PIETRO DELLA VALLE-HASSELQUIST-FORBES, ETC. would have proved fatal to them, they have disposed in their progressive motion the lower part of the tail in such a manner as to supply their wings with moisture so as to support them above the surface. I never saw one exceed the distance of one hundred yards without being obliged to dip for a fresh supply." [Pomegranate Seeds.] "THE Persians dry the pomegranate seeas, and boil them, to flavour their ragouts with the infusion."-PIETRO DELLA VALLE [Change of Colour in the Camelion.] THE Camelion, according to HASSELQUIST, (p. 216), seldom changes colour unless it is angry, and then from iron grey to a yellow or greenish hue, evidently occasioned by gall. Prunus Cerasus. THE gum of the cherry-tree is as valuable as gum arabic. HASSELQUIST relates that more than a hundred men during a siege, were kept alive for near two months, without any other sustenance than a little of this gum, kept in the mouth and suffered gradually to dissolve. [Age of the Tortoise.1] AMONG the inmates of the Banian hospital at Surat, Mr. FORBES mentions a tortoise which was known to have been there seventy-five years. [Puff-ball, a Styptic.] JOHN WESLEY asserts that the powder of the ripe Puff-ball will stop the bleeding of an amputed limb. Rosa canina-Dog-rose-Hep-tree. THE 1 aves of every species of rose, but especially of this, are recommended in the Eph. nat. curiosor. as a substitute for tea, giving out a fine colour, a sub-astringent taste, and a grateful smell, when dried, and infused in boiling water. -PILKINGTON's Derbyshire. [The Oak-rod, a Means of producing Yeast.] "A ROD of oak, of four, five, six or eight inches about, twisted round like a wyth, boiled in wort, well dried and kept in a little bundle of barleystraw, and being steeped again in wort, causeth it to ferment, and procures yeast the rod is cut before the middle of May, and is frequently used to furnish yeast, and, being preserved and used in this manner, it serves for many years together. I have seen the experiment tried, and was shew 1 WHITE says in his Natural History of Selbourne, "In a neighbouring village one was kept till by tradition it was supposed to be an hundred years old." Seventh Letter to Daines Barrington.-J. W. W. 1 409 ed a piece of a thick wyth, which hath been preserved for making ale with, for about twenty or thirty years."-MARTIN'S Account of the Western Islands. He says elsewhere-" The natives preserve their yeast by an oaken wyth, which they twist and put into it; and for future use, keep it in barley-straw." [The Scorpion the Cure of his own Poison.'] "THE capuchin, as we were conversing by the window of his apartment, put his hand incautiously on the frame, and, suddenly withdrawing it, complained of a painful puncture. A Turk, who was with us, on examining the wall, found a scorpion of a pale green colour, and near three inches long, which he crushed with his foot, and bound on the part affected as an antidote to its own poison. The smart became inconsiderable after the remedy was applied; and as no inflammation followed, soon ceased. The sting, if neglected, produces acute pain attended with a fever, and other symptoms for several hours; the malignancy of the virus as it were decaying, the patient is left gradually free. Some preserve scorpions in oil in a viol, to be used if that which commits the hostility should escape, though it seldom happens but in turning up a log or stone another may be found to supply its place."CHANDLER'S Travels in Greece. [Attraction of Clouds.] "COLONEL MACKENZIE, who watched the approach of a monsoon on the summit of the Bednore hills, distinctly observed the clouds, in rolling along, frequently to diverge from their direct course, apparently attracted by some hills more powerfully than by others of equal or superior height; and every successive cloud diverging in the same line. This phenomenon appears to merit farther investigation, and may be found to explain why places similar in situation have unequal proportions of rain."-WILKES, Historical Sketches of the South of India, vol. 1, p. 449. N. [Antagonistic Action of all Simples and Nostrums and Panaceas.] "A HAPPY truce, if a happy truce; and an honourable triumph if durable. I say if and if, because I have known many a truce like scammony, that weakeneth the liver; or cassia, that enfeebleth the reins; or agarick, that overthroweth the stomach,-the stomach that must work 1 JEREMY TAYLOR says, "We kill the viper, and make a treacle of him," vol. vi., p. 254. The original word is English treacle,-now particularly applied to the dregs of "Theriacum,"—whence the French Theriaque, and the Sugar, and other dregs of the Sugar-tub. "Any sovereign remedy was at this time" (i. e., in the 13th century) "called treacle."