THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 SOUTHERN 
 
 UNtVFRSITY OF 
 
 . S
 
 WANDERINGS IX SOUTH AMERICA 
 
 tOl '
 
 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA, 
 
 THE NORTH-WEST OF THE EXITED STATES, 
 
 ASD THE ANTILLES* 
 H THE YEARS 1812, 1816, 1820, & 1824. 
 
 With Original Instructions for the perfect preservation of Birds. Etc. 
 for Cabinets of Natural History. 
 
 CHARLES WATERTON, ESQ. 
 
 NEW EDITION. 
 Cbitrb, fohb Biographical Introbociion anb *pIanaiorD f nbrt, 
 
 BT THE 
 
 KEY. J. G. WOOD. 
 
 WITH ONE HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Bonbon: 
 MACMILLAN AND CO. 
 
 1879. 
 
 The Sight of Trmulalw* it Besened.
 
 LONDON* : 
 
 K. CLAV, SONS, AND TAYLol 
 BREAD STREET HII.L, E.C. 
 
 3443
 
 : 
 
 : 
 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 MAST years ago, while barely in my " teens," I tad tie 
 good fortune to fall in with Waterton's WamdiTm^ then 
 newly placed in the school library. The book fascinated 
 me. Week after week I took it out of the library, and 
 really think that I could have repeated it verbatim from 
 beginning to end. It was a glimpse into an unknown 
 world, where I longed to follow the Wanderer, little 
 thieving that I should ever have the privilege of visiting 
 him in his wonderful Yorkshire home. I looked upon 
 Waterton much as the pagans of old regarded their 
 demi-gods, and not even Sinbad the Sailor was so in- 
 teresting a personage to me as Waterton the Wanderer. 
 
 But there was one drawback to the full enjoyment 
 and comprehension of the book. It mentioned all kinds 
 of animals, birds, and trees, and I did not know what 
 they were, nor was there any one who could tell me. I 
 did not know what a Salempenta was, except that it
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 was good to eat. It might be a monkey, a fish, or a 
 fruit. Neither could I identify the Couanacouchi, 
 Labarri, Camoudi, Duraquara, Houtou, or Karabimiti, 
 except that the three first were snakes and the three last 
 were birds. 
 
 It was certainly pleasant to learn that the traveller 
 in Guiana would be awakened by the crowing of the 
 Hannaquoi, but there was no one who could tell me 
 what kind of a bird the Hanuaquoi might be. Then, 
 as to trees, I did not know the Siloabali, or the Wallaba, 
 or even the Purple-heart, nor how the last mentioned 
 tree could be made into a Woodskin. I wanted a guide 
 to the Wanderings, and such a guide I have attempted 
 to supply in the "Explanatory Index." I believe that 
 there is not a single living creature or tree mentioned 
 by Waterton concerning which more or less information 
 cannot be found in this Index. 
 
 The Wanderings I have left untouched as Waterton 
 wrote them, not adding or altering or cancelling a 
 syllable. They constitute, so to speak, the central 
 brilliant of a ring, round which are arranged jewels 
 of inferior value, so as to set off the beauty of the 
 principal gem. 
 
 The plan of arrangement is as follows : First comes 
 a short biography of Waterton as the Wanderer, and 
 then a memoir of Waterton at home. Next come the 
 Wanderings, exactly as he wrote them. Then there is 
 an Explanatory Index, and lastly a few remarks on the
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 system of Taxidermy which he created, and in which 
 he gave me personal instruction. 
 
 I have much pleasure in recording my obligations to 
 Edmund Waterton, Esq., who kindly permitted access 
 to the old family records, which he is now arranging 
 for publication. Also to Dr. P. L. Sclater, Secretary of 
 the Zoological Society, for the assistance which he 
 rendered in identifying several of the birds ; and to 
 J. Britten, Esq., of the British Museum, for the great 
 pains which he took in ascertaining the names of some 
 of the Guianan trees, without which names the work 
 woidd have been imperfect. 
 
 } 
 
 ^J
 
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 I OFFER this book of Wanderings with a hesitating 
 hand. It has little merit, and must make its way through 
 the world as well as it can. It will receive many a jostle 
 as it goes along, and perhaps is destined to add one more 
 to the number of slain, in the field of modern criticism. 
 But if it fall, it may still, in death, be useful to me ; for, 
 should some accidental rover take it up, and, in turning 
 over its pages, imbibe the idea of going out to explore 
 Guiana, in order to give the world an enlarged descrip- 
 tion of that noble country, I shall say, " forteni ad fortia 
 misi," and demand the armour ; that is, I shall lay claim 
 to a certain portion of the honours he will receive, npon 
 the plea, that I was the first mover of his discoveries ; 
 for, as Ulysses sent Achilles to Troy, so I sent him to 
 Guiana, I intended to have written much more at 
 length ; but days, and months, and years, have passed 
 away, and nothing has been done. Thinking it very 
 probable that I shall never have patience enough to sit 
 down and write a full account of all I saw and examined
 
 x PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 in those remote wilds, I give up the intention of doing 
 so, and send forth this account of my Wanderings, just 
 as it was written at the time. 
 
 If critics are displeased with it in its present form, I 
 beg to observe, that it is not totally devoid of interest, 
 and that it contains something useful. Several of the 
 unfortunate gentlemen who went out to explore the 
 Congo, were thankful for the instructions they found in 
 it ; and Sir Joseph Banks, on sending back the journal, 
 said in his letter, " I return your journal, with abundant 
 thanks for the very instructive lesson you have favoured 
 us with this morning, which far excelled, in real utility, 
 everything I have hitherto seen." And in another letter 
 he says, " I hear with particular pleasure your intention 
 of resuming your interesting travels, to which natural 
 history has already been so much indebted." And again, 
 " I am sorry you did not deposit some part of your last 
 harvest of birds in the British Museum, that your name 
 might become familiar to naturalists, and your unrivalled 
 skill in preserving birds be made known to the public." 
 And again, "You certainly have talents to set forth a 
 book, which will improve ard extend materially the 
 bounds of natural science." 
 
 Sir Joseph never read the third adventure. Whilst 
 I was engaged in it, death robbed England of one of her 
 most valuable subjects, and deprived the Eoyal Society 
 of its brightest ornament.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Autobiography of Waterton Descent from Sir Thomas More Twenty 
 seventh Lord of Walton, and sixteenth in descent from John 
 Waterton Religkxis faith of the family Persecutions of Roman 
 Catholics and confiscation of the estates Double taxes and fines- 
 Birth and early life Escapades at Todhoe The cow and the wash- 
 ing-tub Removal to Stonyhnrst Birds'-nesting. a chase and a pig- 
 stye Good adrice from one of the fathers Parting with Stonyhurst 
 First voyage to Cadiz The apes at Gibraltar Habits of the 
 animals Stay in Malaga Acquirement of Spanish Projected 
 visit to Malta Advent of the plague- Seized with the disease and 
 recovery Closing of the ports A hazardous and carefully-planned 
 escape Preyaratinm on board ship The opportunity seized 
 Escape successful Death of an uncle Discovery of an oM friend 
 Failing health Voyage to Demerara Death of his father and 
 succession to the farmly estates . 1-14 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 Joorney to Orinoco with despatches Adventure with a venomous snake 
 An involuntary bath A huge Cayman The Labarri snake- 
 Dinner party in Angostura A too liberal table The Governor's 
 uniform Dining in shirt-sleeves A more sensible uniform Publi- 
 cation of the n~amdai*gs Reception by the critics Sydney 
 Smith Swainson's criticism upon the cayman Troth in the garb 
 of fiction Waterloo's style of writing Quotations His favourite 
 authors Sense of humour How he answered the critics Charge 
 of eccentricity How he was eccentric Travels on the continent 
 Shipwreck Gallant conduct of Prince Canino Lost by gold Fall 
 into Dover harbour and narrow escape The lancet and calomel- 
 Judgment of the vampire A bad wound Bare feet and bad pave- 
 mentMode of core Accidents at home Gunshot wound Severe 
 fan and dangerous injuries Crowther the bone-setter A painful 
 
 -A characteristic warning . 15-34
 
 xii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAFTEK III. 
 
 PAQK 
 
 Magnificence and money Watertou's mode of life and personal ex- 
 penses Sleeping on planks His visits to the chapel The " morning 
 gun " The razor and the lancet Reduction of the family estates "r 
 His work at Walton Hall Natural advantages of the place The '^ 
 wall and its cost Bargees and their guns Instinct of the herons 
 Herons and fish-ponds Drainage of the ponds The moat extended 
 into a lake Old Gateway and Ivy-Tower Siege by Oliver Crom- 
 well Tradition of a musket-ball Drawbridge and gateway in the 
 olden times Tradition of a canon-ball Both ball and canon dis- 
 covered Sunken plate and weapons Echo at "Walton Hall West 
 view of lake How to strengthen a bank Pike-catching Cats and 
 pike Spot where Waterton fell 35 -48 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Love of trees Preservation of damaged trees How trees perish 
 Wind and ram Self -restorative powers of the bark Hidden foes 
 The fungus and its work Use of the woodpecker and titmouse 
 How to utilize tree-stumps The cole titmouse Owl-house and 
 seat Dry-rot -When to paint timber Oaken gates of the old 
 tower Command over trees How to make the holly grow quickly 
 The holly as a hedge-tree Pheasant fortresses Artificial 
 pheasants The poachers outwitted Waterton's power of tree 
 climbing An aerial study Ascending and descending trees- 
 Church and State trees The yew A protection against cold winds 
 Yew hedge af;back of gateway The Starling Tower Familiarity 
 of the birds The Picnic or Grotto Waterton's hospitality " The 
 Squire" A decayed mill and abandoned stone The stone lifted 
 off the ground by a hazel nut 49 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Squire's " dodges " The " cat-holes " The dove-cot Pigeon-shoot- 
 ing matches and mode of supplying the birds Waterton's pigeon- 
 house, external and internal Pigeon-stealers baffled Arrangement 
 of pigeon-holes Ladders not needed How to feed pigeons econo- 
 mically Rats and mice in the garden The poison-bowl and its 
 safety Sunken mousetrap Gates and chains The carriage-pond 
 Waterton's antipathy to scientific nomenclature Advantage of 
 such nomenclature as an assistant to science Popular and local 
 names Colonists and their nomenclature Zoology gone mad 
 Complimentary nomenclature The fatal accident in the park 
 Waterton's last moments and death The last voyage and funeral 
 Epitaph written by himself The new cross, and place of burial, 7286
 
 CONTEXTS. 
 
 FIRST JOURXET. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 Object of the JFam<Ieriff* Demerara E.Saba Toucan Forest 
 
 Parasites Bosh-rope Bed monkey WM animals Sloths 
 Venomous snakes Lizards Befl-bird Hontoo Insects Dog 
 poisoned with Woorali Falls Essequibo B. Bapi.l decay Falls 
 
 CHAPTEB II. 
 
 The MacousJii Indians Poison vendors apparent failure of poison 
 Collecting m ill i ill n for wouran-possoD Preparing the poison 
 Superstitions The blow-pipe gun The Ourah The Samourah 
 Sflk-grasG Acuero frmt Coocoorite palm WOd cotton Arrows 
 Quivers-Jaw of Pirai Packing the arrows Cotton basket- 
 Cm sight made of Acoori teeth Poisoned fowl Suspending the 
 -The bow Ingenious arrows-Small qmTeis Awfld hog shot 
 
 ducts 135-139 
 
 CHAPTKB HI. 
 
 Operaticn of the WooraH Its effects on the Ai, or Three-toed Sloth- 
 Death resembling sleep A poisoned Ox Poison proportionate to 
 aze of animal Alleged antidotes An Indian killed by his own 
 arrow ligatures and the knife Descent of the Esseojribo Skill 
 of the boatman The Baccaneers Tertian agne Experiments with 
 
 qak* death of Wonrali When good King Arthnr ro!ed this laml 
 Ketnrn of health 140-14 
 
 SECOND JOURNEY. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 From Liverpool to Pernamboco Stormy petrels Tropical zookgjr 
 Flying-fish Bonito, Albicore, and " Dolphin " Frigate bird- 
 Arrival at Pemamboco The expelled Jesuit P^mbal. the Captain- 
 General -Soutbey's history of Brazil Botanical garden- Sangredo 
 Buey Rattlesnake Narrow escape Rainy- Sail for Cayenne 
 Shark-catching l->4 16S
 
 xiv CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Arrival at Cayenne Flamingos Curlews, &c. Vegetable production ss^- 
 of Cayenne La Gabrielle Cock of the Rock Grand Gobe-mouche V^ 
 Surinam The Coryntin New Amsterdam Stabroek, now George 
 Town Produce of Dejnerara Slavery A traveller's necessaries 
 Walking^BaTgfoot^-The best "costume Humming-birds Cotinga 
 Campanero, or Bell-bird Toucans, or Toucanets Beak of the 
 Toucan Evanescence of the colours The only mode of preserving 
 them . . 169184 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Houtou Curious habit of trimming the tail and feathers its 
 habits The Guianan Jay The Boclora Slight attachment of the 
 feathers The Cuia Rice-birds Cassiques, their habit of mockery 
 Pendulous nests Gregarious nesting of different species Wood- 
 peckers of America and England Kingfishers Jacamars and their 
 fly-catching habits Troupiales and their songs Tangaras Mani- 
 kins Tiger-birds Yawaraciri Ant Thrushes Parrot of the Suu 
 Aras, or Macaws Bitterns Egret, Herons, etc. Goatsuckers 
 Whip-poor-Will Superstitions Tinamous Powis and Maroudi 
 Horned Screamer Trumpeter King Vulture Anhinga Dangers 
 of travel Quartan ague 185207 
 
 THIRD JOURNEY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 From the Clyde to Demerara Yellow fever A deserted Plantation r^- 
 Black John Medicines for tropical climates Bats The lancet V 
 Severe accident and recovery A primitive spear History of the 
 Sloth An inhabitant of the trees Structure of the limbs A domes- 
 ticated Sloth A life of suspense Structure of the hair Mark on 
 the back Capture of a Sloth Release and escape Ants Ant- 
 bears The great Ant-bear Its powers of defence Attitude when 
 standing How it catches its prey Glutinous saliva The Vampire 
 and its habits Bleeding gratis Coushie Ants Armadillo and its 
 habits Tortoise Eggs of Tortoise and Turtle . . .'. . 208231
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 of the wcrd Small Cayman Dddy Qoashi 
 reptiles and wild beasts Poison of the Labor! 
 
 Its nest Ticks, and how to get rid of them The five tribes 
 Their habitations and mode of life Pnrarri The Pee-a-man A 
 
 his mim Wdmded warriors Valonr 
 Character of the native Skffl in 
 
 A bead 
 
 The 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 Discovery of a large Coulacacara snake-A 
 loved by a Boa Negroes and the 
 attadk The snake struck Carrjing off the 
 bag An onqoiet ai^it Dueection of the 
 andhisdremd< 
 
 their food Habits of Tnttmts The Aura vulture Hack 
 Sercre hastas An mqniatrf^ JafBar Fi*h $booting-G<m- 
 
 CHAPTER IT. 
 
