Part 6

So numerous are these animals in some parts of England, where attention is paid to preserving the breed, that they become greatly injurious to the crops of all the neighbouring farmers. They feed upon green corn, clover, and other useful vegetables; and frequently commit much damage in young plantations, by eating the bark from the trees. Some years ago a gentleman in Suffolk found it necessary to destroy the hares near some new plantations, and 1082 were ascertained to have been killed.

74. _The ALPINE HARE_ (Lepus Alpinus) _is a Siberian animal, destitute of tail, of tawny colour, with rounded, brown ears, and brown feet._

Amongst the mountains of Siberia alpine hares are very numerous. They live in burrows or holes under ground, and store up, beneath the shelter of trees or rocks, large ricks of dried grass and other vegetables for their winter's subsistence. These collections are anxiously sought after by persons engaged in the hunting of sables (55); and, in many instances, they are the means of preserving their horses from perishing by famine. Some of the adjacent peasantry also search them out as food for their horses and cattle. The _skins_ of the alpine hares supply one of the articles of commerce betwixt the Russians and Chinese.

75. _The RABBIT_ (Lepus cuniculus) _is a British quadruped belonging to the same tribe as the hare; and is principally distinguishable from that animal by its proportionally shorter ears, and by the hind legs being only one-third of the length of the body._

_The colour of the wild rabbit is dusky brown above, and paler or whitish on the under parts. In the domestic rabbit the colour is various, white, grey, black, or black and white._

_These animals inhabit nearly all the warmer parts of Europe, as well as several of the temperate countries of Asia and Africa._

There are farms in many parts of England, particularly in Lincolnshire, Norfolk, and Cambridgeshire, where the breeding of rabbits is rendered an extremely advantageous pursuit. The most desirable situations are those in which the soil is loose and sandy, and where the ground rises, in different parts into low hills. Such lands can be more profitably employed as rabbit-warrens than any others, from the greater facility with which the animals are able to form their burrows in the earth, and the less liability they have to be flooded, by the falling of heavy rains.

In a commercial view rabbits are animals of much greater importance than hares; because, from their habit of living in greater numbers together, they can be better attended to and managed; and also because they multiply much more rapidly than hares. Their fecundity, indeed, is truly astonishing. They breed several times in the year, and generally produce seven or eight young ones at a birth; and it has been calculated that, if the progeny from a single pair could, without interruption, proceed in the same ratio for four or five years, the whole stock would, even in that short period, amount to more than one million.

The particular uses of the rabbit are nearly the same as those of the hare (73). The _fur_ is a principal substance employed in the composition of hats; and such parts of it as are unfit for this purpose may advantageously be adopted for the stuffing of beds and bolsters. Rabbits' skins are also sometimes used as a cheap and warm-trimming for female dress; and the _skins_ themselves, after the hair has been stripped from them, are boiled down, and made into size or glue. The _flesh_, though, like that of the hare, forbidden to the Jews and Mahometans, is a very delicate and palatable food. We are informed by Pliny, the Roman naturalist, that the ancients had a favourite dish which was made of sucking leverets or rabbits unpaunched. The modes of ascertaining the quality of rabbits as food are nearly the same as those which have been mentioned respecting the hare.

It is customary, in most warrens, to use ferrets (56) in the catching of these animals. The ferrets are muzzled and put into the burrows; and, by pursuing the rabbits under ground, they alarm and drive them into nets that are placed over the outlets, in open and extensive grounds other modes are adopted. These, as we are informed by Mr. Daniel, in his work on Rural Sports, are by implements called fold-nets, spring-nets, and a kind of trap called tipes. The _fold-nets_ are set, about midnight, between the burrows and the feeding grounds; the rabbits being driven into them with dogs, and kept enclosed in the folds till morning. The _spring-net_ is generally laid round a haystack, or some other object of inducement for rabbits to collect in numbers. The _tipe_ consists of a large pit or cistern, covered with a floor. This has, near its centre, a small trap-door nicely balanced, into which the rabbits are led by a narrow road or _meuse_. It was customary formerly to set this kind of trap near a hay-stack; but, since turnips are now grown as food for these animals in an enclosure in the interior of the warren, it is placed within the wall of this enclosure. For a night or two the rabbits are suffered to go through the meuse and over the trap, that they may be familiarized to the place where the turnips are grown. After that the trap-door is unbarred, and immense numbers fall in. On emptying the cistern, the fat rabbits are selected and killed, and the others are turned out upon the turnips to improve. Five or six hundred couples have not unfrequently been taken in one night by this contrivance; and once, in the Driffield warrens, as many as fifteen hundred couples were caught.

Many persons breed rabbits in a _tame_ or _domestic state_. The _skins_ of these are useful; but, for food, the wild animals are greatly preferable. Care should, at all times, be taken to keep them clean; and, during the breeding season, the males and females must be kept apart. The best food for tame rabbits is the shortest and sweetest hay that can be had; and one load of this will serve two hundred couples for a year.

