230 THE WOLF. 



Wolves are now but rarely seen in the inhabited 

 parts of America ; yet the government of Pennsyl- 

 vania some years ago allowed a reward of twenty 

 shillings, and that of New Jersey of even thirty 

 shillings, for the killing of every Wolf. Tradition 

 informed them what a sconra:e these animals had been 

 to the colonies, and by these means they wisely de- 

 termined to prevent the evil. In the infant state of 

 the colonies it is said that Wolves came down from 

 the mountains, often attracted by the smell of the 

 bodies of the hundreds of Indians who died of the 

 small-pox : but the animals did not confine their in- 

 sults to the dead, they even devoured, in their huts, 

 the sick and dying natives "*. 



When pressed by hunger, the Wolf, though na- 

 turally a coward, becomes courageous from neces- 

 sity : he then braves every danger, and will venture 

 to attack even the Buffalo. Sometimes whole droves 

 cf them descend upon the sheep-folds ; and, digging 

 the earth under the doors, enter with dreadful fero- 

 city, and put to death every living creature before 

 they depart. 



By wintry famine rousM, from all the tract 

 Of horrid mountains which the shining Alps 

 And wavy Appenine and Pyrenees 

 Branch out stupendous into distant lands, 

 Cruel as death ! and hungry as the grave ! 

 Burning for blood ! bony, and gaunt, and grim ! 

 Assembling Wolves, in raging troops, descend ; 

 And, pouring o'er the country, bear along, 

 Keen as the North wind sweeps the glossy snow : 

 All is their prize." 



* I'crin. ArcT. Zool. i. 39. 



