CHAPTER XII.

Tomb of Napoleon—The willows—Contrasted feelings of the French and English visitors to Buonaparte’s grave—Fish—Sail from St. Helena—Island of Ascension—Frigate birds—Shark sucking a Pilot Fish—The Sargasso weed—Condition of the Crowned pigeons—A swallow captured during migration—Temperature—Arrival at Gravesend.

The day of our arrival we visited the place of repose of the mortal remains of Napoleon. The rising road towards Longwood was cut on the surface of a lofty, barren hill, gradually ascending as we advanced, which afforded a sterile view, varied by a few scattered shrubs of Cactus, Furze-bushes, and Frocoides, bestowing some animation by their blossoms to the arid soil, which barely seemed capable of affording them nourishment. The varying view of the town and shipping on the ascent, formed a picturesque scene, and gave some interest to the monotonous character of the country. On advancing, the distant view of a cascade, which falls into a small stream over a fresh-looking green sward, and which supplies the shipping with that necessary article of life, is a pleasing sight, the water being conveyed to the landing-place at the town by means of iron pipes.

The Briars is passed on the right, but much altered in appearance since it was honoured by being the temporary residence of the Corsican. There are some plantations of mulberry-trees at this place, for the purpose of introducing the cultivation of silk on the island; but which, I should suppose, will never succeed to any extent.

Before reaching the grave, the eye is charmed by the deep glens, plantations, and neat houses. The furze-bushes with their yellow blossoms, the bramble, and other European plants, reminded the voyager of home and all its endearing charms. The hedges of the aloe, with its high stem surmounted by clusters of flowers, together with the carolling of the numerous birds from all countries, which had been introduced and set at liberty on the island, increased the delight which had been already experienced.[82] The pheasant and partridge have also been introduced, and thrive well. At last, on arriving at a more level road, the beautiful fertile vale was seen, descending from Huyt’s Gate, but becoming, as it advances towards the sea, a series of deep, rugged and romantic ravines, destitute of any vegetation, and varied by the different tints afforded by the volcanic strata.

The grave of Napoleon, when descried from the height above, has a pleasing aspect, and the view of it from that situation is very picturesque. A pathway leads to the place; and by a gradual descent the visitor arrives at the tomb of Napoleon, overshadowed by the weeping willows. About the spot are gay hedges, brilliant with the blossoms of the scarlet geraniums, the flowers of a pretty _Althæa_, of a straw colour, and others. The green-sward around the tomb gives a freshness and beauty to this spot, consecrated by the late ruler of thousands, who now reposes in the solemn stillness of death, under the shade of his chosen, mournful, but fast-perishing trees.

The willows show evident symptoms of age. They seem to be getting more and more thin of branches. Since a visit I made to this spot, in February, 1831, another of the trees has perished, although the trunk still remains erect in its place. Thus, of five trees (the original number) only three now remain: their age is about thirty-five years; they were planted by Mr. Tarbut, a resident at St. Helena, and former possessor of the spot we were now visiting. A number of slips from the old trees have been planted on the opposite side of the grave, and being in a flourishing condition[83] on the death of the old trees, the stock will be perpetuated by the young ones. There are also several cypresses planted in the inclosure, with every appearance of becoming handsome trees.

On entering a wicket-gate, a short path leads to a paling, inclosing a green lawn, in which, surrounded by a plain cast-iron railing, is the vault in which the body of Napoleon, arrayed in full uniform, is deposited, inclosed in four coffins. The vault is extensive, and covered by three plain Portland stones taken from the kitchen of the new house at Longwood,[84] and cemented together. An order from the town-major enables strangers to enter the inclosure, procure slips of the willow, and, one of the cast-iron railings surrounding the vault being broken, either accidentally or on purpose, the attendant will permit visitors to enter and tread over him now dead, who, when living, trod on the necks of monarchs.

Should there be visitors of both the French and English nations at the sepulchre of Napoleon, it is interesting to observe the feelings produced in the minds of both: the first regarding the spot as both sacred and classic, by the presence of the mortal remains of one, the former ruler of their nation, and who, under the revolutionary flag, had gained so many laurels, which it was his fate to lose at Waterloo, against an allied army. He then found himself a voluntary prisoner, on board one of those British ships of war, which had, under the proud banner of Britain, cleared the ocean of his ships, and he at last died an exile on the rock of St. Helena. This affords a fine lesson to posterity, of a great genius, who having elevated himself to be the ruler of a powerful nation, fell, and died in captivity, through his over-ambition. The French shed tears on visiting the grave of their beloved emperor; and the album, kept at the tomb for the reception of the names and tributary effusions of the visitors gives ample evidence of the feelings which a visit to this spot produces in their minds, and displays the characteristic fervor of the nation.[85]

Such may be the feelings of the former; but the majority of the English display a recklessness of manner, or mere feelings of common curiosity, on visiting a place so interesting. No one ought to visit this spot without reflecting on the life of him, whose sceptre fell from his grasp, and left him to live and die an exile, attended only by a faithful few,—all they asked was

——“To divide Every peril he must brave; Sharing by the hero’s side His fall, his exile, and his grave.”

Close to the grave is the clear spring whence the water for his use was procured, and on once visiting the spot, he selected it as his resting-place, should he die upon the island; a foreboding realized not a very long time after.

On returning from our visit to the tomb, and dining, we took a walk about the town, and entered the small garden, kept in very neat order, dignified by the name of Botanic Garden; it affords a cool and agreeable promenade, but contains nothing to excite the attention of any one who had previously visited India.[86]

News having arrived at the island, of its having been changed from the Honourable the East India Company’s to the King’s government, much speculation has been excited in consequence both among the Company’s officers and residents. As may be expected, on such a subject, there is a great variety of opinions: the inhabitants enjoy their own notions, none of which will probably ever be realized. They are daily in expectation of news from England on the subject, to relieve them from suspense.

Fish is very abundant, and not confined, as I formerly supposed, to albicore, mackarel, boneto, and flying-fish; but they have a great number of species, (it has been stated amounting to even so many as a hundred and twenty,) consisting of bream, perch, &c.; and many I tasted, were of very excellent and delicate flavour.

On the afternoon of the following day, (25th,) we sailed from St. Helena, and experienced between that island and Ascension a light trade-wind, which would occasionally freshen for a short period. Early on the morning of the 4th of March, the _Island of Ascension_ was seen, bearing north-west-half-west, by compass distant about twenty-five miles.[87] Our course was steered, so as to pass close to the settlement. The appearance of the island is sterile in the extreme, seeming only calculated for the habitation of the numerous oceanic birds which hovered about the ship in great numbers. Volcanic rocks, in rugged and mis-shapen masses, terminating in abrupt precipices, or shelving declivities, form the principal feature of the island. And when the clouds which enveloped the Green Mountain passed away, its verdant character contrasted in a very beautiful manner with the sterile rocks and mountains, red with the _tufa_, or volcanic ash, beneath. Some little white habitations, perched on the ledge of one part of the lofty eminence, and distinctly seen from the ship, had a very pretty and pleasing effect, as a bright sun diffused its rays over the scene, which for some time remained clear from even a passing cloud.

A number of gannets were busily engaged in fishing, and, from the shoals of flying-fish about, must have enjoyed excellent sport. The frigate birds, (_Trachypetes aquila_, Vieill.) on the contrary, hovered over the vessel, viewing with curiosity the expanded sails and progressive motion of the ship, “walking the waters like a thing of life,” regarding it, with their usual indolence and aristocracy of manner, instead of fishing like the other industrious birds about them. From all the frigate-birds having white abdomens, and being deficient in the red pouch, I presume they were females. The bills of the whole of those about the ship were of a dirty white colour, although described in several works of natural history as red.

On a former voyage, a female of the man-of-war hawk (_Trachypetes aquila_) was shot off this island from the deck of the ship, from the numbers which hovered over the vessel. The bird, when struck by the shot, made for the land; but soon after, as if feeling that it would be unable to reach it, returned, with a wavering flight, towards the ship, and we felt confident that she would come on board; approaching the ship, her flight became lower and more unsteady, until she fell dead into the water, quite close to the ship, near the mizen chains, just as we were in expectation that she would have fallen upon the poop.

