502 
BIRD-LIFE. 
new. I had no doctor,—not even medicines : I was in 
want of good food, company, sympathising friends of my 
own country. I often felt so utterly miserable in my 
attacks of fever, that I cared not how they ended,—in 
recovery or death: and yet I seemed relieved when my 
hunter brought me some bird, which was new to me, to 
my bedside. I have watched for nights together on the 
sandy islets of the Blue Nile, while the fever was on me, 
as soon as I had found out that the Demoiselle Cranes 
frequented the locality. Africa has robbed me of much, 
but has also given me a great deal; and that because I 
always travelled as a naturalist. Such a one knows 
neither difficulties nor dangers while at work, because he 
is aware that the wages of his labour are the highest that 
can be obtained.” 
I doubt if words can describe the joys of the working 
naturalist. They are only to be felt by personal expe¬ 
rience, and personal labours, in the cause of science ; 
that alone can render it comprehensible. This silent 
watching of the inner life of Nature as a grand whole, 
and of her several members individually, is possessed of 
an intellectual charm which baffles description. Greedy 
as a miser, the enquirer spies out everything, watches for, 
grasps at, and seeks to become possessed of all. And 
what for ? To make a free gift of his booty, acquired 
with such labour, to the world at large! He can place 
out his gains, like the usurer, at heavy interest, and they 
never fail to bring in fresh returns : thus nothing is too 
small, nothing too insignificant for the notice of the 
naturalist. What he learns is his gain, and what he knows 
is his capital; this is why he is so rich, aye, even in a 
desert! To him the inanimate grain of sand, the bare 
stones, tell a long, rich, and instructive story; the 
