NOTES.*See the Introduction.*Flamingo is a species of bird between the web-footed genus and the waders; it takes its name from the singular colour of its plumage, being of a bright flame-coloured red. This bird is to be found both in the old and the new continent; in the old continent, only in the southern climates; and in the new, no-where to the north of Carolina. The flamingo is a gregarious animal, frequenting the sea-shore and the marshes occasionally covered by the sea. When the flamingo sets out upon a fishing expedition, the birds range themselves in file, so as, at a distance, to produce the appearance of an extended line of soldiers; nor do they employ this arrangement only when they seek their prey, but also in a state of repose. Sometimes, however, a flamingo may be found alone, or with only a single companion, especially when at a distance from the sea. When drawn up in their military array, there are always sentinels fixed, who, in case of alarm, utter a loud cry capable of being heard at a great distance, and considerably resembling the sound of a trumpet: the sentinel then takes wing, and all the others follow: but whenever it is possible to come upon a flock of flamingoes without being observed by the sentinel, it is easy to pounce upon them and kill a great number. The report of a musket never induces them to take wing, but rather stupifies them; and they remain immovable, with their eyes fixed on the sportsman. They avoid all inhabited places, and live on the small fry of fish, or shell-fish, and on insects that they find in the mud, into which they plunge their long and singular beak. The flamingo builds its nest on the ground, and generally in marshes; they scrape the mud into a heap with their feet, so as to make little hillocks of a conical figure, and a foot and a half in height; the hillock is a little hollowed at the top; and in this hollow the female lays two or three eggs at most, upon which she sits; her legs, which are very long, resting upon the level ground, or plunged Into the water, while with the back part of her body she keeps the eggs in a proper state of warmth. The egg of the flamingo is white, and of the size of a goose’s egg, but more elliptical. The young ones run with inexpressible quickness in a few days after their birth, but do not begin to fly till they have acquired their full size. Their plumage is at first of a pale gray approaching to white; it grows redder as the young flamingo increases in age; but nearly a year elapses before this bird reaches its full stature; at which time it first shews its robe of a brilliant flame colour. The carnation hue first appears on the wing, which is always of the brightest tint; it then extends to the rump, and afterwards shows itself upon the back and breast, and as far as the neck, which is of a delicate rose colour. The flamingo is considered as a delicate morsel for the table, having some resemblance to the partridge in flavour: the tongue, which is very large, is particularly esteemed. They differ in stature, largeness, and colour; but this difference depends upon the age of the animal: when in full growth, the flamingo is more than four feet long from the beak to the tail, and neatly six feet high to the extremity of the talons. The neck and legs are extremely long; the plumage varies in colour on the different parts of the body, from a bright vermilion to a beautiful rose colour, and the legs and feet are of the same tint. There are however a few black feathers in each wing; the beak in some is red, and in others yellow; but the extremity in all is black.Noueveau Dictionnaire d’Historie Naturelle.1Penguin; a bird of the goose kind, found near the Straits of Magellan. It is about the size of the Indian cock; the feathers on the back are black, and on the belly white. It has a large neck, circled round with a white collar. Properly speaking, it has no wings, but two pinions hang like two little arms from its sides, having no feathers beyond the joint. These pinions serve the purpose of fins in enabling the penguin to swim with ease, but it cannot fly. The tail is short, the feet black; the beak narrow, and rather larger than that of the raven. The bird carries its head erect in walking, and the pinions fall at its side; so that when many of them are seen in a line along the shore, where they are accustomed to assemble in large numbers, they may from a distance be mistaken for little men. Their flesh is well-tasted, but their skin is so tough that, but for the extreme stupidity of their nature, it would be difficult to destroy them.—SeeValmont de Bromare.2Great bustard; of the gallinaceous order. This is the largest bird of European climates, the male being four feet in length from the beak to the tail, seven in breadth with the wings extended, and weighing about thirty-five pounds. The females are commonly a third less in every respect. Though the wings of the bustard are small in proportion to the body, yet the bird can raise and sustain itself in the air, but, cannot proceed out of a straight direction. It loves open, spacious plains, and avoids the water. The bustard is timid and difficult of approach; it however defends itself furiously when attempted to be caught, by beating the enemy with its legs. If taken when young, it is easily tamed, and brought to feed with other poultry. The most common colour of this bird is black, slightly tinged with red on the back, and the under parts white mixed with fawn-colour; a down of bright pink appears at the roots of the feathers. There are many kinds of this animal, both indigenous and exotic: the African; the tufted; the blue; the white bustard,&c.