Numerous sea-swallows (_Sterna hirundo_, Linn.) and brown boobies flew about the ship as we approached nearer the land; the former fishing in groups. After the toil of the day, they return in small flocks to the island, usually about the close of the evening, (as well as the gannets and other birds that do not wander far from the land,) reposing and breeding among the ledges of the huge masses of sterile volcanic rocks.[88]

The frigate birds, (or sea-hawks, as they are also named,) are seldom or never seen far distant from land: the male birds are black, and have a red pouch; the females have a white breast, and are destitute of the pouch. In procuring fish for their food, these birds prefer seizing it from the boobies and gannets, instead of catching it themselves. To attain this object, the sea-hawk hovers above the gannet, (which is the bird most usually selected for attack,) and, darting rapidly down, strikes him on the back of the head, causing him to disgorge his prey, which is seized by the hawk with an inconceivable rapidity before it reaches the water, and afterwards soars aloft to look out for another object of attack. It is not an uncommon circumstance to observe a single gannet selected from a flock, and come out to be the subject of attack, as if he had been called by the hawk in preference to the others. The gannet, however, manœuvres to avoid the blow, by darting about, lowering himself from his elevation in the air at every dart, and, raising his beak in a perpendicular direction; by these means it eludes the blow of the hawk from behind, and they frequently both fall into the water together; the hawk only having the advantage over the gannet when hovering in the air, the latter escapes. At the Island of Ascension, where these birds are common, I was informed by Lieutenant M’Arthur, (Marine Artillery,) that the method practised by the hawks to oblige the gannet to disgorge their prey, was tried by a gentleman who lately visited the island: he had seen the attack of the hawk on the gannet, and the successful result. When he visited the part of the island named “The Fair,” where these birds congregate in great numbers, he struck some of them with a cane on the back of the head, and the disgorgement of the fish they had swallowed immediately took place.

By three P.M. we were off the settlement, in the roadstead of which an American ship, and several British men-of-war, were lying at anchor. We did not enter the roadstead, but, hoisting our ensign and number, proceeded on our voyage, and by the evening left the island far in the distance.

Having on a former voyage, in 1831, visited and landed upon this island, I perhaps may be excused for introducing the following account, from observations made at that period:—

About noon (of the 10th of February, 1831) we were off the settlement situated on the north-west side of the island, and several neatly-constructed houses appeared enlivening a little the barren scene around. A transport (St. Croix) was at anchor in the roads, having just arrived with stores; a boat came off from the settlement, with a book, in which the ship’s name, &c. was inserted. I accompanied the commander on a visit to the shore: the landing is sometimes dangerous, on account of the surf; at this time it was very easily effected. The landing-place was on a flight of steps, at the extremity of a wharf; a small crane was near, to assist boats in approaching, and persons in landing. A delightful trade breeze rendered the air cool, which would otherwise have been intolerable, on account of the reflection of the sun from the sand and lava. The residences of the garrison, store-houses, &c., were neat constructions, and had been lately completed: many other buildings were in progress. The island has now been fortified at every part considered accessible; these points being few, however, not many batteries were required. The establishment consists of marines and marine artillery, (about four hundred,) under a commandant, Captain Bates. The privates are masons, carpenters, quarrymen, &c.; the houses are constructed by them, and, in fact, they undertake all the laborious work. This island is considered of great importance, being directly in the track of our homeward-bound shipping from the East Indies, &c., and would, in the event of a war, have afforded a rendezvous for the enemy’s cruizers.

I was informed that excellent soil was found under the lava, at a depth of two feet: cultivation of vegetables, &c. is at present confined to the green mountain; the present object of fortifying and erecting buildings on the island being completed, cultivation will be more attended to. The beach, at first thought to be composed of sand, was found to consist of very small fragments of shells: in some places they had become (from some cause not readily accounted for) firmly compacted together. These slabs were formed of several layers, of which the size of the fragments differs in each layer: they are used for tomb-stones, steps of doors, and are broken and burned for lime. Of the vegetable kingdom, a species of Euphorbia only was growing, distributed in small tufts, but not very abundantly, about the rugged lava; it was at this time in flower: this simple plant was, indeed, a beautiful object amidst such barren scenes. There are three species of butterflies on the island, of handsome colours.

A great acquisition to the island has been a good supply of water: a shaft had just been sunk upon one of the mountains, and several tons of water had been raised daily. The only inconvenience is their being obliged to bring the water down by casks in carts; but iron pipes, from England, are now being laid down, to convey the water to the wharf, and the shipping will be supplied by means of hoses. Moorings are laid down in the roadstead. The turtle-ponds were well stocked with turtles of large size, varying from two to eight hundred weight each: the price fixed, was fifty shillings each. We were politely invited, and dined with the officers at their mess. At a place called “The Fair,” the birds named sea-swallows, as well as numerous other aquatic birds, congregate; and the eggs of the sea-swallows, which are of a dirty white, with dark red spots, and about the size of crows’ eggs, are there collected at certain seasons of the year, in thousands: several of these were given to us, and found delicate and excellent eating. It was dark before we went off to the ship, and a heavy surf rendered the embarkation very dangerous: no boats should attempt going off after dark. A marine, named James, who was a little intoxicated, fell into the water, and, being overpowered by the violence of the surf and the eddy, perished. After some difficulty, we all re-embarked, and, getting safely on board, resumed our voyage.

The island is considered generally healthy, dysentery being the only disease experienced; and the temperature of the air pleasant, being seldom higher in the shade than 83°, the constant trade-breeze tending to keep the atmosphere temperate. Merchant-ships, in distress for supplies, may here obtain them, the only extra charge made by the government being the freight from England. Fish can be procured in some quantity, and a kind of conger eel, procured at this island, had, when brought to the table, the bones of a lilac colour.

We experienced a very light south-east trade-wind for almost its whole limit, and lost it in lat. 00° 36′ north, and lon. 20° 40′ west. We afterwards experienced calms and light airs, with but little rain. On the 13th of March, in lat. 1° 23′ north, and lon. 22° 15′ west, several sail were in sight, steering to the southward; and about two P.M. we spoke the barque, Lord of the Isles, last from Falmouth, bound to Calcutta: she left Falmouth the 7th of February. A boat was sent from the barque, bringing letters for conveyance to England, and newspapers of December and January, which afforded us some knowledge of how the world was going on.

Sharks, accompanied by pilot-fish, and having several of the Remora, or sucking-fish, attached to them, were occasionally about the ship during the calm weather.

Sharks are formidable from their muscular strength and the numerous rows of teeth with which their expansive and powerful jaws are armed: they may be considered as the most destructive and voracious of all the inhabitants of the deep. Their stomachs, which are of enormous capacity, are generally found filled with a mixed collection of substances, some of which seem calculated to try the strength of their digestive powers. It does not appear that their sense of smell always guides them in procuring food, as paper, canvas, or indeed any thing thrown overboard which they are capable of swallowing, is greedily devoured by them. To decide correctly on the _habitat_, or extent of range, taken by any particular species, is difficult, and requires a numerous collection of facts. Frequent mistakes are made in this respect; as in the instance of the _Squalus cornubicus_, or porbeagle shark, whose _habitat_ was supposed to be confined to the British coasts, but which I have since discovered has been found, although rarely, inhabiting the coasts of New Zealand.

The teeth of sharks vary in different species. Blumenbach observes, that “in most of the sharks the mouth is furnished with very numerous teeth, for the supply of such as may be lost. The white shark has more than two hundred, lying on each other in rows, almost like the leaves of an artichoke. Those only which form the front row have a perpendicular direction, and are completely uncovered. Those of the subsequent rows are, on the contrary, smaller, have their points turned backwards, and are covered by a kind of gum. These come through the covering substance, and pass forward, when any teeth of the front row are lost. It will be understood, from this description, that the teeth in question cannot have any fangs.”[89]

The shark, no doubt, sheds its teeth at certain periods, and the posterior rows are to supply, in succession, the places of those so lost, as, in a number of jaws that I have examined of different species, the second row may frequently be seen in a perpendicular direction, advancing to supply the place of the first. With respect to such teeth having fangs, those of most species have merely rudiments of them, excepting the squalus cornubicus, or porbeagle shark, which has two distinct fangs to every tooth, and they may be seen in the second and third, as well as in the first rows. The posterior rows having their points turned backwards, prevent their prey, when seized, from escaping. The teeth of the shark are used by the Polynesian natives, fixed in rows, as knives. They are attached also to their spears, are used for cutting themselves on occasions of joy or grief, and were employed, previously to the introduction of European knives, for the ornamental carving of their weapons, domestic utensils, &c.

