a a ceived they fled and disappeared. I It has not yet been discovered what have repeated the same observations is the bird which performs this good at the isle of Thebes and at that of office for the crocodile, except by Hermuntis. ridiculous stories, which have been The moment the crocodiles per- invented by way of explanation. ceived me, I saw them slowly turn Blanchard, among others, in the themselves and make towards the Memoirs de l'Academie des Inscrifi. river. At first, they proceeded with tions, attributes to it (doubtless from caution, and with a measured pace; a false interpretation of an expression ; but, arrived within a certain distance, of Scaliger's) thorns on the back and they leaped, all at once, into the wa- at the end of the wings; and he deter. I approached the beach which scribes it as a busy servant who enthey had quitted, and from the im- deavours to put the crocodile to sleep pression of their feet on the sand, the by a gentle tickling. Can it have been largest among them had leaped at thought that the invention of this least eight feet. fable would increase the veracity of I am also informed that crocodiles Herodotus ? hear at a great distance. My conduc Marmol, who knows as little upon tors, who were not ignorant of this, this subject as Blanchard, says that it recommended me to preserve the is a white bird, of the size of a thrush. strictest silence, as the only means of approaching near to them. The greater part of translators have “ As it lives in the water, it has its made it a wren, by giving a meaning, throat filled with leeches. All animals, too absolute, to a passage in Pliny every beast, avoids it; it lives in amity respecting the trochilus ; but this with nothing but the trochilus, from errour has been removed by M. whom it receives most important services. Larcher, who justly observes that It keeps its mouth open, the trochilus the wren is a wood bird, which dwells enters and eats up all the leeches. The crocodile feels so much pleasure in being in dry places and hedges. thus relieved, that he never commits any Aldrovandus, who lived before all outrage upon his deliverer." the modern literati, has approached This passage is one which has ex- the nearest to truth, when he conjecercised the ingenuity of commenta- tures, from several passages of Ariiors more than any other. Some have stotle and Atheneus that the trochidenied the fact altogether ; but it is lus is the coureur, an aquatick bird, certain, that they are wrong in thus very quick in running, having long impeaching the veracity of this his- legs and a straight and slender beak torian. I took every pains possible to Salerno endeavours to support this ascertain the fact that there is a opinion by new proofs. small bird, which, flying constantly Lastly, the trochilus has been disfrom beach to beach, and continually covered in modern times. Father occupied in seeking for its food, en.. Sicard, one of the missionaries sent ters sometimes into the throat of the to the Levant, notices it under its crocodile when it is asleep, and eats Arabian name of Sag-sag. It is to be the insects that are there sucking its lamented that he did not indicate to blood, and not leeches, in the strict what species this individual belongs. acceptation of the word, such as M. There is no bird so frequent on the Larcher uses it in his translation. shores of the river as the trochilus. There are no leeches in the Nile; Hasselquist has described it under but there is a vast number of gnats the name of charadrius ægyptius. It is engendered on its surface, which are a distinct species, though very simia great torment to the crocodile, by lar to the small plover of Europe. inserting their proboscis into the Aristotle and Atheneus are both orifices of the glands, which are very perfectly right in saying that it runs numerous in its tongue and palate. very quick, and that it goes, in calm weather, to seek its food in the impressions which they attributed water. to the males, had a head much “ All beasts and animals fly from the stronger, but shorter than the others. crocodile." On this occasion they boasted much The common heron, on the con of the superiority of the males over trary, seems to be fond of it: at least, the females ; adding, that the males he seeks the neighbourhood of the knew very well how to make themcrocodile; bu kes care to have selves obeyed, by biting the females, the river between hiin and his friend, or striking them severely with their doubtless, from motives of safety.--- tails. Wherever herons are seen, there can “Some of the Egyptians consider the be no doubt of crocodiles being found crocodiles as sacred animals. The inhaon the other bank. Į recollect that bitants of Thebes, for example, have a the presence of these birds directed great veneration for them. The sacred cro. us, on the 21st October, 1799, to a codile is nourished with the flesh of victroop of fifteen crocodiles, which long as it lives, it is taken the greatest care tims, and with other prescribed food. As were reposing quietly upon land, and of; when it dies, they embalm it, and dewhom we threw into confusion by a posit it in a sacred chest." cannon ball which our vessel fired Many mummies of crocodiles were upon them : the herons were not found in the catacombs where the alarmed, but continued to watch. people of the city of Thebes were They keep thus very near the croco. buried. I myself found two: M. Pug. diles to avail themselves of the ter- net, one of the most able of the me. rour which they create in the river, dical men belonging to the army of and to be ready to seize the fish the east, found also, a very fine one: which their presence causes to fly in and, lastly, the grottos of Heletia were every direction. filled with the bones of large crocoThe pelican has the same instinct: diles that had been embalmed. I have but he does not confine himself to also brought, from the same places this sole fishing, nor does he persist and from the burial grounds of Memwith the same perseverance as the phis, the figures of crocodiles modelheron. led in porcelain, and in baked earth. " When the crocodile reposes upon “ The inhabitants of the environs of land, he has the habit, almost always, of Thebes, select a crocodile, which they