196 THE EECLUSE. 



though they take precautions against the attacks of foxes, 

 they appear to have no dread of man. Formerly they were 

 more confiding than at present. When the Isle of Bourbon 

 was discovered, all the birds, except the flamingo and 

 goose, were so tame that they could be caught with the 

 hand ; and on the lone islet of Tristan d'Acunha in the 

 Atlantic, the only two land-birds, a thrush and a bunting, 

 were so tame as to suffer themselves to be caught with a 

 hand-net. I have myself had large and beautiful butter- 

 flies come and suck at flowers in my hand, in the forest- 

 glades of North America. 



Cowper has finely used this phenomenon to heighten 

 the desolation of a solitary island, when he makes Sel- 

 kirk, on Juan Fernandez, complain, — 



" The beasts that roam over the plain, 

 My form with indifference see ; 

 They are so unacquainted with man ; 

 Their tameness is shocking to me." 



But these facts are only local and partial exceptions to 

 a general rule. They can in nowise be allowed to set 

 aside the prevalence of that pristine law, by which God 

 covenanted to implant a terror of man in all the inferior 

 creatures, even those which are far stronger than he. 

 " And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon 

 every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, 

 upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the 

 fishes of the sea."* Often have I seen, and marked with 

 wonder, the excessive vigilance and jealousy with which 



* Gen. ix. 2. 