 Fishing for a Cayman A 
 
 Stmg-rays Turtle and 
 
 A native book and way of 
 ^it at last How to secure 
 
 ' '-:-: .: ::: 
 
 FOURTH JOURXET. 
 
 tion of scenery A sprained ankle Magnificent core Feats of 
 flimbtng Qnecoc Irish emigrants Tifcjmlctoyi-^SBKMijpfc" 1 
 Philadelphia Whhe-headed Eagle Form and Fashion-Climate 
 - ^Forebodngsof the crril war-Sl f cr Ant^oa . . . 385-300
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 PAOB 
 
 Arrival at Antigua Dominica Frogs and Humming-birds Martinico 
 Diamond rock Barbadoes Quashiand Venus The Alien Bill 
 Sail for Demerara More about the Sloth Scarlet Grosbeak 
 Crab-eating Owl Sun-heron Feet of the Tinamou Vampires 
 again The Karabimiti Humming-bird The Monkey tribe The 
 Red Howler Roast monkey The Nondescript Altered physi- 
 ognomy Gold and silver mines Changes of Government Politics 
 India-rubber An ingenious deception 310334 
 
 ON PRESERVING BIRDS FOR CABINETS OF NATURAL 
 HISTORY. 
 
 Faults in bird-stuffing Tools required Knowledge of anatomy- - 
 Attitudes of birds Flow of the plumage How to skin a bird- 
 Inserting cotton Killing wounded birds Stuffing a hawk The 
 first incision The skin to be pushed, not pulled Arrangement of 
 wings Modelling the body Spreading the tail Constant attention 
 required Strength and elasticity Value of corrosive sublimate 
 Experience and patience 335 350 
 
 EXPLANATORY INDEX 351494 
 
 TAXIDERMY 495510 
 
 INDEX ... . 511-5^0
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 CHAPTEE L 
 
 Autobiography of Waterloo. Descent from Sir Thomas More. Twenty- 
 seventh Lord of Walton, and sixteenth in descent from John Waterton. 
 Religious faith of the family. Persecutions of Roman Catholics and 
 confiscation of the estates. Double taxes and fines.: Birth and early 
 life. Escapades atTudhoe. The cow and the washing- tub. Removal 
 to Stonyhnret Birds'-nesting, a chase and a pigstye. Good advice 
 from one of the fathers. Parting with Stonyhnrst. First voyage to 
 Cadiz. The apes at Gibraltar. Habits of the animals. Stay in 
 Malaga. Acquirement of Spanish. Projected visit to Malta. Advent 
 of the plague. Seized with the disease and recovery. Closing of the 
 ports. A hazardous and carefully-planned escape. Preparations on 
 board ship. The opportunity seized. Escape successful. Death of 
 an uncle. Discovery of an old friend. Failing health. Voyage to 
 Demerara. Death of his father and succession to the family estates. 
 
 IN the introductory prefaces to Watertons Wanderings, Autobio- 
 the author has afforded but little account of himself, but gmfhy ' 
 in the volumes of his Essays, and some of his Letters, 
 he has fortunately given a sufficiency of information to 
 furnish a tolerably unbroken biography from his birth to 
 his death. His was a very long life, and as he considered 
 that life as a sacred trust, he never wasted an hour of it 
 
 WATBBTON was the representative of one of the most 
 ancient English families, and was justly proud of his
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Sir T. descent from Sir Thomas More. A clock which had be- 
 
 More - longed to that great ancestor is still in existence, and 
 occupied a place of honour on the upper landing of the 
 central staircase of Walton Hall. It is but a little 
 clock, and has only a single hand, but it keeps time as 
 well as ever, and the sound of its bell is so clear, that it 
 can be heard at a considerable distance from the house. 
 He mentions in his own quaint way, that if his ancestors 
 had been as careful of their family records as Arabs are 
 of the pedigrees of their horses, he might have been able 
 to trace his descent up to Adam and Eve. 
 
 The following account of the Waterton family is taken 
 from the Illustrated London News of June 17, 1865, and 
 has been revised by a member of the house. 
 
 Pedigree. "The good and amiable old Lord of Walton, Charles 
 Waterton, better known for miles around his ancestral 
 domain as " the squire," was the representative of one 
 of our most ancient untitled aristocratic families, and, what 
 is more deserving of record in these days, in the male 
 line. 
 
 " His ancestor, Reiner, the son of Norman of Normandy, 
 who became Lord of Waterton in 1159, was of Saxon 
 origin. The Watertons of Waterton became extinct in 
 the male line in the fifteenth century, when their vast 
 possessions passed away, through Cecilia, wife of Lord 
 Welles and heiress of her brother, Sir Eobert Waterton, 
 to her four daughters and co-heiresses, who married, 
 respectively, Robert, Lord Willoughby de Eresby, Sir 
 Thomas Dymoke, Thomas Laurence, Esq., and Sir 
 Thomas Delaware. 
 
 " Sir John Waterton was high sheriff of Lincoln in 1401, 
 and master of the horse to Henry V. at Agincourt. Sir 
 
 Lady of Robert, his brother, whose wife was a lady of the garter, 
 arter. wag governor of Pontefract Castle while Richard IT. was
 
 MOGRAPHT 
 
 confined there : he had been master of the horse to Henry 
 IV. Sir Hugh, another brother, held high offices of state. 
 Charles Waterton, in whom the representation of his 
 ancient house was vested, was descended from Richard, 
 second son of William Water-ton, Lord of Waterton, who 
 died in 1255. In 1435 John Waterton married the 
 heiress of Sir William Ashenhull, and became Lord of 
 Walton and Cawthorne, jure uzoris. 
 
 " Walton formed part of the Honour of Pontefract, of P-Mk/ 
 which Ashenhold, a Saxon thane, was the Lord, and which 
 was held by his son Ailric, in the reign of S. Edward 
 the Confessor. At the Conquest it was given by William 
 the Norman to one of his followers, Hbert de Lacy, who 
 granted it back again to Ailric, father of Suein. Ad?.ni, 
 the son of Suein, Lord of Brierley, Cawthorne, and Walton, 
 was the founder of the priory of Monk Bretton, and left 
 two daughters and co-heiresses, Amabil and Matilda. The 
 former had Walton and Cawthorne, and became the wife of 
 William de Xevile. They had one daughter and heiress, 
 who married Thomas, the son of Philip de Burgh. Walton 
 and Cawthorne remained in the possession of the De 
 Burghs for seven generations, and then passed with the 
 co-heiress of Sir John de Burgh to Sir William Ashenhull, 
 whose heiress conveyed it to John Waterton in 1435. 
 
 "Thus Mr. Waterton was twenty-seventh Lord of 
 Walton, and sixteenth from John Waterton, who acquired 
 that lordship. There was a grant of free warren at Walton 
 in the reign of Edward L, and a license to crenellate in 
 1333. Without reference to the numerous distinguished 
 alliances of his ancestors, it may be interesting to state 
 that Mr. Waterton, through distinct sources, traced his 
 descent several times over from S. Matilda, Queen of Di*ii*- 
 Germany ; S. Margaret of Scotland, S. Humbert of Savoy, 
 S. Louis of France, & Ferdinand of Castile, and Wladimir 
 
 B 2
 
 BIOGEAPHY. 
 
 the Great, called S. Wladimir of Russia, and Anne, called 
 S. Anne of Eussia. Through, his grandmother he was 
 ninth in descent from Sir Thomas More." 
 
 Refnrma- The Watertons fared but badly in the stormy times of 
 tion. ^g ;R e f orraa tion, and, preferring conscience to property, 
 they retained their ancient faith, but lost heavily in this 
 world's goods. The many coercive acts against the Roman 
 Catholics naturally had their effect, not only on those 
 who actually lived in the time of the Reformation, but 
 upon their successors. A Roman Catholic could not sit in 
 parliament, he could not hold a commission in the army, 
 he could not be a justice of the peace, he had to pay 
 double land-tax, and to think himself fortunate if he had 
 any land left on which taxes could be demanded. He was 
 not allowed to keep a horse worth more than five pounds, 
 and, more irritating than all, he had either to attend the 
 parish church or to pay twenty pounds for every month of 
 absence. In fact, a Roman Catholic was looked upon and 
 treated as a wholly inferior being, and held much the same 
 relative position to his persecutors as Jews held towards 
 the Normans and Saxons in the times of the Crusades. 
 
 Coercive Within the memory of many now living, the worst of 
 the oppressive acts have been repealed, and Roman Catholics 
 are now as free to follow their own form of worship as 
 before the days of Henry VIII.. They have seats in 
 parliament and on the bench, they hold commissions both 
 in the army and navy, and all the petty but galling inter- 
 ferences with the details of their private life have been 
 abolished. 
 
 Still, Waterton was, during some of his best years, a 
 personal sufferer from these acts, and they rankled too 
 deeply in his mind to be forgotten. Hence, the repeated 
 and mostly irrelevant allusions in his writings to Martin 
 Luther, Henry VIII., Queen Bess, Archbishop Cranmer,
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Oliver Cromwell, Charles Stuart, * Dutch William" (mostly 
 associated with the -Hanoverian' rat and the national 
 debt), and other personages celebrated in history. 
 
 Deeply as be felt the indignities to which he and his 
 family and co-religionists had been subjected, and fre- 
 quently as he referred to them, both in writing and con- 
 versation, he never used a worse weapon than irony, and 
 even that was tempered by an underlying current of 
 humour. He had fdt the wounds, but he could jest alt 
 the scars. 
 
 On principle he refused to qualify as Deputy-lieu- 
 tenant and magistrate, because he had been debarred from 
 doing so previously to the Emancipation Act. His son, 
 however, serves both offices. 
 
 Born in 1782, he spent his childish years in the old 
 
 .. mansion and grounds of the family, and at a very early age 
 
 displayed those powers of observation, love of nature and 
 
 enterprise, which enabled him to earn a place among the 
 
 fust aider of poetical naturalists both at home and abroad. 
 
 At fen years of age he was placed under the ev. A. TUi*r. 
 Strong's care, in a school just founded at Tudhoe, a village 
 near Durham. From Watertons reminiscences, his in- 
 structor seems to have inclined to the severe order of dis- 
 cipline, and to have been rather liberal of the birch, of 
 which instrument Waterloo had his full share. His 
 account of storming the larder for the support of hungry 
 inmates; of the anxious glances which be cast in the 
 morning to judge by the master's wig of the state of his 
 temper; and of being captured in the very act of getting 
 through a barred window, is exceedingly humorous. 
 
 He also relates two anecdotes, both telling against him- 
 self, and both prospective, as it were, of the celebrated 
 feet of riding on the back of a cayman and of his ship-
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 wreck. He was " dared " by his comrades to get on the 
 
 The cow back of a cow, which he did, but less fortunate than in 
 
 and the ^ s cayman adventure, was ignominiously thrown over 
 
 her horns. He also took it into his head to get into a 
 
 washing-tub, and take a cruise in the horse-pond ; but lost 
 
 his balance at the sudden appearance of the master, and 
 
 was overturned into the muddy water. 
 
 The whole of the account of his Tudhoe school ex- 
 periences is given in a collected volume of his Essays and 
 Letters (F. Warne & Co.), edited by Mr. N. Moore, who 
 had the sad privilege of being with him when he met with 
 his fatal accident, and by his sofa when he died, about 
 thirty-eight hours afterwards. 
 
 Tudhoe then being only a preliminary school, though it 
 Ushaw has since developed into Ushaw College, Waterton was re- 
 moved at fourteen years of age to Stonyhurst, where he 
 was one of the first pupils. This establishment, then a 
 comparatively small one, was conducted by the English 
 Jesuits who had been driven from their home at Liege. 
 Of them Waterton always spoke with reverence and 
 Stmy- affection, and his life at Stonyhurst was a singularly 
 *"* happy one. 
 
 At first, his ingrained propensity for enterprise led him 
 into trouble, and one adventure is too good not to be 
 narrated in his own words. His account of it is another 
 example of the way in which he enjoyed telling an 
 anecdote against himself. 
 
 " At Stonyhurst there are boundaries marked out to the 
 students, which they are not allowed to pass ; and there 
 are prefects always pacing to and fro within the lines to 
 prevent any unlucky boy from straying on the other side 
 of them. 
 
 b U w ds " Notwitlistandin g tlie vigilance of the lynx-eyed guar- 
 nck - diaiis, I would now and then manage to escape, and would
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 bolt into a very extensive labyrinth of yew and holly 
 trees dose at hand. It was the chosen place for animated 
 nature. Birds, in particular, used to frequent the spacious 
 enclosure, both to obtain food and enjoy security. Many 
 a time hare I hunted the foumart and the squirrel. I 
 once took a cut through it to a neighbouring wood. 
 where I knew of a carrion-crow's nest. The prefect missed 
 me ; and judging that I had gone into the labyrinth, he a * f 
 gave chase without loss of time. After eluding him in 
 cover for nearly half an hour, being hard pressed, I took 
 away down a hedgerow. 
 
 " Here (as I learned afterwards) he got a distant sight 
 of me; but it was not sufficiently distinct for him to know 
 to a certainty that I was the fugitive. I luckily succeeded 
 in reaching he outbuildings which abutted on the college, 
 and lay at a considerable distance from the place where 
 I had first started. I had just time to enter the postern 
 gate of a pigsty, when, most opportunely, I found old Joe 
 Bowren, the brewer, bringing straw into the sty. He was 
 more attached to me than to any other boy, for I had 
 known him when I was at school in the Xorth, and had 
 made him a present of a very fine terrier. 
 
 "'I've just saved myself Joe,' said I; 'cover me up 
 with litter/ 
 
 "He had hardly complied with my request* when in 
 bounced the prefect by the same gate through which I had 
 entered. 
 
 " Have you seen Charles Waterton I ' said he, quite out 
 of breath. 
 
 "My trusty guardian answered, in a tone of voice 
 which would have deceived anybody, ' Sir, I have not 
 spoken a word to Charles Waterton these three days, to 
 the best of my knowledge. 
 
 * Upon this, the prefect, having loot all scent of me,
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 gave up the pursuit, and went his way. When he had 
 Escape, disappeared, I stole out of cover, as strongly perfumed as 
 was old Falstaff when they had turned him out of the 
 buck basket. 
 
 " Once I had gone into the labyrinth to look into a 
 magpie's nest, which was in a high hollow tree; and 
 hearing the sound of voices near, I managed to get a 
 resting-place in the tree just over the nest, and there I 
 squatted, waiting the event. Immediately the President, 
 two other Jesuits, and the present Mr. Salvin of Croxdale 
 Hall, passed close under the tree without perceiving me. 
 
