ADVK.\rn:t: \\rrn i < i / iMANDSfl 171 



regarding toads. The Salamander there suffers an equally -\i! leputation with thu toad, M 

 ma\ !> -ii i-\ tin- folio wing graphic and -|.mid letter: 



" K. mining homeward a few evenings ago from a r.Mintiy walk in flu- em irons of 

 I discovered in m\ |:.iha strange-looking reptile, which, after n-uanlinc me -i'-:nlf:i-il\ fora 

 few moments, walked slowly to the Hide of the road, and commenced MT\ d>-lil>erate|y clamber- 

 ini: up in-- wall. Ne\er h:i\ ing seen a similar aninuil, I waa rather donlitiul :i- i n- pi..|--i 

 ties ; |. in. reassured by Ito tranquil demeauor, I pm my |>-kct-handkerrliief over it. and it 

 suffered itself to U- taken up without resistance, and was thus carried to my domicile, t in 

 arriving eke* moi, I opem-d the basket to show my captive to the servant* < French', when, to 

 my SMI pi i-- and consternation, they -t up such a screaming and hullabaloo, that I thought 

 they would ha\e gone into fita. 



oh ! fa, la, la, la, la ! Oh! la, fa, fa, la, la / ' and then a succession of screams, in 

 altissimo. which woke up tin- children, and brought out the neighbors to see what could be tho 



matter. 



44 ' Oh, monsieur a rapporte un gourd! 1 



" ' Un gourd/' cried one. 



" ' UN SOURD I ' echoed another. 



" UN 8-O-U-R-D ! I ! ' cried they all In chorus ; and then followed a succession of 

 shrieks. 



" When they ralmed down into a mild sample of hysterics, they began to explain that 

 I had brought home the most venomous animal in creation. 

 Oh! letilain bft,-." cried Phylli-. 



" 4 Oh ! le inri-hiint .' ' chimed in Abigail ; ' he kills everybody that comes near him ; I have 

 known fifty people die of his bite, and no remedy in the world can save them. As soon as 

 they are bitten they gonfleiit, gonflent, and keep on swelling till they burst, and are dead in a 

 quarter of an hour.' 



" Here I transferred my curiosity from the basket to a glass jar, and put a saucer on the 

 top to keep it safe. 



" ' Oh ! Monsieur, don't leave him so ; if he put himself in a rage, nothing can hold him. 

 He has got such force, that he can jump up to the ceiling ; and wherever he fastens himself he 



Mirks like death.' 



"Ah! it's all true.' cried my landlady, joining the circle of pq>ers. 'Oh! fa, fa/ Qa me 

 fai/ wmefait tr-r-r-r-cmbl- 



44 'Once I saw a man in a hay-cart try to kill one. and the .*"// juiii|>ed right off the ground 

 at a bound and fasten it-.-lf on the man's face, when he stood on the hay-cart, and nothing 

 could detach it till the man fell dead.' 



.I//.' c"est oien rnii.' cried Aliiiniil ; ' they ought to have fetched a mirror and held it up 

 to the Mi: and then it would have left the man and jump*! at it.s ///////.' 



"Th- end of all this commotion was that, while I went to impure of a scientific friend 

 wh-ther there was any truth i:i these tissue of Mines, the whole household was in an uproar, 

 tout en emoi, and they sent for a commit* iun nnir>' and an ostler with a spade and mattock, 

 and threw out my poor belt into the road, and foully murdered it. chopping it into a dozen 

 pi.-ces by the light of a stable lantern; and then they declared that they >uUl sleep in 

 peace ! les miserable* ! 



Hut there were sundry misgivings as to my fate, and as with the Aportle, 'they lool 

 when I hniild have swollen or fallen down dead suddenly: ami next m-. ruing the maids 

 came stealthily ami ]>>e|>-d into my room to see whether I was alive or dead, and were 

 nut a little surprised that I was not even gonflc, or any the worse for my rencontre 

 with a sourd. 



"And so it turned out that my ]>r little ('' that had caused such a disturbance was 

 nothing more nor less than a Salamander a poor, inoffensive, harmless reptile, declared on 

 conijH't.-nt antlmriry to be no ways venomous ; imt whose unfortunate appearance and some- 

 what Santanic livery have exposed it to obloquy and persecution." 



