The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1882-12-23
WOLF.CHLDREN.

WOLF.CHILDREN.
In depicting the temper and dispo-
sition of the wolf, such s'jectives as
ruthless, cunning and treaonerous' are
invariably used, and with feet justice.
It would appear, therefore. at first sight
almost incredible that there should be
many instances on record where children
have been carried away, and instead Of
being devoured, as would assuredly have
been the case had the marauder been q
panther or a leopard, they have been
sucked, tended and reared by them.
Some of these have afterwards been re-
covered; and at this moment there exists
q specimen wolf-child at Secundra, q
small missionary station a few miles
from Agra; so that the story of Romulus
and Remus may not be so entirely with
out foundation as we have hitherto been
led to suppose.
Wolves as rule prey upon the fiocks
and herds of the inhabitants of the vii
lagos in whose neighborhood they have
made their dens, and upon such wild an
imals as they can hunt down and capture.
Among these latter may be mentioned the
gazelle-antelope. and the black-buck;
and many and ingenious are the devices
they resort to in order to achieve their
purpose. But in the Northwestern
Provinces of India, about Agra, in Dude
and Rajpootana, they are also very de-
structive to children. Hindus of all
classes are exceedingly superstitious re-
garding the destruction of these pre-
datory brutes, and consider the individ-
ual who has been unfortunate enough to
shed drop of VOLTS blood. doomed to
suffer some grevious calamity. Hence,
though q Government reward of three
rupees per head is offered, it is only the
very lowest of all castes-the 'Domes or
Dungars.' a. they are called-who will
take the trouble to snare and destroy
wolves. These people lead q vagrant
life, and bivouac in the jungles, and
have no superstitious dread OF killing
any living thing.
The following hypothesis may ex-
plain how it comes to pass that
50 cruel and relentless an animal as the
wolf should sometimes be found enact
ing the interesting part of foster-mother
to one of the human species. A female
with cubs goes providing about in search
Of food for its young, and sue
ceeds in ravishing an Indian home of
its infant for that purpose. The cubs,
for some reason or other-not oversen-
sitiveness, certainly, but perhaps because
their carnivorous instincts are as vet
comparatively dormant merely lick the
child all over. This probably, accord
ing TO the code of wolfish etiquette, is
equivalent to having eaten salt with an
Arab, and the infant is henceforth
adopted by the parent, and sucked and
brought up with the cubs. Although
the human tendency is to go on two
legs, we know that even amongst our
selves babies commence by crawling.
Now, man Is essentially an initiative
animal and seeing the wolves going ON
all-fours. the alien naturally tries the
same method of progression. It would
appear, however, that it has found the
hands ill-adapted for use in lieu Of fore
feet, and as . rule the elbows are en-
ployed for that purpose; in consequences
OF this choice, the knees, too, have to
be used instead of the feet, and
hence horny excresences are usually
found on both the knees and the elbows.
Perhaps the two subjoined true mar
ratives of wolf-children that have been
captured in India, may prove interest
ing.
One morning many years ago, Mr..
H, who happened at the time to be
magistrate and collector of the Etawah
District, was out riding. accompanied by
q couple of sowars or mounted orderlies.
They were passing over q portion of
road that lay in the vicinity of the
ravines of the river Jumna, when two
halfgrown wolf-cubs crossed their
path; and following them more
slowly, came very remarkable looking
creature. which shambled along on ali
fours in an extraordinarily uncouth
fashion. This turned out to be q wolf
child. Letting the other two 90 un-
molested, the three men proceeded to
hunt down the human cub and succeeded
In bringing it to bay. As they wished
to take the creature alive, and were alto
gether unwilling to hurt it in any way.
they found the greatest difficulty in at
tempting to secure it; for it fought, bit
and clawed with extreme fierceness and
pertinacity; indeed. having driven il
into q corner, Mr.. H and one of the
sowars had to mount guard, while the
other native proceeded to the nearest vii
lage and got a stout blanket for the pur-
pose Of throwing it over its head; and it
was by this means that the capture was
ct length effected. All the way home
the wolf-child behaved ike amad thing,
pc'saming and howliag' now plteously.