Under the Sun. Philip Stewart Robinson

Under the Sun

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 42

“To the emmet gives Her foresight and the intelligence that makes The tiny creatures strong by social league.” Wordsworth.

“The parsimonious emmet.”—Milton.

“Us vagrant emmets.”—Young.

Part II. The Indian Seasons.

Table of Contents

In Hot Weather… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

“A great length of deadly days.”—Atalanta in Calydon.

II.

The Rains… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

“For the rain it raineth every day.”—Twelfth Night.

III.

The Cold Weather… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

“Ah! if to thee It feels Elysian, how rich to me, An exiled mortal, sounds its pleasant name!” Endymion.

Part III. Unnatural History.

Table of Contents

Monkeys and Metaphysics… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

105

Monkeys and Metaphysics. — How they found Seeta. — Yet they are not Proud. — Their Sad-Facedness. — Decayed Divinities. — As Gods in Egypt. — From Grave to Gay. — What do the Apes think of us?—The Etiquette of Scratching. — “The New Boy” of the Monkey-House. — They take Notes of us. — Man-Ape Puzzles. — The Soko. — Missing Links.

II.

Hunting of the Soko… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

127

Titus Andronicus.

“It is no gentle chase.”—Venus and Adonis.

“Whence and what art thou, execrable shape, That darest, though grim and terrible, to advance Thy miscreated front?”—Paradise Lost.

“You do it wrong, being so majestical, To offer it the show of violence.”—Hamlet.

“God made him, and therefore let him pass for a man.” Portia.

“With a groan that had something terribly human in it, and yet was full of brutishness, the man-ape fell forward on his face.”—Du Chaillu.

III.

Elephants… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

152

They are Square Animals with a Leg at each Corner and a Tail at both Ends. — “My Lord the Elephant.”—That it picks up Pins. — The Mammoth as a Missionary in Africa. — An Elephant Hunt with the Prince. — Elephantine Potentialities. — A Mad Giant. — Bigness not of Necessity a Virtue. — A Digression on the Meekness of Giants.

IV.

The Elephants’ Fellow-countrymen… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

170

The Rhinoceros a Victim of Ill-Natured Personality—In the Glacial Period. — The Hippopotamus. — Popular Sympathy with it. — Behemoth a Useless Person. — Extinct Monsters and the World they Lived in. — The Impossible Giraffe. — Its Intelligent use of its Head as a Hammer. — The Advantages and Disadvantages of so much Neck. — Its High Living. — The Zebra. — Nature’s Parsimony in the matter of Paint on the Skins of Animals. — Some Suggestions towards more Gayety.

Cats and Sparrows… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

186

They are of Two Species, tame and otherwise. — The Artificial Lion. — Its Debt of Gratitude to Landseer and the Poets. — Unsuitable for Domestication. — Is the Natural Lion the King of Beasts?—The true Moral of all Lion Fables. — “Well roared, Lion!”—The Tiger not of a Festive Kind. — There is no Nonsense about the Big Cats. — The Tiger’s Pleasures and Perils. — Its Terrible Voice.— The poor Old Man-Eater. — Caught by Baboos and Killed by Sheep. — The great Cat Princes. — Common or Garden Cats, approached sideways. — The Physical Impossibility of Taxing Cats. — The Evasive Habits of Grimalkin. — Its Instinct for Cooks. — On the Roof with a Burglar. — The Prey of Cats. — The Turpitude of the Sparrow. — As an Emblem of Conquest and an Article of Export. — The Street Boy among Birds.

VI.

Bears—Wolves—Dogs—Rats… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

227

Bears are of three kinds, Big Bears, Middle-sized Bears, and Little Wee Bears. — Easily Provoked. — A Protest of Routine against Reform. — But Unreliable.

Скачать книгу