ORDER V.--PECORA.

76. _The ARABIAN CAMEL, or DROMEDARY_ (Camelus dromedarius, Fig. 7), _is distinguishable from every other specics of camel, by having a single bunch upon the middle of its back._

_This animal, which is a native of many of the deserts of Asia and Africa, is of a tawny grey colour, and has soft hair, which is longer on the neck, under the throat, and on the haunch, than elsewhere._

_The Arabian, like all other species of camel, has its upper lip cleft, and its feet with two long hoofs on which it treads, and two others shorter, which do not touch the ground._

These animals constitute the principal source of riches, and the whole force and security, of the Arabians. They are the only beasts by which the inhabitants of the sandy deserts of many parts of Asia could travel or convey their burdens. Their tough and spongy feet, which are peculiarly adapted both to the climate and the country, and their abstemious temperament, but particularly their capability of travelling without water, for many successive days, enable them to perform such journeys as would destroy, probably, any other species of quadruped. The caravans, or troops of merchants, that traverse, in all directions, the deserts of Egypt and Arabia, are always accompanied by camels, which are often more in number than the men. These commercial travels are sometimes to the distance of 700 or 800 leagues, and are usually performed at the rate of ten or twelve leagues a day, the camels being, every night, unloaded to rest and feed. For the latter purpose, if better provender cannot be had, they are contented with a small quantity of dates or a few beans, together with the scattered and oftentimes bitter herbage which the desert affords. The burden of each camel usually weighs about half a ton; and, at the command of his conductor, he kneels down for the greater convenience of being loaded. It is from this practice that we account for those horny parts that are observable on the bellies, knees, and limbs, even of the animals that are exhibited in England. Camels are trained, from the earliest part of their life, to the labours which they are afterwards to perform: and, with this view, when but a few days old, their limbs are folded under their body, and they are compelled to remain on the ground whilst they are loaded with a weight, which is gradually increased as they increase in strength. As soon as they have acquired sufficient strength they are trained to the course, and their emulation is excited by the example of horses or of other camels.

The pace of the camel is a high and swinging trot, which, to persons unaccustomed to it, is at first disagreeable and apparently dangerous, but is afterwards sufficiently pleasant and secure. The Arabians, in general, ride on a saddle that is hollowed in the middle, and has, at each bow, a piece of wood placed upright, or sometimes horizontally, by which the rider keeps himself in the seat. A ring is inserted into the nostrils of the camel, to which a cord is affixed; and this serves as a bridle to guide and stop him, or to make him kneel when the rider wishes to dismount. Mr. Bruce informs us that, in the caravans of one of the Abyssinian tribes, the people sometimes ride two together on each camel, and sit back to back.

The camels of Sahara are probably more fleet than any that are known; and, on these animals, the Arabs, with their loins, breast, and ears bound round, to prevent the injurious effects of percussion from the quickness of motion, can cross that great desert in a few days. With a goat's skin or a porous earthen pitcher filled with water, a few dates, and some ground barley, the Arab travels from Timbuctoo to Morocco, feeding his camel but once upon the road. In one instance a camel was known to travel from Fort St. Joseph, on the river Senegal, to the house of Messrs. Cabane and Depras at Mogador, a distance of more than 1000 miles, in seven days.

It has been observed that the camel is the most completely and most laboriously enslaved of all animals; the most completely, because, in the other kinds of domestic animals, we find at least some individuals in their natural state, and which have not yet been subdued by man: but the whole species of the camel is enslaved; and not any of them are now to be found in their primitive state of independence and liberty. He is the most laboriously enslaved because he has never been trained, but as a beast of burden whom man has not harnessed nor taught to draw, but whose body is considered a living carriage which may be loaded and oppressed.

The above are not the only uses of the camel. The _hair_ or fleece of these animals, which is renewed every year, and which regularly falls off in the spring, is so soft that the finest parts of it may be manufactured into stuffs of beautiful texture: and, in Europe, when mixed with the fur of the beaver (69), it is sometimes made into hats. The inhabitants in some parts of Sahara live in tents formed of woven camel's hair; this forms a thick covering completely water-proof. After the hair has been stripped off, the _skin_ is converted into leather.

In Arabia the _milk_ of the camel is a most important article of nutriment; and the _flesh_, though dry and hard, is not unpalatable, particularly when young. By the inhabitants of Egypt camels' flesh is so much esteemed, that, at Cairo and Alexandria, it was formerly forbidden to be sold to Christians. In many parts of Africa the _tongues_ are salted and dried, both for use and exportation; and, with the ancient Romans, the _heels_ of camels were eaten as a great delicacy.