There is a species of shark at New Zealand which I have heard named, by seamen, the _ground shark_: the teeth procured from this species differ from all others that I have seen; they are long, rather curved inwards, flattened anteriorly, sharp pointed, _unserrated at the edges_, and have _two rather long fangs_. They are considered rare at New Zealand, and the teeth are highly valued by the natives, who wear them, with a hole bored through them, as appendages to their ears; they carve their green jasper stone also in the form of these teeth, and wear them in a similar manner: these teeth were so highly prized by the natives, that to procure one was a matter of difficulty. I for some time, since my return to England, endeavoured to ascertain the species to which these teeth belonged, but I was unsuccessful, until lately examining the jaws of the various species of sharks in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, in London, I found it to be the _Squalus cornubicus_, or porbeagle shark, which is thus noticed in the published catalogue of the college:—

“No. 1832.—The skull, and part of the spine, of a small Porbeagle shark. Squalus cornubicus. Fig. Borlase’s History of Cornwall. Habitat. The British seas.”

This species, from its magnitude when full grown, has sometimes been confounded with the squalus carcharias, or white shark.—Presented by Dr. Leach, 1820.

The fore-teeth, near the symphysis, accorded in every respect with the New Zealand specimens; more posterior they became equilateral, but were all unserrated at their edges.

The capture of one of these voracious animals frequently beguiles a tedious hour during a long voyage. Its struggles, when brought on deck, are very great, but a few severe blows on the nose soon disable it from further exertion. When seizing any object, the animal turns on the side, not (as is generally supposed) on the back. The shark, judging by an European palate, is not good eating: the fins and tail are very glutinous, and are the portions most relished by the seamen; when dried, they form an article of commerce to China, where they are used in soups, and considered as an excellent aphrodisiac. I have seen several sharks and bonitos about the ship at the same time, but I never observed the former attempt to molest the latter. The shark is eaten eagerly by the natives of the Polynesian Islands, and I have often seen them feasting on it in a raw state, when they gorge themselves to such an excess as to occasion vomiting. It is not an unfrequent source of illness among these islanders, and they suffer so much in consequence, as to lead them to suppose that their dissolution is nigh; but they cannot be persuaded that the eating of raw fish is the cause. An emetic soon removes the symptoms, by removing the cause; and the sufferer considers the cure as almost miraculous.

Attending the shark, is seen that beautiful little fish, the _Gasterosteus ductor_, or _pilot-fish_; which first approaching the bait, returns as if to give notice, when, immediately after, the shark approaches and seizes it.[90] It is a curious circumstance that this elegant little fish is seen in attendance only upon the shark. After the shark is hooked, the pilot-fish still swim about, and for some time after he has been hauled on deck; they then swim very near the surface of the water, and at that time I have seen them taken by a basket from the chains of the ship. When the shark has been hooked and afterwards escapes, he generally returns, and renews the attack with increased ferocity, irritated perhaps by the wound he has received.

On the 18th of March, 1831, during my former voyage, in lat. 44° 56′ north, and long. 25° 10′ west; in the evening, two sharks of a very large size were seen at a short distance from the ship. A high dorsal fin, projecting from the water, was at first only discernible, and had a resemblance to a rock.[91] It was at first stationary, but soon began to move steadily along, and then occasionally the tail could be seen partially above the water. I know not to what species to refer it; one of the crew on board, who had been in a whaler, said that it was what they named a “_bone shark_” which is seen in numbers alongside the ships when they are cutting up a whale. He said, also, that he had seen them as large as a _twenty-barrel whale_; that “the mouth resembled the gill of a fish, and they are spotted over the back.” Whether the latter part of this account accorded with the actual appearance of the fish, I was not sufficiently near to ascertain, but it appeared correct with respect to its large size.

The natives of the Polynesian islands have such a dread of sharks as to worship some of them as gods; not from any respect or love towards them, but from fear. Ellis states, that, “although they would not only kill, but eat certain kinds of shark, the large blue sharks (_Squalus glaucus_) were deified by them; and, rather than attempt to destroy them, they would endeavour to propitiate their favour by prayers and offerings. Temples were erected, in which priests officiated, and offerings were presented to the deified monsters; while fishermen, and others who were much at sea, sought their favour. Many ludicrous legends were formerly in circulation among the people, relative to the regard paid by the sharks at sea to priests of their temples, whom they were always said to recognize, and never to injure. The principal motive, however, by which the people appear to have been influenced in their homage of these creatures, was the same that operated on their minds in reference to other acts of idolatry: it was the principle of fear, and a desire to avoid destruction in the event of being exposed to their anger at sea.”[92]

In olden times sharks were considered to be allied to the Leviathans of the deep, and afforded then, as at the present day, amusement to passengers traversing the ocean. The following account of the capture of one of these voracious animals, from Dr. Fryer’s “New Account of India and Persia,” published in 1698, is amusing:—

“Two of the _lesser offspring of the great Leviathan_ (the weather being calm, these sort of them else not visible, being of no swift motion) came sailing after us; our men, as eager of them as they of their prey, hastened their engines for to take them; which no sooner in the water but each of them, guided by some half-a-dozen delicately-coloured little fishes, which, for their own safeguard, perform the office of pilots, (they never offering to satisfy their hunger on them,) who lead them to the baits; when they, turning their bellies up, seize upon them on their backs, hook themselves in the toils, beating the sea into a breach, and not without a great many hands are drawn over the sides of the ship; which seen by the poor silly little fishes, (as conscious of their error,) they swim to and again, and hardly forsake the ship; but being within board, the ship’s company, armed with hatchets, presently divide the spoil. They are not scaly, and therefore imagined to be a kind of whale, being finned like them, with a great fin on their backs, near their tails, (which dried, is used instead of a slate,) of a darkish-grey colour on their backs, lighter on their sides, and white under their bellies; their snout on the same plain with their mouths, but their mouth within that a great way; the cause why they turn their bellies when they take their prey. The mouth of one of them extended, is two spans wide, armed within with three tier of sharp-pointed teeth on both jaws, so piercing that needles exceed them not, and of such strength that a leg or an arm, bone and all, is but an easy morsel; wherefore called _sharks_ by the seamen, on whom they are bold enough to fasten and dismember, if not shunned, when they wash themselves. They are of a rank smell, and not good to eat but by stout stomachs; of length they are ten, sometimes fourteen feet.”

I shall now make a few observations on muscular irritability, as exemplified by the shark. That which is termed muscular irritability, and which is met with to a great degree in all cold-blooded animals, is well exemplified in the shark, which perhaps possesses it to a greater degree than other kinds of fish. I have seen a shark transfixed with a harpoon after it had been hooked, so as to cause the viscera to protrude; it was hoisted on deck, when, after a quarter of an hour had elapsed, the lower part was separated from the upper; (which detached lower portion for a long time displayed great powers of vitality;) the head and upper portion were afterwards thrown into the water, when the pectoral fins were moved as in the action of swimming. How long this irritability continued I cannot say, (but from other instances that I had seen, I should consider for a long period,) as it soon went astern of the ship. I have frequently seen the animal hauled on deck, the whole of the viscera extracted, and the body otherwise mangled when thrown overboard, swim for some distance in this mutilated state. Again, a shark has been hung up with the abdomen ripped open, the whole of the viscera extracted, and the head detached; yet symptoms of vitality, or rather muscular irritability, remained for three hours from the time of its removal from the water; and this frequently occasions the spectators to consider that the animal is in a state of suffering. It is only in the cold-blooded animals that we meet with it to such an extent; in the warm-blooded animals it occurs, but in a very slight degree.

