e distance
from home; and he coaxed it farther by a sort of pudding made of barley
meal, which he carried in one of his pockets. The other pocket he filled
with stones, which he threw at the pig whenever she misbehaved.

He found the animal tractable, and soon taught her what he wished by
this mode of reward and punishment. They were frequently seen out
together, when the sow quartered her ground as regularly as any pointer,
stood when she came on game (having an excellent nose), and backed other
dogs as well as ever a pointer did. When she came on the cold scent of
game, she slackened her trot, and gradually dropped her ears and tail;
till she was certain, and then fell down on her knees. So staunch was
she, that she would frequently remain for five minutes and upwards on
her point. As soon as the game rose, she always returned to her master,
grunting very loud, for her reward of pudding, if it was not at once
given to her.

[Illustration]

LXIX

A WISE OURANG-OUTANG

A well-known traveller tells a story about the ourang-outang in its wild
state, which shows that it has both a good memory and some ingenuity.

When the fruits on the mountains are gone, these animals often go down
to the seacoast, where they feed upon various kinds of shell-fish, but
in particular on a large sort of oyster, which commonly lies open on the
shore. "Fearful," he says, "of putting in their paws, lest the oyster
should close and crush them, they insert a stone as a wedge within the
shell. This prevents it from closing, and they then drag out their prey,
and devour it at leisure."

[Illustration]

LXX

A GRACEFUL RETURN

A favorite house-dog, left to the care of its master's servants, while
he was himself away, would have been starved by them if it had not found
a friend in the kitchen of a friend of its master's, which in better
days it had occasionally visited. On the return of the master it had
plenty at home, and had no further need of food; but still it did not
forget the place where it had found a friend in need. A few days after,
the dog fell in with a duck, which, as he found in no private pond, he
no doubt decided was no private property. He snatched up the duck in his
teeth, carried it to the kitchen where he had been so generously fed,
laid it at the cook's feet, with many polite movements of his tail, and
then scampered off with much seeming joy at having given this real proof
of his gratitude.

[Ill