forget everything it had
learned before.

[Illustration]

ANECDOTE IV.

A Faithful Companion.

A gardener, in removing some rubbish, discovered two ground toads of an
uncommon size, weighing no less than seven pounds. On finding them, he was
surprised to see that one of them got upon the back of the other, and both
proceeded to move slowly on the ground towards a place of retreat; upon
further examination he found that the one on the back of the other had
received a severe contusion from his spade, and was rendered unable to get
away, without the assistance of its companion!

[Illustration]

ANECDOTE V.

A False Alarm.

Some years ago, a soldier doing duty at the castle of Cape Town, kept a
tame baboon for his amusement. One evening it broke its chains unknown to
him. In the night, climbing up into the belfry, it began to play with, and
ring the bell. Immediately the whole place was in an uproar; some great
danger was apprehended. Many thought that the castle was on fire; others,
that an enemy had entered the bay, and the soldiers began actually to turn
out, when it was discovered that the baboon had occasioned the
disturbance. On the following morning a court-martial was held, when Cape
justice dictated, that whereas the baboon had unnecessarily put the castle
into alarm, the master should receive fifty lashes; the soldier, however,
found means to evade the punishment.

[Illustration]

ANECDOTE VI.

Sagacious Bruin.

The captain of a Greenland whaler being anxious to procure a bear, without
wounding the skin, made trial of the stratagem of laying the noose of a
rope in the snow, and placing a piece of meat within it. A bear ranging
the neighbouring ice was soon enticed to the spot by the smell of the
dainty morsel. He perceived the bait, approached, and seized it in his
mouth; but his foot at the same time, by a jerk of the rope, being
entangled in the noose, he pushed it off with his paw, and deliberately
retired. After having eaten the piece he had carried away with him, he
returned. The noose, with another piece of meat, being replaced, he pushed
the rope aside, and again walked triumphantly off with his capture. A
third time the noose was laid; but excited to caution by the evident
observations of the bear, the sailors buried the rope beneath the snow,
and laid the bait in a deep hole dug in the centre. The bear once more
approached, and the sailors were assured of their su