resistance. They have been known to lie in wait upon the bank of a
stream, which the buffaloes were in the habit of crossing, and, when one
of those unwieldy animals was so unfortunate as to sink in the mire,
spring suddenly upon it and worry it to death, while thus disabled
from resistance. Their most common prey is the deer, which they hunt
regularly; but all defenceless animals are alike acceptable to their
ravenous appetites. When tempted by hunger, they approach the
farm-houses in the night, and snatch their prey from under the very eye
of the farmer; and when the latter is absent with his dogs, the wolf is
sometimes seen by the females lurking about in mid-day, as if aware of
the unprotected state of the family. Our heroic females have sometimes
shot them under such circumstances. The smell of burning assafoetida
has a remarkable effect upon this animal. If a fire be made in the
woods, and a portion of this drug thrown into it, so as to saturate the
atmosphere with the odour, the wolves, if any are within the reach of
the scent, immediately assemble around, howling in the most mournful
manner; and such is the remarkable fascination under which they seem to
labour, that they will often suffer themselves to be shot down rather
than quit the spot. Of the very few instances of their attacking human
beings of which we have heard, the following may serve to give some idea
of their habits. In very early times, a Negro man was passing in the
night in the lower part of Kentucky from one settlement to another. The
distance was several miles, and the country over which he travelled
entirely unsettled. In the morning, his carcass was found entirely
stripped of flesh. Near it lay his axe, covered with blood, and all
around, the bushes were beaten down, the ground trodden, and the number
of foot-tracks so great, as to show that the unfortunate victim had
fought long and manfully. On following his track, it appeared that the
wolves had pursued him for a considerable distance; and that he had
often turned upon them and driven them back. Several times they had