—SeeNew Dictionary of Natural History.3Yguana; a reptile of the family of lizards; it is found in South America and its islands. The animal is from four to six feet in length, of which the tail makes at least half. The head is small, flattened at the sides, covered with scales, and provided with large jaws and sharp-pointed teeth. A protuberance like a wen appears in the front of the neck. The body is every where clothed with hard scales. The colour of this creature is variable; its most common hue is green tinged with yellow; sometimes it exhibits gray or blue tints, and at others a mixture of all these colours together, like the cameleon, which the yguana greatly resembles.—SeeNew Dictionary of Natural History.4Lizards; The whole family are found to love music passionately; a sure means of attracting them is by musical sounds or whistling; in this manner the yguana is subdued. When the musician is sufficiently near, he plunges the end of a switch into the nostril of the animal, who dies instantly without pain.—Dictionary of Natural History.5Tetrix. (Canadian Heath Cock.)This bird is found also in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and adjacent parts. Its modes of life are similar to the heath-cock of Europe, and is called by some authors simply thecrested heath-cock. The head and neck are of a deep glossy black, which in all other parts is tinctured with green. The bill is covered with a yellow skin, except at the extremity, where it is bare and black; the eyes are also encircled with a skin of the same colour. On the top of its head there is a crest formed of several handsome feathers two inches and a half in length. The feathers on the neck, which are also of a beautiful fibre form, fall gracefully down; but when the creature is agitated, they as well as those on the head become erect. When he wishes to call his females round him, the feathers assume this state; he trains his wings on the ground and spreads his tail into the form of a wheel, and in the velocity of his motions makes a singular kind of noise like distant thunder or a muffled drum.—New Dictionary of Natural History.6Myrica cerifera, orWaxtree; it grows in Louisiana, and a smaller kind in Carolina. It is a pretty aquatic shrub and bears whitish-coloured flowers, the fruit of which hangs in small clusters. It is about the height of a very small cherry-tree, and in the form and smell of the leaves resembles the myrtle. The berries are of a gray colour, contain kernels which are covered with a kind of wax, of which the natives make good candles. Naturalists are of opinion that it might be easily made to flourish in other climates.—SeeValmont de Bromare, andDictionary of Natural History.7Tuiete. This is the smallest kind of Brazilian parrot. There is an infinite variety in their plumage.8Among others,M.Huber of Geneva: he has published a volume of his observations upon ants, no less agreeable than instructive in the perusal.9SeeHistory of the Insects of America. By Mademoiselle Merian.10Caoutchouc; The tree which furnisheselastic gum; it is called by the natives of Brazil, where it is produced,Hhevé.11Of all the palm-trees which are natives of Asia, thesago-palmistis one of the most useful and interesting: a liquor runs from incisions made in its trunk, which readily ferments, and is Both salutary and agreeable for drinking. The marrow or pith of the tree, after undergoing a slight preparation, is the substance known by the name of sago in Europe, and so eminently useful in the list of nutritious food for the sick. The trunk and large leaves of the palmist-sago are a powerful resource in the construction of buildings; the first furnishes planks for the carpenter, and the second a covering for the roof. From the last are also made cord, matting, and other articles of domestic use.12This species of theorange, or rather of thecitron-tree, originally a native of Medea and Assyria, reaches in those countries to the astonishing height of sixty feet.—Dictionary of Natural History.13Cabbage palmist.—Palmist is the generical and vulgar name for all palm-trees which bear at their tops a vegetable production which may be eaten before it has arrived at a state of maturity. What is called cabbage, is the closely-folded leaves, which assume the form of that plant, at the summit of the tree, which attains to a prodigious height in the Society Islands. This cabbage substance, when young, has a delicate flavour not unlike an artichoke, and is excellent fried; but the tree dies when the cabbage is cut off. This kind of palm, and indeed all others, has numerous uses. On cutting the cabbage, the tree yields some pints of a liquor similar to champaign, and which by the process of fermentation will afterwards produce good vinegar; and by distillation, a strong alcohol or brandy. Its seed or kernel furnishes a thick sweet oil or vegetable butter. The covering of the kernels is