CHAPTER IX 



THE DUNG-BEETLES OF THE PAMPAS 



/ TPO travel 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; 

 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 exploration, to a patch 

 of pebbles enclosed within four walls. 



Heaven forfend that I should complain! 

 The gathering of ideas does not necessarily 

 imply distant expeditions. Jean-Jacques 

 Rousseau 1 herborized with the bunch of 

 chick-weed whereon he fed his Canary; 

 Bernardin de Saint-Pierre 2 discovered a 



1 Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), author of the 

 Confessions, La Nouvelle Heloi.se, etc. Translator's Note. 



2 Jacques Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1737- 



235 