Blumenbach, in his Manual of Natural History, thus mentions the reproductive power and independent vitality with reference to the Amphibia:—“The extraordinary strength of the reproductive power in several Amphibia, and the astonishing facility with which the process is carried on, depend, if I mistake not, on the great magnitude of their nerves and the diminutive proportion of their brain. The former parts are, in consequence, less dependent on the latter; hence the whole machine has less powers of motion, and displays less sympathy; the mode of existence is more simple, and approaches more nearly to that of the vegetable world than in the warm-blooded classes; but, on the contrary, the parts possess a greater individual independent vitality. Since, in consequence of this latter endowment, stimuli which operate on one part, or one system, do not immediately affect the whole frame by sympathy, as in warm-blooded animals, we are enabled to explain the peculiar tenacity of life which is displayed under various circumstances in this class—viz. frogs still continue to jump about after their heart has been torn out, and turtles have lived for months after the removal of the whole brain from the cranium. The long-continued power of motion in parts which have been cut off from the body, as in the tail of the water-newt and blind-worm, may be explained upon the same principles.”

The length of time that this irritability exists in snakes, has given rise to the opinion of the vulgar, that “if a snake is killed in the morning, it will not die before sunset.” Among numerous instances of irritability in the warm-blooded class, shortly after death the heart may be stimulated to perform its natural action, by being punctured; and in a limb after amputation, the muscles are excited to contract by a scalpel being plunged into them.

The sucking-fish is commonly found adhering to the body of the shark. It is placed, by Cuvier, among the third order of fishes, or the _Malacoptérygiens subbrachiens_, which is characterized “Par des ventrales attachées sous les pectorales, et dont le bassin est immédiatement suspendu aux os de l’épaule.” Its generic character is as follows:—Head furnished above with a flat, ovate, transversely sulcated shield. Gill membrane six-rayed. Body without scales.

When first removed from the water, the colour of the fish of the common species was an uniform grey or lavender, which soon changed to a brownish colour; the tail was forked, or rather crescent-shaped. The sucking-plate, of an oval form, was situated on the upper part of the head, and was composed of seventeen transverse moveable cartilaginous plates, (but they vary in number, according to the size of the fish,) each armed with minute teeth directed backwards; from which cause it was difficult to detach the animal in a direction perpendicular or backwards, but it was removed with facility when drawn off in the direction of the head.

On inspecting the mouth I observed two rows of teeth situated on the margin of each jaw, one internal to the other, the outer row being larger and stronger than the inner; and it is probable that the inner row is intended, as in the shark, to replace the front row, when lost from time or accident. On the palate were also placed two rows of very fine teeth, and the other parts of the mouth were rough. I made several dried preparations of the head of this fish, which well displayed the form of the disk; and, by keeping the mouth distended, the rows of teeth could be distinctly seen and examined.

The fins are, two pectoral, two ventral, one dorsal, and one anal; the whole of which are of small size, in proportion to the body of the fish, as well as the tail. The disproportion of the size of the head, and the diminutive size of the fins and tail, must consequently prevent its swimming to any distance, for when swimming its motion is very tardy, and apparently laborious. Nature has, therefore, provided it with a means of attaching itself to rocks, the bottoms of ships, &c.

I have seen them attached more commonly to the body of the _Squalus carcharias_, or white shark, than to any other species: whether it is that this species of shark is the most usually met with, I cannot determine; but on a blue shark, although accompanied by pilot-fish, I never, in the few instances I have met with, saw a Remora attached, although, in the other species, I have always seen some attached: if this, on further observation, is found to be the fact, it may be probably accounted for by the _Squalus carcharias_ more frequently approaching the land. The sucking-fish not being able to swim any distance, must generally remain attached to rocks, &c., and from them removes itself to the shark as he approaches.

The sucking-plate enables these fish to change their locality, by attaching themselves to the stronger inhabitants of the deep, and precludes, as on the rocks, the danger of their being driven by tempests remote from their usual food and rest. This fish is also destitute of an air-bladder.

The Remora was supposed, by the ancients, to have the power of arresting the progress of a ship under full sail; and, by others, their nourishment was supposed to be derived from the body of the shark, or from any substance to which it adhered: all these chimeras have, however, been long since dispersed. Their food has been found (from the examination of the contents of the stomachs of the specimens captured) to be minute marine insects, &c.

I have seen the Remora of a very large size. During a visit to the island of Tongatabu, one of the Friendly group, on August 1st, 1829, several were brought on board for sale, by the natives, which measured three feet and upwards in length. They had taken them with a hook and line. They were cooked, and found delicate and well-tasted. During also our passage through the straits of St. Bernardin to Manilla, several, of a large size, were seen swimming about the ship, but their movements were slow and heavy.

The most usual size taken from the body of a shark, is from six to twelve inches. The Indian Remora is said to be found of the length of two or three feet; and even, according to a description quoted by Dr. Bloch, to extend to seven feet. The usual number of divisions on its shield is from twenty-two to twenty-four.

The power of adhesion is retained for a long time, by this fish, after decapitation. I detached one of them from the body of a shark, decapitated it, and then applying the sucking-plate to a smooth surface, found the power of adhesion remained, and it continued for the space of nearly twenty minutes. The body of the animal, after the removal of the head, displayed much muscular irritability on being touched, and the pectoral and ventral fins moved for a long time afterwards.

The pilot-fish, as I have before observed, (_Gasterosteus ductor_,) is usually seen in company with the shark, and with no other voracious fish; it is of a beautiful azure colour, girded around the body by broad bands of a very dark blue. I have seldom seen them larger than a foot in length, but in breadth some exceed others. They have never been taken when in company with the shark, but, on the capture of that voracious animal, they hover about him as long as he remains in the water; and a very short time after he has been hauled on board, they can sometimes be taken by a basket from the chains, as they swim at that time very superficially, and sometimes have been known (but rarely) to take bait.

On the 18th, in latitude 2° 20′ north, and longitude 25° 26′ west, we got the north-east trade, far to the northward, being north-north-east, moderate and fresh breezes,[93] and on the 7th of April, we lost the north-east trade in about 30° 31′ north, and longitude 44° 20′ west.

On the 1st of April, in latitude 23° 17′ north, and longitude 42° 50′ west, several tropic birds (_Phaeton oethereus_) were seen hovering over the ship; this was considered a very unusual circumstance, from the distance we then were from land. The longest distance these birds have been seen from land, has been stated to be three hundred miles, but by the observations at noon we were distant full one thousand miles from land; the nearest being the northernmost island of the Cape de Verd group. The distance at which birds supposed not to wander far from land, are sometimes seen, is surprising. Penguins have occasionally been met with several hundred miles from land, although they are commonly supposed not to wander from it any considerable distance. An intelligent lady informed me, that, during a voyage from England to Batavia, in the ship Orynthia, between the Cape and the latter place, a Penguin was shot, being rather more than a foot in length, and of a smooth slate colour over the body, with a white breast, (as well as can be recollected at a distant period,) the ship being then at a distance of eight hundred miles from the Marion or Crozette islands, with fine weather, nearly calm at the time. This occurred on the 22nd of October, 1831.

Captain Beechey also states, (Voyage to the Pacific and Beering’s Strait, 8vo. vol. i. p. 16,) which tends to confirm the above fact, that, “as we approached the Falkland Islands from Rio Janeiro, some Penguins were seen upon the water in latitude 47° south, at a distance of three hundred and forty miles from the nearest land; a fact which either proves the common opinion that this species never stray far from land to be in error, or that some unknown land exists in the vicinity.”

On the 31st of March, in latitude 22° north, and longitude 41° west, the Sargasso weed was first seen, a few pieces occasionally floating by the ship. That these plants are produced within the tropics, there can hardly be a question; but at what depth they vegetate is still involved in obscurity: neither is it clearly ascertained why the banks of weed should always occur in the same places. The supposition that they proceed with the Gulf Stream from the Gulf of Mexico—whence the original name of gulf weed—is now exploded. This weed is considered to extend between the eighteenth and twenty-second parallels of north latitude, and the twenty-fifth and fortieth meridians of west longitude.