 " The good fathers were aware of my predominant pro- 
 pensity. Though it was innocent in itself, nevertheless it 
 was productive of harm in its consequences, by causing 
 me to break the college rules, and thus to give a bad 
 example to the community at large. Wherefore, with a 
 Insight magnanimity, and excellent exercise of judgment, which 
 are ^ ^e P rovmce f those who have acquired a con- 
 summate knowledge of human nature, and who know how 
 to turn to advantage the extraordinary dispositions of those 
 intrusted to their care, they sagaciously managed matters 
 in such a way as to enable me to ride my hobby to a 
 certain extent, and still, at the same time, to prevent me 
 from giving a bad example. 
 
 " As the establishment was very large, and as it con- 
 tained an abundance of prey, the Hanoverian rat, which 
 fattens so well on English food, and which always con- 
 trives to thrust its nose into every man's house when there 
 is anything to be got, swarmed throughout the vast extent 
 of this antiquated mansion. The ability which I showed 
 in curtailing the career of this voracious intruder did not 
 fail to bring me into considerable notice. The cook, the 
 baker, the gardener, and my friend old Bo wren, could all 
 bear testimony to vny progress in this line. By a mutual
 
 Hie young rooks were fledged. Moreover 
 
 ii:-* :: ir-r^-'il: T- - 
 
 of mjambitaon. I followed 
 
 up my TaHhig with great success. Tin* ggimim dlisap- .'/??- 
 pared by the doom; the books woe moderately weH 
 thumbed; and, accmding to my action of things, aH went 
 
 One of those wise teadbos did him 
 vice. He called the lad into IDS noni, told him that Ms 
 luting disposfcian WMdd. cany him into 
 
 M.I :^- : lini :: r:-:^i^ :_-.: r'r-;- : 
 
 touch either wine or apiiita. Waterton gars tfa.e 
 
 and kept it to the hour of his death, Bore than sixtr Tear; 
 
 afterwards. Chnce, when i^tniniBg ftian cne of hk 
 
 -M,.-:.- 1, :o:> i r :>?s :: ":^: i 1 : ^1- V.: 
 
 '...- '.:-.^'.- :::_ .:::j ;:?.:^r "ii-T.ra.r,ii-:.; i-".:^: _: v_" 
 
 At tte age of dgktem he left Slonjhnxst with mudi 
 regre^ and after a jear spot aft Watton Han amid the 
 
 : . I",.,, :;- :: :1- i-li. Lr -:-.:-; : :. i:-: :: 1.- , . i:- 
 neys abroad. It was daring tike Peace of Amipni^ and 
 Spain was chosen as the countzy whkh he dionld viaatL 
 After staTOfj m snort time at Cadiz, he sailed for Malaga,, 
 
 -I \i..i :le .- :>.: :.:riz. :.; v-;: .r.'.-l:,- .:- - 
 
 Gibraltar was the last place in Emope where apes fived 
 wild. How they 9* then no one bows, but Wateriest 
 
 ---- - :- -: L- I,,-,;- :': -.1, 7 :^;i r ,' ;r. r -,:i 7 
 
 b Afiita 
 
 "Let as imagine that, m times long gone by, the pro-
 
 10 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Apes of mountain called Ape's Hill, on the coast of Barbary ; aud 
 
 Gibraltar, that, by some tremendous convulsion of nature, a channel 
 
 had been made between them, and had thus allowed the 
 
 vast Atlantic Ocean to mix its waves with those of 
 
 the Mediterranean Sea. 
 
 " If apes had been on Gibraltar when the sudden shock 
 occurred, these unlucky mimickers of man would have 
 seen their late intercourse with Africa quite at an end. A 
 rolling ocean, deep and dangerous, would have convinced 
 them that there would never again be a highway overland 
 from Europe into Africa at the Straits of Gibraltar. 
 
 "Now as long as trees were allowed to grow on the 
 Eock of Gibraltar, these prisoner-apes would have been 
 pretty well off. But, in the lapse of time and change of 
 circumstances, forced by ' necessity's supreme command,' for 
 want of trees, they would be obliged to take to the ground 
 on all-fours, and to adopt a very different kind of life 
 from that which they had hitherto pursued." 
 
 The animal here mentioned is the Barbary Ape, or 
 Magot, a species of Macacque. At Gibraltar it feeds 
 largely on the scorpions that have their habitations under 
 the loose stones. I do not think that Waterton's sugges- 
 tion as to its altered habits is carried out by facts, for the 
 magot is quite as much at home among rocks or among 
 trees, as are the great baboons of Southern Africa. I 
 The Magot. have seen a number of magots in a large cage, or 
 rather, apartment, in the open air. They were supplied 
 with rock-work and trees, and of the two seemed to 
 prefer the former. Their colours harmonised so completely 
 with that of the rough stones on which they sat, that 
 many persons passed the cage, thinking it to be untenanted, 
 while five or six magots were seated among the rocks, and 
 almost as motionless as the stones themselves. 
 
 Generally, the Gibraltar magots keep themselves so
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 much aloof, that they cannot be seen without the aid of a 
 
 * l_^_ 1 M. Tiy, M j .. . _ f ,, ,j_. _ ,. ,__ i ji ,, 
 
 telescope, out n aternm was tonnnase lamigii ID aee tne 
 whole colony on the move, they being forced to leave their 
 quarters by a change of wind. He founto! between fifty 
 and sixty of them, some having young on their backs. 
 
 After staying for more than a year in Malaga, and 
 having apparently in the meantime acquired the Spanish 
 language,, of which be was totally ignorant when be en- 
 tered Cadiz, but in which he was afterwards a proficient, 
 be projected a visit to Malta, but was checked by a ter- 
 rible obstacle. This was the -Uack-vomit," which broke 
 out with irresistible formy atTM? an p at> ^*^ with cholera and 
 yellow fever. 
 
 The population died by thousands, and so many were 
 the victims of these diseases that graves could not be dug 
 to keep pace with tne mortality. Large pits 
 like our plague-pits and* as they could 
 the coffins, the bodies of the dead were 
 into the pits. An uncle of TTatertan 
 died of the disease, his body was taken out of its coffin 
 and thrown into the pit, and just beneath him lay the 
 body of a Spanish marquis. Xo less than fourteen toon- 
 sand people died in Malaga, notwithstanding that fifty 
 
 with the black-vomit, but, although it was thought that 
 he could not Mve until die following day, his gr 
 of cxmstitution, aided by hB simple mode of fife, enabled 
 him to conquer in the struggle. As if to add to the terrors 
 
 to leave a spot 
 which had been stricken with such plagues, and among 
 them was Waterloo. But the authorities had mean- 
 while kid an embargo on tne shaping, and it was next to
 
 12 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 impossible to get away. At last, at the risk of imprison- 
 
 An escape ment for life, he escaped by the daring and forethought 
 planned. _. ... . 
 
 of a Swedish captain. 
 
 He took on board Waterton and his younger brother, 
 the former being entered on the ship's books as a Swedish 
 carpenter, and the latter as a passenger. How carefully 
 the escape was planned, and how skilfully it was executed, 
 must be told in Waterton's own words : 
 
 " We slept on board for many successive nights, in hopes 
 of a fair wind to carry us through the Straits. At last, a 
 real east wind did come, and it blew with great violence. 
 The captain, whose foresight and precautions were truly 
 admirable, had given the strictest orders to the crew that 
 not a word should be spoken whilst we were preparing to 
 escape. We lay in close tier amongst forty sail of mer- 
 chantmen. The harbour-master having come his usual 
 rounds and found all right, passed on without making any 
 observations. 
 
 " At one o'clock, P.M., just as the governor had gone to 
 the eastward to take an airing in his carriage, as was his 
 custom every day, and the boats of two Spanish brigs-of- 
 war at anchor in the harbour had landed their officers for 
 the afternoon's amusements, our vessel worked out clear 
 of the rest, and instantly became a cloud of canvas. The 
 captain's countenance, which was very manly, exhibited a 
 portrait of cool intrepidity rarely seen : had I possessed 
 the power, I would have made him an admiral on the spot. 
 
 " The vessel drove through the surf with such a press of 
 sail that I expected every, moment to see her topmasts 
 carried away. Long before the brigs- of- war had got their 
 officers on board, and had weighed in chase of us, we were 
 S^lccess. f ar a t sea ; and when night had set in we lost sight of them 
 for ever, our vessel passing Gibraltar at the rate of nearly 
 eleven knots an hour."
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 13 
 
 It was indeed fortunate for Waterton that he succeeded 
 in making his escape, for in the following spring the plague 
 returned with increased violence, and no less than thirty- 
 six thousand more victims perished. Waterton never 
 dwells on the hardships and sufferings which he under- 
 went in his travels, hut he remarks that his constitution 
 was much shaken by the Malaga illness, and that in all 
 probability he would not have survived a second attack. Shaifn by 
 He had tried to persuade another uncle to take part in the 
 escape, but he declined, and was carried off by the second 
 outbreak of the pestilence. 
 
 So ended Waterton 's first experience of foreign travel 
 It was not by any means an encouraging tour, for he had 
 lost relatives, friends, and health, while he had gained 
 little except a knowledge of travel, and the sight of 
 flamingos, vultures, and apes at liberty. 
 
 It was characteristic of Waterton that when he found 
 himself at Hull, forty-four years after he started on his 
 travels, he made inquiries about the captain of the ship in 
 which he took his first voyage, discovered that he was 
 alive, sought him out, and renewed the acquaintance 
 begun so many years before. 
 
 His weakened state caused him to take cold as he was 
 sailing up the Channel ; the cold settled on the lungs, and 
 he was scarcely in less danger in England than he had 
 been in Malaga. However, he again rallied, and was able 
 once more to join the hunting-field. Still, the shock to 
 the system had been very great, and to the end of his 
 life, though he could endure almost any amount of heat, 
 he was painfully sensitive to cold, and especially to cold 
 winds. The chilly climate of England did not agree Climate of 
 with his health, and he found himself again obliged 
 to go abroad. He longed, he said, " to bask in a warmer 
 sun."
 
 14 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Voyage to Some estates in Demerara being in possession of the 
 f^jiy^ Waterton went to superintend them, and in the 
 interval before starting, made the personal acquaintance 
 of Sir Joseph Banks, who at once appreciated the powers 
 which the young traveller was afterwards to develop. 
 He gave Waterton a piece of most excellent advice, 
 namely, to come home for a time at least once in three 
 years. 
 
 He continued to administer the estates for eight years, 
 when, as both his father and uncle, the proprietors of the 
 estates, were dead, he handed over the property to those 
 who had a right to it, and thence began his world-famed 
 Wanderings, the account of which will be given exactly 
 as he wrote it; without the change or omission of a 
 syllable, or the addition of a note.
 
 DTEESG his stay in Demema, he was *A**eA as the ifeqMfc&s 
 bearer of despatches to the Spanish Government in** 
 Qmnfln and received the first commission which had 
 been held bj any one bearing the name of Waterton 
 since the days of Queen May; the immiii-i being 
 dated August 2, 1808. 
 
 While passing vp the Orinoco river in the fulfilment 
 of this mission, an adventure occurred which had well- 
 nigh deprived the world of the Wanderings. 
 
 - During the whole of the passage up the river, there was 
 a grand feast for the eyes and ears of an ornithologist. In 
 the swampy parts of the wooded islands, which abound in 
 this mighty river, we saw waterfowl innumerable; and
 
 BIOGEAPHY. 
 
 Tropical when we had reached the higher grounds it was quite 
 birds ' charming to observe the immense quantities of parrots and 
 scarlet aras which passed over our heads. The loud harsh 
 screams of the bird called the horned screamer were heard 
 far and near ; and I could frequently get a sight of this 
 extraordinary bird as we passed along ; but I never 
 managed to bring one down with the gun, on account of 
 the difficulty of approaching it. 
 
 "While we were wending our way up the river, an 
 accident happened of a somewhat singular nature. There 
 was a large labarri snake coiled up in a bush, which was 
 close to us. I fired at it, and wounded it so severely that 
 it could not escape. Being wishful to dissect it, I reached 
 over into the bush, with the intention to seize it by the 
 throat, and convey it aboard. The Spaniard at the tiller, 
 on seeing this, took the alarm, and immediately put his 
 helm aport. This forced the vessel's head to the stream, 
 and I was left hanging to the bush with the snake close to 
 me, not having been able to recover my balance as the vessel 
 veered from the land. I kept firm hold of the branch to 
 which I was clinging, and was three times overhead in 
 the water below, presenting an easy prey to any alligator 
 that might have been on the look-out for a meal. 
 
 " Luckily a man who was standing near the pilot, on 
 
 seeing what had happened, rushed to the helm, seized hold 
 
 of it, and put it hard a-starboard, in time to bring the 
 
 Wounded head of the vessel back again. As they were pulling 
 
 Labam. me ^ j gaw ^^ ^ e gna jj e was evidently too far gone 
 
 to do mischief ; and so I laid hold of it and brought 
 
 it aboard with me, to the horror and surprise of the crew. 
 
 It measured eight feet in length. As soon as I had 
 
 got a change of clothes, I killed it, and made a dissection 
 
 of the head. 
 
 " I would sometimes go ashore in the swarnps to shoot
 
 ::>:?::;. 
 
 marondies, \rhich are somewhat related to the pheasant ; 
 hot they were very shy, and it required considerable 
 address to get within shot of them. In these little 
 excursions I now and then smarted for my pains. More 
 than once I got among some hungry leeches, which made 
 pretty free with my legs. The morning after I had had 
 the adventure with the Labarri snake, a cayman slowly 
 passed oar vessel. All on board agreed that this tyrant 
 of the fresh waters could not be less than thirty feet 
 long." 
 
 I ought to state that the Labarri snake here mentioned 
 is one of the most venomous serpents of Guiana, but 
 as it will be fully described in a subsequent page, I 
 shall say no more about it at present. Waterton never 
 feared snakes, even though knowing that their bite is 
 certain death, but the coxswain of the boat, not having 
 such nerve, might well be excused for taking alarm. 
 
 A rather amusing incident took place when he had 
 reached his destination. 
 
 " On arriving at Angostura, the capital of the Orinoco, 
 we were received with great politeness by the Governor. 
 Nothing could surpass the hospitality of the principal 
 inhabitants. They never seemed satisfied unless we were 
 partaking of the dainties which their houses afforded. 
 Indeed, we had feasting, dancing, and music in super- 
 abundance. 
 
 "The Governor, Don Felipe de Yneiarte, was tall and 
 corpulent On our first introduction, he told me that he 
 expected the pleasure of our company to dinner every 
 day during our stay in Angostura. We had certainly 
 every reason to entertain very high notions of the 
 plentiful supply of good things which Orinoco afforded ; 
 for, at the first day's dinner, I counted more than forty 
 dishes of fish and flesh. The governor was superbly 
 
 c
 
 18 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Heavy attired in a full uniform of gold and blue, the weight 
 uniform. Q f W ^j c j 1 a i onej i n that hot climate, and at such a 
 repast, was enough to have melted him down. He had 
 not half got through his soup before be began visibly 
 to liquefy. I looked at him, and bethought me of the 
 old saying, ' How I sweat ! said the mutton-chop to the 
 gridiron.' 
 
