But I have digressed sadly from the concatenation of ideas. The ant made me think of my grandmother,--my grandmother of my uncle,--my uncle of my cousin,--and her death of my dream, for "We are such stuff as dreams are made of, and our little lives are rounded with a sleep." But I had not finished all I had to say relative to the inferior animals. When on board of a man-of-war, not only is their instinct expanded, but they almost change their nature from their immediate contact with human beings, and become tame in an incredibly short space of time. Man had dominion given unto him over the beasts of the field; the fiercest of the feline race will not attack, but avoid him, unless goaded on by the most imperious demands of hunger; and it is a well-known fact, that there is a power in the eye of man, to which all other animals quail. What, then, must it be to an animal who is brought on board, and is in immediate collision with hundreds, whose fearless eyes meet his in every direction in which he turns, and whose behaviour towards him corresponds with their undaunted looks? The animal is subdued at once. I remember a leopard which was permitted to run loose after he had been three days on board, although it was thought necessary to bring him in an iron cage. He had not been in the ship more than a fortnight, when I observed the captain of the after-guard rubbing the nose of the animal against the deck, for some offence which he had committed. "Why, you have pretty well brought that gentleman to his bearings," observed I: "he's as tame as a puppy." "Tame! why, sir, he knows better than to be otherwise. I wish the _Hemp'rer of Maroccy_ would send us on board a _cock rhinoceros_--we'd tame him in a week." And I believe the man was correct in his assertion.