made into vessels and cups of all sorts, and is as strong as porcelain. The leaves are used as tiles on the roofs of houses, for parasols and coverings for the head, and may be written upon, like paper. Its ligneous stalk produces large threads for sewing, and for string. Some of the palms, the cocoa-palmist in particular, yields cool sweet liquid which by evaporation leaves a sugar of a tolerably good quality. In a word, the palm is a far-extended good, an inestimable treasure bestowed by a bountiful Providence on the inhabitants of the soil which produces it.14Buffalo; a ruminating quadruped of the ox species, which it nearly resembles in form and stature; the head is larger, the snout longer, and its horns, which almost touch at the root, spread to a distance of five feet at their extremities: its ears are also larger and pointed. The whole form of the buffalo, and no less its motions, announce amazing vigour and strength; but the enormous size of the head, the singular curvatures of its long horns, under which appears a large tuft of bristly hair of a yellowish white colour, give a terrific ferocity and wildness to its physiognomy. The animal inhabits hot countries. It is used in Italy as a domestic beast for tillage and drawing. The method adopted for taming the buffalo is by fixing a ring in the nostril when about three years old. The operator contrives to entangle the legs with a string, and the animal falls to the ground; several men fall upon it and confine the legs, while others make the wound and pass the ring; it is then left: it runs furiously from place to place, and endeavours to get rid of the ring; in a short time it begins to be accustomed to its fate, and by degrees to learn obedience. A cord is fastened to the ring to lead the buffalo; if it resists, it suffers pain; it therefore prefers to yield, and thus is brought to follow a conductor willingly. After a certain time, the ring falls off, but the creature has, ere this, become attached, and will follow its master. Nothing is more common than to see a buffalo return from a distance of forty miles to seek him. Their young keepers give them a name, which they never fail to answer to, and on hearing it pronounced they stop short in the midst of a company of their species. Troops of buffaloes are found together in the plains of America and Asia that are washed by rivers; they do not attack men unless provoked; but the report of a gun renders them furious, and extremely dangerous: they run straight to the enemy, throw him down with their horns, and do not desist till he is crushed to death in the struggle. A red colour irritates them, and they are hunted with infinite care and precaution.—Dictionary of Natural History.15Prickly palm, orAdam’s needle.—The leaves of this tree are sometimes ten feet in length; they are winged in form, and the petals are furnished with long sharp thorns, which stay on the trunk even when the leaves are decayed, and form, from their numbers and strength, a sure defence against being approached. The fruit of this tree is larger than a pigeon’s egg, of an oblong shape, of a yellow colour, and like velvet to the touch. A yellow oily substance is found in the covering of the fruit, which is greedily eaten by monkeys, cows, and other animals. An oil for cooking or for the lamp is also extracted from it.Dwarf palm.—The fruit is yellow, and contains grains inclosed in a cuticle, somewhat sour to the taste. Savages make an agreeable kind of beverage from them. The leaf, like the former, is thorny.—Dictionary of Natural History.16MalabarorIndian Eagle, is small; not above the size of a large pigeon; but in the smallness of its volume elegance of symmetry and beauty of plumage are united; the animation of its eyes, its lively movements, the boldness of its look and attitudes, give to its whole physiognomy the appearance of pride and courage. The Malayese have made it one of their idols, and offer it a kind of worship. A tuft of large feathers of a dazzling white, the lower part of which is of a deep shining black, covers the head, the neck, and all the breast of this handsome bird; the rest of the plumage is of a very bright chesnut-colour, with the exception of the tip of the six first feathers of each wing, which is black. The beak is ash-coloured, and of a yellowish green at the point; its membrane is blue, feet yellow, talons black. This species is found in Malabar, Visapour, the Mogul Empire,&c.In voracity it does not fall short of any other.