ledges the Governor of the world, and takes a lively interest in the predicted extension of Christianity to all nations.

The work is so multifarious and miscellaneous, as to leave no possibility of making a continuous abstract; and it abounds so much with remarkable and entertaining incidents and descriptions, that were any such abstract possible, it would be far less gratifying than such a series of selections as it will be a much easier task for us to give. A few general remarks may find a place at the close of the article.

The western coast, and the tracts in the vicinity of the western coast, of the Indian peninsula, were the scene of his residences and travels. One movement went as far southward as Travancore; but it was in various parts of the country from Bombay to the upper part of Guzzerat that he made the long sojourn which enriched him with the materials of this work, collected by an indefatigable improvement of the time which could be spared from the duties of the civil offices with which he was charged.

A residence of eighteen years on the island of Bombay, and several of its subordinate settlements, afforded me an opportunity of seeing a great deal of the western part of Hindostan; and I occasionally visited most of the principal places, from Ahmedabad, the capital of the northern province of Guzerat, to Anjengo, the most southern factory on the coast of Malabar. During that interesting period, I corresponded with a near relation, whose congenial mind wished to share in the novelty I met with in a part of the globe, which is unrivalled in its gratifications for travellers of every description; especially for a youth, to whom all the world was new.'

The voyage outward gave latitude of play to his youthful sensibility and fancy, between the enchanting beauties of nature in the Brazils, and the wretched and hideous state to which the crew were reduced, by the scurvy, before they reached India. The death of many of them, and the condition to which the survivors were reduced, furnish a striking illustration of the improvement effected since that time in the economy of ships on long voyages. He describes the impressive effect of the assembling of all the crew for the funeral service preparatory to committing the dead to the deep.

He very soon made acquaintance with whatever is most remarkable in the productions bestowed or inflicted by nature on the regions of the East. He has but just mentioned his arrival at Bombay, when he goes into an animated celebration of the unrivalled combination of estimable qualities in the cocoa-nut tree. We shall only transcribe the account of the manner of forcing it to forego its natural production and substitute an

other.

Many of the trees are not permitted to bear fruit; but the em

bryo bud, from which the blossoms and nuts would spring, is tied up to prevent its expansion; and a small incision being then made at the end, there oozes, in gentle drops, a cool pleasant liquor called Tarce, or Toddy, the palm-wine of the poets. This, when first drawn, is cooling and salutary; but when fermented and distilled, produces an intoxicating spirit.' Vol. I. p. 23.

But the most signal object in the vegetable kingdom, and what its very frequent recurrence in his drawings shews he deemed the most picturesque, was the Banian. Much as all readers of eastern descriptions have been told of this species of tree, their admiration will be once more irresistibly excited by a description of one individual on the banks of the Nerbudda. is accompanied by a rich engraving.

It

On the banks of the Nerbudda I have spent many delightful days, with large parties on rural excursions, under a tree supposed by some persons to be that described by Nearchus, and certainly not at all inferior to it. High floods have at various times swept away a considerable part of this extraordinary tree; but what still remains is near two thousand feet in circumference, measured round the principal stenis: the overhanging branches, not yet struck down, cover a much larger space; and under it grow a number of custard-apple, and other fruit trees. The larger trunks of this single tree amount to three hundred and fifty, and the smaller ones exceed three thousand: each of these is constantly sending forth branches and hanging roots, to form other trunks, and become the parents of a future pro

geny.

"This magnificent pavilion affords a shelter to all travellers, particularly the religious tribes of Hindoos; and is generally filled with a variety of birds, snakes, and monkeys: the latter have often diverted me with their antic tricks especially in their parental affection to their young offspring, by teaching them to select their food, to exert themselves in jumping from bough to bough, and then in taking more extensive leaps from tree to tree, encouraging them by caresses when timorous, and menacing, and even beating them, when refractory Knowing by instinct the malignity of the snakes, they are most vigilant in their destruction: they seize them when asleep by the neck, and running to the nearest flat stone, grind down the head by a strong friction on the surface, frequently looking at it, and grinning at their progress.'

On a shooting party under this tree, one of the author's friends killed one of these animals, a female; the extreme distress shewn by its companions, and the testimonies of affection to the dead body on its being restored to them, excited commiseration and respect, in spite of the disgust we are tempted to feel for a species which has so much the appearance of a mockery of our own. The sportsmen were so much moved by the behaviour, that, our author says, they resolved never more to level a gun at one of the monkey race.'

It may be observed, that Nature has in general so managed the distribution of her exhibitions, that where there is much to admire, there is much to fear. Mr F. might gaze at banian trees, be captured with the splendid beauty of the birds, be beguiled into a fancy of paradise by the rich profusion of flowers; and then, returning to his apartments, to muse over the scene, he might find, in one instance four, and in another five, of the cobra-minelle, the most dangerous, he says, though the smallest of the Indian serpents, quietly lodged in his chamber up stairs; and might therefore have just cause to shudder at the narrowness of his escape of the speedy and painful death' which its bite inflicts. He even still more narrowly escaped this infliction from a cobra di capello, the identical reptile of which he has given a large coloured print. It was in the possession of one of those strollers who exhibit serpents dancing to music, a very common amusement in India. He says,

It danced an hour on the table while I painted it; during which I frequently handled it, to observe the beauty of the spots, and especially the spectacles on the head, not doubting but that its venomous fangs had been extracted. But the next morning my upper servant, who was a zealous Mussulman, came to me in great haste, and desired I would instantly retire, and praise the Almighty for my good fortune; not understanding his meaning, I told him I had already performed my devotions, and had not so many stated prayers as the followers of his prophet. Mahomet then informed me that while purchasing some fruit in the bazar, he observed the man who had been with me on the preceding evening, entertaining the country people with his dancing snakes. They, according to their usual custom, sat on the ground around him, when, either from the music stopping too suddenly, or from some other cause irritating the vicious reptile, which I had so often handled, it darted at the throat of a young woman, and inflicted a wound of which she died in about half an hour.'

