[Jay Feathers.] HE blue feathers of the jay's wing were at one time fashionable in France, and four thousand jays are said to have been stript to furnish trimming for a single dress.

[Albatrosses.]

"AN immense number of albatrosses were swimming like geese about the ship; as soon as a shot was fired they flew away. They seemed to raise themselves with difficulty from the water, and made a vast circle in it before they had wind enough to fill their long wings and begin their ascent."-LANGSDORFF, vol. 1, p. 83.

[The Albatross.]

"THEY have very great strength in their large bills, and make a noise not unlike the bleating of a goat or sheep. It is probably from hence that they are called by the French Moutons du Cap. In February one of them was brought to me upon which I could not discover the slightest wound. On enquiry how it was caught, I was answered, by the hand. Upon a farther investigation into the matter, I was assured by the Aleutians unanimously, that in the calms, which

commonly succeed to a violent gale of wind, will run to the water, endeavouring to escape they cannot fly; if pursued by land they by swimming; but it is then easy to follow them with the boidarkas, when they may be taken with the hand, or killed by a spear or the stroke of an oar.

"It seems easily to be comprehended, that such a bird, whose gigantic wings spread out to a breadth of ten or twelve feet, should not be able to fly in a dead calm."-Ibid. vol. 2, p. 105-6.

[Power of the Conger Eel.]

THE power of these snakes may, in some degree, be estimated from a circumstance related of a conger eel, in the Star, for March 30, 1808. This eel, measuring six feet in length, and twenty-two inches in girth, and weighing three stone and a half, was taken in Yarmouth Wash. Finding no way for escape, it rose erect, and knocked the fisherman down before he could take it.

[Bread Fruit.]

"THE ripe bread fruit will not keep good many days; in times of great abundance, therefore, it is cut into small pieces, when a hole is made in the ground about eight

PP

feet long by four broad, and five and six feet deep, which is paved with large stones, and the pieces of fruit thrown into it. A strong fermentation ensues, and forms a leaven, which will then keep for months. This food is called popoi. When it is mixed with water, it makes a drink which has very much the appearance and taste of buttermilk, and is extremely cooling and refreshing."- LANGSDORFF, vol. 1, p. 125. New Marquesas or Washington Islands.

The leaner the Monkey the greater the
Value of his Fur.

"LEAN foxes have better skins, and therefore the Ostiaks, who when they find cubs feed them with such care, that the women actually suckle them, break one of their legs some time before they are to be killed, that they may eat less and grow lean! Either of these customs is sufficiently shocking, but their co-existence renders them monstrous."-TOOKE's View of the Russian Empire, vol. 3, p. 44.

[Olive Trees of the Morea.]

"THE olive trees of the Morea are some of the finest to be found in any part of the world. The respect of the people for these trees is such, that they pay them a sort of veneration when they are loaded with fruit; to cut off a branch would be a crime against which the whole country would rise in arms. Every part of the province seems to suit this tree. Immense forests of wild olive trees had covered various districts before any attention was paid to them by the inhabitants. It was not till the country was occupied by the Venetians that the people became sensible of the treasure they possessed these new guests instructed them in the art of grafting the trees, and since that time olives have become an article of the highest importance among them.". POUQUEVILLE, p. 201.

[The Cayman.]

DOBRIZHOFFER says that though the cayman would be good meat were it not for the odour of musk, none but the Payaguas eat them (vol. 1, p. 322). The Abate Jolis, on the contrary, says (p. 324) that many tribes eat them, first cutting out two glands in the mouth of the females, and the testicles of the males, which are the parts from whence this musky odour proceeds. These are sold to the Spaniards and Portugueze for medical uses, for keeping off reptiles and insects, and for preserving food. It is remarkable that parts which are cut from the cayman, because their scent would affect it as meat, should be used for this purpose.

[Liannes.]

"A GREAT variety of shrubs, all comprized under the general name of liannes, some of which are as thick as a man's leg, and grow round the trees, making the trunks look like a mast furnished with rigging. They, however, support the trees against the hurricanes, of whose violence I have seen frequent proofs. When they fell timber in the woods, they cut about two hundred trees near the root, which remain upright till the liannes, which hold them, are cut down also. When this is done, one whole part of the forest seems to fall at once, making a most horrid crash. Cords are made of their bark, stronger than of hemp." SAINT PIERRE, Voyage to the Isle of France.

-

[Introduction of Indigo into Surinam.]

INDIGO was introduced into Surinam by a M. Destrades, who called himself a French officer. "I myself," says STEDMAN," was well acquainted with this poor fellow, who since shot himself through the head at Demerary. The circumstances of his death were somewhat remarkable. Having involved himself in debt, he turned to ready

STEDMAN

money his remaining effects and fled from Surinam; next setting up in the Spanish contraband trade, his all was taken. Deprived of every thing, he now applied for protection to a friend at Demerary, who humanely gave him shelter. At this time an abscess gathering in his shoulder, every assistance was offered, but in vain; M. Destrades refusing to let it be ever examined. His shoulder therefore grew worse, and even dangerous, but he persisted in not permitting it to be uncovered; till one day, having drest himself in his best apparel, the family were alarmed by the report of fire arms, when they found him weltering in his blood, with a pistol by his side; and then, to their surprize, having stript him, the mark of V, for voleur, or thief, was discovered on the very shoulder he had attempted to conceal. Thus ended the life of this poor wretch, who had for years at Paramaribo supported the character of a polite and well-bred gentleman, where he had indeed been universally respected.”—Vol. 2, p. 316.

