Pliny And Solinus Relate That A Certain King, Who Was Very Fond Of
Dogs, And Addicted To Hunting, Was Taken
And imprisoned by his
enemies, and in a most wonderful manner liberated, without any
assistance from his friends, by a
Pack of dogs, who had
spontaneously sequestered themselves in the mountainous and woody
regions, and from thence committed many atrocious acts of
depredation on the neighbouring herds and flocks. I shall take this
opportunity of mentioning what from experience and ocular testimony
I have observed respecting the nature of dogs. A dog is in general
sagacious, but particularly with respect to his master; for when he
has for some time lost him in a crowd, he depends more upon his nose
than upon his eyes; and, in endeavouring to find him, he first looks
about, and then applies his nose, for greater certainty, to his
clothes, as if nature had placed all the powers of infallibility in
that feature. The tongue of a dog possesses a medicinal quality;
the wolf's, on the contrary, a poisonous: the dog heals his wounds
by licking them, the wolf, by a similar practice, infects them; and
the dog, if he has received a wound in his neck or head, or any part
of his body where he cannot apply his tongue, ingeniously makes use
of his hinder foot as a conveyance of the healing qualities to the
parts affected.
CHAPTER VIII
Passage of the rivers Avon and Neth - and of Abertawe and Goer
Continuing our journey, {89} not far from Margan, where the
alternate vicissitudes of a sandy shore and the tide commence, we
forded over the river Avon, having been considerably delayed by the
ebbing of the sea; and under the guidance of Morgan, eldest son of
Caradoc, proceeded along the sea-shore towards the river Neth,
which, on account of its quicksands, is the most dangerous and
inaccessible river in South Wales. A pack-horse belonging to the
author, which had proceeded by the lower way near the sea, although
in the midst of many others, was the only one which sunk down into
the abyss, but he was at last, with great difficulty, extricated,
and not without some damage done to the baggage and books. Yet,
although we had Morgan, the prince of that country, as our
conductor, we did not reach the river without great peril, and some
severe falls; for the alarm occasioned by this unusual kind of road,
made us hasten our steps over the quicksands, in opposition to the
advice of our guide, and fear quickened our pace; whereas, through
these difficult passages, as we there learned, the mode of
proceeding should be with moderate speed. But as the fords of that
river experience a change by every monthly tide, and cannot be found
after violent rains and floods, we did not attempt the ford, but
passed the river in a boat, leaving the monastery of Neth {90} on
our right hand, approaching again to the district of St. David's,
and leaving the diocese of Landaf (which we had entered at
Abergevenny) behind us.
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