Mr. Neill justly observes, that “the gulf stream would convey them rather to the banks of Newfoundland than to the latitudes in which they usually occur; and it could not in any case accumulate them to the south of the Azores.”[94]

Horsburgh, in his Directory, mentions the range of the weed, as being first seen in latitude 24° or 25° north, and extending as far as latitude 40° or 42° north, but I regard the limits of its range as depending much on the prevailing winds blowing strong for some time in a particular direction. On the 3rd of March, 1831, I first saw the weed in latitude 20° 12′ north, longitude 35° 39′ west. In latitude 24° 16′ north, and longitude 36° 55′ west, large quantities of it were passed, and in latitude 37° 53′ north, and longitude 35° 32′ west, we left it.

During this voyage it was first observed, as I have previously mentioned, on the 31st of March, in latitude 22° north, and 41° west longitude; and was seen in large quantities nearly the whole distance. From the trade wind being much to the northward, we were driven as far to the westward as 44° 7′, still continuing to have a quantity of weed about the ship; indeed it rather increased than diminished, for large masses were seen even thus far beyond the usual limit assigned to it; on the 12th of April extending to 38° 32′ north latitude, and 34° 30′ west longitude. The utmost western limit I had an opportunity of observing it in being 44° 7′, and the range of the temperature of the atmosphere in its limits being maximum 76°, medium 70°, minimum 59°.

Of the genus _Sargassum_[95] there are numerous species distributed over the globe; but the _S. vulgare_, or _Fucus natans_, and other species, are also described as having their _habitat_ in the particular range I have before mentioned; but I have not been able to find more than one species, some sprigs of which exhibit anomalies, but not specific differences; for although apparently differing in having the leaves broader, and not so serrated at the edges, yet many of these were growing from plants which had not such distinctions. According to Greville, this genus, the most extensive of the FUCOIDEÆ, comprising above seventy species, is nearly confined to the two tropics, and examples rarely occur beyond the forty-second degree in either hemisphere:—

“Flung from the rock on ocean’s foam to sail, Where’er the surge may sweep, the tempests breath prevail;”

will only now be partly applicable to this weed, as it is tolerably well ascertained to vegetate floating on the water, each sprig becoming, as detached by the violence of the waves, the contact of ships, or other causes, a perfect and large plant.[96]

This species of the _Sargassum_, found in such immense quantities, floating upon the surface of the ocean, is of a fine yellow colour, lighter or deeper in tint, being when very young of a greenish yellow colour; it is very buoyant, occasioned both by its lightness of structure and body of water to support it, as well as by the number of air vesicles with which it is profusely covered; it has a handsome appearance when seen spread out and swimming on the surface, or when just taken out of the water. On drying, it first retains the yellow, or greenish yellow, afterwards becoming of a reddish brown colour, but turning black, if exposed to the atmosphere when drying. The leaves are long, narrow, scattered, serrated at the edges in an irregular manner; the stems are studded with numerous air-vesicles in different stages of growth, spherical, and attached by a short pedicle to the stem. In many instances a young leaf would be seen emerging from the air-vesicle, and in others many of the leaves would have the air-vesicle (instead of being, as usual, on the stems) at the summit, forming a rounded termination to the leaf; some of the vesicles would have a longer and broader pedicle than usual, which assumed the character of an embryo leaf just forming, similar to what has been just mentioned as occurring.[97] All the weed was more or less profusely covered with parasitical _confervæ_, displaying much delicacy and beauty.

I succeeded in capturing with the weed numerous specimens of small crabs, and some even of large size, small nereis, together with various specimens of fish, the _Syngnathus_, or pipe-fish, &c. The _Scyllea pelagica_ was also abundant, clinging to the plants; and also numerous small sepiæ of a beautiful purplish colour.

In support of the opinion that the attachment of the fuci to rocks is not absolutely necessary for their nourishment, it has been observed of the fucus nodosus, that “this and some other fuci have no dependence on their root for nourishment, and therefore, instead of being ramified, it is merely a disc or button, by the adhesion of which, assisted, perhaps, by atmospherical pressure, the weed keeps an uncommonly firm hold of the rock to which it is attached.” The air vesicles on a plant of course render it more buoyant than those destitute of them. I have found, that detaching the air vesicles from a plant, and placing it in shallow water, it sunk, but where the depth of water was great, the bulk of water was in itself sufficient to keep the weed afloat; the use of the air vesicles is most probably intended for the purpose of bringing some portion of the plant in contact with atmospheric air, or by keeping the plant to the surface of the water, to receive a greater benefit from air and light, or to prevent the young shoots or other parts of the plant being injured by the violent action of the waves. We find in the fucus buccinalis, or trumpet weed of the Cape, that stem is hollow, accommodating itself in length to the depth of water in which it grows; is attached to the ground by ramified roots; the stem terminating in a crown of broad leaves expanded on the surface of the water, and kept in that situation by a broad air bladder, in which the stem terminates under the crown; it may aid the plant also in maintaining itself against the force of the waves in the exposed situations in which it is usually found.

Air-bladders are not confined to sea weeds; several plants growing in fresh water are similarly provided. Of these, the _Jussiæa tenella_, found in the rivers of Amboyna, is a remarkable example. Along its stalk are many large oval tubercles, full of air, and each of these is compounded of many others, so that the injury which the plant might sustain from foreign bodies striking against it and breaking the bladders, is obviated.[98]

On the 8th of April we were in latitude 31° 34′ north, longitude 41° 27′ west. It has been remarked, during the time the Crowned pigeons have been on board the ship, that they do not eat for five days, or a week, and then recommence eating so much, that the man attending on the poultry can hardly supply them with sufficient: they continue thus to eat for the space of a fortnight, or more, and then cease for a certain period, as I have just before observed. At first this was supposed very naturally to proceed from illness; subsequent observation, however, decided that it did not originate in such a cause. They have not now eaten for three days, the paddy placed in their trough still remaining untouched. The birds have a healthy appearance in plumage and general looks, and are in as excellent, if not better condition, than when they first came on board the ship at Singapore. Paddy is the only food given them, as they prefer it to all other kinds of grain that have been tried.

I am not aware of the differences of plumage in the males and females of these birds, but am inclined to consider these male and female birds, from one running after the other in sportive wooing, and the mournful, cooing noise, proceeding from only one of them. They are shy and timid, fluttering about very much when any one comes near, or attempts to touch them; they even show this shyness towards the man who is accustomed daily to supply them with food.

_April 16th._—During the late prevailing strong breezes and gales, with damp and rainy weather, the birds have appeared well, only occasionally fluttering by the heavy lurches of the vessel: that has been prevented, for the most part, by bagging being placed underneath their feet. The range of temperature has not been lower than 55°; medium 60°, and maximum 64°.

_April 18th._—The pigeons, although they have their feathers ruffled, and mope, from the change of temperature and wet weather, do not appear to suffer in health: they move often about the coop, and eat as usual.

_April 23rd._—In latitude 49° 35′ north, longitude 14° 8′ west: thermometer 53° to 55°. I had the misfortune to lose another of the Crowned pigeons. Yesterday the bird seemed healthy, the eyes brilliant, and plumage unruffled; but this morning it was found dead; so sudden does death occur, without any previous indication being given, among the feathered tribe.

From the 8th to the 16th of April we had strong westerly winds and gales, coming on at first, from north-north-west, veering to south-west and south. On the 16th of April, we were in latitude 44° 34′ north, longitude 25° 00′ west.

Early on the morning of the 28th, a swallow (_Hirundo rustica_, Linn.) was seen flying about the ship; and, having entered one of the stern cabin windows, was readily taken. It appeared quite exhausted, and made no efforts to escape, until, having been confined for a short period of time in one of the cabins, it flew out again on the door being opened, but was soon recaptured. It is probably the straggler of a flock migrating to the northward, as they are usually considered to arrive in England in April or May, earlier or later, according to the mildness of the season.

This bird may be considered to be detained on its passage by easterly winds, similarly to ourselves. It was in an excellent plump condition, although now, no doubt, tired and hungry. The little traveller is preserved alive, and permitted to fly about one of the cabins. It became in a short time after its capture, very tame, perching on the head of the person in whose cabin it had taken refuge, eating food also from the mouth. The following morning, however, it flew away.