Nor would any man in his walks among the umbrageous and aromatic groves, so delectable in poetry, be perfectly and invincibly surrendered to soothing and voluptuous feelings and fancies, after having heard that the verdaut, the blooming, the 'incense-breathing' bower, may harbour such inhabitants as the following:

One of the most dangerous serpents in the Concan is a long snake of a beautiful green; in form resemblng the lash of a coachwhip, from which it is called the whip-snake. This insidious animal conceals itself among the branches of trees, from whence it darts rapidly on the cattle grazing below, generally at the eye. One of them, near the hot.wells, flew at a bull, and wounding him in the eye, threw him into a violent agony; he tore up the ground in a furious manner, ard foaming at the mouth, died in about half an hour.'

So that a number of precautions, and a selection of locality, are indispensable before a man can put himself in perfect harmony with what our author avers to be sometimes the gracious mood of the climate.

As a contrast to the violence of the monsoon, and the unpleasant effects of the hot winds, there is sometimes a voluptuousness in the climate of India, a stillness in nature, an indescribable softness, which soothes the mind, and gives it up to the most delightful sensations.'

It is gratifying to the taste for variety and for magnificence, that the excitement of emphatic emotion is not left exclusively to the snakes. Our author was sometimes indebted for this luxury to nobler agents. The following is a fine instance, and most of his readers would be proud to be able to record such a thing among their adventures.

Most of the jungles, or wild forests of underwood, in the district denominated the Concan, abound with tygers, hyænas, hogs, deer, and porcupines: the former are as large and ferocious as in other parts of India, and render a solitary excursion dangerous. They approached close to our habitations at the hot-wells, and frequently caused an alarm. The thatched cottages were so close and uncomfortable, that we generally placed our beds under a contiguous mango grove, until, one night, a royal tiger, attracted by the smell of a goat which had recently been killed and hung upon a tree, rushed closed to my bed, in the road to his prey. The noise awakened us in time to secure a retreat to the cottage before the return of the monster. The moon shone bright, and in a few minutes we saw him pass us with the carcase of the goat; which had he not found, one of our party would most likely have been his prey?' Vol. I. p. 196.

Compared with endowments and attractions like those we have recited, it is hardly worth while to mention the recommendations which the country, the paradise of nations,' possesses on the score of the most curious singularities of vermin,-the black ants, an inch long, that bite according to the style of their bulk; the white ants, that eat up every thing in the house, and the house itself into the bargain; or the musk-rats, armed with such aromatic efficiency that if one of them gets into a chest of wine, every bottle smells so strong of the animal, and acquires such a disagreeable flavour, that it cannot be drunk.'

6

It would seem like sinking into utter dulness to advert to any harmless animal production, if we did not, fortunately, fall on one that relieves the insignificance of innocence by an extreme singularity of physical attributes. Our author kept a chameleon several weeks, and observed it with the minutest attention. We shall transcribe part only of his description.

The chameleon of the Concan, including the tail, is about nine inches long; the body only half that length, varying in circumference as it is more or less inflated. The head, like that of a fish, is immoveably fixed to the shoulders; but every inconvenience is remedied by the structure of the eyes; which, like spheres rolling on an invisible axis, are placed in deep cavities, projecting from the head. Through a small perforation in the exterior convexity appears a bright pupil, surrounded by a yellow iris; which, by the singular formation and motion of the eye, enables the animal to see what passes before, behind, or on either side; and it can give one eye all these motions while the other remains perfectly still. A hard rising protects these delicate organs; another extends from the forehead to the nostrils. The mouth is large, and furnished with teeth. With a tongue half the length of the body, and hollow like an elephant's trunk, it darts nimbly at flies and other insects, which it seems to prefer to the aerial food generally supposed to be its sustenance.

The general colour of the chameleon so long in my possession was a pleasant green, spotted with pale blue. From this it changed to a bright yellow, dark olive, and a dull green; but never appeared to such advantage as when irritated, or a dog approached it; the body was then considerably inflated, and the skin clouded like tortoise-shell, in shades of yellow, orange, green, and black. A black object always caused an almost instantaneous transformation. The room appropriated for its accommodation was skirted by a board painted black; this the chameleon carefully avoided; but if he accidentally drew near it, or if we placed a black hat in his way, he was reduced to a hideous skeleton, and from the most lively tints became black as jet; on removing the cause, the effect as suddenly ceased; the sable hue was succeeded by a brilliant colouring, and the body was again inflated.' Vol. I. p. 198.

(To be concluded in our next Number)

Art. X.-Prayer for the multiplication of Evangelical Labourers. Sermon preached before the Patrons of the Newport Pagnel Evangelical Institution, July 13, 1814. By John Clayton, Junr. Published at the request of the general meeting of Subscribers and Friends to the Establishment, 8vo. pp. 34, price ls. 6d. London, Burton, 1814.

THE Institution at Newport Pagnel, referred to in the

title-page of this sermon, was established in the year 1783, under the tutorship of the late Rev. William Bull. It originated in the exertions of the Rev. John Newton, when rector of Olney; and, conformably to his plan, was designed for the education of candidates for the christian ministry, without respect of the class or denomination to which their labours were afterwards to be consecrated. The academy was for several years supported by voluntary contributions, on which, by the death of its venerable tutor, it has again become de VOL. II. N. S.

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