104 
LETTERS FROM HIGH LATITUDES, 
to Iceland to catch gnats. After having caught gnats 
in Iceland, he intended, he said, to spend some years 
in catching gnats in Spain—the privacy of Spanish 
gnats, as it appears, not having been hitherto invaded. 
The truth is, my guest was an entomologist, and in 
the pursuit of the objects of his study, was evidently 
prepared to approach hardships and danger with a 
serenity that would not have been unworthy of the 
apostle of a new religion. It was almost touching to 
hear him describe the intensity of his joy when perhaps 
days and nights of fruitless labours were at last rewarded 
by the discovery of some hitherto unknown little fly; and 
it was with my whole heart that, at parting, I wished 
him success in his career, and the fame that so much 
conscientious labour merited. From my allusion to 
this last reward, however, he seemed almost to shrink, 
and, with a sincerity it was impossible to doubt, dis¬ 
claimed as ignoble so poor a motive as a thirst for 
fame. His was one of those calm laborious minds 
seldom found but among the Teutonic race, that—pur¬ 
suing day by day with single-minded energy some 
special object—live in a noble obscurity, and die at 
last content with the consciousness of having added 
