fear. I had intended to kill it, in order to fix it in the claws of a stuffed owl; but happening to spill a few drops of water near where it was tied, it lapped it up with such eagerness, and looked in my face with such an eye of supplicating terror, as perfectly overcame me. I immediately untied it, and restored it to life and liberty. The agonies of a prisoner at the stake, while the fire and instruments are preparing, could not be more severe than the sufferings of that poor mouse; and insignificant as the object was, I felt at that moment the sweet sensations which mercy leaves in the mind when she triumphs over cruelty."

The economic campagnol is another branch of this family, inhabiting Kamtschatka and several parts of Siberia, well deserving attention, both for the skill with which it makes its burrow, and for its remarkable migratory habits. For what reason its migrations are undertaken, does not appear to be distinctly known, but the instinct seems to be of a very energetic nature. "In the spring," says Dr. Grieve," they assemble in amazing numbers, and proceed in a direct course westward, swimming with the utmost intrepidity over rivers, lakes, and even arms of the sea. Many are drowned, and many are destroyed by waterfowl or rapacious fish." "About the middle of July, they generally reach the rivers Ochetska and Judome, a distance of about a thousand miles." The manner in which they cross the rivers of Iceland, of which they are also natives, is thus described by Mr. Olafson :"The party, consisting of from eight to ten, select a flat piece of cow-dung, on which they place the berries they have collected, in a heap on the middle. Then, with their united force, drawing it to the water's edge, they launch it and embark, placing themselves round the heap, with their heads joined over it, and their backs to the water, their tails, pendent in the stream, serving the purpose of rudders." If it were not that there is nothing too wonderful for the instinct breathed into the inferior animals by the inspiration of the Creator, Himself, this account might be rejected as fabulous. Mr. Pennant defends its credibility from the known instincts of beavers and squir

rels; and Mr. Henderson, who made it his business to inquire into the truth of the statement, considers it to be "now established as an important fact of natural history," having had it confirmed to himself by the testimony of two eyewitnesses of unquestionable veracity, whom he names. He adds, further, what certainly increases our surprise, that they are said to "make use of dried mushrooms as sacks, in which they convey their provisions to the river, and thence to their homes."* M. L. D.

TENTH WEEK-FRIDAY.

RUMINATING QUADRUPEDS.-THE GOAT AND SHEEP.

To describe even a few of the most remarkable quadrupeds, which the Creator has spread over the face of the earth, though in this exercise we should certainly find every where new cause of devout admiration and gratitude, would occupy too much space in a work which comprehends in its range such a variety of subjects. I find it necessary, therefore, now to limit my attention to those animals which have been domesticated for the use of the human race. Among these, several highly important varieties belong to the class of ruminating animals. Of this class, all are valuable to man, as supplying him with food; from many he derives his clothing; others labor for him, as beasts of burden; their flesh, their hides, their horns, their hoofs, are all useful; and those which he has taken more exclusively under his protection, repay him a thousand-fold for the care they require at his hands. With this order the prosperity of the human family is intimately connected; peaceful tenants of the earth, they add, by their presence, fresh and more cheering beauties to vale, and lawn, and mountain, and impart life and spirit to the scenery of Nature. The sheep and the goat, the ox and the camel, form a por

III.

* Henderson's Iceland, vol. ii. pp. 186, 187.

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IX.

tion of the national wealth of every kingdom where they are domesticated, and conduce essentially to the comforts and conveniences of life, and to the progress of arts and civilization.

The whole species of the ruminating order are intimately connected in their physiological character and properties; insomuch that the gradations of their forms preserve an uninterrupted correspondence, even in those cases where we cannot account for their relations. "He who observes only the print of a cloven foot," says Cuvier, "may conclude that the animal who left this impression ruminates; and this conclusion is quite as certain as any other in physics, or in moral philosophy."* This is but an example of the mysterious harmony which the Creator has imposed on Nature.