In the evening several of the common swallow, (_Hirundo rustica_, Linn.) and also, from a specimen which I caught and examined, the martin (_Hirundo urbica_, Linn.) were flying about the ship, occasionally seeking refuge in the cuddy: they appeared strong on the wing, in excellent plumage, and plump condition. They no doubt formed part of a flock migrating to the British shores, where the latter are said to arrive about the 16th of April; but the computation of the time of their arrival cannot be mentioned with any degree of certainty. Now their passage has probably been retarded by the long prevalence of easterly winds; and the cold, rainy weather, may have caused the little emigrants to seek refuge on board the ship. From calculation at noon, we were in north latitude 50° 14′; north and west longitude 12° 40′.

The swallow is found an inhabitant of the tropical regions of the globe, visits the northern climates during the warm months of the year, and is regarded as the harbinger of summer; emigrating, however, with its young, to a more congenial climate on the approach of winter. It is then that they are met with at sea, perching, in an exhausted condition, on the rigging and decks of ships. Being interrupted by adverse winds, they waver in their course, spent with famine and fatigue, until the ship affords them a temporary resting-place; from which, refreshed by a few hours’ rest, they renew their flight. They are said to arrive in Africa about the commencement of October, having performed their fatiguing journey in the space of seven days.

During a passage from England to New South Wales, on the 27th of September, 1828, several of these birds alighted in an exhausted condition on the rigging and deck of the ship, and were readily captured. We were at that time in latitude 13° 40′ north, and longitude 23° 20′ west. They were the _Hirundo rustica_ of Linnæus.

These birds emigrate from one tropical country to another; and during a passage from Manilla to Singapore, through the China sea, on the 20th of October, 1830, for several days a number of these birds were flying about the ship; and I am inclined to suppose, derived at that period sustenance from the flies which infested the ship, as soon afterwards but few of those insects remained. In the evening they would roost on the rigging; and some even took refuge for the night in the chief officer’s cabin, which opened upon the deck, and were again set at liberty in the morning. They became after a few days exhausted; several were found dead, and others became so tame from fatigue and hunger, as to be easily caught, and would afterwards remain perched on the hand, without making any effort to regain their liberty. These were also of the species _Hirundo rustica_ of Linnæus, which is widely distributed over the globe. We first observed them in latitude 15° 29′ north, and longitude 117° 40′ east; and we lost them, most having perished, in latitude 9° 30′ north, longitude 110° 45′ east, having been about the ship for thirteen days.

The question that arises is, whether in the latter instances they were emigrating, or had been blown off the land by the westerly gales we had experienced since leaving Manilla Bay. It may be mentioned, that as we had at the same time numerous other land birds about the ship, the latter supposition is not improbable.

After having been detained for several days by easterly winds, on the 29th of April we had fair breezes,—the swallows then departed, perhaps as glad as ourselves at having some chance of terminating a long voyage. We made the Scilly Islands on the 30th, and arrived at Gravesend on the 5th of May, 1834.

APPENDIX.

THE COCOA-NUT TREE.

(_See Page 405_, Vol. i.)

“The Indian’s nut alone Is clothing, meat and trencher, drink and can, Boat, cable, sail, and needle, all in one.”

Of all the trees, beautiful either in form, height, or the splendid colour of their flowers, so profusely scattered over the face of nature in tropical climes, perhaps none has excited more interest, both for its elegant and majestic growth, as well as for its utility, than this palm, producing fruit, shade, utensils, and numerous other articles, to supply the wants of mankind. These palms impart a grandeur to the tropical landscape; their stems, towering to a great elevation, are crowned at the summit by elegant fronds of gigantic character; they overtop the more diminutive trees, and excite the admiration of the traveller by their elegant and novel appearance, decorating the sea-coasts of large continents, and waving their dark plumes over the insignificant coral-reefs. The cylindrical rough trunk[99] towers to an elevation of one hundred feet, and the terminating crown of feathered fronds gives to them an elegant appearance, more so when seen loaded with fruit in all its different stages, from the first bursting of the spathe displaying the delicate white fruit and minute flowers, to the huge, fully mature nut, in bunches of from twenty to thirty, or more, the ponderous burthen appearing to be suspended on a very fragile stalk.

The fecundity of the palms is surprising; a single spathe of the date is said to contain about twelve thousand male flowers; _Alfonsia amygdalina_ has been computed to have two hundred and seven thousand in a spathe, or six hundred thousand upon a single individual, while every bunch of the Seje-palm of the Orinoco bears eight thousand fruit.[100] On the cocoa-palm, frequently two or three hundred nuts may be seen at one time, yielding an inexhaustible supply for the use of man at all seasons of the year.

This palm delights in, and grows with the greatest luxuriance in the vicinity of the sea, and is found in great perfection on the south and west coasts of Ceylon; (giving a beautiful appearance to those coasts;) those of Malabar and Coromandel, on the Maldive and Laccadive Islands; those of Polynesia, where it adorns the small coral islands, as well as those of magnitude, glowing in all the brilliancy and beauty of tropical scenery. At Penang and Singapore I remarked these palms to be comparatively unproductive, and they are rarely seen cultivated to any extent.

The Singalese have a curious tradition regarding the original discovery of the cocoa-nut tree, by a prince of the interior of the island of Ceylon. About half-a-mile from Belligam, (a fishing hamlet on the southern coast of Ceylon, situated between the towns of Point de Galle and Matura, in about 80° 20′ east longitude, and 5° 30′ north latitude,) completely concealed from view, whether approached by land or sea, by the density of the cocoa-nut groves, is a large rock of granite, to the left-hand on the road to Galle, which at that particular spot is completely overshadowed by umbrageous _Jack_,[101] _Kettule_,[102] and cocoa-nut trees, and which displays the gigantic representation of a former prince of the interior, called “Kottah Rajah,” to the attention of the traveller.

The figure, about sixteen or eighteen feet in height, is sculptured in the solid rock; and, according to the Singalese tradition, the original discovery of the cocoa-nut tree is attributed to a vision, which first communicated to this highly-favoured rajah a knowledge of that principal of all vegetable productions, which omnipotent wisdom and munificence has so liberally bestowed upon the sable portion of mankind.

A Singalese king, or sovereign prince, as the term “rajah” implies, of devout conduct and character, became suddenly afflicted with a cutaneous disease, which covered him with a white scaly substance from head to foot, to so great a degree as almost to deprive him of human appearance: so very rapidly did the loathsome distemper extend its malignant influence over the rajah’s person, that sacrifices were resorted to by his people, in the hope of thereby appeasing the anger of the supposed author of the rajah’s sufferings, the Maha Yaka, or great demon.

The Kottah rajah (the _image_ itself is now so styled) objected to assist in person at any such diabolical sacrifices, and however prejudiced his people were in the belief of their eventual efficacy, he himself preferred humbly to submit to the decrees of that superior power from whom alone the Maha Yaka could have derived dominion, if he really possessed any, over the destinies of mankind. At this period, the cocoa-nut tree was not known in the interior of Ceylon; and to this day its scarcity is remarked by every traveller who visits the interior of the late Kandyan territory.

The resigned, but suffering rajah, having, with all due humility, paid his accustomed devotions, and offered sweet-smelling flowers, according to the Budhoo religion,[103] and repeated the Budha-Sarana,[104] fell into a sound sleep, which lasted for several days. During his trance, he beheld a large expanse of water, which he tasted, and found it both salt and nauseous, although of a fine green[105] colour near, and blue in the distance; having on its margin immense groves of trees of a rare kind, such as he had never before seen; for, instead of branches in various directions, as other trees had in his country, a tuft of large leaves, as they then appeared to him to be, crowned the lofty summit of each individual tree, which, to an immense height, was totally divested of branches or foliage.—This tradition is believed by many eminent Tirinanses, or high priests, of Budhoo, who attach to it great antiquity.

