1 50 THE MONKE Y FA MIL Y. 



and mentally enterprising English gentleman in Rome.* He was, 

 at that time fully bent on fitting out an expedition, from his own 

 native land, to the interior of Africa, in order to Christianize the 

 barbarians of those far distant parts, and to make good English 

 farmers of them. Many an hour's conversation I had with him on 

 his darling plan of cultivating Africa. But he could not gain me 

 over. I placed before his eyes the diseases of the climate, the 

 pestilential swamps, the torrents of tropical rain, the heat of the fiery 

 sun, and the hostility of surrounding tribes, savage as the savagest 

 wild beasts of the forest. To all this, he answered that he would 

 try : and afterwards he did try on his return to England. Having 

 organised an expedition at fearful cost to the country, it proceeded 

 to Africa : he himself staying at home. Woeful was its final issue. 

 But to the point. One day, whilst our conversation turned upon the 

 natural history of the country, he asked me, if I believed that pelicans 

 feed their young ones with the blood from their own breasts ? I 

 answered, that it was a nursery story. Then, sir, said he, let me tell 

 you that I do believe it. A person of excellent character, and who 

 had travelled far in Africa, had assured him that it was a well-known 

 fact. Nay, he himself, with his own eyes, had seen young pelicans 

 feeding on their mother's blood. And how did she staunch the 

 blood, said I, when the young had finished sucking? or by what 

 means did the mother get a fresh supply for future meals? The 

 gentleman looked grave. The whole mystery, sir, said I (and which, 

 in fact, is no mystery at all), is simply this : The old pelicans go to 

 sea for fish, and having filled their large pouch with what they have 

 caught, they return to the nest. Then standing bolt-upright, the 

 young ones press up to them, and get their breakfast from the 

 mother's mouth the blood of the captured fishes running down 

 upon the parent's breast : and this is all the keen observer saw. 

 *Tis indeed a wonder a strange wonder how such a tale as this 

 could ever be believed. Still, we see representations of it in pictures, 

 drawn by men of science. But enough of infant pelicans sucking 

 their mamma in the nursery. I consign them to the fostering care 

 of my great grandmother. 



In the meantime, I will proceed with careful eye to inspect the 

 * Sir Fowell Buxton. [ED.] 



