It would appear that, even among animals, where there is a society,
there is a tyrant and paria. On board vessels, in a school, or any
where, if man is confined in space, there will always be some one
lording over the others, either by his mere brutal strength or by his
character; and, as a consequence, there is also another, who is spurned,
kicked, and beaten by his companions, a poor outcast, whom everybody
delights in insulting and trampling upon; it is the same among
gregarious brutes. Take a flock of buffaloes or horses, or of antelopes;
the first glance is always sufficient to detect the two contrasts. Two
of the animals will stand apart from the herd, one proudly looking
about, the other timid and cast down; and every minute some will leave
their grazing, go and show submission, and give a caress to the one, and
a kick or a bite to the other.
Such scenes I have often observed, and I have also witnessed the
consequence, which is, that the outcast eventually commits suicide,
another crime supposed to be practised only by reasoning creatures like
ourselves. I have seen horses, when tired of their prairie life, walk
round and round large trees, as if to ascertain the degree of hardness
required; they have then measured their distance, and darting with
furious speed against it, fractured their skull, and thus got rid of
life and oppression.
Pages:
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624