io6 The Naturalist of Cumdrae. 



the corresponding place in the chart, he ventured to 

 ask whether the gentleman was not good at calculation. 

 The man's wife upon this rose and clapped her hands, 

 saying, " I knew you could do it" They then told 

 him that this person was the most rapid calculator in 

 the town. Nothing would do then but that Robertson 

 must begin to read their bumps. Some men might 

 have been led away by a first success, and puffed up 

 by the applause which followed it, to make some 

 further audacious attempts, thereby either losing the 

 credit they had won or perhaps imposing on the 

 ignorance of the company. Mr. Robertson, how- 

 ever, refused to comply with their wishes, and for the 

 straightforward reason that honestly he was not able 

 to do so. How then, they queried, could he so accu- 

 rately point out Mr. L. Fort's characteristic? That was 

 easily explained. He replied that any one who had 

 given the phrenological chart only such a measure of 

 attention as he had himself done, would most likely 

 be able now and then to make a happy guess, or even 

 to extract money by the exhibition of his supposed 

 skill. The company were intelligent enough to 

 understand this explanation. From the subject of 

 phrenology conversation drifted into a friendly dis- 

 cussion of other matters, and he was no longer pressed 

 to read their bumps. 



The next evening the boat sailed for Hamburg. 

 The night was stormy, and the traveller suffered. 

 When they arrived at the mouth of the Elbe, the 

 passengers found that the river was frozen, that the 

 vessel consequently could not proceed further, and 

 that they would have to take land conveyance to 



