de to look like a gigantic umbrella,
and a third like a lady's fan.

"In one enclosure are collected together all the various specimens of
culinary vegetables that have usually been appropriated to the sustenance
of mankind; these, you will readily believe, occupy no small space; and
near them, are to be seen specimens of all the varieties of fruit trees of
which France and its neighbouring kingdoms can boast.

"In addition to all this, there are extensive green-houses and hot-houses,
filled with many thousand of the choicest plants, attached to each of
which is its scientific and its common name. Many of them were extremely
curious; I tried to remember so many, that I find I confound one with
another, and now I can scarcely recollect any, save the useful bread tree,
the curious coffee plant, and the tempting sugar cane, all of which are to
be seen here to great advantage.

"Attached to this beautiful garden, is a splendid museum, containing all
sorts of treasures connected with natural history. Here are to be seen
more than two hundred varieties of monkeys only; of birds, there are
myriads; and one or two species are shown, that are believed to be the
only ones of the kind extant; these, of course, are not alive. Here are
also collected hundreds of bird's nests, of all shapes, kinds and sizes,
from one almost as large as a hand basin, to one about the size of a green
gage plum: most of these contain eggs of such kinds of birds as those to
whom the nests belonged; and indeed the ingenuity with which many of these
little houses are constructed, surprised me more than any thing I ever
before witnessed. The collection of butterflies too is most remarkable,
from one the size of a plate, to those of the smallest size.

"In the same building is also to be seen a most extensive assortment of
minerals, spars, gems, ores, crystals, medals, etc. etc., which merely to
enumerate singly, would more than fill a long letter. We next saw the
Museum of Zoology: this contains reptiles and fish, innumerable, and of
which I can only say, how wonderful are their varieties! I must not,
however, forget to tell you that we saw a part of an elephant's tusk,
which when complete is believed to have been at least eight feet in length.
Only imagine what must have been the height of the possessor of such a
pair of tusks! Here too we saw the skeleton of an enormous whale that was
captured on the coast of France; and from the size of its jaw bones,