CHAPTER VIII 



A DUNG-BEETLE OF THE PAMPAS 



To travel over the world, by land and sea, from pole to 

 pole ; to cross-question life, under every clime, in the 

 infinite variety of its manifestations : that surely would be 

 glorious luck for him that has eyes to see with ; and it 

 formed the radiant dream of my young years, at the 

 time when Robinson Crusoe was my delight. These 

 rosy illusions, rich in voyages, were soon succeeded by 

 dull, stay-at-home reality. The jungles of India, the 

 virgin forests of Brazil, the towering crests of the Andes, 

 beloved by the condor, were reduced, as a field for ex- 

 ploration, to a patch of pebble-stones enclosed within 

 four walls. 



Heaven forfend that I should complain ! The gathering 

 of ideas does not necessarily imply distant expeditions. 

 Jean-Jacques Rousseau herborized with the bunch of 

 chickweed whereon he fed his canary ; Bernardin de Saint- 

 Pierre discovered a world on a strawberry-plant that 

 grew by accident in a corner of his window ; Xavier de 

 Maistre, using an arm-chair by way of post-chaise, made 

 one of the most famous of journeys around his room.^ 



This manner of seeing country is within my means, 

 always excepting the post-chaise, which is too difficult 

 to drive through the brambles. I go the circuit of my 



1 Voijage autour de ma chambre (179o\ — Translator's Note. 



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