WOLF CHILDREN.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3609, 5 February 1883, Page 4

WOLF CHILDREN.

In depicting the temper and disposition of the Avolf, such adjectives as '_' ruthless, cunning and treacherous" arc invariably used, and AA'ith perfect justice. It Avonld appear, therefore, at first sight, almost incredible that there should be many instances ou record Avhere children have been carried aAvay, and instead of being devoured, as AA-oulcl assuredly have been the case had (he marauder been a panther or leopard, they have been suckled, tended and reared by 'them. Some of these have aftei'Avard been recovered ; and at this moment there exists a specimen woli child at Sccundra, a wnall missionary station a feAV miles from Agra : so that 'the story of Romulus and Remus may not be so entirely Avithout foundation as avc Ikia-c hitherto been led to suppose. The following hypothesis may explain how it comes to pass that so cruel and relentless an animal as the Avolf should sometimes be found enacting the interesting part of foster-mother to one of the human species. A female with cubs goes j>ro .vling about in search of food for itsyoung, and succeeds in raA'ishing an Indian home of its infant for that j.uipose. The cubs, for some reason or other—not OA-crsen.silii'cne.SS, certainly, but perhaps because their carnivorous instincts are as yet comparatively dormant—merely lick the child all over. This probably, according to the code of Avolfish etiquette, is equivalent to having eaten salt .A-ith an Arab, and the infant is henceforth adopted by the jmront and suckled and brought up AA-ith the cubs. Although the human tendency is tv go on tA\-o legs, avo Icuoav that even among oui.cla._s babies commence!.}* ci-fiAvling. Noav, man is essentially an imitative animal, and seeing the avolvcs going on all fours, the alien naturally tries the same method of progression. It Avould apjicar. hem-ever, that it has found the hands ill adaj.ted for use in lieu of fore feet, and as a rule the clboAvs arc employed for that jmrpose : in consequence of this choice, the knees too have to be used instead of the foot, and hence horny excrescences are usually found on both the knees and the clboAvs. Perhaps the subjoined narrative of a Avolf-child that has been captured in India may prove interesting : — Air 11., AA'ho hapj.ened at the time to be magistrate and collector of the Etawah district, Avas out riding, accompanied by a couple of soAvars or mounted-orderlies. They Avero passing over a j.ortion of road' that lay in the vicinity of the ravines of the riA'er Jumna. Avhen t\A'ohalf-groAA'iiAVolf cubs crossed their path, and folloAvinj.- them more slowly, came a vci-y remarkable looking creature, Avhich shambled along on all fours iv an extraordinary uncouth fashion. This turned out to be a ivolf-child. Letting flic other tAvo go unmolested, the three men j.roccedcd to hunt (loaa'ii the human cub, and succeeded in bringing it to bay. As they Avished to take the creature alive, and Avere altogether uuAvilliug to hurt it in any AA-ay, they found the greatest diiliculty in attemjiting to secure it, for it fought, bit and chiAved with extreme fierceness and pertinacity, indeed, when driA-en into a comer.

I.lr li". ancl one of the ..o-n-a.r« 3-ad to mount guard, AA'hile the other native proceeded to the nearest A'illage and got a stout blanket for the purpose of throwing it over its head : and it asms by this means that the capture a\-;is at length effected. All the way home the .volf-ehilf behaved like a made thing, screaming and hoAvling, iioav piteously, uoav in a j.aroxysm of impotent rage. It avus, hoAvever, taken to Air H.s ho use ; but it Avould not be comforted, aud for a long time refused all lands of food, including raw meat. The creature avus a boy about nine years of age ; ancl it may here be stated that no female Avolf-child has ever been heard or seen. It is not easy to assign a sufficient reasons for the fact that females haA'c ncA'.r been so discovered, unless avc suppose that, being less vigorously constituted, they haA'c been unable to Avithstand the terrible hardships of such an existence, and luia'c very soon sickened and died.