46 



HOW THE AUTHOR WAS LED TO 



them, we could not make up our minds to eat them. We planted, 

 and here we met with quite a distinct kind of inconvenience — our 

 plantations were nearly always devoured beforehand. 



This earth, fertile in vegetables, was equally or more prolific of 

 destructive animals ; enormous capacious snails, devouring insects. 

 In the morning we collected a great tubful of snails. The next 

 day you would never have thought so. There still seemed to be 

 the full complement. 



Our hens did their best. But how much more effective would 

 have been the skilful and prudent stork, the admirable scavenger of 

 Holland and all marshy districts, which some Western lands ought at 

 all costs to adopt. Everybody knows the affectionate respect in which 

 this excellent bird is held by the Dutch. In their markets you may 

 see him standing peacefully on one foot, dreaming in the midst of 

 the crowd, and feeling as safe as iH the heart of the deepest deserts. 

 It is a fantastic but well-assured fact, that the Dutch peasant who 

 has had the misfortune to wound his stork and to break his leg, pro- 

 vides him with one of wood. 



To return: our residence near Nantes would have possessed an 

 infinite charm for a less absorbed mind. This beautiful spot, this great 

 liberty of work, this solitude, so sweet in such society, formed a rare 

 harmony, such as one but seldom meets with in life. Its sweetness 

 contrasted strongly with the thoughts of the present, with the gloomy 



