I 



62 A DISCOURSE 



BOOK I. without minding tliem more ; (because Nature has deprived her of under- 

 "^y^^ standing ;) but great diligence is to be used in governing them, not only 

 till they spring up, but till they are arrived to some stature fit for trans- 

 plantation, and to be sent abroad, after the same method that our child- 

 ren should be educated, and taken care of from their birth and cradle ; 

 and afterwards, whilst they are under pedagogues and discipline, for the 

 forming of their manners and persons, that they contract no ill habits, 

 and take such plyes as are so difficult to rectify and smooth again without 

 the greatest industry : for prevention of this in our seminary, the Hke care 

 is requisite : whilst the young imps and seedlings are yet tender and 

 flexible, they require not only different nourishment and protection 

 from too much cold, heat, and other injuries, but due and skilful manage- 

 ment in dressing, redressing, and pruning, as they grow capable of being 

 brought into shape, and of hopeful expectation, when time has rendered 

 them fit for the use and service required, according to their kinds. He 

 therefore that undertakes the nursery, should be knowing not only in the 

 choice of the seeds, where, when, and how to sow them, but also in the 

 time of gestation they require in the womb of their mother-earth before 

 parturition, that so he may not be surprized with her delivering some of 

 them sooner or later than he expects ; for some will lie two, nay three 

 years, before they peep ; most others one, and some a quarter, or a month 



with greater assiduity. It happens, indeed, in those climates, that there is less necessity 

 for the continual incubation of the female ; and she more frequently leaves her eggs, as 

 they are in no danger of being chilled by the weather ; but though she sometimes forsakes 

 them in the day, she always carefully broods over them in the night : and Kolben, who 

 saw great numbers of them at the Cape of Good Hope, affirms, that they sit upon their 

 eggs like other birds, and that the male and female take this office by turns. Dr. Sparrman 

 makes the same observation. Nor is it more true what is said of their forsakinof their 

 young after they are excluded the shell. On the contrary, the young ones are not able to 

 walk for several days after they are hatched : during this time the old ones are very 

 assiduous in supplying them with grass, and are very careful in defending them from 

 danger ; nay, they encounter every danger in their defence. When pursued, this animal, 

 instead of running directly forwards, and availing himself of his natural speed, takes his 

 course in cii-cles ; while the hunters make a small course within, relieve each other, meet 

 him at unexpected turns, and keep him thus employed for two or three days together : at 

 last spent with famine and fatigue, and finding escape impossible, he endeavours to hide 

 himself from those enemies he could not avoid, and covers his head in the sand, or the 

 first thicket he meets. The means used by this bird to escape from its pursuers, and the 

 manner of its death, are the only things that can, with propriety, be called foolishness. 



