220 
THE PORCUPINE. 
them with its bristles, without running any 
risk itself. According to Le Vaillant, wounds 
from the quills are dangerous, owing to som^ 
pernicious quality which they possess, 
tells us that one of his Hottentots, who had 
received a wound in the leg from a porcupin^’ 
was laid up with it for more than six months \ 
and that a gentleman at the Cape was neai" 
losing a limb from a similar accident, from 
which he suffered most severely for above fom 
months, during one of which he was confined 
to his bed. 
When the animal is casting its quills, a cit' 
cumstance which may have given rise to tb® 
notion of its darting them at its enemies, i*' 
sometimes shakes them off with such force 
that they wdll fly to the distance of some 
yards, and that the points will become beid 
by striking against any hard substance. 
It inhabits subterranean retreats, which d 
is said to form into several apartments, leaving 
