Page:An account of a savage girl.djvu/34

6 which she may have seen in her youth, might have suggested to her this method of transporting herself; a circumstance that gives additional weight to the conjectures which we shall afterwards offer with respect to her native country.

committed her to the care of the shepherd, who dwelt near the castle, recommending her to him in the most anxious manner, and promising to reward him handsomely for his pains. The man accordingly took her to his house, in order to begin to tame her; and on this account they called her in the neighbourhood, The shepherd's beast. We may well conceive, that it would require a considerable space of time, and some harsh usage to wean her from her former habits, and to temper her fierce and savage disposition; and I have good reason to believe, that she was very closely confined in this house; for she informed me herself, that she found means to make holes in the walls, and in the tiles of the roof, upon which she would run, with as much unconcern as on the ground, never suffering herself to be retaken without a great deal of trouble, and passing so artfully, (as they afterwards told her) through small holes, that they could scarcely believe their eyes, after they had seen her do it. It was thus that she escaped once, among several other times,