Cas] AND SYMBOLS. 37 



evincing in their own way the most tender regard for it, and 

 then suddenly becoming irritated, pursuing it with hoarse cries, 

 and biting it as if it were an enemy ; immediately peace is made, 

 and the caresses recommence and continue, until a new caprice 

 brings about the same results." How much all this resembles 

 the proceedings which we see amongst men and women who are 

 types of the capricious disposition ! M. 



Carcase-Seekers. 



Where the carcase is, there will the vultures be gathered. 

 Directly an enterprise is brought to commercial ruin, what an 

 awful array of hungry accountants, lawyers, jobbers, and rogues 

 alight upon the scene, greedy, desperate, and keen ! Their 

 example seems to be the sociable vulture, an inhabitant of the 

 interior of the Cape of Good Hope, and of the eastern parts of 

 Africa. It dwells in the mountains, where the numerous caves 

 and fissures furnish it with a good shelter in which to pass the 

 night, or to repose during the day after a full meal. At sun- 

 rise they are seen perched upon the rocks in large bands ; and 

 from these stations they soar into the air to such a height as to 

 become quite invisible. But, even at their greatest elevation, 

 they still keep a sharp look-out upon the occurrences in the 

 world below them ; for no sooner does an animal die than the 

 vultures are upon it, " seeming," as Le Vaillant expresses it, " to 

 escape from a cavern in the sky." If a hunter kill an animal 

 which he cannot remove at once, he will find on his return that 

 the vultures are already busy on its carcase, although a quarter 

 of an hour previously not one was to be seen in the neighbour- 

 hood. MU. 



Cast down, but not destroyed. 



The hawksbill turtle is the animal which furnishes the 

 valuable " tortoiseshell " of commerce, and is therefore a crea- 

 ture of great importance. The scales ol the back are thirteen 

 in number, and as they overlap each other for about one-third 

 of their length, they are larger than in any other species where 

 the edges only meet. In this species, too, the scales are thicker, 



