90 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



taking up earth and small stones and eating them. His features 

 are coarse and his countenance repulsive, and he is very filthy in 

 his habits. He continues to he fond of dogs and jackalls, and 

 all other four-footed animals that come near him ; and always 

 allows them to feed with him if he happens to be eating when 

 they approach.* 



At Chupra, twenty miles east from Sultanpoor, lived a culti- 

 vator, with his wife and son, who was then three years of age. In 

 March, 1843, the man went to cut his crop of wheat and pulse, 

 and the woman took her basket, and went with him to glean, 

 leading her son b} r the arm. The boy had lately recovered from 

 a severe scald on the left knee, which he got in the cold weather, 

 from tumbling into the fire, at which he had been warming him- 

 self, while his parents were at work. As the father was reaping, 

 and the mother gleaning, the boy sat upon the grass. A Wolf 



* Captain Nicholetts, in letters dated the 14th and 19th of September, 1850, 

 tells me that the boy died in the latter end of August, and that he was never 

 known to laugh or smile. He understood little of what was said to him, and 

 seemed to take no notice of what was going on around him. He formed no 

 attachment for any one, nor did he seem to care for any one. He never 

 played with any of the children around him, or seemed anxious to do so. 

 When not hungry, he used to sit petting or stroking a pariah, or vagrant dog, 

 which he used to permit to feed out of the same dish with him. A short 

 time before his death, Captain Nicholetts shot this dog, as he used to eat the 

 greater part of the food given to the boy, who seemed, in consequence, to be 

 getting thin. The boy did not seem to care, in the least, for the death of the 

 dog. The parents recognised the boy when he was first found, Captain 

 Nicholetts believes, but when they found him so stupid and insensible they 

 left him to subsist upon charity. They have now left Hasunpoor, and the age 

 of the boy, when carried off, cannot be ascertained ; but he was, to all appear- 

 ance, about nine or ten years of age when found (in Aug. 1874), and he lived 

 about three years afterwards. He used signs when he wanted anything," and 

 very few of them except when hungry, and he then pointed to his mouth. 

 When his food was placed at some distance from him, he would run to it 

 on all fours, like any four-footed animal, but at other times he would walk 

 upright occasionally. He shunned human beings of all kinds, and would 

 never willingly remain near one. To cold, heat, and rain he appeared to be 

 indifferent, and he seemed to care for nothing but eating. He was very 

 quiet, and required no kind of restraint after he was brought to Captain 

 Nicholetts. He had lived with Captain Nicholetts' servants about two years, 

 and was never heard to speak till within a few minutes of his death, when 

 he put his hands to his head and said, "it ached," aud asked for water. 

 He drank it and died. 



