248 PLINX'S NATIIEAL HISTOET. [Book VIII. 



dashing them against a tree, and in this manner pay their 

 ransom.^' 



CHAP. 5. (4.) THE rKSTINCT OF WILD ANIMAI.S TS PERCEIVING 



DANGEE. 



It is a wonderful thing, that most animals are aware why 

 it is that they are sought after, and what it is, that, under all 

 circumstances, they have to guard against. When an elephant 

 happens to meet a man in the desert, who is merely wandering 

 ahout, the animal, it is said, shows himself both merciful and 

 kind, and even points out the way. But the very same 

 animal, if he meets with the traces of a man,^ before he meets 

 the man himself, trembles in every limb, for fear of an am- 

 bush, stops short and scents the wind, looks around him, and 

 . snorts aloud with rage ; and then, without trampling upon the 

 object, digs it up,^ and passes it to the next one, who again 

 passes it to the one that follows, and so on from one to the 

 other, till it comes to the very last. The herd then faces 

 about, returns, and ranges itself in order of battle ; so strongly 

 does the odour, in aU cases, attach itself to the human foot- 

 step, even though, as is most frequently the case, the foot itself 

 is not naked. In the same way, too, the tigress, which is the 

 dread of the other wild beasts, and which sees, without 

 alarm, the traces even of the elephant itself, is said at once, 

 upon seeing the footsteps of man, to carry off her whelps. 

 How has the animal acquired this knowledge ? And where 

 has it seen him before, of whom it stands in such dread .' 

 Doubt there can be none, that forests such as it haunts are 

 but little frequented by man ! It is not to be wondered at, if 

 they are astonished at the print of a footstep before unknown ; 

 but how should they know that there is anything that they 

 ought to dread ? And, what is still more, why should they dread 

 even the very sight of man, seeing that they are so far supe- 



21 It is scarcely necessary to remark, that these statements respecting the 

 sagacity of the elephant in connection with their teeth, are mtnout feun- 

 dation. — B. 



22 The word employed is vestigium; it is explained hy ^lian to refer to 

 the herbage, which has received both the visible impression as well as the 

 odour of the foot. — B. 



23 In the case of a footstep, this must mean the ground with which the 

 foot has come in contact. 



