Note 13 — Chapter I · PREAMBLE: ON THE ORIGIN OF WEAPONS.

‘Brave Master Shoe-tye, the great traveller’ (Measure for Measure, iv. 3). The tale of porcupines ‘shooting their quills at the dogs, which get many a serious wound thereby,’ is in M. Polo (i. 28). Colonel Yule quotes Pliny, Ælian, and the Chinese. The animal drops its loose quills when running, and when at bay attempts, hedgehog-like, to hide and shield its head. It is, as the Gypsies know, excellent eating, equal to the most delicate pork; only somewhat dry without the aid of lard.