354 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



were fished out, with like result ; until five 

 had been slaughtered. The sixth was not to 

 be taken so easily. From this we concluded 

 that he must have something in him, so into 

 the water I jumped ; becoming for once a 

 pearl diver. No pearl did he contain how- 

 ever, and many of his brethren were as poor ; 

 so that we were not unwilling to give up 

 in despair. 



The knife was in the twentieth, my spoon 

 was in the water, and Sir Richard's pipe 

 was in his mouth. Sir Richard gave vent to 

 a cloud ; I pitched a living mussel on shore ; 

 and the other party eagerly exclaimed, 

 " Here's one !" " Impossible !" said I, 

 scarcely believing in the existence of pearls 

 in fresh water, so bad had been our fortune 

 hitherto. "It is though!" cried he; 

 " Hurrah, three cheers !" 



I was too far off to see what he held be- 

 tween his finger and thumb ; but the bare 

 idea of having fished a pearl out of the 

 river, under the nose of the people of Kes- 

 wick, was too much for my gravity. I 

 waved the spoon round my head, and huzzaed 

 aloud ; while old Sir Richard, ignorant of 

 the cause, but stimulated by sympathetic 

 joy, gave vent to triumphant yells. The 

 pearl was cylindrical in shape, but rounded 

 at the ends, and had much the appearance of 

 a Stanhope lens. It was, however, perfectly 

 opaque, and of a greenish metallic hue, which 

 on being polished, gave place to the lustrous 

 whiteness for which the pearl is famed, and 

 which no other substance possesses in the 

 same degree. Another pearl was found, but 

 was so small as to be of no comparative 

 value. It was, indeed lost in the bottle, 

 which we carried for the smaller fresh-water 

 shells which might cast up during the day — 

 the most beautiful of which, was a limpet 

 about half an inch long. 



The origin of the pearl in the mussel is very 

 imperfectly accounted for. Moore beautifully 

 expresses the Eastern idea when he sings of 



" That rain from the sky . 

 That turns into pearl as it falls in the sea." 



A less poetical explanation is given by 

 Patterson. He says, "the shell is pierced 

 by some worm, and the oyster deposits the 

 naike, or the mother-of-pearl, in the per- 

 forated part ; or grains of sand or gravel 

 gain admission into the substance of the 

 mantle, and become encrusted by a similar 

 deposit." 



Lest the subject should not be again re- 

 curred to, I may state that molluscous 

 animals, commonly known as shell-fish, are 

 very rare in the lake district, unless we go 

 to Kendal, where the mountain limestone 

 comes in. The only one of any note, which 

 I have found, is the variety of Lymneus 

 pereger, with the reduced spire, known as 

 Gulnaria lacustris of some authors. D. 



AUTO- BIOGRAPHY OP A DOG.— No. V. 



WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 



It was on the evening of a red-hot day in 

 August, whilst Bonibyx Atlas was enjoying his 

 cigar and icy-cold wine and water — and myself 

 and my brother were reclining under the shade 

 of a " Catalpa" tree, that the well-known figure 

 of the lanky music master was seen slowly ad- 

 vancing up the avenue of acacia trees which led 

 to our house. His coat was hung on a hook-stick 

 over his shoulder. " This is a burning day ! " 

 cried he, as he spied Bombyx, 



"Burning- indeed; I am almost roasted alive. 

 What news in the ' Capitale Modele? ' " 



" Gar nichts ; but I thought 1 should just come 

 up to see what you are going to do to-morrow. 

 My pupils are going by the boat to Geneva; so if 

 you are disposed for a hunt, I am at your service." 



I wagged my tail, and my brother gave a bark 

 of approval. " Well, I know no reason why we 

 should not go." So then Bombyx calls one of 

 his sons, and tells them to see that all is ready 

 for a long day to-morrow. He also sends a 

 message to " Frere Jean," to let him know he was 

 to be up here before five o'clock next morning. 

 " Oh I'll be after him," cries the cracked German; 

 and he is near the gate, when he discovers he has 

 left his hat behind. Back he runs, and catches 

 the tail of his coat in an acacia bush, and the 

 unfortunate flap is ripped clean off. " Oh, das 

 macht nichts," sings he, " it is a very old one." 

 Then he shakes his head rather angrily at it, gets 

 his hat, and scampers off. 



In an hour and a half he returns, bringing 

 word that our body guard f Frere Jean) would 

 be up at half-past four. In the meantime, the 

 nets are mended; boxes, &c, &c, all set in order 

 for the next morning. A bed is got ready for 

 the music master; and after supper, all retire 

 early. The next morning, before the sun had 

 illumined the summits of the " Tours d' Ai," or 

 his beams glistened on the dark " Muveran," 

 Bombyx, the music master, and Frere Jean,were 

 discussing the plan for the day's fun, at the same 

 time sipping a cup of hot coffee, which the latter 

 had prepared " en attendant Madame la cuisin- 

 iere." 



A little after six we started from the house 

 we then occupied, to the east of Lausanne, on 

 the road to " Ohailly." We struck across to the 

 " Chateau de Bethusy," a little beyond which is 

 a ridge of overhanging rock ; and there we espied 

 " Herbida," and a beauty too ! I saw him the 

 other day ; and he is still as fresh as the hour he 

 was first caught. This proves that with care "the 

 freshness of the green can be retained a long time. 

 I never liked passing by " Bethusy " alone, Mr. 

 Editor ; for there was a nasty large brown dog, 

 with a large iron-spiked collar, as savage as a 

 M'olf ; also a farmer as savage as the dog. But 

 so long as my brother was with me, I did not 

 feel uneasy. Well, on we went till we got into 

 the "Berne Road," where we struck north wards 

 as far as to the Chateau de Venues. Here I saw 

 Bombyx Atlas and Frere Jean begin a most 

 abominable trick — of course immediately fol- 

 lowed by the rest. There were a quantity of 

 caterpillars of "Fuliginosa," "Russula," &c.(nasty 

 hairy little beasts) running across the road ; and 



