t and the wind whisper in the air."
The trees were mirrored in the rays of the moon, and the ground, at
intervals, seemed strewn with monstrous giants; their hearts beat, not
with fear, but with that feverish impatience that anticipates decisive
results.

When they arrived at the foot of the tree on which the aerial dwelling
was situated, Fritz opened the door, and resolutely, but stealthily,
ascended.

Willis and Jack followed him with military precision.

They reached the top of the staircase, and held the latch of the door
that opened into the apartment.

A train of mice, in the strictest incognito, could not have performed
these operations with a greater amount of secretiveness. On opening
the door they stood and listened.

Not a sound. Jack fired off a pistol, and the fraudulent occupier of
the room instantly started up on his feet. Fritz rushed forward, and
clasped him tightly round the body.

"Ho, ho, comrade," said he, "this time you do not get off so easily!"

CHAPTER IX.

THE CHIMPANZEE--IMPERFECT NEGRO, OR PERFECT APE--THE HARMONIES OF
NATURE--A HANDFUL OF PAWS--A STONE SKIN--SEVENTEEN THOUSAND SPECTACLES
ON ONE NOSE--ANIMALCULAE--PELION ON OSSA--PTOLEMY--COPERNICUS TO
GALILEO--METAPHYSICS AND COSMOGONIES--ISAIAH--A LIVE TIGER.

"The chimpanze or chimpanzee," says Buffon, the French naturalist, "is
much more sagacious than the _ourang outang_, with which it has been
inaccurately confounded; it likewise bears a more marked resemblance
to the human being; the height is the same, and it has the same
aspect, members, and strength; it always walks on two feet, with the
head erect, has no tail, has calves to its legs, hair on its head, a
beard on its chin, a face that Grimaldi would have envied, hands and
nails like those of men, whose manners and habits it is susceptible of
acquiring."

Buffon knew an individual of the species that sat demurely at table,
taking his place with the other guests; like them he would spread out
his napkin, and stick one corner of it into his button-hole just as
they did, and he was exceedingly dexterous in the use of his knife,
fork, and spoon. Spectators were not a little surprised to see him go
to a bed made for him, tie up his head in a pocket-handkerchief, place
it sideways on a pillow, tuck himself carefully in the bed-clothes,
pretend to be sick, stretch out his pulse to be felt, and affect to
undergo the process of being bled.

The naturalist adds that he