 "He now became exceedingly uneasy; and I myself 
 had cause for alarm ; but our sensations arose from very 
 different causes. He, no doubt, already felt that the 
 tightness of his uniform, and the weight of the orna- 
 ments upon it, would never allow him to get through 
 that day's dinner with any degree of comfort to him- 
 self; I, on the other hand (who would have been amply 
 satisfied with one dish well done) was horrified at the 
 appalling sight of so many meats before me. Good- 
 breeding whispered to me, and said ; ' Try a little of 
 most of them.' Temperance replied, 'Do so at your 
 peril ; and for your over-strained courtesy, you shall 
 have yellow- fever before midnight.' 
 
 "^ * ast ^ e Governor said to me, in Spanish, 'Don 
 Carlos, this is more than man can bear. No puedo sufrir 
 tanto. Pray pull off your coat, and tell your companions to 
 do the same ; and I'll show them the example.' On saying 
 this, he stripped to the waistcoat ; and I and my friends 
 and every officer at table did the same. The next day, 
 at dinner-time, we found his Excellency clad in a uniform 
 of blue Salempore, slightly edged with gold lace." 
 
 ^ tr P* ca * Wanderings came to an end in 1825, in 
 ngs' which year he published the now famous volume. At 
 first, he received from the critics much the same treat- 
 ment as did Bruce and Le Vaillant. Critics would not 
 believe that Bruce ever saw a living ox cut up for food, or
 
 BIOGRAPHY. is, 
 
 that the Abyssntians ate beef raw in preference to cooked. 75* 
 Neither would they believe that Le Vafflant ever chased Cr ""~ t *- 
 a giraffe, because, as they said, there was no such Minnal, 
 and that therefore, Le Yaflknt could not hare seen it 
 
 Similarly, some of TTaterton's statements were received 
 with a storm of derision, more especially his account <c<f 
 the doth and its strange way of living ; of the mode* of 
 handling deadly serpents, and above all, his ride on tie 
 back of a cayman. "There is however one honourafok 
 exception in the person of Sydney Smith, who devoted 
 one of his wittiest and happiest essays to a review of 
 the Wamdffrimgfs and fuHy recognized the extraordinary 
 powers of Waterton. 
 
 According to Sydney Smith, Waterton " appears in early s^taty 
 life to have been staled with an unconquerable aversion to 
 Piccadilly, and to that train of meteorological questions 
 and answers which forms the great staple of polite eon- 
 
 "The sun exhausted him by day, the mosquitos bit 
 him by night, but on went Mr. Charles Waterton. .... 
 happy that he had left his species far away, and is at last 
 in the midst of his blessed baboons." 
 
 Nothing can be better than Sydney Smiths summary of 
 the life of a sloth, who "moves suspended, rests suspended, 
 sleeps suspended, and passes his whole life in suspense, 
 like a young clergyman distantly related to a bishop." 
 Or, than his simile of the box-tortoise and the boa, 
 who "swallows him shell and all, and consumes him 
 slowly in the interior, as the Court of Chancery does a 
 
 Or, what can be happier than the turn he gives to 
 Waterloo's account of the toucan ? 
 
 "How astonishing are the freaks and fancies of nature * 
 To what purpose, we say, is a bird placed in the forests of 
 
 G 2
 
 20 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Cayenne, with a bill a yard long, making a noise like a 
 Toucan, puppy dog, and laying eggs in hollow trees ? The Toucans, 
 to be sure, might retort to what purpose were gentle- 
 men inr Bond Street created ? To what purpose were 
 certain foolish, prating members of Parliament created? 
 pestering the House of Commons with their ignorance and 
 foMy, and impeding the business of the country. There 
 is no end of such questions. So we will not enter into the 
 metaphysics of the toucan." 
 
 Perhaps the oddest thing to be found in criticism is 
 that which is given in Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia. 
 Waterton's statements having been proved to be true, 
 the writer now turns round, and tries to show that after 
 all there was nothing very wonderful in the achieve- 
 ment. 
 
 " The crocodile in fact, is only dangerous when in the 
 water. Upon land it is a slow-paced and -even timid 
 animal, so that an active boy armed with a small hatchet 
 might easily despatch one. There is no great prowess 
 therefore required to ride on the back of a poor cayman 
 after it has been secured, or perhaps wounded ; and a 
 modern writer might well have spared the recital of his 
 feats in this way upon the cayman of Guiana, had he not 
 Truth in been influenced in this and numberless other instances by 
 fidion t' ne greatest possible love of the marvellous, and a constant 
 propensity to dress truth in the garb of fiction." 
 
 Putting aside the fact that the writer received some of 
 his earliest instructions from Waterton, who was always 
 ready to impart his knowledge to those who seemed likely 
 to make a good use of it, the assertion is absolutely 
 unaccountable. No man was less influenced by a love of 
 the marvellous, and none less likely to " di*ess truth in the 
 garb of fiction." 
 
 His knowledge of Nature was almost wholly obtained
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 21 
 
 from personal observation, and not one single statement of Penfma 
 his has ever been proved to be exaggerated, much less 6 ^ w ra " 
 shown to be false. He might sometimes discredit the 
 statements of others. For example, he never couid 
 believe that any races of men could be cannibals from 
 choice, and not from necessity or superstition. But, 
 whether at home or abroad, his investigations were so 
 dose and patient, and his conclusions so just, that he is 
 now acknowledged to be a guide absolutely safe in any 
 department of Natural History which came within his 
 scope. Xo one now would think of disputing Waterton's 
 word. If he denied or even doubted the statements of 
 others, his doubts would have great weight, and could 
 lead to a closer investigation of the subject But, if he 
 asserted anything to be a fact, his assertion would be 
 accepted without scruple. 
 
 As to the meaning of the sentence about truth aud 
 fiction, I fail to understand it, except as a poetical way of 
 rounding a paragraph. In the first place, if truth be truth, 
 it is essentially opposed to fiction, and cannot borrow her 
 garb. In the next place, the writer gives no instance of 
 this remarkable performance, except a reference to the 
 capture of the cayman. Now, nothing can be simpler or 
 more straightforward than Waterton's account of the whole 
 transaction. He does not glorify himself, nor boast of his 
 courage. He leaped astride the animal, being sure, from a 
 knowledge of its structure, that he could not be reached 
 by the cayman's only weapons, namely, its teeth and its 
 tail, and he never repeated the feat. 
 
 Even the peculiar style in which Waterton wrote, could Style of 
 not justify such a charge as was made by Swainson. wir**/. 
 
 It was, perhaps unconsciously, formed on that of Sterne, 
 many of whose phrases are employed almost verbatim. 
 Then, his mind was saturated with Horace, Virgil, Ovid,
 
 22 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Quotation. Cervantes, Washington Irving (himself a disciple of 
 Sterne), Chevy Chase, and literature of a similar character. 
 In the days when he first took up the pen, it was the 
 rather pedantic custom to introduce frequent quotations 
 from the classics into writings, speeches, and sermons, 
 and Waterton followed the custom of the day. Moreover, 
 it is an old Stony hurst custom to employ such quotations 
 both in conversation and writing, and Waterton could 
 never shake it off.. But, when he came to descriptions of 
 scenes in which he had taken part, nothing could be more 
 simple, terse, and graphic, than his style, especially when his 
 sense of humour was aroused. Take for example the very 
 scene which Swainson assailed. There is no fine language 
 in it. There are a few of the inevitable quotations, which 
 might be omitted with advantage, but all the descrip- 
 tion is couched in the simplest and most forcible 
 English, without a redundant word. A better word- 
 picture does not exist in our language. We see before 
 us the captured cayman struggling in the water, the 
 mixed assembly of South American savages, African 
 negroes, a Creole, and an Englishman, all puzzled to know 
 how to get the beast ashore without damaging it, or being 
 wounded themselves. 
 
 Daddy Then, there is the amusing cowardice of " Daddy Quashi," 
 Quashi. ^ negro, who ran away when suspecting danger, hung in 
 ' the rear when forced to confront it, and, when it was over, 
 " played a good finger and thumb at breakfast," Water- 
 ton's strong sense of humour prevails throughout the story, 
 but there is not a tinge of vanity. He explains his firm 
 seat on the furious animal's back by mentioning that he 
 The hunt, had hunted for several years with Lord Darlington's fox- 
 9 fieldf hounds, but he does not tell the reader that in that cele- 
 brated hunt he was considered, next to Lord Darlington, as 
 the best horseman in the field.
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 It is illustrative of Waterton's character that when the 
 reviewers impugned his veracity, he troubled himself very 
 litfle about them, saying that the creatures which he had 
 described would one day find their way to the Zoological 
 Gardens, and then that everybody would see that he had 
 but spoken the truth. So, when the first sloth arrived, 
 Waterton had quite a little triumph over his detractors. 
 Indeed, the probability was, that, after readiDg one of 
 these reviews, he would invite the assailant to Walton 
 Hall, offer him the good old English hospitality of that 
 place, and settle the point of dispute in friendly controversv. 
 
 But, little as he cared for such attacks, he was deeply 
 stung by the epithet 'eccentric' which one writer applied 
 to him, and never could forget it 
 
 Yet, had he not been eccentric, he could not have been 
 the Charles Waterton so long known and loved. It was 
 perhaps eccentric to have a strong religious faith, and act 
 up to it It was eccentric, as Thackeray said, to " dine 
 on a crust, live as chastely as a hermit, and give his all to 
 the poor." It was eccentric to come into a large esiate as 
 a young man and to have lived to extreme old age with- 
 out having wasted an hour or a shilling. It was eccentric 
 to give bountifully and never allow his name to appear in 
 a subscription-list. It was eccentric to be saturated with 
 the love of nature. It might be eccentric never to give 
 dinner-parties, preferring to keep an always open house 
 for his friends ; but it was a very agreeable kind of ec- 
 centricity. It was eccentric to be ever childlike, but never 
 childish. We might multiply instances of his eccentricity 
 to any extent, and may safely say that the world would be 
 much better than it is if such eccentricity were more 
 common. 
 
 It formed one of the peculiar charms of his society, and 
 he was utterly unconscious of it He thought himself the
 
 24 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 most common-place of human beings, and yet no one could 
 be in his company for five minutes without feeling himself 
 in the presence of no ordinary man. He had no idea that 
 he was doing anything out of the general course of things 
 if he asked a visitor to accompany him to the top of a 
 lofty tree to look at a hawk's nest ; or if he built his 
 
 Thought- stables so that the horses might converse with each other 
 after their work was over, or his kennel so that his 
 hounds should be able to see everything that was going on. 
 Even the pigs came in for their share of his kindly 
 thoughtfulness. He used to say that in a wild state, 
 swine were not dirty beasts, but that when they are penned 
 into small sties, as is usually the case, they have no op- 
 portunity of being clean. So he had his sties built of 
 stone, with a stone platform in front, sloping and chan- 
 nelled so as to be easily and thoroughly cleansed, and 
 having a southern aspect so that the pigs might enjoy 
 the beams of that sun which their master loved so much 
 himself. 
 
 On these warm stone slabs they used to lie in a half- 
 dozing state, and Waterton often used to point out the 
 multitudinous wasps that came flying into the sties and 
 picked off the flies from the bodies of the drowsy pigs. 
 If the sties at Tudhoe had been like those at Walton Hall 
 he would not have issued from them in the highly per- 
 fumed state which he so amusingly describes. See p. 6. 
 Some persons thought that his rooted abhorrence of 
 
 Mourning, mourning was eccentric. If so, the eccentricity is now 
 shared by many, including myself, who have abandoned 
 on principle the black crape, gloves, hat-bands, mutes, 
 black feathers, black-edged writing paper, and other 
 conventional signs of grief. 
 
 Waterton however carried the principle still further, and 
 could never be induced to wear even a black coat of any
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 25 
 
 kind on any occasion. He usually wore a blue body-coat Dress. 
 with gold not gilt buttons, but at the urgent request of 
 the police, who told him that his costly buttons were a 
 perpetual anxiety to them whenever he went to Wakefield, 
 he at last consented to lay them aside, except at home, 
 and have his buttons covered with blue cloth. 
 
 This peculiarity once caused him to lose the privilege of 
 an introduction to the Pope (Gregory XVI.). Etiquette 
 demanded that if uniform could not be worn, the presentee 
 must appear in ordinary evening dress. Xow, had Water- 
 ton qualified as Deputy- Lieutenant, he could have followed 
 the usual custom and worn that uniform, but as he had 
 refused to do so, evening-dress was the only alternative. 
 But he would not wear ' frac-nero,' and so lost the 
 presentation. 
 
 On another occasion however, the difficulty was evaded 
 in a very characteristic manner. He bethought himself of 
 his commission in the Demerara militia ; but he had no 
 uniform, and there was no time to make one. Some naval Uniform. 
 friends were with him, Captain Manratt being, I believe, 
 one of them, and with Waterton's blue coat and gold buttons, 
 surmounted with a pair of naval epaulettes, and with 
 the addition of a naval captain's cocked hat and sword, 
 they composed an amusingly miscellaneous uniform. One 
 friend wickedly suggested that spurs would have an impos- 
 ing effect in connection with the naval hat and epaulettes, 
 but he was not to be caught in so palpable a snare. 
 
 OF his travels on the Continent, there is but little to say 
 as they are related at some length in the three volumes of 
 Essays. It is remarkable, by the way, that on the Conti- Essays. 
 nent, as well as in England, he met with injuries far more 
 severe than any which he received in Guiana. 
 
 Twice he was nearly drowned.
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 On one occasion he was on board a vessel named the 
 Pollux, and bound from Civita Vecchia to Leghorn. In 
 the night of the same day, an accident befell the Pollux, 
 almost exactly resembling that in which the ill-fated 
 Princess Alice was destroyed. The night was peculiarly 
 calm, the stars were shining brightly, and everything ap- 
 peared to be in security, when all on board were startled 
 from their sleep by a violent shock. A steamer, named 
 the Mongibello, from Leghorn to Civita Vecchia, had run 
 into the Pollux, and cat her nearly in two, the cutwater of 
 the Mongibello having actually forced its way into Water- 
 ton's cabin. 
 
 Fortunately for the passengers, most of them, including 
 Waterton and his family, were sleeping on deck. As is 
 too often the case under similar circumstances, the officials 
 on board the offending vessel lost their presence of mind, 
 and were actually sheering off from the wreck. Had it 
 not been for the courage and skill of Prince Canino (Charles 
 Bonaparte) the loss of life must have been very great. 
 
