in the
passes of the Pyrennees; and even now the _lobo_ will follow a string of
mules, as soon as it becomes dusk, keeping parallel with them as they
proceed, leaping from bush and rock, waiting his opportunity to select a
victim. Black wolves also are found in the mountains of Friuli and
Cattaro; the Vekvoturian wolf of Siberia, described by Pallas, is one of
the darkest variety. In Persia and in India wolves are trained and made
to play tricks and antics as monkeys and dogs are in Europe. At Teheran,
Bankok, and Arracan, a well-trained wolf that can dance a polka of the
country, sing a national air, and preserve a grave face during five
minutes, with a pair of spectacles on his nose, will fetch as much as
500 dollars.
"In China," remarks Colonel Smith, "wolves abound in the northern
province of Shantung;" and Buffon, quoting from Adanson, asserts, that
"there is a powerful species of the wolf in Bengal, which hunt in packs,
in company with the lion." "One night," says Adanson, "a lion and a wolf
entered the court of the house in which I slept, and unperceived,
carried off my provisions; in the morning my hosts were quite satisfied,
from the well-marked and well-known impressions of their feet in the
sand, that the animals had come together to forage." Colonel Smith
observes, that "the French wolves are generally browner and somewhat
stronger than those of Germany, with an appearance far more wild and
savage: the Russian are larger, and seem more bulky and formidable, from
the great quantity of long coarse hair that cover them on the neck and
cheeks."
"The Swedish and Norwegian are," he says, "similar to the Russian; but
appear deeper and heavier in the shoulder; they are also lighter in
colour, and in winter become completely white. The Alpine wolves are
yellowish, and smaller than the French. This is the type of wolf that is
commonly found in the western countries of Europe; and it was, in all
probability, this species that once infested the wild and extensive
woodland districts of the British Islands; for that wolves were once
exceedingly numerous in England, is as certain as that the bear formerly
prowled in Wales and Scotland, and with the former was the terror of the
inhabitants. How dangerous to them, and how very common they must have
been, is evident from the necessity that existed in the reign of
Athelstane, 925, for erecting on the public highway a refuge against
their attacks. A retreat was built at Fli
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