1825-1830.] 
WITH CUVIER IN PARIS. 
93 
talk with the latter, who showed them his instruments 
at the Observatory and described his experiments and 
discoveries. 
“ Arago,” writes Mrs. Buckland, “ is the most Englishlike 
Frenchman I ever saw ; the most unpretending person 
possible in his manner, and the most intelligent in his 
conversation. 
“ From the top of the Observatory,” she continues, 
“ we saw Paris in its full extent, built within the basin 
called by its name, and which is surrounded by low hills, 
of which Montmartre is the highest. Compared with 
London, it looks very small, and the absence of smoke 
gives a coldness so peculiar that it looks like a city of the 
dead.” 
Before her marriage Mrs. Buckland had been in corre¬ 
spondence with Cuvier, and had made drawings for his 
works. She and her husband had now the pleasure of 
receiving his hospitality and of spending a morning with 
him in the Jardin des Plantes. The famous naturalist 
welcomed them with much kindness, and at his house they 
met Cordier, at that time the most distinguished geologist 
in France. “ The Cuvier’s parties,” writes the young wife, 
“ are by no means brilliant; he is very taciturn, and so 
cautious that he never utters an opinion in company ; but 
though so cold in appearance, he is very friendly in his 
conduct.” 
From Paris the travellers journeyed southwards. 
“ At Vaucluse,” says the diary, “ when we turned into the 
steep ravine through which the Sorques flows, we were agree¬ 
ably surprised by the picturesque forms of the rocks, which 
are nearly destitute of vegetation, and have nothing but their 
form and their dazzling whiteness to recommend them to 
