380 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT, 



(the unconscious provision for his dinner), perched upon his 

 back. " He has just been sent to me from Smyrna," said Hum- 

 boldt ; " he is very listless and unconcerned in his manner." Just 

 then the chameleon opened one of his long, tubular eyes, and 

 looked up at us. " A peculiarity of this animal," he continued, 

 " is its power of looking in different directions at the same time. 

 He can turn one eye towards heaven, while with the other he 

 inspects the earth. There are many clergymen who have the 

 same power." 



6 After showing me some of Hildebrandt's water-colour draw- 

 ings, he returned to his seat, and began to converse about Ame- 

 rican affairs, with which he seemed to be entirely familiar. He 

 spoke with great admiration of Colonel Fremont, whose defeat 

 he profoundly regretted. " But it is at least a most cheering 

 sign," he said, " and an omen of good for your country, that 

 more than a million of men supported by their votes a man 

 of Fremont's character and achievements." With regard to 

 Buchanan, he said : " I had occasion to speak of his Ostend mani- 

 festo not long since, in a letter which has been published, and 

 I could not characterise its spirit by any milder term than 

 savage." He also spoke of our authors, and inquired particu- 

 larly after Washington Irving, whom he had once seen. I told 

 him I had the fortune to know Mr. Irving, and had seen him 

 not long before leaving New York. " He must be at least fifty 

 years old," said Humboldt. " He is seventy," I answered, " but 

 as young as ever." " Ah ! " said he, " I have lived so long that 

 I have almost lost the consciousness of time. I belong to the 

 age of Jefferson and Grallatin, and I heard of Washington's 

 death while travelling in South America." 



' I have repeated but the smallest portion of his conversation, 

 which flowed on in an uninterrupted stream of the richest 

 knowledge. On recalling it to my mind, after leaving, I was 

 surprised to find how great a number of subjects he had touched 

 upon, and how much he had said, or seemed to have said for 

 he had the rare faculty of placing a subject in the clearest and 

 most vivid light by a few luminous words concerning each. 

 He thought, as he talked, without effort. I should compare his 

 brain to the fountain of Vaucluse a still, deep, and tranquil 

 pool, without a ripple on its surface, but creating a river by its 



