CONTENTS. 



of Whale-fishing— An Involuntary Dive — Horrid 

 Voracity of Sharks— The Crocodile— Fatal Ad- 

 venture with an Alligator— Potency of Poison- 

 ous Serpents — Detail of Symptoms of poisoning 

 —Case of Mr. Buckland— Death of Curling- 

 Coolness of an Indian Officer— Ugliness of Vipers 

 — Shocking Adventure in Guiana — Another in 

 Venezuela— Fatal Encounter with Bees in In- 

 dia, 228 



XL THE UNKNOWN. 



Charm of the Unknown— Expectation of an ex- 

 ploring Naturalist — His daily Experiences — Ex- 

 perience of Mr. Bates — Animals in Brazil — A 

 Natural-history Day on the Amazon— Anticipa- 

 tions of Mr. Wallace— The Far East — What may 

 be expected in Zoology — In South America, — A 

 great Ape— In the Oriental Archipelago— In Pa- 

 pua— In China— In Japan— In the Farther Pen- 

 insula — In Madagascar — In Africa — Hope points 

 to Central Africa — The Unicorn — Native Reports 

 and Descriptions of it — Dr. A. Smith's Opinion- 

 Drawings by Savages— Our Ignorance of the 

 Depth of Ocean— The Aquarium— Fancy Sketch 

 by Schleiden— Clearness of Arctic Seas, . 256 



XII. THE GREAT UNKNOWN. 



Wonders of Foreign Parts — Scepticism— Moot 

 Points in Zoology — Necessity of Caution — Lia- 

 bility to Error— Question of the Existence of a 

 1 ' Sea-serpent ' ' — Norwegian Testimony — New 

 England Testimony — Mr. Perkins's Report — 

 Mr. Ince's Narrative— Captain M'Quhae's Re- 

 port—Lieut. Drummond's— Object seen by Cap- 

 tain Beechey — Mr. Stirling's Suggestion and 

 Personal Testimony— Suggestion of the Plesio- 

 ix 



