20G AX ENTHUSIASTIC NATURALIST. 



bouring colonies at that time. Although almost 

 blind, he took it into his head to travel on foot 

 from Braunfels to Fredericksburg for the purpose 

 of collecting scientific curiosities along the way. 

 He started one fine morning, his only baggage 

 being a double pair of spectacles stuck on his nose, 

 a tin box slung from his shoulders, and some pro- 

 visions. The first day of his journey his box was 

 filled with rare plants, and his pockets crammed 

 with mineralogical specimens, while his hat was 

 covered with insects, fastened to it with pins. As 

 he had killed a great many serpents of large size, 

 he knotted them together, and coiled them round 

 his body. The next day, again, he killed a rattle- 

 snake, seven or eight feet in length, which he also 

 wound round his body, and which served him as a 

 belt. On he went in this most grotesque attire, 

 never for a moment thinking of the picturesque 

 and startling effect he must produce on the minds 

 of those who should meet him. Never relaxing in 

 his search for some new object to add to his varie- 

 gated accoutrements, and keeping his eyes con- 

 tinually on the ground, he was near marching into 

 the midst of a body of Comanches, who were deer- 

 hunting at the time. This walking collection of 

 plants, insects, and reptiles, which advanced majes- 

 tically towards them, so terrified them that they 

 fled panic-stricken as from a supernatural appa- 