77. _The BACTRIAN, or TWO-BUNCHED CAMEL_ (Camelus bactrianus), _is known by having two bunches on its back; and by being somewhat larger, and having shorter legs than the Arabian species._

_This animal is found in Usbec Tartary, the ancient Bactria: it is likewise a native of Siberia, Thibet, and some parts of China._

The purposes to which the Bactrian camel are applied are the same as those already described respecting the Arabian species (76). These animals, however, are sufficiently hardy to sustain the climate of the temperate parts of Siberia, and to be able, without injury, to traverse even humid and marshy countries, which would soon prove fatal to the Arabian camel.

78. _The LLAMA, or GLAMA_ (Camelus glama), _is a South American species of camel, of small size, which has a protuberance on the breast, and no bunch on the back._

_The colour of the llama is white, grey, and russet, variously disposed. Its height, to the top of the back, is somewhat more than four feet, and to the head nearly six feet._

Without the aid of these animals, the Spaniards who inhabit the mining districts of South America would labour under great inconveniences for the transport of their merchandise and treasures: since mountains that are altogether inaccessible to the horse, are with facility traversed by the llama. This beast, though not so patient, is nearly as abstemious as the camel. He proceeds, when loaded, with a slow but sure pace, and performs journeys, in these mountainous regions, more than 200 leagues in extent. Sometimes he will travel four or five days successively without appearing desirous of repose, and then he rests spontaneously, for twenty or thirty hours, before he resumes his toil. Like the camel, these animals kneel to be loaded; and they are directed in this, and in most other of their motions, by their conductor's whistle. The value of the best llamas is about eighteen ducats, and of the common ones twelve or thirteen ducats each. The burdens they are able to carry are from 150 to 200 pounds' weight: and the number of llamas that are kept in actual employ is supposed to exceed 300,000.

Of the _skin_ of the llama a hard kind of leather is made, which is converted into harness, the soles of shoes, and to many other useful purposes. But, as it is only tanned, and not curried, it is soon injured by exposure to wet. The _hair_, or fleece, particularly of the wild llamas, which is longer than that of the animals in a domesticated state, is much in request for the manufacture of camlets and other stuffs, some of which are of very beautiful texture, and also for the making of hats. On this account the animals are frequently hunted in the plains with dogs, or killed with guns; but such is their activity amongst rocks, that, if they can once reach these, the hunters are generally obliged to desist from any further pursuit. The _flesh_ of the llama is a wholesome and excellent food. Sometimes it is salted, and, in this state, like our salt beef, is adopted as provision for ships proceeding on long voyages. That, however, of the young llamas four or five months old is preferred, and is considered as good as veal. Many parts of these animals are adopted by the inhabitants of South America as medicines.

79. _The VICUNA_ (Camelus vicugna) _is a small South American species of camel, with woolly fleece, a flat and blunt nose, an erect tail; and without any bunches._

_This animal inhabits, in a wild state, and in extensive flocks, the highest peaks of the Andes._

Unable to sustain burthens exceeding sixty or seventy pounds in weight, the vicuna is seldom employed in the transport of merchandise. It is chiefly in esteem on account of its _fleece_, which is of a dead rose colour, and as soft and valuable as silk. This, in South America, is spun and woven into gloves, stockings, quilts, carpets, and innumerable other articles, which are sold at great prices, and constitute an important branch of commerce.

In most of their habits these animals have a close alliance with the llama, and their general figure is nearly the same. They are gentle and inoffensive, and, though not tamed with quite so much facility, are capable of great attachment towards those who have the care of them. Amongst their native mountains they are so light and agile, in all their motions, that it is not easy to come within reach of them, except by stratagem; and, consequently, though dogs are sometimes employed to hunt them, they are much more frequently killed by snares or traps than in any other way.

In consequence of the great advantages which, in America, are derived from the wool of the vicuna, the Spaniards were, some years ago, induced to attempt the introduction of these animals into Europe. Some of them were brought to Spain; but, from want of proper attention to their natural habits, the experiment entirely failed.

80. _The MUSK_ (Moschus moschiferus, Fig. 27) _is a small quadruped, somewhat shaped like a deer, but without horns; it has two projecting tusks curved downward, a short tail; and, about the middle of the under part of the male, there is an oval bag, about the size of a small egg._

_This animal is seldom more than about two feet in height at the shoulder, and is clad with long, upright, and thickset hair. Each hair is waved, and of three different colours; the tip ferruginous, the middle black, and the bottom dusky._

