Page:Amusing stories of animals.pdf/3

 other, meet him at unexpected turns, and keep him thus still employed, and followed for two or three days together. At last, spent with fatigue and famine, and finding all power of escape impossible, he endeavours to hide himself from those enemies he cannot avoid, and covers his head in the sand, or the first thicket he meets.

There are others who, more compassionate or more provident, do not kill their captive, but endeavour to tame it, for the purposes of supplying those feathers which are in so great request. The inhabitants of Dara and Lybia breed up whole flocks of them, and they are tamed with very little trouble. But it is not for their feathers alone that they are prized in this domestic state; they are often ridden upon, and used as horses. Moore assures us, that at Joar he saw a man travelling upon an ostrich; and Adamson asserts, that at the factory of Podore he had two ostriches, which were then young, the strongest of which ran swifter than the best English racer, although he carried two negroes on his back.

A scene at once singular and appalling, occurred in this town on Monday week. At two o'clock, or a little after it, a beautiful Bull of the Galloway breed, remarkable alike for strength and symmetry, was driven into town