nate search for distant
relations. I carefully examined the walls, till I discovered a hole,
probably made by some rat of the place, and through this I entered the
house, and proceeded at once with eagerness to a small barred division,
from whence a feeble squeak proceeded.

[* I am not aware whether the Zoological Gardens at present
contain specimens of the curious rats described in the following
chapter.]

CHAPTER VII.

FINDING RELATIONS.

"Well, this is at length such weather as a creature may live and breathe
in! I've been half stifled all the autumn with the heat, but now the
fresh keen air seems like a breeze from my own dear Lapland!"

"Lapland! oh! there is nothing like Lapland," said a very dolorous voice
in reply. I lifted up my eyes to get a glimpse of the speaker.

Within the cage were two beautiful little Lemmings, (I learnt their name
afterwards as well as those of other inhabitants of the place.) They
were not much more than half my size, had pointed heads, very short
tails, and whiskers uncommonly long. Their coats were black and tawny,
but yellowish-white beneath. I heard subsequently that their race
inhabit Siberia, Norway, and other cold climes, moving in large bodies
like locusts, and like locusts eating up every thing green. But this
pair, as was evident from their conversation, had been natives of a
country called Lapland.

"Oh for a sight of the icy lakes, the snow-covered plains and the
reindeer moving lightly over them; while the rosy Aurora Borealis throws
its bright streamers across the sky!"

"And the strange little huts," rejoined the other, "made of briers,
bark, felt, and reindeer skins, where, when we peeped under the curtains
which made the door, we saw the tiny people, in their sheepskin
doublets, sitting on their heels round the fire! I don't wonder that the
Lapps love their land; I don't wonder that when long exiled from it,
they die of intense longing to return. That will be my fate, oh! that
will be mine!"

"Allow an English rat, gentle strangers," said I, "to offer a little
word of comfort. I grieve that you feel your captivity so much, that you
so deeply mourn your absence from your dear native land. But is it not
better to meet misfortune with courage, and bear it with patience? You
are yet left the society of each other, you can yet talk over old days
together, while the white bear growls in his prison alone, and the lofty
camel has no companion