 He was a passenger on board the Mongibello, knocked 
 the steersman off the wheel, took the helm himself, and 
 laid the vessel alongside the sinking Pollux. Only one 
 life was lost, that of a man who had a large sum of gold 
 sewed in a belt round his waist, and was drawn under 
 water by the weight. 
 
 In this shipwreck, although Waterton's life was saved, 
 he and his party lost their wardrobes, money in cash, and 
 letters of credit, books, writings, passports, and works of 
 art ; the last mentioned loss being irreparable. Fever and 
 dysentery were the results of the shipwreck, and did not 
 loosen their hold until long afterwards. 
 
 fallinto Another time, he fell into Dover harbour while about to 
 
 harbour, embark on board the steamer. Any one who has walked on 
 
 cliffs on a dark night is aware of the difficulty of distinguish-
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 27 
 
 ing land from water. At Margate I was once within a single Dangers 
 step of falling over the cliff, whose edges corresponded so f d *-*- 
 exactly in colour with the sea and rocks below, that, had 
 it not been for the information conveyed by a stick, I 
 must have been instantly killed. Several persons, indeed, 
 have lately been killed at the same spot. 
 
 Thinking that he was at the gangway, he stepped over 
 the edge of the quay, and fell fifteen feet into the water 
 pinking under the paddle-box, and only finding support 
 by catching at the wheel itself. Thence he was rescued ; 
 but the cold winds blowing on him as he stood wet and 
 dripping on the deck of the steamer, brought on a violent 
 attack of fever. He had recourse to his usual double 
 remedy, the lancet and calomel, and recovered sufficiently 
 to attend the great religious festival at Bruges, for the sake 
 of which he had left England. 
 
 His reliance on the lancet and calomel was almost in- 
 credible. In these times the former is hardly ever used, 
 and the latter has been abandoned by a great number of 
 medical men. But in Waterton's early days these were 
 the principal remedies, and he never lost faith in them. 
 When I last saw him in 1863, he told me that he had 
 been bled one hundred and sixty times, mostly by his own 
 hand. 
 
 The amount of blood which he would take at a time 
 from his spare and almost emaciated frame was positively L*iueta*d 
 horrifying. On this occasion he lost twenty-five ounces c 
 of blood, and next morning took twenty grains of jalap, 
 mixed with ten grains of calomeL It was no wonder that 
 the vampire bat of Guiana would never bite him, though 
 he left his foot invitingly out of the hammock in order to 
 attract it He used to complain that the bat never could 
 be induced to bleed him, though it would attack a man 
 lying in the next hammock ; but he might have antici-
 
 28 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 pated that the vampire would know better than to try to 
 suck blood from a man who was constantly bleeding 
 himself. 
 
 Besides these accidents by water, he twice suffered 
 severe injuries when travelling by land. 
 
 Broken i n 1818, while returning over Mount Cenis, he fancied 
 that the baggage on the top of the carriage was loose, and 
 . mounted on the wheel to examine it. Unfortunately his left 
 knee broke the window, and two large pieces of glass ran 
 into it just above the knee-joint. In spite of the darkness, 
 he contrived to get out the two pieces of glass, bound up 
 the wound with his cravat, cut off his coat pocket, and had 
 it filled with poultice at the nearest house, and, although 
 repeatedly attacked with fever, he reached Paris and there 
 gained strength to return to England. The knee remained 
 stiff for two years, but by continual exercise without the 
 aid of a walking-stick, the limb recovered its normal flexi- 
 bility. 
 
 The next accident might have, been nearly as serious, 
 and is here given in his own words : 
 
 Barefoot i j ia( j a Hft\Q adventure on the road from Baccano to 
 
 walk to 
 
 Home. Rome not worth relating, but which I deem necessary to 
 be introduced here in order that some of my friends in 
 the latter city, and others in England, may not give me 
 credit for an affair which deserves no credit at all. These 
 good friends had got it into their heads that I had reached 
 Eome after walking barefoot for nearly twenty miles, in 
 order to show my respect and reverence for the sacred 
 capital of the Christian world. Would that my motive 
 had been as pure as represented. The sanctity of the 
 churches, the remains of holy martyrs which enrich them, 
 the relics of canonised saints placed in such profusion 
 throughout them, might well induce a Catholic traveller 
 to adopt this easy and simple mode of showing his religious
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 29 
 
 feeling. But, unfortunatelp, the idea never entered my 
 mind at the time, I had no other motives than those of 
 [. easy walking and self-enjoyment The affair which caused 
 the talk took place as follows : 
 
 " We had arrived at Baccano in the evening, and whilst Bataata. 
 we were at tea, I proposed to our excellent friend Mr. 
 Fletcher, who had joined us at Cologne, that we should 
 leave the inn at four the next morning on foot to Rome, 
 and secure lodgings for the ladies, who would follow us 
 in the carriage after a nine-o'clock breakfast. Having 
 been accustomed to go without shoes month after month 
 in the rugged forests of Guiana, I took it for granted that 
 I could do the same on the pavement of his Holiness Pope 
 Gregory the Sixteenth, never once reflecting that some 
 fifteen years had elapsed from the time that I could go 
 barefooted with comfort and impunity ; during the interval, 
 however, the sequel will show that the soles of my feet had 
 undergone a considerable alteration. 
 
 "We rose at three the morning after, and having put a 
 shoe and a sock or half-stocking into each pocket of my 
 coat, we left the inn at Baccano for Rome just as the hands 
 of our watches pointed to the hour of four. Mr. Fletcher, 
 having been born in Xorth Britain, ran no risk of injuring 
 his feet by an act of imprudence. The sky was cloudless 
 and the morning frosty, and the planet Venus shone upon 
 ns as though she had been a little moon. 
 
 " Whether the severity of the frost, which was more than 
 commonly keen, or the hardness of the pavement, or perhaps 
 both conjoined, had deprived my feet of sensibility, I had 
 no means of ascertaining ; but this is certain, I went on jr<mnded 
 merrily for several miles without a suspicion of anything f ML 
 being wrong, until we halted to admire more particularly 
 the transcendent splendour of the morning planet, and then 
 I saw blood OH the pavement ; my right foot was bleeding
 
 30 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Repairing apace, and, on turning the sole uppermost, I perceived a 
 
 damages. pj ece O f jagged flesh hanging by a string. Seeing that 
 
 there would be no chance of replacing the damaged part 
 
 with success, I twisted it off, and then took a survey of 
 
 the foot by the light which the stars afforded. 
 
 " Mr. Fletcher, horror-struck at what he saw, proposed 
 immediately that I should sit down by the side of the road, 
 and there wait for the carriage, or take advantage of any 
 vehicle which might come up. Aware that the pain would 
 be excessive so soon as the lacerated parts would become 
 stiff by inaction, I resolved at once to push on to Eorne, 
 wherefore, putting one shoe on, the sound foot, which, by 
 the way, had two unbroken blisters on it, I forced the 
 wounded one into the other, and off we started for Home, 
 which we reached after a very uncomfortable walk. The 
 injured foot had two months' confinement to the sofa before 
 the damage was repaired. 
 
 " It was this unfortunate adventure which gave rise to 
 the story of my walking barefooted into Eome, and which 
 gained me a reputation by no means merited on my part." 
 
 Two more serious accidents occurred within his own 
 domains. 
 
 Accident H e was out shooting in 1824, when the gun exploded 
 shooting, just as he was ramming the wad on the powder. For- 
 tunately the charge of shot had not been put into the gun. 
 As it was, the ramrod was driven completely through the 
 forefinger of the right hand, between the knuckle and first 
 joint, severing the tendons, but not breaking the bone, 
 though the ignited wadding and powder followed the 
 ramrod through the wound. He procured some warm water 
 at a neighbouring house, washed the wound quite clean, 
 replaced the tendons in their proper positions, and bound 
 up the finger, taking care to give it its proper form. 
 
 Of course the lancet was used freely, and by dint of
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 31 
 
 poulticing and constant care, the full use of the finger was 
 nslored. 
 
 The other accident might have caused his death on the 
 spot, and was a far more severe one than that by which he 
 afterwards lost his life. 
 
 In 1850, he being then in his sixty-ninth year, he was 
 mounted on a ladder for the purpose of pruning the branches F-J.U \rki 
 of a pear-tree. The ladder, which was merely propped ? ru 
 against a machine of his own invention, slipped sideways, 
 and came to the ground. \Vaterton having fallen nearly 
 twenty feet 
 
 He had been repeatedly warned that the machine, not 
 having side stays, must fall if the weight were thrown on 
 one side. But he still persisted in using it, although, 
 shortly before the accident, his sou had left the spot, 
 saying that he could not be responsible for an accident 
 which he foresaw but could not prevent. He was partially 
 stunned, and his arm greatly injured, the heavy ladder and 
 machine having fallen into the hollow and smashed the 
 elbow-joint 
 
 His first act on recovering himself was to use his lancet 
 and take away thirty ounces of blood. Unfortunately a 
 second accident happened almost immediately after the 
 first, a servant having thoughtlessly withdrawn a chair 
 just as he was seating himself, and so causing a second 
 shock, and the loss of thirty ounces more blood. 
 
 For some time, he lay insensible and was apparently A 
 dying fast, but bis iron constitution at length prevailed, 
 and he was restored to life, though not to health. The 
 injured arm was gradually dwindling in size, and gave 
 continual pain, causing loss of sleep and appetite He 
 had at last resolved on having the arm amputated, when 
 his gamekeeper advised him to try a certain bone-setter 
 living at Wakefield, who was celebrated for his cures.
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 The Bone- "Waterton took his advice and sent for the practitioner, 
 setter, -jy^ j Q row ^ ier) -^ho decided that he could cure the in- 
 jured limb, but at the expense of great pain. The wrist 
 was much injured, a callus had formed in the elbow-joint, 
 and the shoulder was partially dislocated. After a time 
 spent in rubbing, pulling, and twisting, he got the shoulder 
 and wrist into their places, and then, grasping the arm 
 "just above the elbow with one hand, and below it with 
 the other, he smashed to atoms, by main force, the callus 
 Painful which had formed in the dislocated joint, the elbow itself 
 operation. crac ^j n g as though the interior parts of it had consisted of 
 tobacco-pipe shanks." 
 
 The process was rough, and gave inexpressible pain, but 
 it was effectual, sleep and appetite returned, and health was 
 soon restored. 
 
 From this accident Waterton drew a characteristic warn- 
 ing, namely, never to use ladders when climbing trees. 
 
 One, if not the principal reason of his cessation from 
 tropical explorations, was his marriage. In 1829, he 
 married Anne, a daughter of the Charles Edmonstone^ 
 of Demerara, who is often mentioned in the Wanderings 
 as a kind and true friend. 
 Marriage. His marriage lias a curiously romantic history. 
 
 Mr. Charles Edmonstone, one of the Edrnonstones of 
 
 Broich in Scotland, had previously gone to Demerara, 
 
 where he met a fellow-countryman, William Eeid of 
 
 Banffshire, who had settled there, and had married Minda 
 
 Princess' (generally called Princess Minda), daughter of an Arowak 
 
 m a. ^jgf Charles Edmonstone married Helen, daughter of 
 
 William Eeid and Minda, and they had several children, 
 
 one of whom, Anne Mary, became the wife of Waterton. 
 
 He met her in Demerara, while she was yet a child, and 
 
 made up his mind that she should be his wife. 
 
 Mr. Edmonstone afterwards returned with his family to
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 33 
 
 Scotland, and purchased Cardross Park, an old family Cardro 
 estate that had formed a portion of the dower of one of 
 his royal ancestors ; Sir John Edmonstone, who married 
 the Princess Isabel, daughter of Bobert II. of Scotland ; 
 and Sir William Edmonstone his son, who married his 
 cousin, the Princess Mary, daughter of Robert III. 
 
 Through this branch, Edmund Waterton, the present head 
 of the family, is descended lineally from Leofric and Godiva , Grf.i ' 
 whose romantic legend is, I regret to say, wholly a myth. 
 It was impossible that she could have ridden through 
 Coventry, for the same reason that, according to the old 
 song, prevented Guy Faux from crossing Vauxhall Bridge 
 on his way " to perpetrate his guilt." Coventry was not 
 in existence at the time. 
 
 There is, however, some foundation for the legend. 
 Godiva was a lady possessing vast wealth, with which 
 she determined to found and endow an abbey. This she 
 did, " stripping herself of all that she had," and thence 
 the legend. Coventry gradually arose round the abbey, 
 and had no streets, and consequently no tolls, until Godiva 
 had been dead at least a century. 
 
 On the death of Charles Edmonstone and his wife, their The c 
 three daughters, Eliza, Anne Mary, and Helen, were sent jj^ 
 to the well-known convent of Bruges, for the purpose of 
 completing their education, and, in the C'onvent Church, 
 Waterton was married to Anne, on May 11, 1829, she 
 being then only seventeen, and he forty-eight. There is 
 an old Scotch proverb to the effect that a bride of one 
 May will never see a second. It was but too true in this 
 cose, for Anne Mary Waterton died on April 27, 1830, ^ fl * 
 twenty-one days after giving birth to a son. 
 
 Through him it is to be hoped that a line so interwoven 
 with ancient history, and so prominent in modern times, 
 will not be broken. He married Josephine, second daughter
 
 31 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Edmund of Sir John Ennis, Bart., of Ballinaliown Court, Co. West- 
 
 \Yaterton. j^g^ l re i a nd. He has issue, Two sons, Charles Edmund, 
 
 now a student at Stonyhurst, and Thomas More. Four 
 
 daughters, Mary, Agnes, Amabil (who died a few months 
 
 after her birth), and Josephine. 
 
 Waterton could never bear to speak of his wife, but he 
 needed help in the care of his infant son. For this purpose, 
 he asked her two sisters, the Misses Eliza and Helen Ed- 
 monstoue to take up their abode with him. This they did 
 to the hour of his death, and he often wrote with affec- 
 tionate gratitude of their devotion to him. 
 
 He yearned to go back again to the wilds of Guiana, but 
 considered that his child had prior claims upon him, and 
 so, according to his invariable custom, he sacrificed in- 
 clination to dutv.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Magnificence and money. Waterton's mole of life and persanal expenses. 
 Sleeping on planks. His visits to thechapeL The " morning gun. " 
 The razor and the lancet Redaction of the family estates. H is 
 work at Walton Hall. Natural advantages of the place. The wall 
 and its cost. Bargees and their guns. Instinct of the herons. Herons 
 and fish-ponds. Drainage of the ponds. The moat extended into a 
 lake. Old Gateway and Ivy -Tower. Siege by Oliver Cromwell. 
 Tradition of a musket-balL Draw-hridge and gateway in the olden 
 times. Tradition of a cannon-balL Both ball and cannon discovered. 
 Sunken plate and weapons. Echo at Walton Hall. West view of 
 lake. How to strengthen a bank. Pike-catching. Cats and pike. 
 Spot where Waterton fell. 
 
