66 
ANIMAL TREASURES OF FRANCE. 
call verdure, the roehuch, and the dove, to the re-forested mountain 
tops, and will bar against the maestral the gorges of the South, 
and will daily enlarge the domains of the orange tree, the olive, 
and the vine, and the restoration of the climate will restore to the 
territory of France her exiled game. Let the reign of woman 
come, and all the marvels of Arabian fairydom will rise from the 
soil under our feet quicker than in the tales. Oh how sweet will 
life be in these times to the birds and to the flowers, and to all 
innocent and gracious creatures, of wdiich man is still the execu- 
tioner ! 
Not ages, but only the will of woman stands between this era 
of France’s emancipation and her present abasement. What wo- 
man wills, God, ivills. 
I have spoken of the sweet treasures with which the favor of 
Heaven had filled France. France has always been poor in spe- 
cies of quadrupeds and birds comparatively with the countries of 
the equator. The species that she nourishes are, ho^vever, of su- 
perior quality ; the stags and wild boars of her forests are stronger 
and better armed, her snipes and quails have a more delicious fla- 
vor. Rare species but useful : such is the general character of 
French zoology, although the emblems of evil be here as every- 
where, predominant. Here w^e are not to look for enormous 
pachyderms with thick cuirasses, nor feline giants with roaring 
voices, nor immense boas, nor musky saurians with naked jaw. 
The existence of these monsters seems attached to boundless 
deserts, to virgin forests, and to the burning sands of the fire 
zone, as that of the fabulous dragons to enchanted gardens. The 
calm temperature of the middle zones must have modified the 
fury of sanguinary appetites in beasts, as it moderated the flow of 
the sap in the tissues of plants. The family of the tiger is per- 
sonified in France by the domestic cat ; the boa constrictor, that 
strangles bulls, here descends to the proportions of the blind 
worm ; the crocodile and alligator, to those of the lizard ; and 
the maleficence of species has decreased in the same relation as 
their size. The zoological apparatus of France has not, however, 
always been as poor as to-day, and without remounting very high, 
in history, there was a time when the precincts most bereft of 
