CHARLES WATERTON, ESQ. Ixxvii 
those of an ape, " Simia, — quam similis, turpissima 
bestia nobis ; '* it is my earnest desire that the said 
expression may be considered null and void. I have 
no wish whatever that the nondescript shouhl pass 
for any other thing than that which the reader 
himself should wish it to pass for. Not considering 
myself pledged to tell its story, I leave it to the 
reader to say what it is, or what it is not. 
Some of my encounters with wild beasts may 
appear hair-breadth escapes, and very alarming 
things, to readers at their own fireside ; but to me, 
in the forest, they appeared not so. 
We are told that death itself is not heeded 
when the battle rages. This I believe ; for when 
honour, fame, or duty, urge a determined man 
forwards, I apprehend that he knows not what it is 
to fear. Thus, the soldier marches boldly on, even 
to the cannon's mouth ; the fox-hunter, in conscious 
pride, flies over the five-barred gate ; and half way 
down Dover's cliff " hangs one that gathers sam- 
phire." But, I ask, would a " pampered menial " 
storm the deadly breach? would a gouty alderman 
descend the rock of Ailsa, based by the roaring 
ocean in quest of sea-fowls' eggs? No. Their 
habits, and their ailments, would disable or prevent 
them; and, probably, nothing could induce them to 
face the apparent danger. Now, as for myself, I 
was well fitted out for adventures. I went expressly 
to look for wild beasts ; and, having found them, it 
would have been impossible for me to have refrained 
from coming in actual contact with them. 
I have only to repeat, that I particularly request 
