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THE ECCENTRIC NATURALIST. 



" What au odd looking fellow !" said I to myself, as while walking 

 by the river, I observed a man landing from a boat, with what I thought 

 a bundle of dried clover on his back; " how the boatmen stare at him ! 

 sure he must be an original !" He ascended with a rapid step, and ap- 

 proaching me asked if I could point out the house in which Mr Audu- 

 bon resided. " Why, I am the man," said I, " and will gladly lead you 

 to my dwelling." 



The traveller rubbed his hands together with delight, and drawing 

 a letter from his pocket, handed it to me without any remark. I broke 

 the seal and read as follows : " My dear Audubon, I send you an odd 

 fish, which you may prove to be undescribed, and hope you will do so 

 in your next letter. Believe me always your friend B." With all the 

 simplicity of a woodsman I asked the bearer where the odd fish was, 

 when M. de T. (for, kind reader, the individual in my presence was 

 none else than that renowned naturalist) smiled, rubbed his hands, and 

 with the greatest good humour said, " I am that odd fish I presume, Mr 

 Audubon." I felt confounded and blushed, but contrived to stammer 

 an apology. 



We soon reached the house, when I presented my learned guest to my 

 family, and was ordering a servant to go to the boat for M. de T.'s lug- 

 gage, when he told me he had none but what he brought on his back. 

 He then loosened the pack of weeds which had first drawn my attention. 

 The ladies were a little surprised, but I checked their critical glances for 

 the moment. The naturalist pulled off his shoes, and while engaged in 

 drawing his stockings, not up, but down, in order to cover the holes 

 about the heels, told us in the gayest mood imaginable that he had walked 

 a great distance, and had only taken a passage on board the arlc, to be 

 put on tliis shore, and that he was sorry his apparel had suffered so much 

 from his late jovu'ney. Clean clothes were offered, but he would not ac- 

 cept them, and it was with evident reluctance that he performed the la- 

 vations usual on such occasions before he sat down to dinner. 



At table, however, his agreeable conversation made us all forget his 

 singular appearance ; and, indeed, it was only as we strolled together 

 in the garden that his attire struck me as exceedingly remarkable. A 



