462 NOT A IIUIN BUT A PYRAMID. 



which he had granted me had expired. Seifert at length 

 reappeared, and said to him, in a manner at once respect* 

 ful and famihar, ' It is time,' and I took my leave. 



" ' You have travelled much, and seen many ruins, 

 said Humboldt, as he gave me his hand again ; ' now 

 you have seen one more !' ' Not a ruin,' I could not 

 help replying, ' but a pyramid.' For I pressed the 

 hand which had touched those of Frederick the Great, 

 of Forster, the companion of Captain Cook, of Klop- 

 stock and Schiller, of Pitt, Napoleon, Josephine, the 

 Marshals of the empire, Jefferson, Hamilton, Wieland, 

 Herder, Goethe, Cuvier, Laplace, Gay Lussac, Bee- 

 thoven, Walter Scott, in short of every great man whom 

 Europe has produced for three-quarters of a century. I 

 looked into the eyes which had not only seen this living 

 history of the world pass by, scene after scene, till the 

 actors retired one by one, to return no more, but had 

 beheld the cataract of Atures and the forests of the 

 Cassiquiare, Chimborazo, the Amazon, and Popoca- 

 tepetl, the Altaian Alps of Siberia, the Tartar steppes, 

 and the Caspian sea. Such a splendid circle of experi- 

 ence well befits a life of such generous devotion to sci- 

 ence ; I have never seen so sublime an example of old 

 age, crowned with imperishable success, full of the 

 ripest wisdom, cheered and sweetened by the noblest 

 attributes of the heart. A ruin, indeed ! A human 

 temple, perfect as the Parthenon. 



" As I was passing out through the cabinet of Natural 

 History, Seifert's voice arrested me ; ' I beg your par- 

 don. Sir,' said he; 'but do you know what this is?' 

 pointing to the antlers of a Rocky Mountain elk. ' Of 

 course I do,' said I ; ' I have helped to eat many of 



