Early Naturalists 



29 



between the two. "His attire," writes Audubon, "struck me 

 as exceedingly remarkable. A long loose coat of yellow nan- 

 keen, much the worse for the many 'rubs it had got in its 

 time, and stained all over with the juice of plants, hung 

 loosely about him like a sack. A waistcoat of the same, with 

 enormous pockets, and buttoned up to the chin, reached below 

 over a pair of tight pantaloons, the lower parts of which were 

 buttoned down to the ankles. His 

 beard was as long as I have known 

 my own to be during some of my 

 peregrinations, and his lank black 

 hair hung loosely over his shoul- 

 ders. His forehead was so broad 

 and prominent that any tyro in 

 phrenology would instantly have 

 pronounced it the residence of a 

 mind of strong powers. His words 

 impressed an assurance of rigid 

 truth, and as he directed the con- 

 versation to the study of the natu- 

 ral sciences, I listened to him with 

 great delight. He requested to see 

 my drawings, anxious to see the 

 plants I had introduced besides the 

 birds I had drawn. Finding a From Popular Science Monthly. 



strange plant among my drawings, 



he denied its authenticity; but on 



my assuring him that it grew in the neighborhood, he insisted 



on going off instantly to see it. 



"When I pointed it out the naturalist lost all command 

 over his feelings, and behaved like a maniac in expressing his 

 delight. He plucked the plants one after another, danced, 

 hugged me in his arms, and exultingly told me he had got, not 

 merely a new species, but a new genus, 



' * He immediately took notes of all the needful particulars 

 of the plant in a note-book, which he carried wrapt in a water- 

 proof covering. After a day's pursuit of natural history 

 studies, the stranger was accommodated with a bed in an attic 

 room. We had all retired to rest; every person I imagined 

 was in deep slumber save myself, when of a sudden I heard a 

 great uproar in the naturalist's room. I got up, reached the 

 place in a few moments, and opened the door; when, to my 

 astonishment, I saw my guest running naked, holding the 

 handle of my favorite violin, the body of which he had bat- 

 tered to pieces against the walls in attempting to kill the bats 

 which had entered by the open window, probably attracted by 

 the insects flying around his candle. I stood amazed, but he 



EAPINESQUE 



Copy furnished by Conrad 

 Lantern Slide Company, 

 CMcago. 



