THE TERRIBLE. 



desperation induced by escape being cut off, or the 

 aroj)}// which makes the helpless bold, — in which 

 they are willing to try "the wager of battle"' with 

 their liege. 



The stern conflict for life, when man stands face 

 to face with his bestial foes, has given many a 

 romantic page to the annals of natural history ; 

 and too many such pages are stained with the 

 harrowing record of their grim victory, and his 

 bloody death. We cannot therefore ignore them 

 in the aspect of natural science which we are con- 

 sidering; but we may content ourselves with a 

 few examples of the terrible : the difficulty lies in 

 the selection from the profusion of materiel. 



Throughout the north temperate zone the wolf 

 is a cruel and bloodthirsty foe of man, making up 

 by a scent like that of the hound, a patient per- 

 severance, and a habit of combining in numbers in 

 common pursuit, what it lacks in individual 

 power. Yet, individually, a wolf is able to pull 

 down an unarmed man, and, when pressed with 

 famine in severe winters, it becomes very daring. 

 In our own island its ravages have long ago in- 

 duced its extirpation ; but in a remote era houses 

 were erected at certain intervals by the road-sides, 

 to serve as places of refuge against the assaults of 

 the wolves; and January was by our Anglo-Saxon 

 ancestors called, "Wolf-monat," (Wolf-month,) be- 

 cause more people were devoured by wolves in 

 that month than at other times. 



In the north and east of Europe, the danger in- 

 curred by travellers in sledges of being hunted by 

 packs of hungry wolves is very great ; and many 

 dreadful incidents bear witness to their success. 

 A very horrible one is narrated by Mr. Lloyd. A 

 woman accompanied by three of her children was 

 one day travelling in this mode, when she dis- 

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