Skulls. 7511 



For many skulls I am indebted to the prowess of our sportsmen. 

 My seals are from Todoiuosiri, my great eagle is from Manchuria, my 

 Moschus crania are from the Korea, and my albatross and giant 

 petrel from the broad bosom of the Atlantic. Others are of my own 

 procuring ; thus my turtles and my pigmy deer are from Sunda Strait, 

 my scaly anteater is from Whampoa, my Babirusa's skull is a present, 

 and a few are purchases from Canton old curiosity-shops. My largest 

 skull once belonged to an antlered monarch of Manchuria ; and this 

 is the story of its acquisition : — A party leap on shore at Sio-wu-hu 

 Bay, and, like young horses just let loose, disperse themselves, in 

 various directions, for a glorious run. Some scour the plain, rejoicing 

 in their liberty, and gather great bunches of roses and peonies ; some 

 wander thoughtfully along the strand, thinking possibly of home and 

 Polly ; one, gun in hand, dives among the oak-woods, intent on 

 game ; and one, sweeping-net aloft, wades gleefully among the flowers. 

 But now the sun declines, and all must go on board. A form ap- 

 proaches from across the plain, like amorous Falstaff at Heme's old 

 oak; huge antlers branching out above his head; a vasculum, cram- 

 full of plants, athwart his back ; and in each hand, blushing floral 

 trophies : it is Wilford of the " seven-league boots," who has found 

 the cervine relic in the woods. 



And now, to change the scene, I saunter along a winding path, 

 narrow and irregular, by the side of a rocky gully in Tsu-Sima. The 

 gurgling water rolls clear and sparkling over its stony bed, except 

 where a big boulder checks its gentle course, when a deep pool is 

 formed, where little trout-like fish calmly disport themselves. The 

 sides of the ravine, clothed with leafy beauty, rise up around ; and 

 trees of great variety, waving their green heads in the soft sea-breeze, 

 are springing from every rift in the slate-stone rocks. Onward I 

 stroll, now taking a snail from the bushes, and anon making prisoner 

 of a longicorn, till I emerge, from under the wild mulberry trees, 

 upon an upland slope, green and pleasant to the eye, and bordered 

 with dark woods and yellow raspberry-bushes. What is that white 

 gleaming object in the grass ? A cranium of some unknown deer of 

 Japan ? Nay, smile not, gentle reader ; 'tis a horse's skull ! 



I am now in Alga Bay, a deep inlet ending in a river, with wild, 

 uncultivated, rocky sides, covered with wood from the water's edge. 

 I work my way from near the entrance to where a party is hauling 

 the seine on the right bank, wading through long rank grass, 

 sweeping for insects among the flowers, and beating the young oaks; 

 all the while stumbling over mouldering trunks of trees, and loose. 