-ELLIS's Specimens of English Poetry, vol. 1, p. 89. Hence QUARLES says in his Emblems, "If poison chance to infest my soul in fight, Thou art the treacle that must make me sound." Book v., Emblem xi. PLINY's words are "Fiant ex viperâ pastilli, qui theriaci vocantur à Græcis."-Nat. Hist., lib. xxix., c. 4. J. W. W. 410 the feat. FIENNES BARROW-ACERBI-BRUCE. And who hath not, either by expe- [changing it every morning; after which if boiled rience, or by hear-say, or by reading, known for a few hours in a little water they become a many a triumph like senna, that breedeth wind; clear transparent jelly, which being mixed with or rhubarb, that drieth overmuch; or euforbium, a little sugar and the juice of a lemon or orange, that inflameth the whole body,-the body that is as pleasant and refreshing as any kind of jelly must strike the stroke. Take away the over-whatsoever. And as few countries perhaps can throwing or weakening property from truce, and boast of a greater number of species of the Fuc truce may be a divine scammony, cassia, or and Ulve than are found on the coasts of the agarick, to purge noisome and rebellious hu- British islands, future generations may discover mours. Oh that it might be such a purge in those nutritive qualities which many of them conFrance! Correct that ventosity or inflammation tain, and not limit the use of them as articles of that accompanieth triumph, and lo, the gallantest food to a few species, which is the case at presphysic that nature hath afforded, wit devised, or ent; for excepting the Esculentus or Tangle, the magnanimity practised to abate the pride of the Saccharinus, better known in Iceland than in enemy, and to redouble the courage of the friend. Britain, the Palmatus or Dulse, which the Scotch No tobacco or panacea so mightily virtuous as say is not only rich and gelatinous, but commuthat physic."-GABRIEL HARVEY's New Letter nicates to other vegetables with which it may be of Notable Contents. mixed, the fragrant smell of violets, and that species of Ulve well known on the coast of Wales by the name of Laver, all the rest seem to be neglected." -J. BARROW, Voyage to CochinChina, &c. [Large double-cropped Strawberry.] THERE is a large garden strawberry which gives two crops. The second crop the fruit is flat like a button. In 1697 it grew in Sir Charles Woolsley's gardens, at Woolsley in Staffordshire. -MRS. FIENNES'S MSS. [Nutritive Powers of the Fuci and Alga.] "ALL the gelatinous substances derived from the sea, whether animal or vegetable, are considered by the Cochin Chinese among the most nutritious of all aliments; and on this principle various kinds of Alga or sea-weeds, particularly those genera which are known by the names of Fuci and Ulva, are included in the list of their edible plants. Cameleopard. MR. BARROW is mistaken in saying that since the time of Julius Cæsar when the Cameleopard was publicly exhibited in Rome, this animal had been lost to Europe till within the present century. "The accounts given of it," he adds, "by ancient writers were looked upon as fabulous." (South Africa, vol. 1, p. 316.) [Sea Calves and Seals of the Gulph of Bothnia.] "THE only animals that inhabit those deserts (the frozen gulf of Bothnia) and find them an agreeable abode, are sea calves or seals. In the cavities of the ice they deposit the fruits of their love, and teach their young ones betimes to brave all the rigours of the rudest season. Their moth Into "In the populous islands of Japan the natives of the sea-coasts derive part of their sustenance from various kinds of sea-weeds, and from none more than that species of Fucus which is called Saccharinus. It would appear from Mr. Thun-ers lay them down, all naked as they are brought berg's account of its leaves being used to ornament and embellish packages of fruit or other presents offered to strangers, that this plant is there in high estimation, being considered perhaps as the representative of those resources of sustenance which the sea so amply supplies to such nations as from choice or necessity may be led to avail themselves of its various productions. The chin-chou jelly of China may probably be made, in part, of the Fucus Saccharinus; for it would appear, from samples brought to England, that the leaves from which this jelly is made are taken from three or four distinct species of this extensive genus. "There is reason indeed to believe that most of the species both of the Fuci and the Ulve might be employed for similar purposes. From the shores of Robben Island, at