English language -- Glossaries, vocabularies, etc.; English literature; Readers; Recitations
Another species of the mangouste, found in the island of Java,
inhabiting the large teak forests, is greatly admired by the natives for
its agility. It attacks and kills serpents with excessive boldness. It
is very expert in burrowing in the ground, which process it employs
ingeniously in the pursuit of rats. It possesses great natural sagacity,
and, from the peculiarities of its character, it willingly seeks the
protection of man. It is easily tamed, and in its domestic state is very
docile and attached to its master, whom it follows like a dog; it is
fond of caresses, and frequently places itself erect on its hind legs,
regarding every thing that passes with great attention. It is of a very
restless disposition, and always carries its food to the most retired
place to consume it, and is very cleanly in its habits; but it is
exclusively carnivorous and destructive to poultry, employing great
artifice in surprising chickens.
* * * * *
CULLODEN.
[Illustration: Letter C.]
Culloden Moor--the battle-field--lies eastward about a mile from
Culloden House. After an hour's climbing up the heathy brae, through a
scattered plantation of young trees, clambering over stone dykes, and
jumping over moorland rills and springs, oozing from the black turf and
streaking its sombre surface with stripes of green, we found ourselves
on the table-land of the moor--a broad, bare level, garnished with a few
black huts, and patches of scanty oats, won by patient industry from the
waste. We should premise, however, that there are some fine glimpses of
rude mountain scenery in the course of the ascent. The immediate
vicinage of Culloden House is well wooded; the Frith spreads finely in
front; the Ross-shire hills assume a more varied and commanding aspect;
and Ben Wyvis towers proudly over his compeers, with a bold pronounced
character. Ships were passing and re-passing before us in the Frith, the
birds were singing blithely overhead, and the sky was without a cloud.
Under the cheering influence of the sun, stretched on the warm,
blooming, and fragrant heather, we gazed with no common interest and
pleasure on this scene.
On the moor all is bleak and dreary--long, flat, wide, unvarying. The
folly and madness of Charles and his followers, in risking a battle on
such ground, with jaded, unequal forces, half-starved, and deprived of
rest the preceding night, has often been remarked, and is at one glance
perceived by the spectator. The Royalist artillery and cavalry had full
room to play, for not a knoll or bush was there to mar their murderous
aim. Mountains and fastnesses were on the right, within a couple of
hours' journey, but a fatality had struck the infatuated bands of
Charles; dissension and discord were in his councils; and a power
greater than that of Cumberland had marked them for destruction. But a
truce to politics; the grave has closed over victors and vanquished:
"Culloden's dread echoes are hush'd on the moors;"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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