The only objection he said he had to it was, that classification had
been sacrificed to appearance, and things were very much intermixed;
but his collection was too small to make this a matter of any
importance.
Jackson, as soon as the doctor was similarly engaged in showing them
to the captain and the Miss McDonalds, for whom they seemed to have a
peculiar interest, mounted guard over me.
"You see, Sir," said he, "the moose horns are the only thing of any
size here, and that's because the moose is half English, you know.
Everything is small in this country, and degenerates, Sir. The fox
ain't near as big as an English one. Lord, Sir, the ounds would run
down one o' these fellows in ten minutes. They haven't got no
strength. The rabbit too is a mere nothink; he is more of a cat, and
looks like one too, when he is hanged in a snare. It's so cold,
nothin' comes to a right size here. The trees is mere shrubbery
compared to our hoaxes. The pine is tall, but then it has no sap. It's
all tar and turpentine, and that keeps the frost out of its heart. The
fish that live under the ice in the winter are all iley, in a general
way, like the whales, porpoises, dog-fish, and cod. The liver of the
cod is all ile, and women take to drinkin' it now in cold weather to
keep their blood warm. Depend upon it, Sir, in two or three
generations they will shine in the sun like niggers.
Pages:
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213