THB HEN FEVER. 823 



has proved somewhat tortuous as well as lengthy, we have 

 now passed the t^l7•n in it, and have urrived very nearly at 

 the end of the road. 



" Few of you, gentlemen, have met with so many thorns, 

 en route, as I have ; none of you, perhaps, have gathered 

 so many roses. I am content, and I trust that everybody 

 is as well satisfied with the results of this journey as / am. 

 The Shanghae trade is done, gentlemen ! We have this 

 day eaten up what, four years ago, would have been the 

 nucleus, at least, of a small fortune to any one of us who at 

 that time might have chanced to have possessed it. But the 

 fever is over ; the demand for giraffe cocks and chaise-top 

 hens is passed ; the ' poor remains of beauty once admired, 

 in my premium fowls,' now lie scattered about the dishes 

 that have just left this table ; and ' Brahma-pootra-ism ' is 

 now no longer rampant. 



" Perhaps, gentlemen, as you entertain opinions of your 

 own upon this delightfully pleasing subject of poultry-rais- 

 ing generally, and of the propagation of Shanghae fowls in 

 particular, you would care to hear nothing of my views 

 regarding this point. Yet, I pray you, indulge me for a 

 single moment — in all seriousness — and permit me to say 

 (without the slightest intention of being personal), that we 

 have proved ourselves a clan of short-sighted mortals, at the 

 best, during the last half-dozen years, in our crazy devotion 

 to what we have deemed an honorable and laudable ' profes- 



