THE RATEL. 
19 
ceases to be heard ; but remains quietly perched on a 
tree in the vicinity, waiting for a share of the plunder 
which it usually receives as a reward for its interested 
service. 
In such an attack upon an angry swarm the tough- 
ness of the Ratel's hide must be a most effectual 
defence ; and it is even stated that so difficult is it to 
penetrate its skin that a pack of dogs, which would 
be sufficient to dispatch a moderate sized lion, have 
sometimes failed in their attack upon so comparatively 
insignificant an animal. Such is its tenacity of life 
that Mr. Barrow states that " it is a species of amuse- 
ment for the farmers to run knives through different 
parts of its body, without being able for a length of 
time to deprive it of existence." Major Denham was, 
however, informed by the natives of Central Africa, 
where it is also found, that a single blow on the nose 
is sufficient to destroy it almost instantaneously : which 
may probably be owing to the thinness of the skull 
adjoining the ossa nasi. In the same regions it has 
obtained credit for so much ferocity, as to be said, at 
certain seasons, to venture singly to attack a man. 
Very different from Sparrman's account is that given 
by General Hardwicke, whose testimony is so fully 
confirmed by the structure of the animal that its au- 
thenticity may be considered as beyond a doubt. The 
General states that it is found in several parts of India, 
in the high banks bordering the Ganges and the 
Jumna, from which it rarely issues by day, but prowls 
at night around the habitations of the Mahommedan 
natives, scratching up the recently buried bodies of the 
dead, unless their graves are protected by thorny bushes 
placed over them for the purpose. It burrows with 
such celerity that it will work itself under cover in the 
hardest ground in the space of ten minutes. The 
c 2 
