454 BLACK-AND-WHITE CREEPER.
THE BLACK LARCH.
PINUS PEVDCLA, Pursh, Flor. Amer. vol. ii. p. 6 4 5 MOXCECIA POLYANDHIA, Linn.
CONIFERJE, JUSS.
Leaves fasciculate, deciduous; cones oblong, the margins of the scales
inflected ; bracteoles panduriform, with an attenuated tip. This species,
which grows in cedar swamps, in the Northern States, attains a great
size, and resembles the European Larch in appearance.
( 455 )
T H E E C C E N T R I C NATURALIST.
" W H A T an odd looking fellow !" said I to myself, as while walking
by the river, I observed a man landing from a boat, with what I thought
a bundle of dried clover on his back; " how the boatmen stare at him !
sure he must be an original!" He ascended with a rapid step, and approaching
me asked if I could point out the house in which Mr AUDUBON
resided. " Why, I am the man,'1 said I , " and will gladly lead you
to my dwelling."
The traveller rubbed his hands together with delight, and drawing
a letter from his pocket, handed it to me without any remark. I broke
the seal and read as follows: " My dear AUDUBON, I send you an odd
fish, which you may prove to be undescribed, and hope you will do so
in your next letter. Believe me always your friend B." With all the
simplicity of a woodsman I asked the bearer where the odd fish was,
when M. de T . (for, kind reader, the individual in my presence was
none else than that renowned naturalist) smiled, rubbed his hands, and
with the greatest good humour said, " I am that odd fish I presume, Mr
AUDUBON.1 ' I felt confounded and blushed, but contrived to stammer
an apology.
We soon reached the house, when I presented my learned guest to my
family, and was ordering a servant to go to the boat for M. de T/s luggage,
when he told me he had none but what he brought on his back.
He then loosened the pack of weeds which had first drawn my attention.
The ladies were a little surprised, but I checked their critical glances for
the moment. The naturalist pulled off his shoes, and while engaged in
drawing his stockings, not up, but down, in order to cover the holes
about the heels, told us in the gayest mood imaginable that he had walked
a great distance, and had only taken a passage on board the ark, to be
put on this shore, and that he was sorry his apparel had suffered so much
from his late journey. Clean clothes were offered, but he would not accept
them, and it was with evident reluctance that he performed the lavations
usual on such occasions before he sat down to dinner.
At table, however, his agreeable conversation made us all forget his
singular appearance; and, indeed, it was only as we strolled together
in the garden that his attire struck me as exceedingly remarkable. A