ANIMALS. '^O'"' 



thuti the i'jx, which is a imidi slower animal than they. As 

 their hind legs are longer than the fore, they always choose to 

 run up hill, by which the speed of their pursuers is diminished, 

 while thtiry remains the same. Their motions are also with- 

 out any noise, as they have the sole of the foot furnished with 

 hair ; and they seem the only animals that have hair on the 

 inside of their mouths. 



They seldom live above seven or eight years at the utmost : 

 they come to their full perfection in a year ; and this multiplied 

 by seven, as in other animals, gives th extent of their lives.' It 

 is said, however, that the females live longer than the males ; 

 of this Mr BufFon makes a doubt ; but I am assured that it is 

 so. They pass their lives, in our climate, in solitude and silence ; 

 and they seldom are heard to cry, except when they are seized 

 or wounded. Their voice is not so sharp as the note of some 

 other animals, but more nearly approaching that of the squalling 

 of a child. They are not so wild as their dispositions and their 

 habits seem to indicate ; but are of a complying nature, and 

 easily susceptible of a kind of education. They are easily 

 tamed. They even become fond and caressing, but they are 

 incapable of attachment to any particular person, and never can 

 be depended upon ; for, though taken never so young, they re- 

 gain their native freedom at the first opportunity. As they 

 have a remarkably good ear, and sit upon their hind legs, and 

 use their fore-paws as hands, they have been taught to beat the 

 drum, to dance to music, and go through the manual exercise. 



But their natural instincts for their preservation are much 

 more extraordinary than those artificial tricks that are taught 

 them. They make themselves a form, particularly in Uiosc 

 places where the colom- of the grass most resembles that of their 

 skin ; it is oj)en to the south in winter, and to the north in sum- 

 mer. The hare, when it hears the hounds at a distance, flies 

 for some time through a natural impulse, without managing its 

 strength, or consulting any other means but speed for its safety. 

 Having attained some hill or rising ground, and left the dogs 

 so far behind that it no longer hears their cries, it stops, rears 

 on its hinder legs, and at length looks back to see if it has 

 not lo>t its pursuers. But these, having once fallen upon the 



1 Bufl'oii, veil. xiii. p. li. 



