LEMING. 
country, about the River Oby, and the north 
extremity of the Uralian Chain. These ani- 
mals appear in numberless troops, at very un- 
certain periods, in Norway and Lapland. 
They are the pest, and wonder, of the country. 
They march like the army of Locusts, so em- 
phatically described by the Prophet Joel; de- 
stroy every root of grass before them ; and 
spread universal desolation. They infect the 
very ground, and cattle are said to perish with 
the taste of the grass which they have touched. 
They march by myriads, in regular lines: 
nothing stops their progress; neither tire, tor- 
rents, lake, or morass. They bend their course 
straight forward, with most amazing obstinacy. 
They swim over the lakes: the greatest rock 
gives them but a slight check; they go round 
it, and then resume their march directly on, 
without the least deviation. If they meet a 
peasant, they persist, in their course, and jump 
as high as his knees in defence of their pro- 
gress. They are so fierce as to lay hold of a 
stick, and suffer themselves to be swung about 
before they quit their hold, If struck, they 
turn about, and bite ; and will make a noise 
like a dog. 
« They 
