Illustrative Anecdotes of the Animal Kingdom Part 1

Ill.u.s.trative Anecdotes of the Animal Kingdom.

by Samuel Griswold Goodrich.

ANECDOTES OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

The purpose of the present volume is to exhibit a series of well-authenticated anecdotes, calculated to ill.u.s.trate the character and habits of the more prominent species of the animal kingdom. The plan of the work, of course, excludes full scientific descriptions; but it has been thought that it may be more useful, as well as interesting, to arrange the subjects according to the most approved system of cla.s.sification, and to indicate, briefly, the leading traits of the several orders and genera.[1]

[1] For a more scientific account of the animal kingdom, the reader is referred to "A Pictorial Natural History," &c., published by James Munroe & Co., Boston.

GENERAL CLa.s.sIFICATION OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM

FIRST GRAND DIVISION, VERTEBRATA, or back boned animals, having a bony skeleton, and including four cla.s.ses.

_Cla.s.s_ I. MAMMALIA, or sucking animals; as, man; bats, monkeys, bears, oxen, sheep, deer, and many other four-footed beasts; as well as seals, walruses, whales, &c.

" II. AVES, birds of all kinds.

" III. REPTILIA, or reptiles; as, lizards, frogs, serpents, toads, &c.

" IV. PISCES, fishes generally.

SECOND GRAND DIVISION, INVERTEBRATA, or animals without a bony spine, or a bony skeleton, and including three cla.s.ses.

_Cla.s.s_ I. MOLLUSCA, embracing pulpy animals mostly enclosed in sh.e.l.ls; as, the nautilus, oyster, clam, cuttle-fish, &c.

" II. ARTICULATA, or jointed animals; as, crabs, lobsters, spiders, insects, leeches, earthworms, &c.

" III. RADIATA, branched or radiated animals; as, the star-fish, tape-worm, coral insect, sea anemone, &c.

VERTEBRATA.

CLa.s.s MAMMALIA.

The mammalia include not only man, the head of creation, but, generally, those animals which have the most numerous and perfect faculties, the most delicate perceptions, the most varied powers, and the highest degrees of intelligence. All the species have a double heart; red, warm blood; and a nervous system more fully developed than that of any other animals. This cla.s.s is divided into nine orders, under each of which we shall notice some of the more remarkable species.

ORDER I.

BIMANA,

TWO-HANDED.

MAN.

Of this race there is one species, yet divided into many nations, kingdoms, and tribes. These are all grouped under five races: 1. The _Caucasian_, or white race, including the most highly civilized nations; 2. The _Mongolian_, or yellow race, including the Tartars, Chinese, j.a.panese, &c.; 3. The _Malay_, or brown race, including the people of Malacca, and most of the Oceanic islands; 4. The _American_, or red race, including the American Indians; and 5. The _African_, or black race, including Negroes.

Philosophers have been a good deal puzzled for a definition of man; yet it would seem by no means difficult to point out characteristics which distinguish him from all other animated beings. He is not only the acknowledged lord and master of the animal kingdom, but he is the only being that knows G.o.d, yet the only one that worships stones, apes, and idols; the only being that has the Bible, and the only one that makes systematic warfare on his own species. He is the only created being that perceives the force of moral obligation, and the only one that makes slaves of his fellow-beings; he is the only creature that has reason, and yet the only one that besots himself with intoxicating drugs and drinks. Man is the only being that has tasted of the tree of knowledge, and yet the only one that appears, in all ages and countries, to be a _fallen being_,--one not fulfilling, here on the earth, the purposes of his creation. Must we not, from the a.n.a.logy of the works of G.o.d, look to a future state, to find the true end of human existence?

That we may not omit to give at least one ill.u.s.trative and characteristic anecdote, under the head of "_h.o.m.o sapiens_," we copy the following from the quaint pages of Carlyle:--

"What, speaking in quite unofficial language, is the net purport of war? To my own knowledge, for example, there dwell and toil, in the British village of Dumdrudge, usually, some five hundred souls. From these, by certain 'natural enemies' of the French, there are successively selected, during the French war, say thirty able-bodied men. Dumdrudge, at her own expense, has suckled and nursed them; she has, not without difficulty and sorrow, fed them up to manhood, and even trained them to crafts--so that one can weave, another build, another hammer, and the weakest can stand under thirty stone avoirdupois. Nevertheless, amid much weeping and swearing, they are selected, all dressed in red, and shipped away at the public charge some 2000 miles, or, say, only to the south of Spain, and fed there till wanted.

"And now to that same spot, in the south of Spain, are thirty similar French artisans, from a French Dumdrudge, in like manner wending; till, at length, after infinite effort, the parties come into actual juxtaposition, and thirty stand fronting thirty, each with a gun in his hand. Straightway the word 'Fire' is given, and they blow the souls out of one another; and instead of sixty brisk, useful craftsmen, the world has sixty dead carca.s.ses, which it must bury, and anon shed tears for.

Had these men any quarrel? Busy as the devil is, not the smallest. They lived far enough apart, were the entirest strangers; nay, in so wide a universe, there was indeed unconsciously, by commerce, some mutual helpfulness between them. How then? Simpleton! their governors had fallen out; and instead of shooting one another, had the cunning to make these poor blockheads shoot."

ORDER II.

QUADRUMANA,

FOUR-HANDED ANIMALS.

This numerous order of animals is divided into three families: 1.

