50 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
timid, and harmless. The porcupine never attempts 
to bite, hut is always anxious to evade his pursuers. 
If hunted by a wolf, he climbs the nearest tree, and 
waits there till he has completely exhausted the 
patience of his adversary ; the wolf being conscious 
that he is only wasting his time, leaves the porcupine 
to himself, and seeks out for some more penetrable 
game. When this animal meets with a serpent, 
against whom he carries on a perpetual war, he rolls 
himself up like a ball, concealing his head and feet, 
and then tumbles upon his enemy, and kills him with 
his bristles. 
“ Mr. Church gives an account of a live porcupine, 
which the late Sir Ashton Lever frequently turned on 
a grass-plat behind his house, to play with a tame 
hunting leopard and a large Newfoundland dog. As 
soon as they were let loose, the leopard and dog began 
to pursue the porcupine, who always at first endea- 
voured to escape by flight, but upon finding that 
ineffectual, he would thrust his head into some corner, 
making a snorting noise, and erecting his spines, with 
which his pursuers pricked their noses, till they quar- 
relled between themselves, and thus gave him an 
opportunity to escape. 
“Porcupines are found in India, in Tartary, in Persia, 
and in all parts of Africa. They produce a bezoar, 
which was very highly valued, and used to sell for an 
enormous price, when it was the fashion to use that 
stone as a medicine/’ In India the porcupine is very 
commonly met with among ruins ; and in visiting the 
numerous mausoleums on the banks of the Goomty, 
near Juanpoor, many of which are in a state of great 
