356 



HISTORY OF 



chargiiig thtyn at its foes, and killing at a great distance oif. 

 But this opinion has been entirely discredited of late ; and it is 

 now universally believed that its quills remain firmly fixed in the 

 skin, and are then only shed when the animal moults them, as 

 birds do their feathers. It is true, we are told by Ellis, that a 

 wolf at Hudson's Bay was found dead, with the quills of a por- 

 cupine fixed within its mouth ; which might have very well hap- 

 pened, from the voraciousness of the former, and not the resent- 

 ment of the latter. That rapacious creature, in the rage of 

 appetite, might have attempted to devour the porcupine, quills 

 and all, and very probably paid the forfeit by its life. However 

 this be, of all the porcupines that have been bpought into Eu- 

 rope, not one was ever seen to launch their quills ; and yet the 

 irritations they received were sufficient to have provoked their 

 utmost indignation. Of all the porcupines that Dr Shaw ob- 

 served in Africa, and he saw numbers, not one ever attempted 

 to dart its quills ; their usual manner of defence being, to lie on 

 one side, and when the enemy approaches very near, by sudden- 

 ly rising, to wound him with the points on the other." 



It is probable, therefore, that the porcupine is seldom the ag- 

 gressor ; and when attacked by the bolder animals, it only directs 

 its quills so as to keep always pointing towai-ds the enemy. 

 These are an ample protection ; and, as we are assured by Kol- 

 ben, at such times even the lion himself will not venture to 

 make an attack. From such, therefore, the porcupine can de- 

 fend itself; and chiefly hunts for serpents, and all other reptiles, 

 for subsistence. Travellers universally assure us, that between 

 the serpent and the porcupine there exists an irreconcileable en- 

 mity, and that they never meet without a mortal engagement.' 

 The porcupine, on these occasions, is said to roll itself upon the 

 serpent, and thus destroy and devour it. This may be true ; 

 while what we are informed by Monsieur Sarrasin, of the por- 

 cupine of Canada chiefly subsisting on vegetables, may be equal- 

 ly so. Those which are brought to this country to be shown, 

 are usually fed on bread, milk, and fruits ; but they will not re- 

 fuse meat when it is offered them ; and it is probable they pre- 



1 M. de Vaillaiit in Ids Travels says, that owng- to some pcrnirioiis qual- 

 ity in the quills, one of his Hottentots, who had received a woiuid in his leg 

 from a porrupine, was ill for more than six montlis. 



2 liosniaii. Suiitli. L. P. Vincent Maiie, &c. 



2 