turning towards the side whence the wind rear and instruct with such care, that it blows, and of keeping his mouth open.” will suffer itself to be touched by the hand. This is a fact which I have fre. They adorn it with ear-rings, made of quently verified, both at the isle of gold or stone.” Thebes and Hermuntes. I have been There is not a single circumstance, able to observe, very distinctly, upon even down to so minute a one as this, the moist sand, the traces of two which I have not had an opportunity troops of crocodiles which my ap- of verifying. Having lad occasion for proach had driven away ; almost all the head of one of my crocodile of them had their throats directed mummies, I drew it forth from its towards the northwest. Some of bandages, and I had the satisfaction them had been lying on their sides, of perceiving, from the apertures in and the impression of their half its ears, that they had been perforated opened jaws was very visible on the to hang ear-rings in them. sand. I have thus commented upon every My guides availed themselves of paragraph of Herodotus respecting these circumstances to make me ob- ibe crocodile, and I have done it serve the difference between the without prejudice. I may be suspeci; males and females. I thought, in- ed of admiring this great man, and I decd, that I could observe that the am willing to confess that I do. FROM THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE. An Account of the Colony of Cayenne, in South America ; with Anecdotes of thie celebrated Victor Hugues from the French of Piton. zon. GUIANA, or Grand Terre, is a south is sixteen miles and a half; part of America, properly so called, and its circumference, taking in all comprehending about ten degrees of its windings, is about fifty miles. That latitude; bounded, on the east, by part of the circumference bordered the north Atlantick ocean ; on the by the ocean, and which is to the west, by the mountains of the Corde- north east, may, perhaps, be about liers ; on the north, by the river Oro- eleven or twelve miles. noco ; and on the south, by the river The town of Cayenne, situated at of the Amazons, or the Line. the north-west extremity of the island, French Guiana, is divided into dis- at the mouth of the river of the same tricts, which take their names from name, is fortified, and might be cathe principal rivers or capes. The pable of being advantageously defendMar and Oyapoe are the only rie ed by a small mountain which is close vers which have their source in the to it. Its latitude is 4 degrees 56 migreat chain of mountains, which, in nutes, and longitude 54 degrees 35 this part of the world, separate the minutes, from the meridian of Paris, waters which flow towards the ocean, according to the observations of M. from those which fall into the Ama- de la Condamine, in 1744. The rivers Mana, Synnamari, The days and nights are equal Oyac, and Appronague, spring from throughout the year, with the excepthe mountains of the second class; tion of about half an hour, which we the others, less considerable, from lose from September to March, but the mountains of the inferiour order. gain in the six other months. Day All have several branches, more or appears at half-past five ; and at six less rapid, increased by a great num- the sun darts from the bosom of the ber of smaller streams. ocean, surrounded with clouds of bril, The chief place of the colony of liant purple. We have two summers, Cayenne, is generally known by the two equinoxes, two winters, and two name of the Island of Cayenne; but solstices. The heat is tempered by no just idea can be formed of this abundant rains, which fall during the işland, if it is represented as being winter solstice, from the middle of separated at a distance from the con- December to March, and return tinent, and surrounded by a sea, na- again from May to the end of July, vigable for vessels of all descriptions. when the summer commences, and On the contrary, when the navigator continues to December. The sun is first makes this land, it appears to twice vertical here, the 20th of April, him as forming a part of Terra Fire and the 20th of August. It is but liima. Possibly it might have been so tle felt the first time, owing to the formerly. At present it is only sepa- rains, by which the earth is so moistrated from it by a river, or strait, ened and cooled. Its return, however, which rises and falls with every tide, gives about six weeks of fine weather, and which can be only navigated by which dries up the ground a little ; boats, or vessels of very little bur- but the fickleness of these climates then, often deceives the planters, who The greatest breadth of the island would be able to reap two abundant of Cayenne, measured on a line run- crops, if the summers and winters ning from east to west, is four were regular. Europea!is will smile Jeagues, or twelve English miles ; at hearing of summer and winter in its greatest length from north to the forrid zone.. The summer is a scorching sun, which, for several months, is only refreshed by a sort of breeze, which blows constantly from the east, or north-east, during the day. This wind comes from the sea, and gets the better of the landbreeze. This latter is only felt on the coast at certain hours, almost always morning and evening, just at sunrise and at sunset. The winter is one continued fall of rain, so heavy and abundant, as often 10 inundate whole plantations, and cover them entirely with a sheet of water. The rain sometimes falls for fifteen days successively, without the slightest intermission. It was this which made the Abbe Raynal say, that the shore, where the colony of 1763, had disembarked, was a land under water. The winter is sometimes, however, dry and warm; then the plants and the trees wither; the north wind, with its dry, cold, nitrous breath, burns and parches up the flowers, fruits, and tender buds: such is the north wind of warm climates, more destructive than a scorching sun in a dry summer in Europe. The old town of Cayenne has a very miserable appearance; the houses are nothing more than wretched cabins, with sashes without glass; a heap of buildings, erected, or rather huddled together, without art or taste; sloping streets, dirty and narrow; and paved, one would