—Dictionary of Natural History.17Mr. Huber Lullin, of Geneva, has published an excellent treatise on the economy ofbeeshe has given the most singular and best-attested circumstances of the queen bee; but what more astonishes is, that he, who has thrown such lights on this attractive object of natural history, is blind.18Onagra,ŒigitaiandKoulan;—apparently different names for the same animal, varying according to the countries where, it is found and authors who have spoken of it: in shape and structure it holds the midway betwixt the horse and ass; its head is strong and erect in the state of rest; it proudly snuffs the air in its course, which is more fleet than the swiftest horse. Its neck finely turned, chest full and open, back long, spine concave and rough, haunches taper, hoofs like the ass, mane short and thick, the jaw containing thirty-four teeth, tail two feet long, and exactly like a cow’s, shoulders narrow and bare of flesh: it has great suppleness in all its members and motions. The hair is mostly of a yellowish brown; a reddish yellow covers the fore-part of the head, and between the legs; the mane and tail are black. Along the back is a dark-brown stripe, that grows broader from the loins upwards, and becomes narrower towards the tail. In winter its hair is long, curled, waving; in summer short and glossy. These animals stray in numbers over the vast deserts and open plains abounding with saline herbage: they never approach the woods or mountains. They have the senses of hearing and smelling in perfection. Their neighing, somewhat peculiar, is much louder than that of the horse. They are timid and wild, and their chief defence is in their speed; yet they are of a peaceful, social nature. They commonly troop together from twenty to thirty, sometimes a hundred: each troop has its leader that watches over its safety, conducts it, and gives the signal of flight when danger is near. The token of alarm is bounding thrice round the object of their fear. If their leader is killed, (and he frequently is, by approaching closer to the hunters than the rest,) the troop disperses, and it is easy to kill and take them. The Mongou Tartars highly prize the flesh, which they find delicious; but the œigitai has not yet been tamed, even when taken young. Could it be domesticated, it would doubtless be a prime beast for the saddle, but it is of an untameable disposition; when the utmost attempts have been made to subdue them, they have died in breaking rather than submit to the restraint. If our Swiss Robinson succeeded by the extraordinary means he specifies, it was a complete triumph. The name of œigitai, applied to the onagra or wild ass in the countries where it is most common, comes from the worddshiggetei, which in the Tartar language meanslong earsin fact its ears are very long, but more erect, and better shaped, than those of the ass.19Phormion, orFlax-plant;—a plant of New Zealand made known by Cook. The inhabitants of that island get from its leaves a very strong flax, with which they make stuffs, nets, ropes,&c.They are two or three feet long, two inches broad, shaped like a sword. Steeped in water, they produce fibres longer and stronger than those of flax, and which are equal in fineness. The climate where this useful plant is found, inclines one to think it might be cultivated with success in Europe, and turned to considerable account. When these leaves are opened upon the plant, an inodorous gum issues from them, which is transparent, of a straw-colour, and in every respect similar to gum arabic.20Sal-gem;—a name given to a kind of salt harder than common salt, and which sometimes has the transparency and colour of precious stones. It is found invariably in the same soil as gypsum, in the neighbourhood of which constant observation has proved it to be never wanting; and even the strata of salt and gypsum frequently alternate. The sal-gem forms itself sometimes into large undivided beds, sometimes it runs in large detached cubes, behind beds of clay and rock. The mines (I may say the quarries) of sal-gem are found at every height, and now and then on a level with the plains. In all parts of the known world no production of nature is more abundant than salt. Most of the sal-gem mines in Spain and England are of several hundred feet extent. The town of Cardona in Spain is situated at the foot of a rock of solid salt, rising almost perpendicular to the height of four or five hundred feet, without interstice, fissure, or separate layer. This immense mass of salt is about a league in circuit: its depth, and consequently the bed on which it rests, is unknown. From top to bottom the salt is of the purest white, or of a light transparent blue. This prodigious mountain of salt, quite free from gypsum and other extraneous matter, is the only one of the kind in Europe. In the county of Chester in England, near the Irish sea, is a very extensive mine of sal-gem behind a ledge of rock; and after having worked through twenty-five feet of salt, in several places of a fine deep red, from twelve to fifteen feet of rock again appeared, and salt under that; a fact which destroys the hypothesis of sal-gem being produced from saline lakes dried up.—Dictionary of Natural History.21Sea Dog; a sea fish; partakes in some respects of the nature of the shark.—SeeDictionary of Natural History.22Gypsum.—A mineral substance composed of chalk and sulphurous acid: in strictness it may be considered as a neutral salt; but being soluble only in a small degree, and having the external character of stone, mineralogists class it as a stony substance. It has abundance of varieties.23Black Swan;—Discovered byM.de la Billardiere on a lake of New Zealand.24Beast with a bill.—This singular creature was, like the last, discovered in a lake of New Zealand; a particular account of it may be found in Blumenbach’s Natural History, published in Germany.25Arcadia, according to the poets was the most beautiful and the happiest of all countries.THE END.Printed by Richard and Arthur Taylor, Shoe-Lane, London.
*See the Introduction.