Every one understands what is meant by ruminating, or chewing the cud; and I shall merely state, that animals of this description, which are all herbivorous, have their stomach divided generally into four, and always at least into three, distinct cavities or chambers, the first of which serves as a receptacle for the grass or herbage, coarsely ground by the first mastication; and in the second of which, the mass, entered by degrees, is compressed, divided, and compacted into small balls, which are returned, by a voluntary action, into the mouth, to undergo the second process of mastication. During this operation, the animal reposes at ease, until the food it has taken has been all subjected to the like process. As soon as the ball is reground, it is swallowed directly into the third and fourth chambers, where it undergoes the digestive process.

* It may at first sight appear that the hog is an exception to this rule, so peremptorily laid down by Cuvier; but although this animal is in a certain degree cloven-hoofed, he differs in the conformation of his feet very materially from other animals which are marked with this peculiarity. He appears, indeed, to have only two toes, but he has actually four concealed within, and the other bones of the foot have no resemblance to those of cloven-footed animals. "All that can be said," observes Buffon," is, that in some respects he forms the link between the whole and cloven-footed animals, and in others between the cloven-footed and digitated animals."

Having already described the camel, I pass on to the goat and sheep tribes, whose families are so nearly allied. in structure, that naturalists have been exceedingly puzzled so to define them as to mark the specific difference, and have at last been under the necessity of fixing on two very unimportant appendages as their ground of distinction,-those of the horns and beard. The goat is marked by the possession of a beard, and some radical difference in the character of the horns. There is also a slight variation in the line of profile, that of the sheep being more convex than the profile of its congener. In other respects, the two species run so much into each other, in different varieties, as to preclude the possibility of fixing on any permanent and welldefined distinction. In Scripture, the same word is used to designate the young of both species, and lambs of the sheep or of the goats, were generally employed indiscriminately in their sacrifices.

There are various allied families of the goat kind, included under the general title of Antelope, of which the chamois of the Alps is one of the most remarkable, and the only species that is a native of Western Europe. The wild goat, or paseng, is found in herds in the great mountain-chains of Asia, where it bounds wild and free. Its size is superior to our domestic breed, but in all essential characters it is the same.

The domestic goat offers, like all thoroughly-reclaimed animals, over which man has held a long-continued influence, an almost endless number of varieties, in respect of its size, its color, and the quality of its hair. The goats of Angora and Cappadocia have long been celebrated for their soft and silky hair, forming the staple of the cloth called camlet. In Thibet there is a breed furnished with an undercoat of wool, of exquisite fineness and delicacy. It is from this that the highly-valued Cashmere shawls are fabricated. Upper Egypt, on the contrary, has a race, with close, smooth hair, a convex forehead, and a projecting lower jaw. This is supposed to be the species so frequently alluded to in Scripture.

It is still abundant in Syria, where it is kept, as in early times, in flocks.

From the goats, let us turn to the more important order of the sheep; and here, too, we shall find varieties too numerous to be detailed, and to the number of which the skill of the cultivator is constantly adding. In every age, the sheep has been among the most valued of man's possessions. It is the first reclaimed animal of which we have any account, and seems to have been taken into the protection of man immediately after the fall; for we find Abel mentioned as a "keeper of sheep."

In every country, the sheep offers peculiar modifications of character, produced, doubtless, by a combination of circumstances. Among the European breeds, none are more celebrated for their wool than the Merino sheep of Spain, which have been transferred to Britain, and other European countries, to the United States, and to New South Wales, which latter region is peculiarly favorable to the rearing of its valuable produce. In hotter climates, the fleece gives way to hair, and loses its form of wool. Among the singular varieties of this animal, I may mention that of Russia, which is distinguished by a long trailing tail; of India and Guinea, which to an elongated tail adds long pendent ears, short and smooth hair, a marked convexity of forehead, without horns, and long and slender limbs; that of Persia, Tartary, and China, which has a tail transformed into an enormous double globe of fat; and, lastly, that of Syria and Barbary, whose tail is of considerable length, consisting of a mass of fat, so great that it is often necessary to support it artificially.

But the chief excellence of the sheep consists in the quality of its wool. There is none of the domestic animals of more value, both in a national point of view, and as regards the purposes of agriculture. They can be reared in situations and on soils where other domestic animals could not be supported; and, in general, they afford greater profit than is derived from the feeding of cattle. The annual fleece which they yield, while it gives a considerable return to the farmer, is of immense