THE HOME OF A NATURALIST. 291 



friends what he has seen. Another wanders far abroad 

 in quest of new wonders, and, if he faithfully narrates the 

 marvels he has witnessed, may calculate on being put 

 down by newspaper critics as a skilful archer with the 

 long-bow. Such a man was Le Vaillant, and such his 

 reception by the critical world. 



6 Giraffe ? Humbug ! ' was the general criticism. 



6 Contrary to the laws of nature,' said the scientific. 



' Would be liable to nine feet of sore throat,' wrote 

 the witty. 



And so the critics and the public enjoyed them- 

 selves amazingly at the traveller's expense, until the 

 Pacha of Egypt sent two living giraffes to Europe, and 

 turned the laugh in the other direction. 



Such a man was Bruce, and such his reception. 

 Peter Pindar showered most pungent epigrams upon 

 his devoted head, and assailed him with most unsavoury 

 comparisons. Perhaps there has been no statement of 

 any traveller that raised such a storm of ridicule as 

 Bruce's perfectly true account of eating beef cut from 

 the living ox : 



Nor have I been where men (what loss, alas !) 

 Kill half a cow and turn the rest to grass, 



writes the poet, who wisely kept out of the redoubtable 

 traveller's way, unwilling to share the fate of a contem- 

 porary caviller, who avowed that to devour raw beef 

 was impossible, and was compelled, at the point of the 

 sword, to eat his own words, together with a raw and 

 freshly cut steak. Solvitur edendo. 



TJ 2 



