THE MONKEY FAMILY. 



25 



felled the first tree on the wooded banks of the 

 beautiful river Demerara. 



On entering the place, I saw standing there, 

 an animal certainly, of most curious form and 

 dimensions ; but not a particle of tapir or bush-cow 

 could I detect in it. It was a bull calf of the 

 common breed of domestic cows, and was awfully 

 misshapen. So ended the investigation ; and in 

 a few weeks afterwards, the report of such a hybrid 

 gradually died away, and nothing more was said 

 about it. 



The second anecdote fairly outdoes the first. 



Some years ago, I formed an acquaintance with 

 a most benevolent and mentally enterprising Eng- 

 lish gentleman in Rome. He was, at that time 

 fully bent on fitting out an expedition, from his 

 own native land, to the interior of Africa, in order 

 to christianize the barbarians of those far distant 

 parts, and to make good English farmers of them. 



Many an hours conversation I had with him on 

 his darling plan of cultivating Africa. But he 

 could not gain me over. I placed before his eyes 

 the diseases of the climate, the pestilential swamps, 

 the torrents of tropical rain, the heat of a fiery 

 sun, and the hostility of surrounding tribes, savage 

 as the savagest wild beasts of the forest. To all 

 this, he answered that he would try : — and after- 



