ts served the purpose effectually; and from that time I carried
two pairs about me, because I frequently cast them off from my feet in
my botanical investigations, without having time to pick them up, when
threatened by the approach of lions, men, or hyenas. My excellent
watch, owing to the short duration of my movements, was also on these
occasions an admirable chronometer. I wanted, besides, a sextant, a few
philosophical instruments, and some books. To purchase these things, I
made several unwilling journeys to London and Paris, choosing a time
when I could be hid by the favouring clouds. As all my ill-gotten gold
was exhausted, I carried over from Africa some ivory, which is there so
plentiful, in payment of my purchases--taking care, however, to pick
out the smallest teeth, in order not to overburden myself. I had thus
soon provided myself with all that I wanted, and now entered on a new
mode of life as a student--wandering over the globe--measuring the
height of the mountains, and the temperature of the air and of the
springs--observing the manners and habits of animals--investigating
plants and flowers. From the equator to the pole, and from the new
world to the old, I was constantly engaged in repeating and comparing
my experiments.

My usual food consisted of the eggs of the African ostrich or northern
sea-birds, with a few fruit, especially those of the palm and the
banana of the tropics. The tobacco-plant consoled me when I was
depressed; and the affection of my spaniel was a compensation for the
loss of human Sympathy and society. When I returned from my excursions,
loaded with fresh treasures, to my cave in Thebes, which he guarded
during my absence, he ever sprang joyfully forward to greet me, and
made me feel that I was indeed not alone on the earth. An adventure
soon occurred which brought me once more among my fellow-creatures.

* * * * *

One day, as I was gathering lichens and algae on the northern coast,
with the drag on my boots, a bear suddenly made his appearance, and was
stealing towards me round the corner of a rock. After throwing away my
slippers, I attempted to step across to an island, by means of a rock,
projecting from the waves in the intermediate space, that served as a
stepping-stone. I reached the rock safely with one foot, but instantly
fell into the sea with the other, one of my slippers having
inadvertently remained on. The cold was intense; and