The Kottah rajah, having awakened from his trance, felt his mind deeply impressed with the unusual nature of his dreams; but, in the natural excitement which the hope of his recovery encouraged, he renewed his oblations and prayers, believing that a display of omnipotent mercy would be the result. A Cobra de capello, the Naya of the Singalese, (_Coluber naja_, Linn.) and sacred snake of the Budhists, shortly afterwards approached, and, having expanded its spectacle-marked hood, raised its head a cubit above the ground, and observed the rajah steadily for some moments; after which, the animal, extending its blue forked tongue, and thrice bowing its head, lapped water from the leaf in which it had been reserved for the rajah’s particular use. Having thrice repeated the draught, the animal, still keeping its eyes fixed on the rajah, gradually retired to the jungle. This was conviction itself of Budhoo’s[106] favour.

Again the prince felt his eyelids grow weary; but, in his then state of disease, he had determined to occupy no place of shelter save that which the shady Bogaha, (_Ficus religiosa_,) the tree under which he reposed, afforded him. No sooner had sleep a second time exerted its magic influence, than his former vision recurred, with the additional appearance of an aged man, whose face bore the appearance of the moon in all its splendour. It was _Maha Sudona_, the father of the god Budhoo,[107] who stood before the astounded rajah, and thus accosted him:—

“From ignorance of the sacredness of the ground over which the god’s favourite tree casts its honoured shade, thou once didst omit the usual respect due to it from all created beings. Its deeply-pointed leaf distinguishes it above all other trees as sacred to Budhoo; and, under another tree of the same heavenly character thou now liest a mass of sores and ulcers, which the impurity of the red water within the large and small rivers of thy body, has, at the great deity’s command, brought upon thee externally. But since the snake, the kind snake, the shelterer of the god Budhoo, when on earth, has thrice partaken of thy drink, thou wilt derive health and long life by obeying the commands which I now bear thee. In that direction (pointing towards the south) lies thy remedy. One hundred hours’ journey will bring thee to those trees, which thou shalt see in reality, and taste their fruits to thy benefit. But as on the top only it is produced, by fire it must be obtained. The inside, partly of transparent liquid, partly of innocent food, must be thy _sole_ diet, till thrice the Great Moon (Maha Handah) has given and refused her light. Disease will, at the expiration of that time, leave thee; thou wilt be clean again; but forget not, with the restoration of thy health, (the Singalese language renders it, ‘the skin of thy flesh, renewed by the fountains of thy life, being made red again,’) sacrifices of sweet flowers and fruits, with much thanksgiving, to that great Brahma of all Brahmas,[108] to whom all other gods, and even demons, pay homage, through whose mercy and forgiveness of thy neglect and transgressions thy bodily vigour will have been restored, and the days of thy enjoyment in the splendour of the mighty and flaming chief ruler[109] of the moon prolonged.”

A sound, as of ten thousand tom-toms,[110] struck at once seemed to the delighted rajah a manifestation of the messenger’s authority. It reverberated on his ear for hours together, after he had awakened from his second trance; and, impressed with a belief that the invisible powers had thus intimated a disposition to take him under their especial protection, and that, consequently, it was his bounden duty to obey commands so mysteriously conveyed, the rajah, placing the palms of his hands across his forehead, and bending to the ground, prayed for strength to act in obedience to the Ossah Pollah Dewyo, the ruler and creator of all gods and demons, and of the flat world itself.

Having summoned his immediate followers from the various resting-places, which they had constructed with the branches and leaves of the neighbouring trees, by way of temporary shelter, the rajah repeated to them the prophetic words of the divine messenger; and, having gone through the ceremony of making a propitiatory offering under the Bogaha-tree, of fruits, Betel-leaves, (_Piper-betel_,) and flowers of sweet perfume, he, attended by his retinue, proceeded in a direct course through rivers and forests, and over mountains immense, to the southward, as directed by the Maha Sudona.

The one hundred hours’ journey having been miraculously performed without any perceptible fatigue, either to himself or attendants, the anxiously anticipated view of that boundless expanse of blue water, which, in his dream, had appeared to him so beautiful, yet nauseous to the taste, and on its margin immense groves of trees, with tufts of leaves, (for the first time plainly perceived to be large branches,) as his visions had foretold, gratified his astonished, but delighted sight. Beneath the branches, sheltered from the vertical sun, hung large clusters of fruit, much larger than he had ever seen in his own country of the interior, of green, yellow, and red[111] colours, and others apparently black.

There were no human beings on the coast; but wild beasts, such as leopards, bears, sloths, and elephants innumerable. To climb the cocoa-nut tree, (the promised source of health,) was then unknown, and considered beyond the power of mortal man; but, as fire had been pointed out as the means of obtaining its fruit, the rajah’s followers procured two dry sticks, which having prepared, by pointing the end of one, and making a small hole in the middle of the other, for the reception of the pointed stick, friction produced fire, which was immediately increased, by the application of dried leaves to the emitted flame.

Scarcely had an hour elapsed, after the fire had been kindled that was to fell the pride of the coast and the most valuable boon of nature to the Indian world, ere, with a tremendous crash, it became prostrate upon the earth, whence, from its capacious and verdant crest, crept out creatures innumerable: large blue scorpions, brown and yellow centipedes, snakes of various hues, from the Polonga to the less dreadful rat-snake; blue, black, green, and yellow beetles; tarantulas, and other spiders, of all sorts and sizes and colours; whilst, running from branch to branch, the detested rat seemed to imitate the motions and equal in agility the beautiful tri-striped squirrel, or lena of this paradise, (as the glad rajah and his suite at that time considered it,) of the universe.

The novel fruit was, at first with some difficulty, opened; but the rajah’s superstitions were more powerful than even the effects of hunger itself. With awe, he approached the beach, over which wave followed wave in quick succession; whilst the surf beat with violence against the roots of those stately trees, which seemed to thrive best where no other tree of any utility whatever could survive even a temporary sprinkling from the briny spray.

Mute with astonishment at the vast expanse of ocean, which he then for the first time approached, the rajah bent to taste the liquid aliment. It was as his vision prognosticated. Again his wonder was increased; but his faith had kept pace with it, in the full belief, that “ere the great moon had thrice given and refused her light,” he would be cleansed from his foul distemper; and his disrespectful demeanor under the sacred Bogaha, which had originally drawn down upon him the anger of the “All-seeing,”[112] be forgiven.

Having once commenced, the rajah and his followers continued to live on the prescribed diet. The former, in obedience to the commands of Budhoo, by the Maha Sudona; and the latter, from necessity, there being none of their accustomed fruits, rice, or roots to be met with so near the ocean. They found the water[113] within the nuts sweet and delicious, and pure as crystal itself, (of which mineral their country produced abundant varieties,) whilst the fleshy part of it was a cooling and satisfying food.

The prescribed time rolled on; and day after day convinced the delighted followers of their suffering prince, that truth came from above. The rajah gradually lost the white and scaly skin, which had enveloped him like the armour of the great ant-eater of the interior;[114] whilst the glow of heat which pervaded his extremities, convinced him of the near approach of his promised recovery. Thankful to his great preserver, he omitted not to perform the duties which in his visions had been dictated to him; and on the first stone, which appeared durable and beyond the reach of the sea, in token of his gratitude, he, with the assistance of his followers, carved on the granite rock (“which you now see,” is added by the narrator) a gigantic statue of himself; remarking, that its great height would show the wonderful recovery he had experienced, being a very little man in stature; “for he had risen, by the blessing of the god of all gods, to an undeserved height of happiness and bodily vigour; the memorial of which would thus be handed down to millions yet unborn.”

Numerous families, from the high[115] country of the interior, soon afterwards emigrated to the sea coast; for it had become an imperious duty on the part of the rajah, on whom a miraculous cure had been so unexpectedly wrought by the fruit of the cocoa-nut tree, to give publicity to the circumstances which originally introduced to him and his followers a knowledge of that splendid production; whilst the conviction of its transcendent utility pointed out its propagation as a never-failing source of individual advantage and of progressive national prosperity.