the Cape of Good Hope, the slaves are accustomed to bring away baskets of a species of Fucus, whose leaves are sword-shaped, serrated, and about six inches long. These leaves being first washed clean and sufficiently dried to resist putrefaction are then steeped in fresh water for five or six days, forth, on the ice; and their fathers take care to [Sand-filtering.] "I TOOK a quantity of fine sand, washed it from the salt quality with which it was impregnated, and spread it upon a sheet to dry; I then filled an oil-jar with water, and poured into it as much from a boiling kettle as would serve to kill all the animalcula and eggs that were in it. I then sifted my dried sand, as slowly as possible, upon the surface of the water in the jar, till the sand stood half a foot in the bottom of it: after letting ACERBI-LORD BACON-PILKINGTON-LEWIS, ETC. it settle a night, we drew it off by a hole in the jar with a spigot in it, about an inch above the sand; then threw the remaining sand out upon the cloth, and dried and washed it again. This process is sooner performed than described. The water is as limpid as the purest spring, and little ferior to the finest Spa."-BRUCE. [Fish stunned by the Striking of the Ice.] IN autumn when the frost begins to set in, the fisherman courses along the rivers, and when he observes a fish under the ice in shallow water, he strikes a violent blow with his wooden mallet perpendicularly over the fish, so as to break the 411 purated, properly evaporated, and set in a cool place, affording a crystalline acid salt in considerable quantity."-WITHEring. [Medicinal Effects of the Elder Tree.] "SHEEP which have the rot will soon cure themselves if they can get at the bark and young shoots of the elder."-WITHERING. "ANY tree or plant which is whipped with green elder branches will not be attacked by insects."-Phil. Trans., vol. 62, p. 348. Childhood.] ice. The fish stupified by the blow communi- [Regrets for the Flowers and Insects of one's cated to it by the water, in a few seconds rises quite giddy to the surface, where the man seizes it with an instrument made for the purpose."ACERBI'S Travels. [How to get Fresh-Water on the Sea-shore.] "DIGGE a pit upon the sea-shore, somewhat above the high-water marke, and sinke it as deepe as the low-water marke; and as the tide commeth in, it will fill with water, fresh and potable. This is commonly practised upon the Coast of Barbarie, where other fresh water is wanting, and Cæsar knew this well, when hee was besieged in Alexandria for by digging of pits in the sea-shore, hee did frustrate the laborous workes of the enemies, which had turned the sea-water upon the wels of Alexandria; and so saved his armie, being then in desperation. But Cæsar mistooke the cause; for he thought that all sea-sands had naturall springs of freshwater. But it is plaine, that it is the sea-water; because the pit filleth according to the measure of the tide and the sea-water passing on straining thorow the sands, leaveth the saltness." LORD BACON, Natural History, Century 1, p. 1. THE Indians of Tabasco who would admit the Spaniards into their houses, said that if the strangers "woulde needes have water, they might take river water, or else make welles on the shore, for so did they at theyr neede."-Conquest of the Weast India. ANNA SEWARD says in one of her letters that she went into Warwickshire to hear the nightingale, Lichfield being north of the line which that bird never crosses. Here in Cumberland I miss the nightingale and the violet,—the most delightful bird and the sweetest flower. There are other natural objects which, having been the delight of my own childhood, I regret for the sake of my children. That green-gold beetle, the most splendid of British insects, which nestles upon roses, is unknown here; and the varieties of butterflies are by no means so numerous as in the southern counties.-ROBERT SOUTHEY. [Sulphureous Rain like Ink.] "In the year 1762, in the month of July, it rained on this town and the parts adjacent, a sulphureous water of the colour and consistence of ink; some of which being collected into bottles, and wrote with, appeared perfectly intelligible on the paper, and answered every purpose of that useful liquid. Soon after, the Indian wars already spoken of broke out in these parts. I mean not to say that this incident was ominous of them, notwithstanding it is well known that innumerable well attested instances of extraordinary phænomena happening before extraordinary events have been recorded in almost every age by historians of veracity; I only relate the circumstances as a fact of which I was informed by many persons of undoubted probity, and leave my readers, as I have hitherto done, to draw their own conclusions from it."