*Flamingo is a species of bird between the web-footed genus and the waders; it takes its name from the singular colour of its plumage, being of a bright flame-coloured red. This bird is to be found both in the old and the new continent; in the old continent, only in the southern climates; and in the new, no-where to the north of Carolina. The flamingo is a gregarious animal, frequenting the sea-shore and the marshes occasionally covered by the sea. When the flamingo sets out upon a fishing expedition, the birds range themselves in file, so as, at a distance, to produce the appearance of an extended line of soldiers; nor do they employ this arrangement only when they seek their prey, but also in a state of repose. Sometimes, however, a flamingo may be found alone, or with only a single companion, especially when at a distance from the sea. When drawn up in their military array, there are always sentinels fixed, who, in case of alarm, utter a loud cry capable of being heard at a great distance, and considerably resembling the sound of a trumpet: the sentinel then takes wing, and all the others follow: but whenever it is possible to come upon a flock of flamingoes without being observed by the sentinel, it is easy to pounce upon them and kill a great number. The report of a musket never induces them to take wing, but rather stupifies them; and they remain immovable, with their eyes fixed on the sportsman. They avoid all inhabited places, and live on the small fry of fish, or shell-fish, and on insects that they find in the mud, into which they plunge their long and singular beak. The flamingo builds its nest on the ground, and generally in marshes; they scrape the mud into a heap with their feet, so as to make little hillocks of a conical figure, and a foot and a half in height; the hillock is a little hollowed at the top; and in this hollow the female lays two or three eggs at most, upon which she sits; her legs, which are very long, resting upon the level ground, or plunged Into the water, while with the back part of her body she keeps the eggs in a proper state of warmth. The egg of the flamingo is white, and of the size of a goose’s egg, but more elliptical. The young ones run with inexpressible quickness in a few days after their birth, but do not begin to fly till they have acquired their full size. Their plumage is at first of a pale gray approaching to white; it grows redder as the young flamingo increases in age; but nearly a year elapses before this bird reaches its full stature; at which time it first shews its robe of a brilliant flame colour. The carnation hue first appears on the wing, which is always of the brightest tint; it then extends to the rump, and afterwards shows itself upon the back and breast, and as far as the neck, which is of a delicate rose colour. The flamingo is considered as a delicate morsel for the table, having some resemblance to the partridge in flavour: the tongue, which is very large, is particularly esteemed. They differ in stature, largeness, and colour; but this difference depends upon the age of the animal: when in full growth, the flamingo is more than four feet long from the beak to the tail, and neatly six feet high to the extremity of the talons. The neck and legs are extremely long; the plumage varies in colour on the different parts of the body, from a bright vermilion to a beautiful rose colour, and the legs and feet are of the same tint. There are however a few black feathers in each wing; the beak in some is red, and in others yellow; but the extremity in all is black.
Noueveau Dictionnaire d’Historie Naturelle.
1Penguin; a bird of the goose kind, found near the Straits of Magellan. It is about the size of the Indian cock; the feathers on the back are black, and on the belly white. It has a large neck, circled round with a white collar. Properly speaking, it has no wings, but two pinions hang like two little arms from its sides, having no feathers beyond the joint. These pinions serve the purpose of fins in enabling the penguin to swim with ease, but it cannot fly. The tail is short, the feet black; the beak narrow, and rather larger than that of the raven. The bird carries its head erect in walking, and the pinions fall at its side; so that when many of them are seen in a line along the shore, where they are accustomed to assemble in large numbers, they may from a distance be mistaken for little men. Their flesh is well-tasted, but their skin is so tough that, but for the extreme stupidity of their nature, it would be difficult to destroy them.—SeeValmont de Bromare.
2Great bustard; of the gallinaceous order. This is the largest bird of European climates, the male being four feet in length from the beak to the tail, seven in breadth with the wings extended, and weighing about thirty-five pounds. The females are commonly a third less in every respect. Though the wings of the bustard are small in proportion to the body, yet the bird can raise and sustain itself in the air, but, cannot proceed out of a straight direction. It loves open, spacious plains, and avoids the water. The bustard is timid and difficult of approach; it however defends itself furiously when attempted to be caught, by beating the enemy with its legs. If taken when young, it is easily tamed, and brought to feed with other poultry. The most common colour of this bird is black, slightly tinged with red on the back, and the under parts white mixed with fawn-colour; a down of bright pink appears at the roots of the feathers. There are many kinds of this animal, both indigenous and exotic: the African; the tufted; the blue; the white bustard,&c.—SeeNew Dictionary of Natural History.
