the sea ; a hundred 

 enemies decimate them, a hundred dangers threaten them, 

 but nothing stays their course ; the long living lines formed 



144. Lemming : Myodes Itmmus. 



by their troops advance just the same towards the spot they 

 fatally wish to reach. 



Astonished at the sudden irruption of these innumerable 

 legions of rodents, which devastate everything in their path, 

 the rude inhabitants of the North believe that this plague 



wind, becoming too strong, overturns both the ship and the pilot. This ship- 

 wreck, which very often overwhelms 3000 or 4000 vessels, generally brings an 

 extraordinary influx of wealth to those Laplanders who find the remains on 

 the shore, and who, if the little animals have not been too long on the sand, 

 make use of them for food, etc. Many of these animals make a successful voyage 

 and arrive safe in harbor, provided the wind be favorable and not strong enough 

 to raise any waves, which need not be violent in order to engulf these little craft. 

 This singular performance might be considered as a fable if I had not witnessed 

 it myself." Regnard, Voyage en Lapponie. Paris., 1820, j). 202. 



