Mrs. Watts's charming Juvenile Annual, the _New Year's Gift_, furnishes
the following admirable model of a descriptive letter from the French
capital.
"The day following the one on which we were at Versailles, we spent in
visiting the Garden of Plants; this institution (if I may so call it) is a
little on the same plan as our Zoological Garden, and is said to be quite
unrivalled in the whole world. It contains curiosities of every age, and
from every quarter of the globe. The gardens, which cover more than a
hundred acres of ground, are filled with every plant that can be reared in
France, either naturally or by artificial means, from the lordly palm to
the humble potato.
"One enclosure is filled with every specimen of shrub that is capable of
being made to form a fence, from the prickly holly, of forty feet high, to
the dwarf-box, scarcely an inch above the ground.
"In another place, we see specimens of all the various modes of training
fruit, and other kinds of trees, which the ingenuity of man has been able
to accomplish--this is peculiarly interesting. Here, a tree is trained to
resemble a large basin, another is made to look like a gigantic umbrella,
and a third like a lady's fan.
"In one enclosure are collected together all the various specimens of
culinary vegetables that have usually been appropriated to the sustenance
of mankind; these, you will readily believe, occupy no small space; and
near them, are to be seen specimens of all the varieties of fruit trees of
which France and its neighbouring kingdoms can boast.
"In addition to all this, there are extensive green-houses and hot-houses,
filled with many thousand of the choicest plants, attached to each of
which is its scientific and its common name. Many of them were extremely
curious; I tried to remember so many, that I find I confound one with
another, and now I can scarcely recollect any, save the useful bread tree,
the curious coffee plant, and the tempting sugar cane, all of which are to
be seen here to great advantage.
"Attached to this beautiful garden, is a splendid museum, containing all
sorts of treasures connected with natural history. Here are to be seen
more than two hundred varieties of monkeys only; of birds, there are
myriads; and one or two species are shown, that are believed to be the
only ones of the kind extant; these, of course, are not alive. Here are
also collected hundreds of bird's nests, of all shapes, kinds and sizes,
from one almost as large as a hand basin, to one about the size of a green
gage plum: most of these contain eggs of such kinds of birds as those to
whom the nests belonged; and indeed the ingenuity with which many of these
little houses are constructed, surprised me more than any thing I ever
before witnessed. The collection of butterflies too is most remarkable,
from one the size of a plate, to those of the smallest size.
"In the same building is also to be seen a most extensive assortment of
minerals, spars, gems, ores, crystals, medals, etc. etc., which merely to
enumerate singly, would more than fill a long letter. We next saw the
Museum of Zoology: this contains reptiles and fish, innumerable, and of
which I can only say, how wonderful are their varieties! I must not,
however, forget to tell you that we saw a part of an elephant's tusk,
which when complete is believed to have been at least eight feet in length.
Only imagine what must have been the height of the possessor of such a
pair of tusks! Here too we saw the skeleton of an enormous whale that was
captured on the coast of France; and from the size of its jaw bones, I can
readily believe the old story, that the tongue of the whale is as large as
a feather bed.
"But the whale's was not the only skeleton which we saw,--here were
collected and strung together, the bones of men, women, children,
quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, and fish to form perfect specimens.--All this
was very remarkable: but I cannot say that I much admired them, though I
was much struck by the sight of an Egyptian mummy, embalmed and unwrapped,
and supposed to have been in its present state far more than a thousand
years. We none of us very much enjoyed the sight of the dead specimens, we
therefore gladly left them, in order to pay our respects to their living
neighbours, whose houses were not very far off.
"The Garden of Plants contains a very considerable number of wild animals,
and who all appear to be living very much at their ease. Indeed they are
surrounded with every thing that can be devised to render their captivity
as little irksome as possible. They are confined it is true; not in narrow
cages, but in wide enclosures; around them grow trees of their own country,
and under their feet springs the herbage of which they are most fond. The
Polar bear is indulged with a fountain of water, and when the camel is
inclined for a nap he reposes on a bed of sand. Of the usefulness of this
animal I must not omit to give you an instance, and that is, that so far
from eating the bread of idleness, he actually more than earns his living
by raising all the water that is used in these extensive grounds, and thus
he may be regarded as a general benefactor to all the plants and animals
by which he is surrounded. So much for the king's garden as it is
sometimes called; to attend all its different branches no less than a
hundred and sixty persons are constantly employed, and to keep it up
nearly twelve thousand pounds is annually expended. This of course
includes the expenses of travellers who are sent abroad by the French
Government to collect new treasures to enrich this wonderful place, which
may truly be called the museum of the world."
By the way, if it be not too late, we recommend parents to peep into this
pretty little volume for masters and misses. If "Black Monday" is past,
the "Gift" will still be acceptable: it will make school-time pass as
happily as a holiday.
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