3Yguana; a reptile of the family of lizards; it is found in South America and its islands. The animal is from four to six feet in length, of which the tail makes at least half. The head is small, flattened at the sides, covered with scales, and provided with large jaws and sharp-pointed teeth. A protuberance like a wen appears in the front of the neck. The body is every where clothed with hard scales. The colour of this creature is variable; its most common hue is green tinged with yellow; sometimes it exhibits gray or blue tints, and at others a mixture of all these colours together, like the cameleon, which the yguana greatly resembles.—SeeNew Dictionary of Natural History.
4Lizards; The whole family are found to love music passionately; a sure means of attracting them is by musical sounds or whistling; in this manner the yguana is subdued. When the musician is sufficiently near, he plunges the end of a switch into the nostril of the animal, who dies instantly without pain.—Dictionary of Natural History.
5Tetrix. (Canadian Heath Cock.)This bird is found also in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and adjacent parts. Its modes of life are similar to the heath-cock of Europe, and is called by some authors simply thecrested heath-cock. The head and neck are of a deep glossy black, which in all other parts is tinctured with green. The bill is covered with a yellow skin, except at the extremity, where it is bare and black; the eyes are also encircled with a skin of the same colour. On the top of its head there is a crest formed of several handsome feathers two inches and a half in length. The feathers on the neck, which are also of a beautiful fibre form, fall gracefully down; but when the creature is agitated, they as well as those on the head become erect. When he wishes to call his females round him, the feathers assume this state; he trains his wings on the ground and spreads his tail into the form of a wheel, and in the velocity of his motions makes a singular kind of noise like distant thunder or a muffled drum.—New Dictionary of Natural History.
6Myrica cerifera, orWaxtree; it grows in Louisiana, and a smaller kind in Carolina. It is a pretty aquatic shrub and bears whitish-coloured flowers, the fruit of which hangs in small clusters. It is about the height of a very small cherry-tree, and in the form and smell of the leaves resembles the myrtle. The berries are of a gray colour, contain kernels which are covered with a kind of wax, of which the natives make good candles. Naturalists are of opinion that it might be easily made to flourish in other climates.—SeeValmont de Bromare, andDictionary of Natural History.
7Tuiete. This is the smallest kind of Brazilian parrot. There is an infinite variety in their plumage.
8Among others,M.Huber of Geneva: he has published a volume of his observations upon ants, no less agreeable than instructive in the perusal.
9SeeHistory of the Insects of America. By Mademoiselle Merian.
10Caoutchouc; The tree which furnisheselastic gum; it is called by the natives of Brazil, where it is produced,Hhevé.
11Of all the palm-trees which are natives of Asia, thesago-palmistis one of the most useful and interesting: a liquor runs from incisions made in its trunk, which readily ferments, and is Both salutary and agreeable for drinking. The marrow or pith of the tree, after undergoing a slight preparation, is the substance known by the name of sago in Europe, and so eminently useful in the list of nutritious food for the sick. The trunk and large leaves of the palmist-sago are a powerful resource in the construction of buildings; the first furnishes planks for the carpenter, and the second a covering for the roof. From the last are also made cord, matting, and other articles of domestic use.
12This species of theorange, or rather of thecitron-tree, originally a native of Medea and Assyria, reaches in those countries to the astonishing height of sixty feet.—Dictionary of Natural History.
13Cabbage palmist.—Palmist is the generical and vulgar name for all palm-trees which bear at their tops a vegetable production which may be eaten before it has arrived at a state of maturity. What is called cabbage, is the closely-folded leaves, which assume the form of that plant, at the summit of the tree, which attains to a prodigious height in the Society Islands. This cabbage substance, when young, has a delicate flavour not unlike an artichoke, and is excellent fried; but the tree dies when the cabbage is cut off. This kind of palm, and indeed all others, has numerous uses. On cutting the cabbage, the tree yields some pints of a liquor similar to champaign, and which by the process of fermentation will afterwards produce good vinegar; and by distillation, a strong alcohol or brandy. Its seed or kernel furnishes a thick sweet oil or vegetable butter. The covering of the kernels is made into vessels and cups of all sorts, and is as strong as porcelain. The leaves are used as tiles on the roofs of houses, for parasols and coverings for the head, and may be written upon, like paper. Its ligneous stalk produces large threads for sewing, and for string. Some of the palms, the cocoa-palmist in particular, yields cool sweet liquid which by evaporation leaves a sugar of a tolerably good quality. In a word, the palm is a far-extended good, an inestimable treasure bestowed by a bountiful Providence on the inhabitants of the soil which produces it.
