It Appears Probable That The
Indians Of Chile Formerly Used Some Such Rude Agricultural
Instrument.
One day, a German collector in natural history, of the
name of Renous, called, and nearly at the same time an old
Spanish lawyer.
I was amused at being told the conversation
which took place between them. Renous speaks Spanish so
well, that the old lawyer mistook him for a Chilian. Renous
alluding to me, asked him what he thought of the King of
England sending out a collector to their country, to pick up
lizards and beetles, and to break stones? The old gentleman
thought seriously for some time, and then said, "It is not
well, - _hay un gato encerrado aqui_ (there is a cat shut up
here). No man is so rich as to send out people to pick up
such rubbish. I do not like it: if one of us were to go and
do such things in England, do not you think the King of
England would very soon send us out of his country?" And
this old gentleman, from his profession, belongs to the better
informed and more intelligent classes! Renous himself, two
or three years before, left in a house at San Fernando some
caterpillars, under charge of a girl to feed, that they might
turn into butterflies. This was rumoured through the town,
and at last the padres and governor consulted together, and
agreed it must be some heresy. Accordingly, when Renous
returned, he was arrested.
September 19th.
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