Other Times, other Manners. 253 



subje6l. I traced the Indian to about two miles off 

 and there I found him in great perplexity. On look- 

 ing at what I had brought on my shoulders, he be- 

 came terrified and said I had killed a man of the bad 

 and cruel nation — that I should soon fall sick and die, 

 and that the murdered ghost would haunt him and his 

 family, and punish them terribly in revenge for his having 

 shown me the way to their territory. 



" Without putting much faith in the prophecy, I 

 dissefted and stufifed the head and shoulders of the 

 animal. Here then we have a specimen of the real wild 

 man of the woods — approaching to our own form infinitely 

 nearer than the famed ourang-outang of Borneo. The 

 more it is inspe6led the more it will puzzle Naturalists ; 

 and to determine upon and settle its classification will 

 require much more knowledge than I am master of. 

 After all, it will probably baffle the united talents and 

 information of the first Naturalists of the day. 



^g^ In the course of the day several hundreds of our 

 community have been gratified with a si^kt of the wild 

 man — and several, recollecting the imposture of the 

 Mermaid, have examined it with a nicety proportionate 

 to theif suspicions — which have by such examinations 

 been entirely dissipated. 



This was followed by two letters in the Gazette of the 

 30th, both poking fun at the Chronicle and its " wild 

 man," one of which ran as follows : — 



"Sir, — Being an enthusiast in curiosity-hunting, you 

 must naturally imagine that I not only read with avidity 

 and delight the editorial columns of Friday and Monday's 

 3''«wi^z'-paper, but that I also dreamt on the subjedleach 

 following night. Thinking, indeed, just prior to going 



