KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. 
seclusive jackal. Besides this circumstance, 
the latter station is a peninsula, formed by 
the juxta-conflux of the two great rivers, the 
Mahanudee and Gonjuree, so that there was 
no opportunity left for strange dogs to enter 
the town from the country around. 
This fact may be well worth noting down, 
for it often happens that men blindly sup- 
press a dess evil, whilst they are at the same 
time propagating a greater one. Were it 
not for the innumerable quantities of parriah 
dogs, jackals, vultures, and other obscene 
animals, being so abundant throughout India 
(subsisting almost exclusively upon carrion), 
that country would prove the seat of per- 
petual pestilence—a diorama of death. 
OVER THE GRASS. 
SuNBEAMS are shining 
Cheeringly gay, 
O’er leaflets entwining 
In summer array ; 
Flowerets are springing 
In beauty and light, 
And birds sweetly singing 
Afar up the height ; 
Breezes are bustling 
Around in the glade, 
And green leaves are rustling 
In bloom undecayed ; 
Waters are streaming, 
Gurglingly sweet, 
And butterflies dreaming 
In beauty replete— 
Over the grass. 
Moonbeams are playing, 
In silver arraying 
Kach cranny and nook of the earth ; 
Bright eyes are glancing, 
And fairies are dancing, 
And freely resounding their mirth— 
Over the grass. 
Hearts light and cheering, 
Are fondly endearing 
The thought of a love long to last ; 
And beauty is glowing, 
Where affection is flowing, 
In warmth that no tempest shall blast— 
Over the grass. 
Lovers are sighing, 
Affection is dying, 
And hopes, fondly cherished, are fled ; 
Ribalds are drinking, 
And treachery slinking, 
Where friendship’s sweet light should be 
shed, 
Over the grass. 
Childhood is toying, 
And fondly enjoying, 
The moments of youth as they pass ; 
And age is repining, 
Though swiftly declining 
Away from the sins that amass— 
Over the grass. 

THE ECCENTRIC NATURALIST, 
THE ECCENTRICITY OF GENIUS, and the 
enthusiasm of inquiring minds, are too well 
known to require comment. But some clever 
men are so delightfully erratic, that even 
their so-called weaknesses give the beholders 
pleasure. A specimen of one of these 
characters is thus charmingly portrayed by 
Audubon, in his Auto-biography :— 
““¢ What an 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, approaching me, asked 
—if I could point out the house in which 
Mr. Audubon 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 back-woods- 
man, 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 humor, said, 
‘Tam that odd fish, 1 presume, Mr. Audubon.’ 
I felt confounded, and blushed, but contrived 
to stammer out an apology. 
““ We soon reached the house, when I pre- 
sented my learned guest to my family ; and 
was ordering a servant to go to the boat for 
M. de T.’s luggage, when he told me he had 
none but what he had 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 Ark, to be put 
on this shore; and that he was sorry his 
apparel had suffered so much from his late 
journey. Clean clothes were offered, but he 
would not accept them; and it was with 
evident reluctance that he performed the 
lavations usual on such occasions, before he 
sat down to dinner. 
“‘ At table, however, his agreeable conver- 
sation made us all forget his singular appear- 
ance; and, indeed, it was only as we strolled 
in the garden that his attire struck me as 

