WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 333 



of a walnut, and then dipped them in the liquid gum- 

 elastic. It immediately received a coat about as thick as 

 a sixpence. He then rolled some more leaves round it, 

 and gave it another coat. He seems to have continued 

 this process till he made the ball considerably larger than 

 the one I had procured ; and in order to put his roguery 

 out of all chance of detection, he made the last and outer 

 coat thicker than a dollar. This Indian would, no doubt, 

 have thriven well in some of our great towns. 



Finding that the rainy season was coming on, I left the 

 wilds of Demerara and Essequibo with regret, towards the 

 close of December, 1824; and reached once more the 

 shores of England, after a long and unpleasant passage. 



Ere we part, kind reader, I could wish to draw a little 

 of thy attention to the instructions which are to be found 

 at the end of this book. Twenty years have now rolled 

 away since I first began to examine the specimens of 

 zoology in our museums. As the system of preparation 

 is founded in error, nothing but deformity, distortion, and 

 disproportion, will be the result of the best intentions and 

 utmost exertions of the workman. Canova's education, 

 taste, and genius enabled him to present to the world 

 statues so correct and beautiful that they are worthy of 

 universal admiration. Had a common stonecutter tried 

 his hand upon the block out of which these statues were 

 sculptured, what a lamentable want of symmetry and 

 fine countenance there would have been. Now, when we 

 reflect that the preserved specimens in our museums and 

 private collections are always done upon a wrong prin- 

 ciple, and generally by low and illiterate people, whose 

 daily bread depends upon the shortness of time in which 

 they can get through their work, and whose opposition to 

 the true way of preparing specimens can only be surpassed 

 by their obstinacy in adhering to the old method ; can we 



