HENRI FABRE 281 



him access to a new fauna and flora and greatly stimu- 

 lated his scientific interests. Sometimes he regretted 

 his inability to visit remote regions. "To travel over 

 the world, by land and sea, from pole to pole ; to cross- 

 question life, under every clime, in the infinite variety 

 of its manifestations, - - that surely would be glorious 

 luck for him that has eyes to see with ; and it formed 

 the radiant dream of my young years, at the time when 

 Robinson Crusoe was my delight. These rosy illusions, 

 rich in voyages, were soon succeeded by dull, stay-at- 

 home reality. The jungles of India, the virgin forests 

 of Brazil, the towering crests of the Andes, beloved by 

 the condor, were reduced, as a field for exploration, to a 

 patch of pebble-stones within four walls. 



"Heaven forfend that I should complain! The 

 gathering of ideas does not necessarily imply distant 

 expeditions. Jean-Jacques Rousseau herbalized with 

 the bunch of chickweed whereon he fed his canary ; 

 Bernardin de Saint-Pierre discovered a world on a 

 strawberry plant that grew by accident in a corner of 

 his window ; Xavier de Maistro, using an armchair by 

 way of post chaise, made one of the most famous jour- 

 neys around his room. 



"This manner of seeing country is within my means, Home sur- 

 always excepting the post chaise, which is too difficult 

 to drive through the brambles. I go the circuit of my 

 enclosure over and over again, a hundred times, by short 

 stages ; I stop here and I stop there ; patiently I put 

 questions ; and at long intervals I receive some scrap of 

 a reply. 



"The smallest insect village has become familiar to 

 me. I know each fruit branch where the Praying 

 Mantis perches ; each bush where the pale Italian 

 Cricket strums amid the calmness of the summer 



