If it were not for the health of my marsupials, I could wish nothing changed at all.’ ‘Do they pine, sir?’ ‘They miss their filth. That is to say, the wombats miss their filth. Their quarters are cleaned out most rigorously twice a day, and sometimes, I have reason to believe, by night. Now I am aware that in a man-of-war there is no place for filth – perhaps no place for a troop of wombats either – yet I cannot but regret it, and shall be glad when we reach the Cape. I have an excellent friend at Simon’s Town, that keeps a number of contented aardvarks in purely nominal captivity: to him I
...more
