10 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



instinctively identifies himself with the nature of the animals 

 which he is observing, these combats lose all their insignificance, 

 and even partaJte in some degree of the sublime. Size is only 

 of relative importance ; and, in point of fact, a battle between 

 two Moles is as tremendous as one between two lions, if not 

 more so, because the Mole is more courageous than the lion, 

 and, relatively speaking, is far more powerful and armed with 

 weapons more destructive. 



Magnify the Mole to the size of the lion, and you will have 

 a beast '-more terrible than the world has yet seen. Though 

 nearly blind, and therefore incapable of following prey by sight, 

 it would be active beyond conception, springing this way and 

 that way as it goes along, so as to cover a large amount of 

 space, leaping with lightning quickness upon any animal which 

 it meets, rending it to pieces in a moment, thrusting its blood- 

 thirsty snout into the body of its victim, eating the still warm 

 and bleeding flesh, and instantly searching for fresh prey. 



Such a creature would, without the least hesitation, devour 

 a serpent twenty feet in length, and so terrible would be its 

 voracity, that it would eat twenty or thirty of such snakes in the 

 course of a day. With one grasp of its teeth and one stroke of 

 its claws it could tear an ox asunder ; and if it should happen 

 to enter a fold of sheep or an inclosure of cattle, it would kill 

 them all for the mere lust of slaughter. Let, then, two of such 

 animals meet in combat, and how terrific would be the battle. 

 Fear is a feeling of which a Mole seems to be unconscious ; and 

 when fighting with one of his own species, he gives his whole 

 energies to the destruction of his opponent, without seeming to 

 heed the injuries which are inflicted upon himself. 



From the foregoing sketch the reader will be able to estimate 

 the extraordinary energies of this animal, as well as the wonderful 

 instincts with which it is endowed. 



What a surprising effort of intuitive skiU is shown in the 

 fortress, with its central chamber and the circular galleries that 

 surround and defend it. How enormous is the space of ground 

 which a single Mole covers with its network of roads and 

 galleries, driven in every direction from the fortress, and sunk at 

 various depths, according to the state of the ground and the 

 position of the worms. Sometimes it burrows along just at the 

 surfaf* of the ground, its back visible as it passes along, and so 



