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Part III. Unnatural History.
Оглавление| I. | 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. |
| V. | 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. — Unfairly Treated in Literature. — How Robbers went to steal the Widow’s Pig, but found the Bear in the Sty. — The Delightful Triumph of Convictions in the Nursery. — The Wild Hunter of the Woods. — Its Splendid Heroism. — Wolf-men. — Wolf-dogs. — Dogs we have all met. — Are Men only Second-rate Dogs?—Their Emotions and Passions the same as ours. — The Art of Getting Lost. — Man not inferior to Dogs in many ways. — The Rat Epidemic in India. — Endemic in England. — Western Prejudice and Eastern Tenderness. — Emblems of Successful Invasion. — Their Abuse of Intelligence. — Edax Rerum. |
| VII. | Some Sea-Folk… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … | 262 |
| Ocean-folk. — Mermaids and Manatees. — The Solemnity of Shapelessness. — Herds of the Sea-gods. — Sea-things. — The Octopus and its Kind. — Terrors of the Deep Sea. — Sea-serpents. — Credible and Incredible Varieties. — Delightful possibilities in Cuttle-fish. — Ancient and Fish-like Monsters. — Credulity as to Monsters, Disastrous. — Snakes in Legend and in Nature. — Mr. Ruskin on Snakes. — The Snake-folk. — Shesh, the Snake-god—Primeval Turtles and their Contemporary Aldermen. — Impropriety of Flippancy about Turtles. |
