_Tuesday, July 10th._--We went up to Paris at nine o'clock to see the
museum; it was a fine morning, but rather cold. It is a very pretty
drive; the country is beautiful about the Seine. There were a great
many bluebottles and scarlet poppies in the corn, more than I ever saw
in England; the fields looked like a sheet of blue and red. In Paris
they sell pretty wreaths of bluebottles. We met a cart guarded by
eight soldiers, with nothing in it but old chairs and broken tables.
We arrived at Paris at twelve o'clock, and went to two flower-shops,
where were beautiful artificial flowers. The carnations were scented.
They had not many wreaths: the flowers that brides wear are the buds
of orange flowers. We bought several single flowers, jessamine, roses,
camilla,[38] japonica, etc. From this we all went to the cabinet
d'Histoire Naturelle. We remarked the floating baths on the Seine. When
we reached the Jardin des Plantes the museum was not open, so we walked
in the garden till three o'clock, when the doors are opened. There was
quite a crowd of people of all ranks. I think it is wonderful that the
things are not hurt, as the people press close to the glasses. We went
to the upper gallery first, that we might have more time to examine
it. Several rooms open one into the other. There were soldiers with
swords in their hands, walking up and down. We had not time to look at
everything; we only skimmed over the things. The first rooms contain
above two hundred monkeys; we scarcely looked at them at all. In this
museum there seems to be every kind of creature. There is a great
quantity of bats of all sizes; a rat with a young one on its back;
some very small mice, marmottes, opossums, armadillos, lions, tigers,
panthers, etc.; a horse; most beautiful little deer, some very small;
a chevrotin; cats and dogs. These were all in _glass cases_ round the
room. In the middle of the room there were two enormous elephants, a
rhinoceros, etc., a hippopotamus, which is a frightful-looking creature
with an immense mouth. On the top of the cases there is a morse. In
the middle of the next room there is a whale, a wild ox, a buffalo,
and a cameleopard which almost touched the top of the room. There was
the skin of a snake, like a trunk of a tree, near the top of the room.
The animals in the middle of the room were not in cases. There was a
great variety of springboks, sjrisboks, etc., in this room, and also
porcupines, foxes, and a variety of other animals.
The most beautiful and amusing room was that in which the birds were.
There were a great many owls; pink spoonbills, scarlet flamingoes,
toucans, parrots of every colour, very pretty kingfishers, penguins,
cassowarys, peacocks and hens; there was one petrified ibis. The most
beautiful were the humming-birds; their colours were quite dazzling:
some were very small, and others larger. There was one beautiful
forked-tailed humming-bird: its throat was of the most brilliant green,
and its breast amethyst purple; the rest of its body was a shining
black. The topaz humming-bird is also very pretty; it has a yellow
breast and a red topping. The red-throated humming-bird is also pretty,
but not so brilliant as my favourite fork-tail. One of the larger
humming-birds is all bright black, like velvet, except the neck, which
is the colour of an emerald. No colours could express the brightness
of their plumage. There were several nests which were whitish. In the
same case with the humming-birds there were some scarlet creepers,
very bright and pretty, and one or two blue creepers which were like
precious stones. We examined this case longer than any other.
There was a glass case up the middle of the room in which were
lobsters, corals, shells, sponges, etc. In one part all the insects
were arranged. The butterflies were the most beautiful things I ever
saw. There was one very large blue one that dazzled my eyes to look
at; another black and bluish lilac; and the Amboyna butterfly, an
immense green and black one, with most brilliant colours and shining
like velvet. There were several small ones striped yellow and black;
one very beautiful small scarlet and purple one; several very large
greyish butterflies or moths which had small clear spots in their
wings like glass; there were two or three smallish butterflies marked
with every colour like marble. The large butterflies were excessively
beautiful. There were several English ones beside them that looked
quite dull and ugly. There were a great many large moths; one grey and
a great deal marked was even bigger than the green butterfly; there was
another beautiful large grey moth with purple eyes in its under wings.
Besides the butterflies there were several other insects: dragon-flies,
the colours of which were quite gone; enormous spiders; a great
variety of bees; an ant lion at the bottom of a small pit; very large
caterpillars; and a great many other insects.
We then went to the lower gallery, which is not so amusing; but there
are some curious fishes, a crocodile, very pretty marbles, a large
piece of gold ore, and a great variety of stones, etc. Instead of real
precious stones there were only imitations in glass, which looked very
shabby. I was very sorry to leave the museum; it was the most amusing
and beautiful thing in France. It closes at five o'clock. After we had
left it we returned to Versailles.