_It inhabits the mountains of Thibet, Tonquin, and Siberia._

The drug called _musk_ is a brown fatty substance, which appears somewhat like clotted blood. It is contained in the bag or receptacle under the belly, which has two small external orifices; through these, when it is overcharged, the animal squeezes it out upon trees or stones. The mode in which musk is collected for sale is to kill the animals, cut off the bags, and tie them closely up to prevent it from being spoiled by evaporation. In those countries where the animals are most abundant they are pursued in the autumn and winter, and generally with so much success that many thousands of bags are annually collected. It is, however, presumed that, of those which are sold, many are factitious, formed of other parts of the skin, and filled with musk adulterated by mixture with other substances. Indeed, so valuable is this drug, that it is seldom to be obtained in a pure state. To increase its quantity blood is not unfrequently mixed with it; and, to increase its weight, lead finely ground, and sometimes even little bits of lead, are put into the bags. The natives of India are said to have various methods of detecting this adulteration, by the taste and the weight; but, principally, by a thread steeped in the juice of garlic, which they draw through the bag with a needle; this, if it retain the smell of garlic, is considered a decisive indication of the musk having improper ingredients mixed with it. The purest musk is said to be that which is brought from Patna, in the dominions of the Great Mogul, where it is collected from various parts of the interior of the country. It is imported into Europe in bags, each of which is about the size of a pigeon's egg, well filled, and covered with short brown hair.

Musk was formerly much used as a perfume. It is now chiefly in repute as a medicine in spasmodic, convulsive, and other complaints; and, when properly given, is thought a remedy of great service. So powerful is the scent of this drug, that the smallest particle of it will perfume a very considerable space; and, when the bags are fresh, if one of them be opened in a close apartment, every person present is obliged to cover his mouth and nose with several folds of linen, to prevent suffocation.

In all the countries where these animals are found, their _skins_ are in great request as a strong and valuable leather; and, when tanned and properly prepared, the Russians have a method of rendering this nearly as soft and shining as silk. These skins are also sometimes dressed as _furs_ for winter clothing. The flesh of the musk is frequently eaten; but that of the young ones only is tender and of good flavour.

These animals, which are astonishingly light and active in all their motions, and at the same time of inoffensive and timid habits and disposition, are caught by snares placed near their feeding places; are shot with arrows, and sometimes killed by cross-bows, so placed that they discharge arrows, by the animals treading on a string connected with the trigger.

81. _The ELK, or MOOSE DEER_ (Cervus alces, Fig. 8), _is the largest species of deer that is known, and is distinguished from all others by having broad and flattened horns with several points, no brow-antlers, and a hairy protuberance on the throat._

_In size these animals are frequently larger than a horse. Their upper lip is square, very broad, deeply furrowed, and hangs over the mouth. The hair of the male is black at the points, dusky in the middle, and white at the roots; that of the female is of sandy brown colour, except under the throat, belly, and flank, which are whitish. The males only are horned._

_The elk inhabits the forests of North America, of some parts of Europe, and of Asia as far south as Japan._

Strong and powerful as these animals are, it has been found possible to domesticate and train them to labour. Mr. Livingston, at a farm near New York, made the experiment by breaking two elks to the harness. After having been only twice bitted, though two years old, they appeared equally docile with colts of the same age, applying their whole strength to the draught, and proceeding in a steady pace. The motion of these animals is a shambling kind of trot, but it is very rapid, and, in drawing carriages, they are able to out-travel a horse. They are also less delicate in their food than horses, are long-lived, and more productive than any known beast of burden, having annually from one to three young ones at a birth. Elks were formerly used in Sweden for the drawing of sledges; but as they were frequently employed in the escape of criminals from justice, the use of them was prohibited under severe penalties.

The inhabitants of all countries where the elk is found esteem its _flesh_ a sweet and nutritious food, though the grain is coarser than that of most other kinds of venison. The American Indians assert that they can travel further, after having eaten of it, than of any other animal food. After having been properly salted and dried, the _tongues_ are better than those of the ox; and the nose, when cooked, is stated to eat like marrow, and to be one of the greatest delicacies which are produced in Canada. Of the _skins_ an excellent buff leather is made, which is strong, light, and soft. This leather is used by the Indians for tent-covers, snow-shoes, and the coverings of canoes. The long _hair_ of the elk is well adapted for the stuffing of mattresses and saddles.

In Canada the hunting of the wild elk is a frequent but in general a most laborious, pursuit, which chiefly occupies the attention of the Indians during winter, when the whole surrounding country is covered with snow.

In a wild state these animals browze the thick and lofty grasses of the plains, and the leaves and tender branches of trees. During the summer they frequent the banks of rivers and lakes; and in winter they often traverse vast distances upon the frozen snow. Notwithstanding the natural strength of their body, their disposition is so mild and inoffensive, that, even when pursued and attacked, they seldom attempt any resistance.

82. _The REIN-DEER_ (Cervus tarandus, Fig. 28) _is known by its horns being long, bent back, slender, branched, and generally broad at the extremities._

_It is about four feet and half high at the shoulder, and is of brown or greyish white colour above, and white on the under parts of the body. Both the sexes are horned._

_These animals inhabit several of the alpine districts of America, and of the northern countries of Europe and Asia._