14Buffalo; a ruminating quadruped of the ox species, which it nearly resembles in form and stature; the head is larger, the snout longer, and its horns, which almost touch at the root, spread to a distance of five feet at their extremities: its ears are also larger and pointed. The whole form of the buffalo, and no less its motions, announce amazing vigour and strength; but the enormous size of the head, the singular curvatures of its long horns, under which appears a large tuft of bristly hair of a yellowish white colour, give a terrific ferocity and wildness to its physiognomy. The animal inhabits hot countries. It is used in Italy as a domestic beast for tillage and drawing. The method adopted for taming the buffalo is by fixing a ring in the nostril when about three years old. The operator contrives to entangle the legs with a string, and the animal falls to the ground; several men fall upon it and confine the legs, while others make the wound and pass the ring; it is then left: it runs furiously from place to place, and endeavours to get rid of the ring; in a short time it begins to be accustomed to its fate, and by degrees to learn obedience. A cord is fastened to the ring to lead the buffalo; if it resists, it suffers pain; it therefore prefers to yield, and thus is brought to follow a conductor willingly. After a certain time, the ring falls off, but the creature has, ere this, become attached, and will follow its master. Nothing is more common than to see a buffalo return from a distance of forty miles to seek him. Their young keepers give them a name, which they never fail to answer to, and on hearing it pronounced they stop short in the midst of a company of their species. Troops of buffaloes are found together in the plains of America and Asia that are washed by rivers; they do not attack men unless provoked; but the report of a gun renders them furious, and extremely dangerous: they run straight to the enemy, throw him down with their horns, and do not desist till he is crushed to death in the struggle. A red colour irritates them, and they are hunted with infinite care and precaution.—Dictionary of Natural History.
15Prickly palm, orAdam’s needle.—The leaves of this tree are sometimes ten feet in length; they are winged in form, and the petals are furnished with long sharp thorns, which stay on the trunk even when the leaves are decayed, and form, from their numbers and strength, a sure defence against being approached. The fruit of this tree is larger than a pigeon’s egg, of an oblong shape, of a yellow colour, and like velvet to the touch. A yellow oily substance is found in the covering of the fruit, which is greedily eaten by monkeys, cows, and other animals. An oil for cooking or for the lamp is also extracted from it.Dwarf palm.—The fruit is yellow, and contains grains inclosed in a cuticle, somewhat sour to the taste. Savages make an agreeable kind of beverage from them. The leaf, like the former, is thorny.—Dictionary of Natural History.
15Prickly palm, orAdam’s needle.—The leaves of this tree are sometimes ten feet in length; they are winged in form, and the petals are furnished with long sharp thorns, which stay on the trunk even when the leaves are decayed, and form, from their numbers and strength, a sure defence against being approached. The fruit of this tree is larger than a pigeon’s egg, of an oblong shape, of a yellow colour, and like velvet to the touch. A yellow oily substance is found in the covering of the fruit, which is greedily eaten by monkeys, cows, and other animals. An oil for cooking or for the lamp is also extracted from it.
Dwarf palm.—The fruit is yellow, and contains grains inclosed in a cuticle, somewhat sour to the taste. Savages make an agreeable kind of beverage from them. The leaf, like the former, is thorny.—Dictionary of Natural History.
16MalabarorIndian Eagle, is small; not above the size of a large pigeon; but in the smallness of its volume elegance of symmetry and beauty of plumage are united; the animation of its eyes, its lively movements, the boldness of its look and attitudes, give to its whole physiognomy the appearance of pride and courage. The Malayese have made it one of their idols, and offer it a kind of worship. A tuft of large feathers of a dazzling white, the lower part of which is of a deep shining black, covers the head, the neck, and all the breast of this handsome bird; the rest of the plumage is of a very bright chesnut-colour, with the exception of the tip of the six first feathers of each wing, which is black. The beak is ash-coloured, and of a yellowish green at the point; its membrane is blue, feet yellow, talons black. This species is found in Malabar, Visapour, the Mogul Empire,&c.In voracity it does not fall short of any other.—Dictionary of Natural History.
17Mr. Huber Lullin, of Geneva, has published an excellent treatise on the economy ofbeeshe has given the most singular and best-attested circumstances of the queen bee; but what more astonishes is, that he, who has thrown such lights on this attractive object of natural history, is blind.
