208 



WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



take me aside, and after assuring me that he had a great 

 regard for the arts and sciences, he lamented that con- 

 science obliged him to do what he had done, and he 

 wished he had been fifty miles from Liverpool at the 

 time that it fell to his lot to detain the collection. Had 

 he looked in my face as he said this, he would have 

 seen no marks of credulity there. 



I now returned to the Custom-house, and after ex- 

 pressing my opinion of the officer's conduct at the depot, 

 I pulled a bunch of keys (which belonged to the 

 detained boxes) out of my pocket, laid them on the 

 table, took my leave of the gentlemen present, and soon 

 after set off for Yorkshire. 



I saved nothing from the grasp of the stranger officer 

 but a pair of live Malay fowls, which a gentleman in 

 George-town had made me a present of. I had collected 

 in the forest several eggs of curious birds, in hopes of 

 introducing the breed into England, and had taken great 

 pains in doing them over with gum arabic, and in pack- 

 ing them in charcoal, according to a receipt I had seen 

 in the Gazette, from the "Edinburgh Philosophical 

 Journal." Eut these were detained in the depot, instead 

 of being placed under a hen ; which utterly ruined all 

 my hopes of rearing a new species of birds in England. 

 Titled personages in London interested themselves in 

 behalf of the collection, but all hi vain. And vain also 

 were the public and private representations of the first 

 officer of the Liverpool Custom-house in my favour. 



At last there came an order from the Treasury to say, 

 that any specimens Mr. Waterton intended to present 

 to public institutions might pass duty free ; but those 

 which he intended to keep for himself must pay 

 the duty ! 



