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his way back , a week afterwards , to his former dwelling . More extraordinary still , a dog is said to have been despatched from London to Scotland by sea , and to have found his way back to London by land . Cats , which have been transported a considerable distance from home in bags or baskets , frequently find their way back again . A
cat , having been taken to the "West Indies and back , made its escape from the vessel in the port of London , and found its way back through the metropolis to its former residence at Brompton . Another cat was taken from a place near Saffron "W alden to Hampshire , whence it returned to its former mistress , as was supposed , through London .
Sleep are not considered particularly intelligent in their domesticated state ; but it is credibly related that a sheep which was driven from Scotland into Yorkshire , made its escape , and after passing through towns , crossing rivers , and overcoming all impediments , arrived at its native spot in the hills of Annandale . Another sheep ,
from Perthshire , went back to a farm twenty miles from Edinburgh . In its way it had occasion to pass through Stirling ; but as it happened to be the day of the fair at that place , the animal would not venture through the town among the populace , but rested itself on the northern suburbs until the crowd had dispersed , and then went through the town late in the evening .
Asses are not those stupid animals which they are proverbially reputed to be , as might be proved by several facts in their natural history ; but the following anecdote , related in Kirby and Spence ' s " Entomology , " on the authority of " Lieutenant Alderman , of the Royal Engineers , " shows that these animals are sometimes endowed with a sagacity which , in its development , leaves both reason and instinct far behind .
In March , 1816 , an ass , the property of Captain Dundas , R . N ., then at Malta , was shipped on board the Ister frigate ( Captain Forest ) , bound from Gibraltar for that island . The vessel having struck on some sands oif the Point de Gat , at some distance from the shore , the ass was thrown overhoard , to give it a chance of swimming ashore , the sea running so high that a boat which left the
ship was lost . A few days afterwards , when the gates of Gibraltar were opened in the morning , the ass presented himself for admittance , and forthwith proceeded to the stable of a merchant , Mr . Weeks , which stable he had formerly occupied . Mr . Weeks ^ was astonished at the adventure , but concluded that by some accident the animal had never been shipped on board the Ister . On the
return of this vessel for repair , the mystery was explained . It turned out that the creature had not only swam safely to shore , but had found his way from Point de Gat to Gibraltar , a distance of more than two hundred miles , through a mountainous and intricate country , intersected by streams—a region he had never traversed before ; and the journey was made in so short a period , that ho must have travelled fast , even supposing he had not made one false turn . But the incredulous will ask , why was lie not stopped on the road ? Perhaps the proverbial obstinacy of an ass might furnish a sufficient reason ;
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
his way back , a week afterwards , to his former dwelling . More extraordinary still , a dog is said to have been despatched from London to Scotland by sea , and to have found his way back to London by land . Cats , which have been transported a considerable distance from home in bags or baskets , frequently find their way back again . A
cat , having been taken to the "West Indies and back , made its escape from the vessel in the port of London , and found its way back through the metropolis to its former residence at Brompton . Another cat was taken from a place near Saffron "W alden to Hampshire , whence it returned to its former mistress , as was supposed , through London .
Sleep are not considered particularly intelligent in their domesticated state ; but it is credibly related that a sheep which was driven from Scotland into Yorkshire , made its escape , and after passing through towns , crossing rivers , and overcoming all impediments , arrived at its native spot in the hills of Annandale . Another sheep ,
from Perthshire , went back to a farm twenty miles from Edinburgh . In its way it had occasion to pass through Stirling ; but as it happened to be the day of the fair at that place , the animal would not venture through the town among the populace , but rested itself on the northern suburbs until the crowd had dispersed , and then went through the town late in the evening .
Asses are not those stupid animals which they are proverbially reputed to be , as might be proved by several facts in their natural history ; but the following anecdote , related in Kirby and Spence ' s " Entomology , " on the authority of " Lieutenant Alderman , of the Royal Engineers , " shows that these animals are sometimes endowed with a sagacity which , in its development , leaves both reason and instinct far behind .
In March , 1816 , an ass , the property of Captain Dundas , R . N ., then at Malta , was shipped on board the Ister frigate ( Captain Forest ) , bound from Gibraltar for that island . The vessel having struck on some sands oif the Point de Gat , at some distance from the shore , the ass was thrown overhoard , to give it a chance of swimming ashore , the sea running so high that a boat which left the
ship was lost . A few days afterwards , when the gates of Gibraltar were opened in the morning , the ass presented himself for admittance , and forthwith proceeded to the stable of a merchant , Mr . Weeks , which stable he had formerly occupied . Mr . Weeks ^ was astonished at the adventure , but concluded that by some accident the animal had never been shipped on board the Ister . On the
return of this vessel for repair , the mystery was explained . It turned out that the creature had not only swam safely to shore , but had found his way from Point de Gat to Gibraltar , a distance of more than two hundred miles , through a mountainous and intricate country , intersected by streams—a region he had never traversed before ; and the journey was made in so short a period , that ho must have travelled fast , even supposing he had not made one false turn . But the incredulous will ask , why was lie not stopped on the road ? Perhaps the proverbial obstinacy of an ass might furnish a sufficient reason ;