The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1874-01-21

asa aedlCGRIOUS EdET zNNATUB4Laa !
| aasSiH y M 1870 81 lsss asson aassfw
The Lemming mplsipliss 80 ippidly that in
the coafseof ten or twelve seasons food be-
comes scarce, and optbe appuach Of some
winter when the food question has become
one of life or death, thesover-stoclsed market
is relieved by an expedient upparallcled IN it,
mature namong four-footedl animals. ~ This
singular little creature IL so localiu itshabits,
that, unless under the circumstances we are
about to narrate, 1t never leaves the mountain
regions to establish itself on the plains, where
food is more abundant. The inhuman sug-
gesticn Of amodern writer that our panpers
should be packed into rotten, ships, which
should be sent out. to sea and scuttled, is
something like the method adopted by the
Jennings themselves, to avert the famine
which threatens to annihilate the entire spe-
cies When the time cor the settlement of
the question of partial determination fol-, the
! benefit of the race, or total determination by
starvation can no longer he delayed, they
assemble in countless thousands in some OF
the mountain valleys leading into the plains,
and the vast army of martyrs selected, they
pour across the country in straight line,
living stream, often exceeding mile in
length, and many yards in breadth, devonr-
ing every green thing in their line of march |;
the country over which they have passed look
ing as il it had been plowed or burned with
fire. They march principally by night and in
the morning, resting during the day, but
never seek to settle in any particular locality,
however abundant food may be in it, for their
final destination is the distant sea, and moth
ing animate or inanimate, il 1t can be sur
mounted, rctards the straight onward tide of
their advance. - sss.s ssa sues
When the reindeer gets enveloped in the
| living stream, they will not even go round its
limbs, but bite its legs until in its agony and
terror, it plunges madly about, crushing them
to death in hundreds, and even killing them
with its teeth. II a man attempts to stem
the living torrent, they leap upon his legs
and IL he lay about him with a stick, they
seize it with their teeth, and hold to it with
such determined pertnacity that he may
swing it rapidly round his head without COM
pclling them to loosen their hold. If corn
Or hay rick be in the way, they eat their way
through it; aud on arriving at the smooth
face OF rock, they pass round it, forming III
in close column again on the other side
Lakes, however broad, are boldly entered, AM
the passage attempted, and rivers, howeve
deep and rapid, are forded, impediments i
the water being rs boldly faced as those c
shore. They have been known to pass over
boat and to climb on the deck of ship, pas
: ing without stop Or stay into the water ON Il
further side. Their natural instincts are N
in allegiance during this migration, as femal,
are frequently seen accompanied by the
young and carrying in their teeth some OF
which has succumbed to the fatigues of til
march, which might not be stayed until I'll
helpless one was recruited. Foxes, lynxei
weasels, kites, owls &c, hover on their lin
of march and destroy them in hundreds. TIL
fish in the rivers and lakes lay n heavy tol
upon them, and vast numbers are drowned
and die by other accidents in flood an,
field;" but the survivors, impelled by SOM
irresistible instinct, press onward with n,
Thought of stopping, until they lose them
selves in the sea, sinking in its depths as they
become exhausted, in such numbers that foi
miles their bodies, thrown up by the tide, lie
putrefying on the shore. Comparatively few
ever return to their native haunts but there
can be no doubt that some do so, as they have
been seen on the return, pursuing their back
ward journey in the same fearless and de-
termined manner as their advance. Temple
Bar. A #sz