-CARVER, Travels through the interior Parts of North America, &c., p. 153. Prunus Spinosa, Black-thorn. Sloe-tree. "THE young leaves of the black thorn are recommended as a substitute for tea. Letters written upon linen or woollen with the juice of the sloe will not wash out."-PILKINGTON'S Der- [The Balachaun and the Nuke-mum of the Tonbyshire. Oxalis Acetosella. Wood Sorrel. Cuckow-Meat. "AN infusion of the leaves of wood sorrel is a pleasant liquor for the feverish, boiled with milk they make a pleasant whay."-LEWIS. "THE essential salt of lemons, as it is called, is made from this plant, the expressed juice de quincse.] "BALACHAUN is a composition of a strong savour, yet a very delightsome dish to the Tonquinese. To make it they throw the mixture of shrimps and small fish into a sort of weak pickle made with salt and water, and put into a tight earthen vessel or jar. The pickle being thus weak, it keeps not the fish firm and hard, neither is it probably so designed, for the fish are never gutted. Therefore in a short time they 412 P. ANDRES PEREZ-DE RIBAS-HERODOTUS-LANGSDORFF. The [Steller's Sea-Cow.] all turn to a mash in the vessel; and when they | eyes, and by that means do what they will with have lain thus a good while, so that the fish is him, which otherwise would be difficult.”—Ibid., reduced to a pap, they then draw off the liquor c. 70. into fresh jars, and preserve it for use. mashed fish that remains behind is called Balachaun, and the liquor poured off is called Nukemum. The poor people eat the Balachaun with their rice; it is rank-scented, yet the taste is not altogether unpleasant, but rather savoury, after one is a little used to it. The Nuke-mum is of a pale brown colour, inclining to grey, and pretty clear; it is also very savoury, and used as a good sauce for fowls, not only by the natives, but also by many Europeans, who esteem it equal with soy."-Dampier. "My curiosity was particularly directed to the Trichecus Mamatus Stelleri, or Steller's SeaCow. This curious animal, of which we first received an account from the above-named votary of science, and which in former times abounded upon the coasts of Kamschatka or Behring's, and other islands in these seas, when it was a favourite food of the Russian Promuschleniks, or fur-hunters, has not been seen now for some years; it has disappeared even from Tschuktschkoi-noss, the most northern point of the Asiatic [The Acorn Bird of the Sierra de Topia.] continent in these parts. It seems, therefore, P. ANDRES PEREZ DE RIBAS also describes very probable that though known to be in exist them as existing in the Sierra de Topia. "They ence not more than forty years ago, it must now are like large thrushes," he says, "and the trunks be ranked among the list of beings lost from the of pine trees serve them as granaries or cup-animal kingdom, like the dudu, the mammoth, boards wherein they secure their food that it may the carnivorous elephant of the Ohio, and othnot decay. For making two thousand little holes ers."-LANGSDORFF, vol. 2, p. 23. in the large trunk of a pine, dry, and free from moisture, in every one of them it encases, or sets, an acorn gathered at fit season, and fits it with its bill so nicely, that very difficultly can a man with his ten fingers extract it; thus has God given industry to this little bird to keep his food, which would otherwise rot upon the earth."Lib. 8, c. 1, p. 470. ["Crocodilon adorat Pars hæc.". Juv., Sat., xx., 2.] [Οἱ δὲ περί τε Θήβας καὶ τὴν Μοιρίας λίμνην, κ. τ. λ.] [Immense Flight of Birds.] "WHEN We were at the distance of about a sea-mile and a half, a cannon was fired to attract the observation of the inhabitants, and invite them to the vessel. At the same moment, while the echo of the fire resounded along the steep cliffs, an innumerable flight of birds of various kinds rose terrified all along the coast. Without any exaggeration, or seeking to exhibit an overcharged picture, I can assert, that literally a the sea as far as our horizon reached, was abthick living cloud spread itself around, and that solutely blackened by the animal."—Ibid., vol. 2, p. 27. Anas Glacialis. "THIS is a species not common in Norfolk Sound, but abounding much at Kodiak: it breeds "THOSE who inhabit the country of Thebes, and that adjoining to the Lake of Moris, pay a peculiar veneration to the Crocodile. For each of these people train up one to be so tame as to endure the hand, putting strings of jewels or gold through his ears, and a chain on his fore feet. While he lives he is used with great re-chiefly on that island, and on the peninsula of spect, and fed with consecrated provisions at the public charge; and when he is dead he is preserved in salt, and buried in a sacred coffin."HERODOTUS, Euterpe, c. 69. ["Numina vicinorum Odit uterque Locus."