18Onagra,ŒigitaiandKoulan;—apparently different names for the same animal, varying according to the countries where, it is found and authors who have spoken of it: in shape and structure it holds the midway betwixt the horse and ass; its head is strong and erect in the state of rest; it proudly snuffs the air in its course, which is more fleet than the swiftest horse. Its neck finely turned, chest full and open, back long, spine concave and rough, haunches taper, hoofs like the ass, mane short and thick, the jaw containing thirty-four teeth, tail two feet long, and exactly like a cow’s, shoulders narrow and bare of flesh: it has great suppleness in all its members and motions. The hair is mostly of a yellowish brown; a reddish yellow covers the fore-part of the head, and between the legs; the mane and tail are black. Along the back is a dark-brown stripe, that grows broader from the loins upwards, and becomes narrower towards the tail. In winter its hair is long, curled, waving; in summer short and glossy. These animals stray in numbers over the vast deserts and open plains abounding with saline herbage: they never approach the woods or mountains. They have the senses of hearing and smelling in perfection. Their neighing, somewhat peculiar, is much louder than that of the horse. They are timid and wild, and their chief defence is in their speed; yet they are of a peaceful, social nature. They commonly troop together from twenty to thirty, sometimes a hundred: each troop has its leader that watches over its safety, conducts it, and gives the signal of flight when danger is near. The token of alarm is bounding thrice round the object of their fear. If their leader is killed, (and he frequently is, by approaching closer to the hunters than the rest,) the troop disperses, and it is easy to kill and take them. The Mongou Tartars highly prize the flesh, which they find delicious; but the œigitai has not yet been tamed, even when taken young. Could it be domesticated, it would doubtless be a prime beast for the saddle, but it is of an untameable disposition; when the utmost attempts have been made to subdue them, they have died in breaking rather than submit to the restraint. If our Swiss Robinson succeeded by the extraordinary means he specifies, it was a complete triumph. The name of œigitai, applied to the onagra or wild ass in the countries where it is most common, comes from the worddshiggetei, which in the Tartar language meanslong earsin fact its ears are very long, but more erect, and better shaped, than those of the ass.
19Phormion, orFlax-plant;—a plant of New Zealand made known by Cook. The inhabitants of that island get from its leaves a very strong flax, with which they make stuffs, nets, ropes,&c.They are two or three feet long, two inches broad, shaped like a sword. Steeped in water, they produce fibres longer and stronger than those of flax, and which are equal in fineness. The climate where this useful plant is found, inclines one to think it might be cultivated with success in Europe, and turned to considerable account. When these leaves are opened upon the plant, an inodorous gum issues from them, which is transparent, of a straw-colour, and in every respect similar to gum arabic.
20Sal-gem;—a name given to a kind of salt harder than common salt, and which sometimes has the transparency and colour of precious stones. It is found invariably in the same soil as gypsum, in the neighbourhood of which constant observation has proved it to be never wanting; and even the strata of salt and gypsum frequently alternate. The sal-gem forms itself sometimes into large undivided beds, sometimes it runs in large detached cubes, behind beds of clay and rock. The mines (I may say the quarries) of sal-gem are found at every height, and now and then on a level with the plains. In all parts of the known world no production of nature is more abundant than salt. Most of the sal-gem mines in Spain and England are of several hundred feet extent. The town of Cardona in Spain is situated at the foot of a rock of solid salt, rising almost perpendicular to the height of four or five hundred feet, without interstice, fissure, or separate layer. This immense mass of salt is about a league in circuit: its depth, and consequently the bed on which it rests, is unknown. From top to bottom the salt is of the purest white, or of a light transparent blue. This prodigious mountain of salt, quite free from gypsum and other extraneous matter, is the only one of the kind in Europe. In the county of Chester in England, near the Irish sea, is a very extensive mine of sal-gem behind a ledge of rock; and after having worked through twenty-five feet of salt, in several places of a fine deep red, from twelve to fifteen feet of rock again appeared, and salt under that; a fact which destroys the hypothesis of sal-gem being produced from saline lakes dried up.—Dictionary of Natural History.
21Sea Dog; a sea fish; partakes in some respects of the nature of the shark.—SeeDictionary of Natural History.
22Gypsum.—A mineral substance composed of chalk and sulphurous acid: in strictness it may be considered as a neutral salt; but being soluble only in a small degree, and having the external character of stone, mineralogists class it as a stony substance. It has abundance of varieties.
23Black Swan;—Discovered byM.de la Billardiere on a lake of New Zealand.
24Beast with a bill.—This singular creature was, like the last, discovered in a lake of New Zealand; a particular account of it may be found in Blumenbach’s Natural History, published in Germany.
25Arcadia, according to the poets was the most beautiful and the happiest of all countries.
THE END.
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