 WATEBTON AT HOME, and, what a home ! At ho 
 
 It was not magnificent in the ordinary sense of the word. 
 Such magnificence may be the result of mere wealth, with- 
 out either taste, imagination, or appreciation. The veriest 
 boor in existence, who happens by some turn of fortune to 
 be put in possession of enormous wealth, need only give 
 the word, and he may revel in more than royal 
 magnificence. 
 
 As for the house itself, no expenditure could give it the 
 least pretence to beauty or stateliness. It is one of the 
 worst specimens of the worst era of architecture, and is 
 nothing but a stone box perforated with rows of oblong 
 holes by way of windows. 
 
 I tried on all sides to obtain a view of it which would 
 soften down its ugliness, but could not succeed. The 
 
 D 2
 
 38 
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 front of the house is, strange to say, the worst part of it, 
 being a flat, smooth, stone wall, with three rows of oblong 
 windows, eight in a row. The only specimen of architec- 
 ture which could approach it in this respect is a work- 
 house of the same date, those of modern times being 
 infinitely superior in architectural effect. 
 
 Why the grand old house should have been pulled down 
 to make way for such an edifice is quite inexplicable. 
 
 
 W llOUSeS Wil1 be found with an oak -P an elled hall 
 ninety feet in length. Yet all this was destroyed ; part of 
 the oak-panelling was used in building a pigeon-house, and 
 the rest was burned. Such was the state of architecture 
 in the days " when George the Third was king." 
 
 Unfortunately, no paintings or engravings of this most 
 memorable house are in existence, though there are in- 
 numerable plates of the "Seats of the Nobility and
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 37 
 
 Gentry," most of them in the style satirized by Hogarth 
 in his " Marriage a la Mode." 
 
 In fact, the architecture of that era is on a par with the 
 classical costumes of the stage. I have possessed for 
 many years a volume of Shakspeare in which there is a 
 portrait of an actor in the part of Troilus. He is 
 classically costumed as a Trojan in a tight scale cuirass, 
 a short cloak, knee breeches and silk stockings, Roman 
 buskins, a tie wig, a helmet with a vast plume of ostrich 
 feathers, and he is bidding defiance to Diomedes with a 
 toy Moorish sword which would hardly cut off the head 
 of a wax dolL 
 
 So if Waterton had desired architectural magnificence, 
 he could not have obtained it, except by pulling the 
 house down, and building another. But, he had no taste 
 for such magnificence, his life being one of rigid, not to say 
 severe, simplicity. 
 
 His personal expenses were such as could have been Simplicity 
 covered by the wages of one of the labourers on his own ^ e ' 
 estate. His single room had neither bed nor carpet. He 
 always lay on the bare boards with a blanket wrapped 
 round him, and with an oaken block by way of a pillow. 
 As has been mentioned, he never touched fermented liquids 
 of any kind, and he took but very little meat. 
 
 When I knew him, he always retired to his room 
 at 8 P.M. Few men of his age would have chosen a 
 room at the very top of a large house; but stairs were 
 nothing to Waterton, whose limbs were strengthened by 
 perpetual tree climbing. Punctually at three A.M., being 
 roused by the crowing of a huge Cochin China cock, which 
 lie called his ' morning gun,' he rose from his plank couch, t 
 lighted his fire, lay down for half an hour, and was always 
 dressed and closely, or as he called it, ' clean ' shaven, by 
 four, when he went into the private chapel which was
 
 38 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 next door to his room, and where he usually spent an hour 
 in prayer. 
 
 Razor and I had several friendly altercations with him upon shav- 
 lanc<t. - n& but he would ag SQOn give up t]ie i ancet as the razor. 
 
 He would not even wear a particle of whisker, and kept 
 his thick, snowy hair within half an inch of length. He 
 had not lost a hair, in spite of his advanced age, and I have 
 often thought that if he had allowed his hair and beard to 
 grow to their full luxuriance, a nobler figure could not have 
 visited an artist's dreams. 
 
 Then came reading Latin and Spanish books (Don 
 Quixote being always one), and then writing, receiving 
 bailiff's report, &c., until eight, when, at the stroke of Sir 
 Thomas More's clock, breakfast was served. So, he had 
 done a fair day's work and finished breakfast at the time 
 when most persons of his position in life had scarcely awoke. 
 
 Tn the next place, he was not a rich man. 
 
 piminu- As a rule, the old Yorkshire families are wealthy, and 
 estate, the Watertons would have been among the wealthiest of 
 them, but for the shameful oppressions to which they were 
 subjected. That most accomplished robber, Henry VIII., 
 had confiscated the greater part of the estates, and what 
 with direct robberies, double taxation, fines, and so forth, 
 the estates were terribly reduced when he came into pos- 
 session of them. Even if he had wished it, magnificence 
 would not have been attainable, but he achieved more 
 than magnificence, and with the restricted means at his 
 command, converted a Yorkshire valley into a veritable 
 wonder-land. 
 
 In this congenial task he was favoured by circumstances 
 which are not likely to occur again. He possessed the 
 requisite knowledge, a constitution of iron, and a frame of 
 astonishing endurance and activity. He came into pos- 
 session of the estate as a very young man, only twenty-
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 39 
 
 four years of age, and remained absolute master for nearly 
 sixty years- 
 It was a pity that he did not bestow as much pains on Birds 
 his estate as on his birds. But he was no practical "^'*. 
 agriculturist as his father had been. He could not do 
 anything which looked like oppressing his tenants, and 
 the consequence was, that they were habitually in heavy 
 arrears, and often threw up their farms without paying 
 rent, having impoverished the land and enriched them- 
 selves. 
 
 He loved natural history in all its forms, but his chief 
 pursuit was the study of bird-life, and he modified the 
 grounds to the use of the birds, caring much more for their 
 comfort than his own. For this purpose the grounds were 
 admirably adapted by Nature, and he aided her by art. 
 There were a large moat and a succession of ponds for the 
 accommodation of aquatic birds. There were swampy 
 places where the birds could feed. There were ruined edifices 
 for such birds as chose them for a residence, and the whole 
 of the park was covered with stately trees. Moreover, the 
 house stood on a stone island in the moat, and, as may be 
 seen from the illustration on page 36, permitted the habits 
 of the water-birds to be closely watched. 
 
 The first need was obviously to allow the birds to be un- 
 disturbed by boys and other intruders, and to prohibit the 
 firing of guns the only sound which birds seem instinc- 
 tively to dread. But, as there was a public pathway run- 
 ning in front of the house, he had great difficulty in 
 obtaining permission to close it This object, however, 
 was at last attained, and he then began his wall. It is of TA Part 
 a roughly circular form, the house being near the centre. 
 Xov\ here is it less than eight feet high, and where it runs 
 along the canal, it is more than double that height, in order 
 to protect the birds from the guns of bargees.
 
 40 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Barges. These men, by the way, used to be most determined 
 poachers, and, on account of their mode of life, even if 
 detected and chased, they could escape by means of their 
 barges. They were chary, however, of venturing inside a 
 sixteen feet wall, and after a while ceased from troubling. 
 Such a work was necessarily very expensive, costing at 
 least ten thousand pounds. It was too large a sum to be 
 paid at once, and "Waterton would not run in debt. So, 
 every year, he put aside as much money as could be spared 
 for the wall, went on building until the money was ex- 
 pended, and then stopped the work, and waited until the 
 following year to continue it, The wall was three miles in 
 total length, and inclosed an area of two hundred and 
 fifty-nine acres. 
 
 The value of this wall was shown by the fact that the 
 Heronry, very year after it was finished the herons came and estab- 
 lished themselves within it. At my last visit in 1863, 
 there were nearly forty nests. 
 
 How should they know that a wall could protect them 
 against man ? It was no obstacle to them, and how they 
 could have known, as they evidently did, that it was an 
 obstacle to mankind is one of the yet unsolved problems 
 which puzzle students of zoology. Moreover, they knew 
 that those few specimens of humanity who came within 
 the wall would do them no harm. I have often been in 
 the heronry, with the blue fragments of broken eggs lying 
 on the ground, and seen the herons going to and from their 
 home with perfect unconcern. Even on the ground, the 
 herons had no fear of man. Provided that a man ap- 
 proached them slowly and quietly, he could come close 
 enough to see their eyes, and even to notice the reflection 
 of the rippling water upon their grey plumage. 
 
 Not only in the heronry, but in other parts of the park 
 near the water, the birds would allow themselves to be
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 41 
 
 approached quite closely, so that their peculiar habits Tameness 
 could be watched. I was able to secure slight sketches f HerOHS - 
 of the characteristic, and almost grotesque attitudes as- 
 sumed by the heron, and have selected three as examples. 
 
 Fig. 1 shows the bird in a position which, in common 
 with the flamingo, stork, and other long-legged wading 
 birds, it is fond of assuming. It doubles its legs under 
 the body, thrusts the feet forward, sinks its head upon its 
 shoulders, so as to conceal the long neck, and remains 
 so motionless and so unlike a heron that it might easily 
 be passed without notice. 
 
 Kg. 2 shows the heron standing on one leg at rest. By 
 moving cautiously round the bird, I succeeded in getting a 
 back view, so as to show the perfect balance of the body 
 on the single leg (Fig. 3). 
 
 Waterton had a special love for the heron, and frequently 
 alludes to the services which it renders to the owners of 
 fish-ponds. 
 
 "Formerly we had a range of fish-ponds here, one 
 above the other, covering a space of about three acres of pondjt ' 
 ground. Close by them ran a brook, from which the water- 
 rats made regular passages through the intervening bank 
 into the ponds. These vermin were engaged in never- 
 ceasing mischief. Xo sooner was one hole repaired than 
 another was made \ so that we had the mortification to see
 
 42 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the ponds generally eight or ten inches below water-mark. 
 Tliis encouraged the growth of weeds to a most incommo- 
 dious extent, which at last put an end to all pleasure in 
 fishing. Finding that the ' green mantle from the standing 
 pool ' was neither useful nor pleasant, I ordered the ponds 
 to be drained, and a plantation to be made in the space of 
 ground which they had occupied. 
 
 Vain* of n ac i i known as much then as I know now of the 
 valuable services of the heron, and had there been a good 
 heronry near the place, I should not have made the change. 
 The draining of the ponds did not seem to lessen the 
 number of rats in the brook ; but soon after the herons 
 had settled here to breed, the rats became extremely 
 scarce ; and now I rarely see one in the place, where 
 formerly I could observe numbers sitting on the stones at 
 the mouth of their holes, as soon as the sun had gone 
 down below the horizon. I often watch the herons on the 
 banks of some other store-ponds with feelings of delight ; 
 and nothing would grieve me more than to see the lives of 
 these valuable and ornamental birds sacrificed to the whims 
 and caprices of man." 
 
 A portion of one of these now dry fish-ponds may be 
 seen in the illustration of the " Grotto," on page 68. On 
 such a rich soil as that afforded by the bed of an old fish- 
 pond, the trees grew with great rapidity, and the spot is 
 now a singularly picturesque one, with bold effects of 
 light and shade, and shelter from the wind and sun. 
 
 The next important work was the extension of the moat, 
 a long and costly operation. 
 
 The present house is comparatively modern, standing well 
 clear of the water. But, the original house extended to 
 the water on the south side, and was a fortified building of 
 sufficient strength to justify a siege under Cromwell's 
 personal direction.
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 43 
 
 ; - . - 
 
 - : ' . _ : : : .:::' ~ \ :.-..: 
 
 - ----: :_:--' 
 
 :.- '. - : L : _... J : .: .:- 
 
 - .. - - : - > : - -- 
 
 ...7 _ - :>- : :- .: v- - :'. . ; 
 
 '.-.-'-::."- "-.-: ' - - . :. _ 
 
 of the aege in the shape of many ballet marks. In the left 
 portion of the gate there ism tfl stffl remaining, which is 
 
 to the eSTect that it *as fired br Ofirer OtanveH Mmselt 
 That he took an active part in the siege is wefl known, but ^ 
 it is difficult to identi^r anr mdrridnal luldt vhk-h he
 
 44 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Baaing fired. The tradition further states that the shot was aimed 
 thesieye. at the la(Jy of the j lousej W h gallantly conducted the 
 defence herself. The reader may be interested to hear 
 that her defence was successful. 
 
 The sketch, representing the Gateway in its present con- 
 dition, was taken on the opposite side of the water, from a 
 spot close to the tall and lightning-shattered poplar-tree, 
 shown on the right hand of the illustration on p. 36. 
 The chief interest of this view lies in the gateway itself. 
 Just behind it is an odd-looking tower, which was built by 
 "Waterton for the use of starlings, and the place is enclosed 
 on the north by a thick and closely-clipped hedge of yew. 
 The heavy masses of ivy which fall in thick clusters from 
 the turrets and which serve as a refuge for many birds, 
 have given to the structure the name of Ivy Tower, by 
 which it is often mentioned in the Essays. 
 
 While still very young, I was familiar with the Ivy 
 Tower from Waterton's Essays. They mostly appeared in 
 Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, and as that valu- 
 able publication was taken in at the Ashmolean Society 
 of Oxford, where I lived, I used to watch impatiently for 
 each successive number, in the hope that it might contain 
 an article from Waterton's pen. Thus, the gateway, the 
 lake, the heronry, the starling towers, the fallen millstone, 
 the shattered poplar, the holly hedges and the wooden 
 pheasants, were all known to me, and when at last I had 
 the privilege of visiting Walton Hall, there was not one of 
 those spots that I did not joyfully recognize. 
 
 In the old times ' the oulv a PP roacn to the mainland was 
 by a drawbridge, opening on to the gateway, which was 
 then three stories high. This has long been destroyed, 
 and at present the approach is made by a light iron bridge, 
 rather to the right of the gateway. This bridge is not 
 shown in the sketch.
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 45 
 
 As to the siege, there are other reminiscences beside the 
 gateway itself. 
 
 While the soldiers of Cromwell were occupying the hill 
 nearly opposite the gateway, one of the soldiers started off 
 with a keg on his shoulder to fetch beer from the village. 
 Thinking that he would return by the same route, one of 
 the garrison aimed a little gun which was mounted on the 
 topmost story, so as to command the path. The soldier ^ ?>* 
 did return by the same way, and was struck down by the 
 ball, which passed through his thigh. 
 
 The tradition of this lucky shot was handed down from 
 father to son, until it reached Waterton's father. He had 
 the curiosity to dig at the spot where the man was said to 
 have fallen, and there he found the ball, a little iron one. The ba.i\ 
 This he gave to his son, with a request that it should 
 always remain in the family. 
 
 In 1857, while dredging away the drift mud which had 
 accumulated round the gateway, a small iron cannon was 
 discovered. As the ball fitted it, and it was found exactly 
 below the turret from which the fatal shot had been fired, The 
 there could be no doubt that it was the identical gnn ' 
 
 CTLVERIS. 
 
 mentioned in the tradition ; so Waterton had the pleasure 
 of placing the cannon and the ball together in his house, 
 where every visitor could see them. 
 
