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"5G 



MIGRATION AND DIFFUSION 



[Ch. XXXIX. 



miles 



made for the nearest land in sio^lit 

 distant. As tlie nigr was more fit fm 



the table than for feats of agility, and as the reputation of 



^ stood very low, the sailors were 



nis 



tribe 



swimmni 



r 



slow in getting out the boat to give chase, so that the 

 animal having a fair start, landed soon after sunset, just as 



him 



'as 



impossible. 



The power of crossing rivers is essential to the elephant in 



a wild state, for the quantity of food which a herd of these 



animals consumes renders it necessary that they should be 



from place to place. The elephant crosses 



the stream in two ways. If the bed of the river be hard, and 



the water not of too great a depth, he fords it. But when he 



crosses great rivers, such as the Ganges and the Niger, the 



movinof 



trunk 



immer 



him 



tip of his trunk to the surface, so as to breathe the external 



air. 



Animals of the deer kind frequently take to the water, 



especially in the rutting 



season 



when the stags are seen 

 swimming for several leagues at a time, from island to island, 

 in search of the does, especially in the Canadian lakes ; and 

 in some countries where there are islands near the sea-shore, 

 they fearlessly enter the sea and swim to them. In hunting 

 excursions, in North America, the elk of that country is 

 frequently pursued for great distances through the water. 



animals 



emam 



much 



herds of bisons (Bos 



Americanus) which often, in the great valleys of the Mississippi 

 and its tributaries, blacken the surface of the prairie lands, 



are continually shifting their quarters, followed by wolves, 

 which prowl about in their rear. ^It is no exaggeration,' 

 says Mr. James, ' to assert, that in one place, on the banks 

 of the Platte, at least ten thousand bisons burst on our sight 

 in an instant. In the morning we again sought the living 



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