224 
WANDERINGS IN 
THIRD 
JOURNEY 
Embarks 
for Eng¬ 
land. 
and the nights cold and misty. I had now been 
: eleven months in the forests, and collected some rare 
insects, two hundred and thirty birds, two land 
tortoises, five armadillas, two large serpents, a sloth, 
an ant-bear, and a cayman. 
I left the wilds and repaired to George-town to 
spend a few days with Mr. R. Edmonstone previous 
to embarking for Europe. I must here return my 
sincerest thanks to this worthy gentleman for his 
many kindnesses to me; his friendship was of the 
utmost service to me, and he never failed to send me 
supplies into the forest by every opportunity. 
I embarked for England, on board the Dee West- 
Indiaman, commanded by Captain Grey. 
Sir Joseph Banks had often told me, he hoped 
I would give a lecture in public, on the new mode 
I had discovered of preparing specimens in natural 
history for museums. I always declined to do so, 
as I despaired of ever being able to hit upon a proper 
method of doing quadrupeds; and I was aware that 
it would have been an imperfect lecture to treat of 
birds only. I imparted what little knowledge I was 
master of, at Sir Joseph’s, to the unfortunate gentle¬ 
men who went to Africa to explore the Congo ; and 
that w^as all that took place in the shape of a lecture. 
Now, that I had hit upon the way of doing quad¬ 
rupeds, I drew up a little plan on board the Dee, 
which I trusted would have been of service to 
naturalists ; and by proving to them the superiority 
of the new plan, they would probably be induced to 
abandon the old and common way, which is a dis- 