_Apes_, which are dest.i.tute of tails; 2. _Baboons_, having short tails; 3. _Monkeys_, having long tails. The whole group are confined to warm countries, and none but the latter kinds are met with in America. They are not found in Europe, except at Gibraltar. Here, among the rocks, are considerable numbers of apes; and it has been conjectured that they come hither from the African coast, by means of pa.s.sages under the Straits. This idea, however, is groundless. No doubt these animals were once common in Europe; but they have been gradually extirpated, except at Gibraltar, where they have made a stand. Its rocks and caverns seem to have proved as impregnable a garrison to them as to the British.

APES.

The ORANG-OUTANG;--a native of Cochin China, Malacca, and the large adjacent islands. It has a countenance more like that of man than any other animal. It seldom walks erect, and seems to make its home in the trees. It is covered with reddish brown hair.

_An Orang-Outang in Holland._--This was a female, brought to that country in 1776. She generally walked on all fours, like other apes, but could also walk nearly erect. When, however, she a.s.sumed this posture, her feet were not usually extended like those of a man, but the toes were curved beneath, in such a manner that she rested chiefly on the exterior sides of the feet. One morning she escaped from her chain, and was seen to ascend with wonderful agility the beams and oblique rafters of the building. With some trouble she was retaken, and very extraordinary muscular powers were, on this occasion, remarked in the animal. The efforts of four men were found necessary in order to secure her. Two of them seized her by the legs, and a third by the head, whilst the other fastened the collar round her body.

During the time she was at liberty, among other pranks, she had taken a bottle of Malaga wine which she drank to the last drop, and then set the bottle again in its place. She ate readily of any kind of food which was presented to her; but her chief sustenance was bread, roots, and fruit. She was particularly fond of carrots, strawberries, aromatic plants, and roots of parsley. She also ate meat, boiled and roasted, as well as fish, and was fond of eggs, the sh.e.l.ls of which she broke with her teeth, and then emptied by sucking out the contents. If strawberries were presented to her on a plate, she would pick them up, one by one, with a fork, and put them into her mouth, holding, at the same time, the plate in the other hand. Her usual drink was water; but she also would drink very eagerly all sorts of wine, and of Malaga, in particular, she was very fond. While she was on shipboard, she ran freely about the vessel, played with the sailors, and would go, like them, into the kitchen for her mess. When, at the approach of night, she was about to lie down, she would prepare the bed on which she slept by shaking well the hay, and putting it in proper order; and, lastly, would cover herself up snugly in the quilt.

One day, on noticing the padlock of her chain opened with a key, and shut again, she seized a little bit of stick, and, putting it into the keyhole, turned it about in all directions, endeavoring to open it.

When this animal first arrived in Holland, she was only two feet and a half high, and was almost entirely free from hair on any part of her body, except her back and arms; but, on the approach of winter, she became thickly covered all over, and the hair on her back was at least six inches long, of a chestnut color, except the face and paws, which were somewhat of a reddish bronze color. This interesting brute died after having been seven months in Holland.

_An Orang-Outang killed in Sumatra._--This specimen measured eight feet in height when suspended for the purpose of being skinned. The form and arrangement of his beard were beautiful; there was a great deal of the human expression in his countenance, and his piteous actions when wounded, and great tenacity of life, rendered the scene tragical and affecting. On the spot where he was killed, there were five or six tall trees, which greatly prolonged the combat; for so great were his strength and agility in bounding from branch to branch, that his pursuers were unable to take a determinate aim, until they had felled all the trees but one. Even then he did not yield himself to his antagonists till he had received five b.a.l.l.s, and been moreover thrust through with a spear. One of the first b.a.l.l.s appears to have penetrated his lungs, for he was observed immediately to sling himself by his feet from a branch, with his head downwards, so as to allow the blood to flow from his mouth. On receiving a wound, he always put his hand over the injured part, and distressed his pursuers by the human-like agony of his expression. When on the ground, after being exhausted by his many wounds, he lay as if dead, with his head resting on his folded arms. It was at this moment that an officer attempted to give him the _coup-de-grace_ by pushing a spear through his body, but he immediately jumped on his feet, wrested the weapon from his antagonist, and shivered it in pieces. This was his last wound, and his last great exertion; yet he lived some time afterwards, and drank, it is stated, great quant.i.ties of water. Captain Cornfoot also observes, that the animal had probably travelled some distance to the place where he was killed, as his legs were covered with mud up to the knees.

_An Orang-Outang brought to England._--Dr. Clark Abel has given the following interesting account of an orang-outang which he brought from Java to England: "On board ship an attempt being made to secure him by a chain tied to a strong staple, he instantly unfastened it, and ran off with the chain dragging behind; but finding himself embarra.s.sed by its length, he coiled it once or twice, and threw it over his shoulder.

This feat he often repeated; and when he found that it would not remain on his shoulder, he took it into his mouth. After several abortive attempts to secure him more effectually, he was allowed to wander freely about the ship, and soon became familiar with the sailors, and surpa.s.sed them in agility. They often chased him about the rigging, and gave him frequent opportunities of displaying his adroitness in managing an escape. On first starting, he would endeavor to outstrip his pursuers by mere speed; but when much pressed, eluded them by seizing a loose rope, and swinging out of their reach. At other times, he would patiently wait on the shrouds, or at the mast-head, till his pursuers almost touched him, and then suddenly lower himself to the deck by any rope that was near him, or bound along the main-stay from one mast to the other, swinging by his hands, and moving them one over the other. The men would often shake the ropes by which he clung with so much violence, as to make me fear his falling; but I soon found that the power of his muscles could not be easily overcome. When in a playful humor, he would often swing within arm's length of his pursuer, and having struck him with his hand, throw himself from him.