suppose, from the pain we felt in walking through them, with the points of bayonets. In place of carriages and phaetons, old sorry looking jades, more lean and wretched than the animals which drag our hackney coaches, seven or eight fastened to a vehicle meant for a cart, drag slowly along some barrels of salt beef or fish. In the old town, houses of two stories high are palaces; and stores, which are let out for eight or ten thousand francs per annum (from 350 to 450 pounds British) as magazines for the different productions of the colonies, or of Europe. The new town is more regular, more lively, although built in the same style, on a Savanna, or marshy meadow, drained about fifteen or twenty years ago; the whole, taken together, is less considerable than a large village in France. The houses appear empty, or, for the most part, occupied by people of colour, who have nothing, do nothing, trouble themselves about nothing, and who live more at their ease than our respectable tradesmen in France, whom the sun never shines upon in bed, and who labour hard all day. Here every one sells, exchanges, buys, and resells the same thing again; every thing is almost at the price of its own weight in gold, and every one procures it without scarcely knowing how. This paradox is very easily understood, when we come to know the colonies. Those who inhabit them, spend with profusion the money they acquire without trouble; their indolence is so great, that sooner than incommode themselves, they will pay a servant to pluck the fruits which are under their hands, and another to carry them to their mouths. Those who arrive from Europe pay for all; and when vessels are delayed, and do not arrive at the usual time, the famine becomes general without alarming any person. Population.-There are as many different races of men here, as there are distinctions under a monarchy. The whites, or planters, who differ from the Europeans by their light hair, their pale and sometimes leadlike countenances; the negroes, by the shades more or less grounded in their skins, of bronze, of ebony, or a reddish copper, approaching to a sort of brownish red. The mixture of all these colours gives a race of people not unlike the jacket of harlequin. An Indian and a white woman will have a child, whose skin is of a reddish white. A negro and an Indian woman, one of a copper hue, tinged with brown. A white man and a negress, a mulatto. A mulatto and a white woman, a mestee. A mestee and roucou.—The sugar-cane originally a white, a quadroon. Each species came from Asia, whence it was carhas its various shades of singularity, ried to Europe, and the island of Ma. and often partakes of the influence deira.. This latter place furnished a of their country. The Indian has all part of what the Europeans brought . the cunning, the jealousy, and the into America. There are two sorts ; ferocity, of the wandering tribes of the one yellow, the other violet. The the three Arabias. The negroes, last sort was cultivated here by the the idle, crafty, malicious, yet shall Indians, before we discovered the low and confined ideas of the savages New World. North America proof Africa. The others spring from duces a tree not unlike our maple, the mixture of the different races, from which sugar is obtained by mawith the vices of the climate, and the king incisions in it. The process of stupidity of their ancestors ; indeed, curing it is much less expensive than it is a matter of doubt, whether it that from the cane ; it is tapped twice : ; were not to be wished, that there a year, and yields a white agreeable were more blacks than those half- sugar, but less solid than that from whites in our colonies. the cane. That part of Cayenne which is on The cotton tree is a shrub, which the continent is hut partially cultiva- the planters are obliged to keep in a ted. The principal plantations are dwarfish state, in order to render it there ; but they are situated at a more productive. It is not certain, great distance from each other. The whether it is a natural plant of the post of Synnamari owes its name to country. It is not to be met with in a fountain about two leagues to the the woods of Guiana ; and yet before southeast, near the river, remark. our discovery, the Indians cultivated able for the salubrity of its waters. it to make hammocks and other arThere formerly was a hospital there; ticles. The leaf is broad, octagonal, but it does not now exist. Synnamari smooth, and soft, on the inside, and is at the northwest extremity of a a little woolly on the out. The filower large Savanna of 15 or 16 miles long, is of a beautiful yellow, shaped like and eight or ten wide. It consists of a bell, and not unlike that of our 15 or 16 huts, the melancholy re- gourd or pumpkin. When the flower mains of the colony of 1763. Kona- falls off, a large pod, something in mana, the place allotted for the ba- the shape of an egg, appears, which nished deputies and others, is six contains the colton and the seed. leagues further on. Some merchants When this egg is fully grown, the of Rouen landed there in 1626. The heat opens it, and it shows four or shore, from which the sea has retir. five small black grains about the size ed full two leagues and a half, was of our vetches; from this grain is then under water almost to the moun. made an oil. The cattle are very fond tains. The Konamana appeared to of them, and will often destroy the them a proper situation to found a fences to get at thein. The cotton colony, Cayenne and its environs tree bears in a year. It gives two being then peopled only by savages. crops annually; but that of the month They settled upon the summit of the of March, which is but trifting, is rocks, in order to carry on a war frequently destroyed by the caterpilagainst the Indians. At the end of lars, which always spring up after three weeks, three-fourths of them the first rains. The cotton of Cayenne were carried off by pestilential fe- is more esteemed in trade than that vers, and the remainder got on board of other colonies, as much from its, their vessels, and set sail for France. superiour quality, as from the care The chief productions of Cayenne they bestow upon its culture. are sugar, coffee, cotton, indigo, The origin of the discovery of co |