A CURIOUS STORY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 224, 21 September 1880, Page 4

A CURIOUS STORY.

["fJai'y Telegraph."] /■ Id his eminently interesting w6rk entitled M Jungle Life in India,"; Mr Ball has adduced good reasons for be* lieving that tbe old classical story! of tbe rearing of Bomulua and Remualby tbe she-wolf may be founded on fact. This author cites the case of two lads in an orplsaqage at ; Sekandra, near Agra, who had been discovered among wolves, and in many, ways shared - the h&bits of these animals. One of iis stories is supported by a letter from Professor Max : Muller. It says !— -|"| A troopersent by the native Government to demand payment of some revenbe, wa3 pessing along the banks of the river about noon when he saw a large female wolf leave her den, fojl'owedjby three whelps and a little boy. The boy went on all-fours, and when |he tried to catch him he ran as fast as tjhe whelps, and kept up with the old ope. They all entered tbe den, and were dug out by the people with pick-axes, apd the boy was secured. Ho struggled hard to rush into every hole or den they came hear. He became' alarmed when he saw a grown-up person, but tried to fly at children and bite them. He rejected cooked meat with disgust, but delighted in raw flesh and bones,

putting them under his- paws like a dog. They tried to make him sp;eok, bufc could get nothing from him bu'fc an an angry growl. on ' eiDarl.V Another instance is quoted as having occurred at Chupra. A Hindoo father and mother, and mother went out to cut their crop" in March, 1843. The woman had with her a little boy, who lately had been severely burned on the left knee" While tb.9 parents were at work the child was carried off by a wolf. Some; years afterwards a wolf with three cubs was seen about ten miles from Chupra, followed by a boy. The boy, oftet much resistance waa caught, and recognised by the mark of the burn op the left knee. He could eat nothing but raw flesh, and could never be brought to speak. He used to mutter and enarl, but never articulated distinctly. The piDB of his knees, aotf the points (i his elbows had become' horr.y from going on all-fours with the wolves. In November, 1850, this boyescaped again, and disappeared into tbe jungle. Thus the " she-wolf's litter" of Macouloy's "Lays of Ancient; Roma " may have been, after all, no myth.