THE ROMANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



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 Selkirk, on Juan Fernandez, complain, — 



M 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 excep- 

 tions 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 ter- 

 ror 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 vigi- 

 lance and jealousy with which fishes watch the 

 least approach of man. Often have I stood on a 

 rock in Jamaica, and seen the little shoals come 

 playing and nibbling at my feet, apparently all 

 unconscious of the monster that was watching 

 them; but the least movement of the hand to- 

 wards them was sufficient to send them like ar- 

 rows in all directions. And how often have I been 

 tantalised by the excessive prudence of some fine 

 butterfly that I eagerly desired to capture, when, 

 * Gen. ix. 2. 

 188 



