THE OTTER. 121 



In Scotland, the opinion is entertained by some ig- 

 norant persons, that there is an otter of a larger size 

 than usual, and spotted with white, which is a leader or 

 king of these animals. They believe that it is never 

 killed without the sudden death of a man or of some 

 animal at the same instant, that its skin is endowed with 

 great virtue as an antidote against infection, preserves a 

 warrior from wounds, and ensures the mariner from all 

 disasters on the sea. Such remains of ignorance and 

 superstition are truly lamentable. They awfully degrade 

 and grievously enfeeble the mind, while they keep it 

 away from Him, with whom alone it is, to give peace or 

 trouble to kill or make alive. The progress of sound 

 and scriptural knowledge is therefore to be ardently de- 

 sired, the knowledge that can deliver man from the 

 thraldom of the worst evils, by leading him to the foot- 

 stool of the God of truth. 



In the northern parts of Scotland, otters frequent the 

 sea, and extend their rambles to a considerable distance 

 from the shore. In the summer, and when the weather will 

 permit, this creature occupies a retired and quiet station 

 where the land stretches into the ocean. It swims low 

 in the water, and will go a mile or more after its prey. 

 Fishes seem to have an instinctive dread of it, for it has 

 been seen to collect into a shoal a vast number of trouts 



