NE WFO UNDLAND. 77 



conscious power to give it literary expression. From the 

 letters before me I will give one or two examples. On 

 January 12, 1833, he describes to Sam Harrison an incident 

 of his late return voyage to Newfoundland : — 



" Our passage to this country was long and rough, 

 " and towards the latter part very cold and uncomfort- 

 able. An odd circumstance happened while I was on 

 " board ; one of the men coming up from the half-deck 

 " found sticking on to his trousers a living animal, which 

 " the mate brought down to me, that it might have the 

 " benefit of my scientific lore. The crew, not being much 

 " versed in zoology, could not tell what to make of it, he 

 "said, for ' it did not seem to be a jackass, nor a tomtit, 

 " ' nor, in short, any of that specie.' After sagely gazing 

 " at the creature awhile, I pronounced it to be a scorpion. 

 "It was about two inches long, of a light-brown colour ; 

 " when we would touch it, it would instantly turn the 

 " point of its sting towards the place, as if in defence, 

 " but did not attempt to run. However, we soon put an 

 " end to its career by popping it into a little drop of 

 " Jamaica, and the fellow is now in the possession of 

 "your humble servant, snugly lying at the bottom of a 

 "phial bottle. The wonder is where or how it could 

 " have come on board, for they are never found in Eng- 

 " land. I think it must have been in the ship ever since 

 " she took a cargo of bark in Italy last winter." . 

 To the same correspondent he says, on May 25 — and 

 in this passage I seem to detect for the first time the 

 complete accent of that peculiar felicity in description 

 which was eventually to make him famous : — 



" Of all the sights I have witnessed since I began the 

 " study of this delightful science, none has charmed me 

 " more than one I observed this morning. On opening 

 " my breeding-box, I saw a small fly with four wings 



