189 
ers weave the cawls for wigs, and then 
manufacture it into ornamental dresses for 
the women of rank, while the larger fea- 
thers are formed into caps and plumes 
to decorate the heads of their chiefs and 
warriors, They also gather the feathers 
and down in large quantities, and barter 
or sell them to the inhabitants of more ci- 
vilized nations. 
When flying before the wind, the Wild 
Swan is extremely swift on the wing, 
but when flying across or against the wind, 
it is not able to make any great pro- 
gress. During its flight it emits a shrill 
sound, which have been compared to the 
words whoogh, ivhoogh. 
It was from this species, that the anci- 
ents derived their fable of the Swan's being 
endowed with the power of melody. Em- 
bracing the Pythagorean doctrine, they 
made the body of this bird the mansion of 
the souls of departed poets, and then attri- 
buted to the birds the same faculty of song 
which they had thus possessed in a pre-ex- 
istent state. And the vulgar not destin- 
guishing between sweetness of number^ 
