WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 331 



that this specimen will retain its pristine form 

 and colours for years after the hand that stuffed 

 it has mouldered into dust. 



I have shown this art to the naturalists in 

 Brazil, Cayenne, Demerara, Oroonoque, and 

 Rome, and to the royal cabinets of Turin and 

 Florence. A severe accident prevented me from 

 communicating it to the cabinet of Paris, accord- 

 ing to my promise. A word or two more, and 

 then we will conclude. 



A little time and experience will enable you to 

 produce a finished specimen. "Mox similis 

 volucri, mox vera volucris." If your early 

 performance should not correspond with your 

 expectations, do not let that cast you down. You 

 cannot become an adept all at once. The poor 

 hawk itself, which you have just been dissecting, 

 waited to be fledged before it durst rise on ex- 

 panded pinion ; and had parental aid and frequent 

 practice ere it could soar with safety and ease 

 beyond the sight of man. 



Little more remains to be added, except that 

 what has been penned down with regard to birds 

 may be applied, in some measure, to serpents, 

 insects, and four-footed animals. 



Should you find these instructions too tedious, 

 let the wish to give you every information plead 

 in their defence. They might have been shorter : 

 but Horace says, by labouring to be brief you 

 become obscure. 



If, by their means, you should be enabled to 

 procure specimens from foreign parts in better 

 preservation than usual, so that the naturalist 

 may have it in his power to give a more perfect 