 Beside the gun, there were found a sword-blade, a spear, 
 daggers, axe, many coins, keys, and some silver plate. 
 For their presence in the mud Waterton accounts by
 
 46 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 suggesting that they were flung into the moat, when the 
 house was ransacked for arms after the battle of Cullodeu. 
 He told me that he believed that if the lake were completely 
 drained, many more such articles would be recovered. 
 
 The view on page 36 is taken from a spot on the northern 
 
 bank. At some hundreds of yards distance from the house 
 
 there are a couple of splendid sycamores, and close to them 
 
 fho is a large block of ironstone, called the Echo Stone. Any 
 
 tone. one standing by it, and speaking towards the house, will 
 
 hear every syllable returned with wonderful clearness. 
 
 Sitting on this stone, I made the sketch from which this 
 
 illustration is taken. On it is engraved the word ECHO. 
 
 On the western side of the gateway there had been a 
 curious old chapel formerly attached to the mansion 
 Waterton, however, disliked it and took it down, against the 
 remonstrances of the then Duke of Norfolk, his godfather. 
 
 The lake is widest near the house, and then proceeds 
 almost due west, narrowing as it goes, and taking a turn 
 northwards towards the end, where it passes round a hill, 
 and becomes shallower, allowing the sedges and reeds to 
 appear, and so affording shelter for the aquatic birds. 
 
 Another view of the lake is now given, looking west- 
 ward, and taken from the right-hand first floor window of 
 the house as seen on page 36. 
 
 On the ground-floor may be seen a large window, flanked 
 
 by a smaller one on either side. These are the west 
 
 windows of the drawing-room. The central window is a 
 
 large sheet of plate glass, and behind it is mounted a large 
 
 telescope, commanding nearly the whole of the lake. 
 
 The On the left, before coming to the -wood, are a few 
 
 flfowt w iilows, and between them and the wood is a favourite 
 
 resort of the herons. The low bank looks as if it would 
 
 be endangered by the water, but it is perfectly firm, even 
 
 to the very edge. It is made of large stones, not squared,
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 but heaped loosely together. Seeds of various trees, espe- 
 cially those of the sycamore, fell into the water, floated on 
 its surface, and were arrested by the bank, where they 
 took root They were never allowed to grow into trees, 
 and were constantly cut down. But their roots twined 
 themselves among the stones, and bound them together 
 so firmly, that a stronger wall could not be desired. 
 
 ; - 
 
 
 
 The holes under these stones are favourite resorts of 
 pike, with which the lake abounds. 
 
 I am no angler, but I have caught many pike near the 
 willows by trolling, using nothing but a willow stick by 
 way of rod, a hank of whipcord for a line, a gorge hook, 
 and a minnow for bait. The largest that I ever took there 
 weighed rather over ten pounds, and very proud I was of 
 the fish, though it was a heavy and inconvenient article to 
 carry to the house. 
 
 Some of the pike, including the ten -pounder, were for
 
 48 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the table, but the fish were generally used for the purpose 
 Cat of feeding the cats, of which there were many about the 
 stables and cattle-yards, for the purpose of keeping dowii 
 the rats. It is now well known that a well-fed cat is the 
 best niouser, seldom eating its prey, but killing it for the 
 mere sport. 
 
 When the cats were fed, the fish were chopped up on a 
 wooden block near the stables. It was very amusing to 
 watch the operation. Although at first not a cat might be 
 visible, half a dozen blows had not been struck with the 
 chopper before impatient cries were heard, and cats came 
 swarming round the block, just as they do round a cat's- 
 meat man's barrow in London. 
 
 On the right, just above the tall tree near the edge of 
 
 the lake, a heron is seen flying in the distance. It was 
 
 Tit* fatal near the bank at the further end of the lake that Water ton 
 
 spot. met ^k ^ f ata } acc i(ient at a S p 0t ueai .jy below the 
 
 flying heron.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 and rain.-Self-restoratiTe powen of the hut Hidden ton. The 
 fungus and Us wort Use of the woodpecker and titmouse. How to 
 ntflne tree-stamps. The Cole Titmouse. Owl-house and seat. Dry- 
 n*. When to paint timber. Oaken gates of the old tower. Com- 
 maid over tows. How to make the holly grow qukklj The holly as 
 a hedge-tne Pheasotmrtrases, Artificial pheasantsT-The poachers 
 outwitted. Waterton's power of tree-climbing. An aerial study. 
 AsmdiBg and descending tree*, Church and State trees. The yew. 
 A protection against cold winds. Yew hedge at back of gateway. 
 The Starling Tower. Famffiaritj of the birds. The Pknk or Grotto. 
 Watertons hospitality. "The Squire" A decayed mill and aban- 
 doned stone. The stone lifted ofl the ground by a hazel nut. 
 
 WATEETOX'S love of trees almost amounted to veneration. L-^ of 
 He studied their ways as minutely and as accurately as he 
 did those of the animal world, and in consequence he could 
 do more with trees than any one else. By patient observa- 
 tion cf their modes of growth, he knew how to plant them 
 in the locality hest suited for themselves, how to encourage 
 them, and, if they were injured, to reduce their damage to 
 a minimum. 
 
 Many a fine tree has he shown me which would have 
 been long ago condemned by ignorant men, but which was 
 then flourishing in full growth, and in such renewed health 
 that scarcely a scar was left in the bark to show the spot 
 on which the injury had occurred. 
 
 One of his triumphs in this art was to be seen by a 
 splendid poplar situated nearly opposite the picturesque
 
 50 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Healing a gateway, and especially favoured by Waterton as having 
 poplar. been p ] ante d by his father. It was twice struck by light- 
 ning, and the trunk split open for many feet. 
 
 However, Waterton filled up the breaches, and in course 
 of time the tree recovered itself (see p. 36). It was in 
 full growth during my last visit, but it was blown down 
 by a severe gale in 1869, having succumbed, not to the 
 lightning, but to age. To heal a tree by filling it with bricks 
 and mortar may appear to be rather a singular method, but 
 it is a very effectual one ; the chief object being to keep 
 rain out of the tree, and so to guard it against rotting. 
 
 How thoroughly Waterton bad studied the ways of trees 
 may be seen from the following extract from his essay on 
 the Titmouse and the Woodpecker, in which he combated 
 the popular opinion that these birds were injurious to 
 trees : 
 
 " Would you inspect the nest of a carrion crow ? Brittle 
 Tree are the living branches of the ash and sycamore; while, 
 on the contrary, those which are dead on the Scotch pine 
 are tough, and will support your weight. The arms of the 
 oak may safely be relied on ; but, I pray you, trust with 
 extreme caution those of the quick -growing alder. Neither 
 press heavily on the linden tree ; though you may ascend 
 the beech and the elm without any fear of danger. But 
 let us stop here for the present. On some future day, 
 should I be in a right frame for it, I may pen down a few 
 remarks, which will possibly be useful to the naturalist 
 when roving in quest of ornithological knowledge. I will 
 now confine myself to the misfortunes and diseases of 
 trees ; and I- will show that neither the titmouse nor the 
 woodpecker ever bore into the hard and live wood. 
 
 " Trees, in general, are exposed -to decay by two different 
 processes, independent of old age. The first is that of a broken 
 branch, which, when neglected, or not cut off close to the
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 51 
 
 parent stem, will, in the course of time, bring utter ruin Decay of 
 on the tree. The new wood, which is annually formed, trecSm 
 cannot grow over the jutting and fractured part, into which 
 the rain enters, and gradually eats deeper and deeper, till 
 at last it reaches the trunk itself. There it makes sad 
 havoc ; and the tree, no longer able to resist the fury of 
 the tempest, is split asunder, and falls in ponderous ruins. 
 But ere it comes to this, the titmouse will enter the cavity 
 in a dry spring, and rear its young ones here. Now, if 
 the diseased or fractured branches were carefully cut off 
 close to the bole, you would see the new accession of wood 
 gradually rolling over the flat surface, which, in time, would 
 be entirely covered by it; and then the tree would l>e 
 freed for ever from all danger in that quarter. The second 
 process towards decay is exceedingly curious, and cannot 
 well be accounted for. If it takes place to a serious ex- 
 tent, no art of man can possibly save the tree ; and sooner 
 or later, according to the magnitude of the disease with 
 which it has been tainted, it will fall before the force of 
 the raging winds. Should this disease be slight, the timely 
 prevention of rain from penetrating the injured part will 
 secure the tree from further mischief. 
 
 " I must here observe that, in animated nature, the vital 
 functions are internal ; so that, if the part within be 
 mortally wounded, death is the inevitable consequence. 
 With most trees, and with all those of Britain, it is other- 
 wise. Their vitality is at the periphery, connected with Vitality / 
 the bark, under which an annual increase of wood takes ' 
 place, so long as the tree is alive. Should, however, the 
 bark be cut away, the tree will die upwards from the place 
 where all the bark has been destroyed. Not so with its 
 internal parts. You may entirely excavate the interior of 
 a tree ; and provided you leave a sufficient strength of wood 
 by way of wall, in order that it may be able to resist the
 
 52 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 fury of the tempest without, taking care at the same time 
 to exclude the rain, your tree will remain in vigour from 
 generation to generation. 
 
 " The internal texture of a tree will perish without any 
 notice by which we may be forewarned of the coming ruin. 
 The disease which causes the destruction takes place in 
 the oak ; but more frequently in the sycamore, and most 
 commonly of all in the ash. We will select this last tree 
 by way of elucidation. 
 
 " Often, when arrayed in all the bloom of vegetable 
 beauty, the ash -tree is seen to send forth from its bole, or 
 Fatal from some principal branch, a small fungus, which, during 
 fungus, the summer, increases to a considerable size. It ripens in 
 the autumn, and falls to the ground when winter's rain 
 sets in. The bark through which this fungus sprouted is 
 now completely dead, though it still retains its colour ; and 
 that part of the wood from which it proceeded is entirely 
 changed in its nature, the whole of its vitiated juices 
 having been expended in forming and nourishing the 
 fungus. Nothing remains of its once firm and vigorous 
 texture. It is become what is commonly called touch- 
 wood, as soft and frangible as a piece of cork, which, when 
 set on fire, will burn like tinder. In the meantime, the 
 tree shows no sign of sickness, and its annual increase 
 goes on as usual, till at last the new swelling wood closes 
 over the part from which the fungus had grown, and all 
 appears to go on right again. But ere the slow process 
 arrives at this state the titmouse or the woodpecker will 
 have found an entrance and a place of safety for their in- 
 cubation. They quickly perforate the distempered bark, 
 and then the tainted wood beneath it yields to their 
 pointed bills, with which they soon effect a spacious 
 cavity. 
 
 " Here, then, we have the whole mystery unfolded. These
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 53 
 
 birds, which never perforate the live wood, find in this diseased 
 part of the tree, or of the branch, a place suitable to their 
 wants. They make a circular hole large enough to admit 
 their bodies, and then they form a cavity within sufficiently 
 spacious to contain their young. Thus does nature kindly 
 smooth the way in order that all her creatures may prosper 
 and be happy. Whenever I see these sylvan carpenters 
 thus employed I say to them, ' Work on, ye pretty birds ; 
 you do no harm in excavating there. I am your friend, 
 and I will tell the owner of the tree that you are not to 
 blame. But his woodman deserves a severe reprimand. 
 He ought to have cut down the tree in the autumn, after 
 the appearance of the fungus.' " 
 
 Even when the tree was hopelessly destroyed by the Tree 
 fungus, Waterton would still find uses for the stump. He 
 would clothe it with ivy so as to render it picturesque, 
 and he would manipulate it so that it should be a home 
 for birds. 
 
 Many of these stumps are in the grounds, and of them 
 I have selected one or two as examples. 
 
 The first shows the " brick and mortar " system which Brick and 
 has already been mentioned. Several habitations for birds * 
 are constructed in it, and the stone in front is intended to 
 aid the observer in looking into the nests. I tried to 
 sketch this stump so as not to make it look like a 
 grotesque human face. But exactness was the first con- 
 sideration, and it is represented precisely as it was in 1863. 
 
 The second sketch was chosen because it represents one 
 of the fungus-visited ash-trees described by Waterton. Old .*. 
 
 The tree has been broken off some ten feet from the 
 ground, at a spot weakened by a fungus. Of the tree itself 
 little remains except the broken stump and a few small 
 branches which still retain their leaves. Ivy has ascended
 
 5-1 
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 it, and is hanging in heavy clusters, so as to give the 
 fast-dying tree a verdure not its own. And, as the reader 
 may observe, two more masses of fungus are projecting 
 from the tree and extracting the life from its fibres. 
 
 DECAYED ASH AND BRICK. 
 
 The Cole- 
 titmouse. 
 
 Just above the upper fungus and on its right is a small 
 door, with a hole near the top, and this little door has 
 rather a curious history. 
 
 In the spot where the door is shown there is a fungus, 
 p roY i n g t na t the wood from which it has sprung was 
 decayed. Now, Water ton had for some time wanted the 
 Cole-titmouse to breed in his park, and, in accordance with 
 this notion, provided it with a home. First, he separated an 
 oblong piece of wood about an inch in thickness so as to 
 form a door. Next, he cut away the soft decayed wood 
 until he had formed a considerable cavity. He then
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 55 
 
 replaced the door, fastening it with] two little hinges and 
 a hasp, and hored a hole in it about an inch in diameter. 
 
 In fulfilment of his expectations, the very bird which 
 he wanted soon discovered the locality, examined it care- 
 fully, and then built in the chamber so thoughtfully provided 
 
 : 
 
 for it I was never at Walton Hall while the bird was 
 sitting, bnt have often seen the nest. 
 
 The last of these sketches represents a singularly in- 
 genious combination of accommodation for man and bird 
 The trunk of an old oak-tree has been hollowed out, and 
 the interior is divided into two stories. 
 
 In the upper there are nesting-places for birds, especially 
 for owls, and in the lower there is a seat where the occu- 
 pant can remain unseen. It is placed on the brow of the 
 hfll which borders the lake, and is so arranged that not
 
 56 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 only can the observer watch from its shelter the habits of 
 
 e. the various aquatic beings which frequent the lake, but 
 
 can actually look into the nests built on the tops of lofty 
 
 trees without the birds suspecting that their movements 
 could be seen. 
 
