180 THE WOLF. 



inhabitants made, on that day, against the wolves, which did 

 great damage to their cattle and flocks. In almost every 

 department of France infested by wolves, there is a ' Societie' de 

 Louveterie/ the object of which is their destruction ; and pre- 

 miums, varying in amount according to the sex and age of those 

 killed, are also paid. The necessity for extirpating the wolf is 

 therefore acknowledged in France ; but it has not yet been 

 sufficiently appreciated, because the means hitherto employed 

 have been altogether inadequate. 



If, however, we wish to see just retaliation upon the wolves, 

 from human law, we must observe what is going on in Prussia. 

 After the peace of Tilsit, by which the present province of 

 Posen was severed from that kingdom, and incorporated with 

 the duchy of Warsaw, the new government lowered the pre- 

 miums which the previous government had paid to those who 

 killed wolves, to one dollar for an adult wolf, and half a dollar 

 for a cub. This, as well as the great difficulty of obtaining the 

 reward, though deserved, held out so little encouragement for 

 their destruction, that the wolves increased at such a rapid rate, 

 within the few years from 1807 to 1815, that in 1814, three 

 grown persons and sixteen children were devoured by them, in 

 the circle of Wongrowiec alone. As soon, however, as Prussia had 

 again taken possession of Posen, in 1815, the government lost 

 no time in getting rid of them. The rewards which had been 

 paid previous to 1807, when Posen formed a part of the pro- 

 vince of South Prussia, were again awarded, namely, six dollars 

 for an adult wolf, three for a cub, and one for each foetus found 

 in a female. General battues were periodically made, and 

 different regulations issued, with a view of poisoning the wolves 

 with nux vomica** From 1815 to 1819 inclusive, 4618 dollars 

 were paid by the government as rewards for killing wolves. In 



* " It has been found that the most successful method of poisoning wolves, 

 is to drug small sausages with nux vomica, and hang them on the boughs of 

 trees, at such a height, that the wolf must leap to obtain them. Under these 

 circumstances the animal swallows the bait at once, and has not time to find 

 out that it contains any suspicious admixture, which it often does if the 

 poison be applied to the carcases of horses," &c. 



