istory will still remain a blank. But I have
written to him not to send me another. I will leave it for my successor
to fill up, whenever I shall make my bow here. The purchase for Mrs.
Adams shall be made, and sent by Mr. Cutting. I shall always be happy
to receive her commands. Petit shall be made happy by her praises of his
last purchase for her. I must refer you to Mr. Adams for the news. Those
respecting the Dutch you know as well as I. Nor should they be written
but with the pen of Jeremiah. Adieu, mon ami! Yours affectionately,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER C.--TO MONSIEUR LE COMTE DE BUFFON, October 3, 1787

TO MONSIEUR LE COMTE DE BUFFON.

Paris, October 3, 1787.

Sir,

I had the honor of informing you, some time ago, that I had written to
some of my friends in America, desiring they would send me such of the
spoils of the moose, caribou, elk, and deer, as might throw light on
that class of animals; but more particularly, to send me the complete
skeleton, skin, and horns of the moose, in such condition as that the
skin might be sewed up and stuffed, on its arrival here. I am happy to
be able to present to you at this moment, the bones and skin of a moose,
the horns of another individual of the same species, the horns of the
caribou, the elk, the deer, the spiked-horned buck, and the roebuck of
America. They all come from New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and were
received by me yesterday. I give you their popular names, as it rests
with yourself to decide their real names. The skin of the moose was
dressed with the hair on, but a great deal of it has come off, and the
rest is ready to drop off. The horns of the elk are remarkably small. I
have certainly seen some of them, which would have weighed five or six
times as much. This is the animal which we call elk in the southern
parts of America, and of which I have given some description in the
Notes on Virginia, of which I had the honor of presenting you a copy. I
really doubt, whether the flat-horned elk exists in America: and I think
this may be properly classed with the elk, the principal difference
being in the horns. I have seen the _daim_, the _cerf_, the _chevreuil_,
of Europe. But the animal we call elk, and which may be distinguished as
the round-horned elk, is very different from them. I have never seen the
_brand-hirtz_ or _cerf d'Ardennes_, nor the European elk. Could I get
a sight of them, I think I should be able to say which of them the
Ame