[Snakes at Sea a Sign of Land.] "NEXT morning we saw two snakes upon the water, which occasioned great joy in the ship, for when they begin to see snakes it is an infallible mark that they are not above forty leagues off the land of the Indies. In the evening we saw upon the water a great many little yellow snakes, a foot long, and as big as one's little finger, which made us know that we were near the coast of Diu, along which the snakes are small, for from thenceforward along the coast of the Indies they are big."-THEVENOT.

[The Trollhätta Falls.]

"Or the rocky islands situated in the river near Trollhätta, two or three are quite inaccessible. One of them is overgrown with trees which have never been touched by human hands. A dog which attempted

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to swim across the river at some distance above, being carried away by the rapidity of the current, was cast upon this island. He there lived several days, but not having courage to plunge again into the impetuous torrent, he perished of hunger."-Kurt

NER.

[The Rein-Deer Moss.]

The

"THE country around offered a scene very uncommon, and to us quite new. The moss on which the rein-deer feeds covers the whole ground, which is flat, and only skirted by hills at some distance; but these hills also are clothed with this moss. colour of the moss is a pale yellow, which, when dry, changes to white: the regularity of its shape, and the uniform manner in which the surface of the ground is decked with it, appears very singular and striking : it has the semblance of a beautiful carpet. These plants grow in a shape nearly octagonal, and approaching to a circle; and as they closely join each other, they form a kind of mosaic work, or embroidery. The white appearance of the country, which thence arises, may for a moment make you imagine that the ground is covered with snow; but the idea of a winter scene is done away by the view of little thickets in full green, which you perceive scattered here and there, and still more by the presence of the sun and the warmth of his rays. As this moss is very dry, nothing can possibly be more pleasant to walk upon, nor can there be anything softer to serve as a bed. Its cleanness and whiteness is tempting to the sight; and when we had put up our tent, we found ourselves in every respect very comfortably lodged. I had many times before met with this moss, but in no place had I found it so rich. It was the only produce here which nature seemed to favour and support: no other herb was growing near it, nor any other vegetable on the spot, except a few birch trees, with their underwood, and some firs, dispersed on the hill by the river side. All these

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seemed to vegetate with difficulty, as if deprived of their nourishment by the moss, and appeared withering and stunted. Some trees, indeed, which grow very near the water, had the appearance of being in a flourishing state, perhaps owing to the moisture they derived from the river: but, in short, this moss appeared to be the royal plant, which ruled absolute over the vegetable kingdom of the country, and distributed its bounty and influence amongst a particular race of men and animals."ACERBI'S Travels.

sleep in places where snakes and vipers abounded, and other poisonous animals, surrounding himself with boughs of the beech, from the shade of which tree we saw by experience, that those animals strangely fly. He did another thing in our presence, that we might see the enmity they have to this tree, for he made a circle, half of fire and half of beech boughs, and threw a viper into the middle, which being only able to get out through the boughs or through the fire, to avoid them, chose the fire."- ALONSO PEREZ, in his Continuation of George of Montemor's Diana.

[Aurora Borealis.]

"ON the 30th of March, towards midnight, we were still upon the road, suffering from a cold of thirteen degrees of Celsius, when an Aurora Borealis presented us with a magnificent spectacle, which served to relieve the irksome monotony of our journey. The heavens began to appear illuminated in the north; presently it assumed a bright ruby colour, such as we have on a fine evening in Italy with the setting sun, when, as Virgil says, and as experience has often proved, a lively red as the sun goes down prognosticates fine weather for to-morrow. This phenomenon had just fixed our attention, when behold a luminous arch rose over the pole. This was accompanied by various other light and fleeting arches, which shifted from place to place every instant: they were bounded here and there by vivid flames and torches, which issued in rapid succession from the skies, communicating fire to the clouds in their vicinity, tinging their gilded edges, and exhibiting a picture highly interesting to us, unaccustomed as we were to such appearances."-Ibid.

[Finches' Nests.]

"NESTS of finches (loxia) made of the stalks of grass, curiously interwoven, hung on the branches of trees over ponds, with a long and narrow neck, by which the bird used to enter. This neck prevented the birds of prey from getting at the young ones, and the water, over which the nest hung on low shrubs and bushes, kept off foxes and other beasts of prey."-THUN

BERG.

[The Mimosa Tree-the Guide to Water.]

“THOUGH the surrounding country was mimosas covered the banks of the Dwyka, destitute of vegetation, a thick forest of and followed it through all its windings. This plant grows indeed on every part of the desert, on which it is the inseparable companion of all the rivers and all the periodical streamlets. Should a traveller happen to be in want of water, the appearance of the mimosa is a sure guide to the place where it occasionally, at least, is to be found."-BArrow.

[Antipathy of Snakes and Vipers to the Beech Tree.]

"THEN it was a marvellous thing to see with what unconcern he would lie down to

[The Loss, or Goupe.

Lossen, som paa Norsk kaldes Goupe, &c.]

"THE LOSS, which in Norway dialect is called Goupe, is something smaller than a