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of him in the direction he had taken. It was not long before 

 he perceived the great naturalist, at some distance, quietly 

 occupied in examining a plant. He hailed him, with signs to 

 return quickly. " We are going to have a brush with the 

 Indians," said he, '^is your gun in good order ?" Alas ! the 

 gun had been freely used to uproot plants, and was filled with 

 gravel to the muzzle. Had Nuttall used it in this condition, 

 it would inevitably have burst in his hands and killed or 

 wounded him severely. 



In crossing over the Rocky Mountains the caravan sepa- 

 rated in two parties, each following a different route and 

 having rendezvous at Fort Hall. One of the parties had the 

 good fortune to meet with plenty of buffalo cows, upon which 

 they freely feasted and became fat. The other, on the con- 

 trary, to which Nuttall belonged, suffered much from fatigue, 

 and scarcely found anything to eat except a few lean grizzly 

 bears. On arriving at Fort Hall, Nuttall had lost so much 

 flesh that his old companions could scarcely recognize him ; 

 and upon one of them expressing his surprise at the great 

 change in his appearance, he heaved a sigh of inanition, and 

 retorted : "Yes, indeed, you would have been just as thin as 

 myself, if, like me, you had lived for two weeks upon old 

 Ephraim (grizzly bear), and on short allowance of that too!" 



Mr. Dana, in his book "Two Years Before the Mast," re- 

 lates an amusing anecdote of Nuttall, who was a passenger on 

 board the same vessel. While opposite Cape Horn, and close 

 to the land, his passion for flowers revived at once, and he 

 entreated the captain to be put ashore, that he might make 

 acquaintance with the vegetation of this dreary spot. The 

 wind was then blowing furiously, and the vessel surrounded 

 with icebergs and in danger of being wrecked. Still, Nuttall, 

 undaunted by any circumstance, insisted upon being landed, 

 even for a few hours. His request, of course, was sternly 

 refused by the captain, to the great disappointment and dis- 

 pleasure of our naturalist, who could not conceive such an 

 indifference for the cause of science in a seafaring man. 



Nuttall was excessively economical in his habits and care- 

 less about his dress ; none of his Philadelphia friends, I be- 