-Juv., Sat., xv., 36.] [Επεὰν νῶτον ὑὸς δελεάσῃ περὶ ἄγκιτσρον, κ. T. 2.1 THOSE of the Egyptians who were wise enough not to worship Crocodiles, had an excellent method of destroying them. "They fasten the chine of a hog to an iron hook, which they let down into the river, beating a living pig on the shore at the same time. The crocodile hearing the noise, and making that way, meets with the chine, which he devours and is drawn to land; where, when he arrives, they presently throw dirt in his Alaksa. The harmonious trumpet-like noise of this bird distinguishes it from every other species of duck. It dives very deep under the water, and lives principally upon shell-fish: it draws in a large provision of air in diving, a small part of which it exhales from time to time, so that in calm weather, by the little bubbles which ascend from this emission of air, its course under the water may be easily tracked: it swims very fast, making very long strokes."—Ibid., vol. 2, p. 104. [Sea Snake formed from Mollusca.] "WE perceived in the water, near the ship, off Cape Mendocino, a sort of riband-like object, 1 In the German translation of Saner's Travels, it is as serted that the last animal of this species was killed at Behring's island in the year 1768, and that since that time it has not been seen in these parts. CARVER-TIMBERLAKE-DU PRATZ. perfectly clear and transparent, which had the direct form and figure of a snake: it was probably composed of a number of salpen or mollusca of a particular species, mentioned by Forskal as hanging to each other in so extraordinary a manner."-Ibid., vol. 2, p. 147. [Foxes of N. California.] "BESIDES these herds, we met a great number of foxes, who appeared to live upon the most friendly terms with the young calves, and followed the cows about as if they had been equally their children."-Ibid., vol. 2, p. 192. [Indian Bark as Food.] "In the spring of the year the Naudowssies eat the inside bark of a shrub, that they gather in some part of their country; but I could neither learn the name of it, nor discover from whence they got it. It was of a brittle nature and easily masticated. The taste of it was very agreeable, and they said it was extremely nourishing. In flavour it was not unlike the turnip, and when received into the mouth, resembled that root both in its pulpous and frangible nature."-CARVER, p. 264. [The Charming of the Rattle-Snake.] "IT has been observed, and I can confirm the observation, that the Rattle-snake is charmed with any harmonious sounds, whether vocal or instrumental. I have many times seen them, even when they have been enraged, place themselves in a listening posture, and continue immoveably attentive and susceptible of delight all the time the music has lasted."-Ibid., p. 483. [Slow Lizard.] "THE Slow Lizard is of the same shape as the swift, but its colour is brown; it is, moreover, of an opposite disposition, being altogether as slow in its movement, as the other is swift. It is remarkable that these lizards are extremely brittle, and will break off near the tail as easily as an icicle."-Ibid., p. 489. Shin Wood. [N. American Fire Fly.] 413 CARVER (p. 491) remarks of the North American Fire-fly, or Lightning Bug, that “in dark nights, when there is much lightning without rain, they seem as if they wished either to imitate or assist the flashes, for during the intervals they are uncommonly agile, and endeavour to throw out every ray they can collect." "THE American Eagle is smaller than the Eagle of the Alps, but much more beautiful, being entirely white, except the tips of his wings, which are black. As he is also very rare, this is another reason for heightening his value to the natives, who purchase at a great price the large feathers of his wings, with which they ornament the Calumet.”—DU PRATZ, vol. 2, p. 75. [Vivaciousness of the Acacia Tree.] "THIS extraordinary shrub grows in the forests, and, rising like a vine, runs near the ground for six or eight feet, and then takes root again; in the same manner taking root, and springing up successively, one stalk covers a large space; DU PRATZ says that posts made of acacia this proves very troublesome to the hasty travel- must be entirely stript of their bark: for if the ler, by striking against his shins, and entangling | least bark be left upon them they will take root." his legs; from which it has acquired its name." "Vol. 2, p. 30. -Ibid., p. 506. |