VISIT TO BARON OUVIEB. 139 



and with a degree of firmness sent up our names. The messenger 

 returned, bowed, and led us up-stairs, where, in a minute, 

 Monsieur le Baron, like an excellent good man, came to us. 

 He had heard much of my friend Swainson, and greeted him as 

 he deserves, and was polite and kind to me, although he had 

 never heard of me before. I looked at him, and here follows 

 the result. Age, about sixty-five ; size, corpulent, five feet and 

 five, English measure ; head large, face wrinkled and brownish ; 

 eyes, very brilliant and sparkling; nose, aquiline, large, and 

 red ; mouth, large, with good lips ; teeth, few, and blunted by 

 age, excepting one on the lower jaw, which was massive, 

 measuring nearly three-quarters of an inch square. This was 

 Baron Cuvier ; I have described him almost as if a new species 

 of a man, from the mere skin. But as he has invited us to 

 dine with him next Saturday at six o'clock, and I expect to 

 have an opportunity of seeing more of him, I will then describe 

 his habits as far as I am able. 



" Septemher 5. After a breakfast of grapes, figs, sardines, and 

 French coffee, friend Swainson and I proceeded to the Jardin 

 des Plantes, by the side of the river Seine, which here, Lucy, is 

 not so large as the Bayou Sara, where I have often watched the 

 alligators while bathing. Walking in Paris is disagreeable in the 

 extreme. The streets are actually paved, but with scarcely a side 

 walk, and a large gutter filled with dirty black water runs 

 through the centre of each, and the people go about without 

 any kind of order, either along the centre, or near the houses ; 

 carriages, carts, and so forth do the same, and I have wondered 

 that so few accidents take place. We saw a very ugly iron 

 bridge at the entrance called Pont Neof, where stands the 

 splendid statue of Henry IV. We were more attracted, however, 

 by the sight of the immense number of birds offered for sale 

 along the quays, and saw some rare specimens. A woman took 

 us into her house, and showed us some hundreds from Bengal 

 and Senegal, which quite surprised us. 



" Weary with walking, we took a cabriolet, that brought us for 

 twenty-five sous to the Jardin, and we went to our appointment 

 with Baron Cuvier. We saw him, and he gave us a ticket to 

 admit us to the Musee, and promised us all we wished. In the 

 Musde, M. Valencienne was equally kind. Having in my 