 With regard to the decay of wood after it had been 
 felled, Waterton was not long in coming to the conclusion 
 that the " dry-rot," as it is oddly named, was caused not 
 so much by external moisture as by the natural sap of the 
 tree which had not been thoroughly expelled. When its 
 Dry-rot, juices have been completely dried and it is thoroughly 
 " seasoned," wood is as lasting as stone. We have in the 
 British Museum specimens of woodwork which, although 
 more than three thousand years have elapsed since the 
 trees were felled, are as sound as when they were first 
 carved. Waterton used to say that paint was the chief 
 cause of dry rot, especially when it was used to cover the 
 deficiencies of ill-seasoned wood, because it closed the 
 pores and did not allow the sap to escape. As a proof
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 that weather does not injure wen-seasoned i 
 wont to point to certain posts, gates, and o 
 made of oak, which had never been paintec 
 had been in the open air for some seven ha 
 and were perfectly sound. The oak doors of 
 are fully seven hundred yeazs old. They are 
 torn with musket-baHs, but are still free from 
 
 When he had new doors made which wocli 
 to the weather he used every precaution to keep tie v~- 
 from lodging in them. Xo panels were seen on ~f :-:*: 
 side, which was as smooth as it could be made. Tie 
 ixmntm* were bound with strong iron, painted bef-cre i~ -** 
 put on. 
 
 Xo matter how well-seasoned the wood might be. i 
 doors were made of deal, three years were allowed -..;< 
 elapse before painting, whfle, if of oak. :: WAS ^Tri 
 jamfr" 1 until six years had passed, and very orr-en TTI.? - : : 
 painted at aH It is also found that if holes were tomred 
 transversely into posts* so as to allow free entrance : : ilr. 
 the dry-rot scarcely ever made its appearance. If modern 
 builders would act upon a knowledge of tMs fact :Lry 
 would render our houses, roofs of buildings, ic, far more 
 enduring than they are at present. 
 
 DID we wish to show the wonderful command which 
 Waterton had over trees, we need only point to the holly- 
 trees in his park. The holly was a great favourite of his, 
 as it is very hardy when property planted, possesses a 
 beauty of its own, affords shelter for buds in 
 wen as summer, and can be formed into a hedge 
 
 to and beast. 
 As to laurel hedges, Waterton never would plant them, Lar&- 
 and he had found by experience that in ordinary hawthorn 
 hedges a bush would often die without any apparent
 
 58 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 reason, leaving an unsightly gap which could not be filled 
 Forcing up. In most hands the holly is a slow-growing tree, hut 
 "' Waterton made it grow with astonishing rapidity. 
 
 How he managed to "force " the holly may be seen from 
 his own words. 
 
 "People generally imagine that the holly is of tardy 
 growth. It may be so in ordinary cases, but means may 
 be adopted to make this plant increase with such effect as 
 to repay us. amply for all our labour and expense. 
 
 " Thus, let us dig the ground to a full yard in depth, 
 and plant the hollies during the last week of May, taking 
 care to puddle their roots well into the pulverized soil. 
 We shall find by the end of September that many of 
 the plants will have shot nearly a foot in length, and that 
 not one of them has failed, let the summer have been 
 never so dry. 
 
 " Small plants, bought in a nursery, and placed in your 
 own garden for a couple of years, will be admirably 
 adapted for the purpose of transplanting. Had I been 
 aware in early life of this increasing growth of the holly, 
 it should have formed all my fences in lieu of haw- 
 thorn." 
 
 I tried this plan with perfect success upon a stony and 
 
 ungrateful soil. The rationale of the process is, that 
 
 Roots and the young rootlets, which ought to be carefully spread by 
 
 branches. ^ e fingers, are able to draw nourishment rapidly from the 
 
 earth, and in consequence throw up branches in proportion. 
 
 Waterton advised me to cut down Hie young hollies at 
 
 first, and his advice was most valuable, although it cost 
 
 some pangs when followed. 
 
 I mentioned just now that a good holly hedge is imper- 
 vious to man and beast. So it is ; and not even the rat, 
 stoat, weasel, or even that worst of poachers, the cat, can 
 get through it. True, they might push their way between
 
 the stems, but there is one obstacle which prevents them, 
 namely, that they cannot put their feet to the ground. 
 
 The holly is perpetually shedding its leaves, especially 
 in summer-time, in order to make way for the new leafage. 
 The old leaves fell, become dry, and curl up r with their 
 sharp spikes projecting in all directions. These points. 
 sharp as needles, prick the feet of the prowling animal?. 
 and so prevent them from passing. 
 
 Of this property Waterton took advantage. Like many 
 landed gentlemen he had a preserve of pheasants, and wi? 
 consequently harassed by poachers. Xow he hated p ro^: u - 
 tion, and always evaded it if possible. On one oc^ion. 
 for example, when eight men and a boy were capered on 
 Sunday morning, while trespassing in Li? rookery, he 
 released them on finding that they were tailor?, saying thit 
 he could not think of prosecuting eight-ninth? and a half 
 of a man. 
 
 So with the poachers in his preserves. He would not 
 expose them to be shot by keepers, nor would he pro- 
 secute them if he could help himself, but he could circnrn- 
 vent them, and did so effectually by means of the holly. 
 
 The preserves were situated at some distance fro m the 
 house, so that the poachers could make a rapid inroad and 
 carry of their booty before they could be seized. So 
 Waterton laid a deep scheme. First he planted ne^r the 
 house, and just opposite his window, a clump of yew?, on 
 which trees pheasants are fond of perching. Xext he sur- 
 rounded them with a thick holly hedge, leaving only one 
 little gap, which could be closed by a strong padlocked 
 gate. Then, leaving the trees to grow, he set about the 
 other preparations. 
 
 He made a number of wooden pheasants, and did it in 
 the simplest manner imaginable. He got some small 
 scaffolding poles and cut them diagonally into pieces about
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Wooden as long as a pheasant's body. A lath fastened to one end 
 peasants. ma( j e a ca pital tail, and all that was needed was to trim 
 the shoulder to the neck, and put a head on the other end, 
 a nail doing duty for a beak. 
 
 STRUCTURE OF WOODKX PHEASANT. 
 
 By the time that the trees had grown sufficiently for his 
 purpose he had made about a couple of hundred of dummy 
 pheasants. He then threw a few sacks full of beans 
 inside the holly hedge, and laid a train of beans into the 
 preserve. The birds, finding the beans on the ground, 
 naturally followed the trail, and reaching so abundant a 
 supply of food as they saw inside the hedge, flew over it 
 and feasted to their heart's content. Then, not caring to 
 fly, after having gorged themselves, they settled for the 
 night in the yews. 
 
 Meanwhile the wooden pheasants were nailed on the 
 trees in the preserve, and so exactly did they resemble the 
 actual birds that in the dark no one could detect the 
 imposition. Even in daylight the dummy so closely re- 
 presents the bird that a second glance is necessary in 
 order to make sure that it is only an imitation. The ac- 
 companying sketch represents one of these dummies on 
 the outskirts of the preserve.
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 61 
 
 The poachers were completely deceived, and Waterton 
 used to enjoy the reports of their guns, knowing that they 
 were only wasting their shot upon the wooden images, 
 
 manor FHEASAXT ix TREE. 
 
 while the real birds were comfortably asleep under 
 i.is ey-r. 
 
 If the reader will refer to the illustration on page 36, 
 he will see that on the right hand, and near the poplar, is 
 a rather curious circular object. This represents the 
 pheasant fortress in question, and, although the small si2e 
 prohibits any detail, the general shape and appearance are 
 sufficiently shown. It will also be seen how close to the 
 house is the fortress, so as to be under the master's eye. 
 
 He made several more of these ingenious refuges, of 
 which other birds besides the pheasants took full ad- 
 vantage. 
 
 There was not a tree in the park that Waterton did not K*o*iedg< 
 know, and, if the smallest damage were done, he would - 
 be sure to find it out. One day I found the keeper much 
 disturbed, having discovered some shot in a tree trunk, 
 and being quite sure that he would be called to account
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 for it. The man was right enough, for Waterton found the 
 shot, before many hours had passed, and the keeper had 
 to undergo a severe cross-examination. 
 
 Aenal j^ j. on } v fa^ ~^ Q know the trees individually, and had 
 distinctive names for them, but there was scarcely one 
 which he had not climbed, and in the topmost branches 
 of which he had not sat, pursuing his favourite amuse- 
 ments of watching birds, and reading Horace or Virgil. 
 There are not many men who at the age of sixty would 
 have either the power or nerve to climb a tall tree, but 
 Waterton retained his powers of tree- climbing until his 
 death, and very shortly before his fatal accident had 
 ascended one of the largest trees in the park, he being 
 then in his eighty -third year. 
 
 Such a spot for study may seem a remarkable one, but 
 Waterton was never affected by heights, and the man 
 who had scrambled up the cross of St. Peter's at Rome, 
 climbed the lightning conductor, and stood with one foot 
 on the head of the colossal angel of St. Angelo, was not 
 likely to be made giddy by the view from the top of an 
 oak-tree. 
 
 In part of his autobiography, Waterton mentions that 
 ^ ie climbed to the top of the conductor, and left his glove 
 on it, but he does not tell the sequel of the story. 
 
 All Rome rang with the exploit, which reached the ears 
 of the Pope, Pius VII. Knowing that the glove would 
 spoil the conductor, he ordered it to be removed at once. 
 Not a man could be found in Rome whose nerves were 
 equal to such a task, and so Waterton had to repeat the 
 ascent and fetch his glove down again, to the amusement 
 of his friends, and the delight of the populace. 
 
 No one could have given the advice in tree-climbing 
 which is quoted on page 50, without having experienced 
 the comparative strength of the different trees. Perhaps
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 63 
 
 the reader may not know that coming down a tree is a far Climbing 
 more difficult task than ascending it. In the latter case, ^ 
 the climber can see his course, and note beforehand where 
 he shall place his hands and feet, while in descending he 
 has to trust partly to memory, and partly to touch. 
 
 It is easy enough, for example, to spring for a few inches 
 from a lower to a higher branch, but to drop those few 
 inches is a very nervous business, I have more than once 
 seen a climber ascend a tree very boldly, and then be so 
 frightened that he could not be induced to come down 
 without some one to guide his feet. The same rule holds 
 good with precipices, where a man can always ascend 
 where he has descended without jumping, but not nV<: 
 
 -'. 
 
 Even with trees, Waterton must needs have his joke. 
 All the important trees in the park had their names. y. jmao f 
 There were, for example, the Twelve Apostles standing in 
 a group, all starting from one root, the Eight Beatitudes, 
 the Seven Deadly Sins, &c. Then there were an oak and 
 a Scotch fir twined together, and going by the name of 
 Church and State (see p. 64). 
 
 YEW was one of Waterton's favourite trees, and he was jj if y flc 
 accustomed to say that it would be perfect if its leaves 
 were only furnished with spikes sharp enough to keep out 
 the cats, stoats, weasels, and his pet abhorrence, the brown 
 rat, which he always called the Hanoverian rat, and 
 stoutly believed was imported into England by the same 
 ship that brought. William of Orange to our shores, I 
 rather fancy that the Hanoverian origin of the brown rat 
 must have been one of Waterton's early jokes, and that he 
 gradually came to consider it as a fact The yew fur- 
 nishes harborage for many birds, which after all do 
 not seem to suffer much from four-footed enemies. The
 
 64 
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 well-known yew-hedge in the garden of Merton College, 
 Oxford, is full of little birds, though their domiciles are 
 not easily seen through the dense foliage. 
 
 Uses of the Waterton made great use of this valuable tree, and 
 
 yew ' formed with it evergreen walls, impermeable to the north 
 
 wind, the one foe which he dreaded, and which seemed 
 
 quite to benumb him. I have seen him with his lips so 
 
 CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 paralysed by the north wind that he could scarcely frame 
 a word. He spent most of his waking time out of doors, 
 and his yew hedges were a great advantage to him in 
 sheltering him from the north wind, and forming 
 pleasant nooks which received the cheering rays of the 
 southern sun. 
 
 He wrote as follows in his Essay on the Yew-tree : " It
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 has already repaid me for the pains which I have taken in its 
 cultivation ; and when I resort to my usual evening stand, in 
 order to watch the flocks of sparrows, finches, and starlings, 
 whilst they are dropping in upon the neighbouring hollies, 
 I feel not the wintry blast, as the yew-trees, which are 
 close at hand, are to me a shield against its fury ; and in 
 fact, they offer me a protection little inferior to that of 
 the house itself." 
 
 There is a magnificent crescent-shaped yew-hedge, which 
 partly surrounds the stables, and shuts them out from 
 sight so effectually, that no one could suspect their pre- 
 sence unless informed of it Another yew-hedge forms a 
 sort of wall behind the Ivy Tower, and aids in keeping it 
 quiet for the many birds which breed in it. 
 
 I have given the land view of the gateway (sometimes 
 called the " Ivy Tower " in the Essays) because it shows how 
 admirably Waterton adapted existing objects to his chief 
 pursuit at Walton Hall, namely, the cherishing of birds 
 and study of their habits. 
 
 The view is taken from the southern window of the guest- 
 chamber, and is one of the first objects that meets the 
 visitor's eyes on rising in the morning. 
 
 One portion of this illustration requires notice. Just 
 above the yew-hedge may be seen a curious - looking 
 circular tower ; with a conical roof. This was built ex- 
 pressly for the use of starlings, and is appropriately named 
 the Starling Tower. Many starlings found a home in the ' 
 Ivy Tower, but wishing to accommodate these birds still 
 further, Waterton buflt this tower for them, and a very 
 interesting structure it is, uniting several advantages. 
 
 In the first place, it is raised upon a smooth stone 
 pillar, on which rests a large circular, flattened stone, 
 considerably larger than the pillar. The object of this 
 arrangement is to keep out rats, the worst foes of the 
 
 F
 
 66 
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Cats and starling. Even the most active and sharpest-clawed rat 
 Rats. C0 uld hardly climb up the pillar, and if it did, would 
 be stopped by the flat stone. In fact, this pillar and 
 stone are similar in design to the "staddles" on which 
 wheat-stacks ought to be built, if farmers wish to preserve 
 their grain. Cats are also foes to the starling, but the flat 
 stone is too high for most cats to reach by jumping, and if 
 
 ATKWAV BACK 
 
 they tried to do so, the upper surface of the stone is 
 made with a slope, and is so smooth, that the claws could 
 not retain their hold. 
 
 The tower is circular, and is built in regular layers of 
 
 stones. Each alternate stone is loose, and when pulled 
 
 out, discloses a chamber behind, to which the bird obtains 
 
 * by means of a channel cut in the corner of the 
 
 Ihe birds took possession of the tower at once 

 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 :_--: i-i i: i- ' -:y -.^.'. ::-__: :: 
 Oe atones and aee the birds sitting on their eggs 
 bang in the kast ahnned at the intra 
 sequeoee of the protection which ther enjo 
 are to be found in great numbexs around 
 will assemble on the lawn in front of t 
 
 r 
 ;/ --'-'- 
 
 In 
 
 that they may he within a few yards 
 which they are being watched. A sec 
 wards bnflt and placed in another pod 
 
 THE leader may remember that Waierton drained some 
 fish-ponds and planted them with trees, which grew with 
 great rapidity. By means of the erer-useful yew, -various 
 anettering-pbces were made in it, and there was a little 
 angle-roomed cottage where Tfaterton could sift by a fire 
 
 r 2