This useful tree is of the Monoecious class, order Hexandria, and is the Cocos[116] nucifera of Linnæus: it is called Haari by the Tahitans, Polgaha by the Singalese. The varieties of the cocoa-nut are numerous at Tahiti, (one of the Society Islands.) I am acquainted with six, each having a distinct appellation by the natives. At Ceylon, five varieties are indigenous; but are seldom, if ever, found in the same plantation, except it be in the vicinity of a Budhoo temple of some importance. The first, or King cocoa-nut may be well known to those who have resided in Ceylon: its bright orange colour, and somewhat oval shape, cannot fail to attract notice, and is usually presented to respectable Europeans, by the Modeliars, or by the priests, as a compliment to those whose curiosity may have induced a visit to the shrine of Budhoo. This variety is the Tembili of the Singalese, and they have of it three sub-varieties. The second is of a similar colour to the preceding, but of a more spherical shape. The third is of a pale yellow, and rather heart-shaped: it is the _Nawasi_, or edible husk, and has the peculiar quality, that after the epidermis has been removed, the inner rind turns to a pale red, and is edible. The fourth is the common cocoa-nut, which is in general use, and the one most known. The fifth is a species of Maldivia, or dwarf cocoa-nut, about the size of a turkey’s egg, which being rare, is more esteemed as a curiosity than for any peculiar good quality it possesses.

The elevation[117] this tree attains is from sixty to one hundred feet, and a diameter of one or two feet; its cylindrical stem, crowned on the summit with numerous waving, plumy branches, has a splendid effect, and forms an elegant object of intertropical scenery: it is seen on the arid, sandy shores, with its roots laved by the surges, as well as in the rich valleys, overshadowing the huts of the natives; but when this valuable tree is found growing inland, they are inferior in size to those on the sea-shore and about the dwellings of natives. The Singalese have a saying, that cocoa-nut trees do not thrive unless “you walk amongst them, and talk amongst them.”[118]

The cocoa-nuts intended for planting are fully ripe, and being taken down, are laid aside for several days: they are then taken, and being partially covered with earth, they are left for two or three months; in which time a white, spongy, sweet substance forms in the interior of the nut; after which the white shoot (the rudiment of the future tree) emerges from one of the three holes, (which are seen at one end of the nut, wisely provided by nature for this purpose,) pierces the nut, and rising to the height of a few inches, the foliaceous rudiments are distinctly to be perceived;[119] the radicles emerge from the other two orifices, in a direction opposite to the shoot, and penetrate the ground. In the course of four or five months, the plant will have attained the height of sixteen or eighteen inches, and have thrown out three or four foliaceous branches. The Singalese plant their _topes_,[120] or groves, with great regularity, the distance observed between the plants being twelve or eighteen feet. The cocoa-nuts are never planted until they have sprouted, and the young plant even attained the elevation of three feet or more; the natives, therefore, usually keep the nuts intended for planting about their houses, until they are considered to be of growth sufficient to plant. At the Island of Rótuma, South Pacific Ocean, I have seen them ranged along in great numbers before the huts, the young plants growing luxuriantly from the nuts, but as yet unplanted. At this island the cocoa-nut tree is planted abundantly, and covers the island profusely, from the margin of the beach to the summits of the hills, giving a beautiful appearance to this small but fertile island. In time of sickness the natives often make use of the young cocoa-nut trees as offerings to the supposed offended spirits.

For the first three or four years, the young plants are fenced, to protect them from the depredations of hogs, &c. to whom the young, delicate leaves would form a tempting morsel. In five or six years, (if the tree is planted in a healthy situation,) the tree will have attained an elevation, probably, of eight feet; and at that time the enormous size of its fronds are more conspicuous than when the tree has obtained its full elevation: it then usually commences to bear fruit, and continues for sixty years to yield it in abundance; but beyond that period, the produce begins decreasing, until it ceases altogether.

The wood of this tree is used for various purposes: among the Polynesians it is used for spears, rafters for their huts, fences &c.; and it also makes excellent charcoal. When the tree has ceased to bear, it is most valuable, and is imported into the European markets under the name of _porcupine wood_. Among the Singalese it is used for rafters, laths, shingles, chairs, ladies’ work-boxes, &c.; but during the period of its most abundant bearing, (considered to be between ten and thirty-five years’ growth,) the heart is of so soft and spongy a nature, that it is merely used for fences, water-pipes, &c.

The fronds are from eighteen to twenty feet long, and composed of a strong, tough stalk, diminishing from the base, and has a number of narrow leaflets[121] ranged on each side. The Singalese split the fronds in halves, and plait the leaflets neatly, so as to make excellent baskets; and, under the denomination of cadjans, form the usual covering of their huts, as well as the European bungalows. Many of the natives’ huts are constructed there, as well as in Polynesia, almost entirely of materials derived from the cocoa-nut tree.

The Tahitans also plait the branches (_niau_) for screens, or a covering for the floors; for similar purposes, and also as a thatch for the huts, it is also used by the natives of the islands of Rótuma, Tongatabu,[122] and other of the Polynesian islands. The Tahitans call these screens _paua_, and they also manufacture neat baskets, one kind of which is called _arairi_, and another kind of basket called _oini_; a shade for their eyes, called _tapo niau_, is made of the plaited leaves, and placed by the natives over the eyes to protect them from the unpleasant solar reflection from their sandy roads and beaches; the yellow leaves (_rau-para_) are preferred for the purpose, their colour being much admired. The leaves were used in many of the religious ceremonies of the Tahitans, and was also an emblem of authority; it was sent by the chief to his dependents when any requisition was made: through the cocoa-nut leaf, tied to the sacrifice, the god was supposed to enter; and by the same road the evil spirits, who, it was imagined, tormented those affected with diseases, were driven out. Bunches or strings of the leaflets were also suspended in the temple on certain occasions, and answered the same purpose as beads in Roman Catholic worship, reminding the priest, or the worshipper, of the order of his prayers.[123]

The heart, or very young foliaceous fronds of this tree, is called the cabbage, which is an excellent vegetable, either cooked or dressed, in stews, hashes, or ragouts.[124] The Singalese use the dried fronds as torches, both for themselves during the dark nights, or to carry before the carriages and palanquins of Europeans; they also use the spathe for a similar purpose, as well as for fuel; and at Rótuma and other Polynesian islands it is also adopted for a like purpose. At Tongatabu (one of the Friendly Islands) combs are made by the women of the midrib of the leaflets of the cocoa-nut tree, the upper part being beautifully worked with the fibre of the husk of the cocoa-nut, or Bulu; these combs, from their neat and ornamental appearance, were in great requisition during the time I visited that interesting island, and all the women were busily employed during the stay of the ship in making these combs, which they readily exchanged with the Papalangi[125] (foreign) officers and crew for trifling articles. The combs were stained by the bark of the Koka-tree, of a dark reddish colour, intended as a rude imitation of tortoiseshell.

There is one portion of this valuable tree which attracts much the attention of the observer,—it is a kind of net-work; when very young it is delicate, beautifully white, and transparent, and is seen at the bases of the young fronds; but as the frond attains maturity, this natural matting becomes coarser and tough, and changes to a brown colour;[126] it may be stripped off the tree in large pieces, which are used in Ceylon as strainers, particularly for the toddy, which is usually full of impurities when recently taken from the tree, as its sweetness attracts insects innumerable. In most countries which I have visited, where this valuable tree is produced, this portion of it is used for a similar purpose. At the island of Tahiti (Otaheite) it is called _Aa_; and besides being used as sieves for straining arrow-root, cocoa-nut oil, &c., the natives, when engaged in such occupations as digging, fishing, &c., in order to save their bark cloth, would join several portions of this net-work together, and having a hole in the centre, in a manner similar to their mat-garment, called Tiabuta, wear it as an article of apparel, merely for the time in which they may be engaged in those occupations. It is certainly a garment, neither to be admired for its flexibility or firmness, but better calculated for fishermen, or those occupied in the water, as it will not be destroyed by wet, whereas their bark cloth would be utterly destroyed in the water, its substance resembling paper, both in strength and appearance.[127]

This fibrous net-work must also act as a security to the huge fronds, against the violence of the winds; and a valuable precaution, by which the sudden fall of the branch is prevented, which otherwise might endanger the lives of those passing under the trees; it is not uncommon to see the dead branches hanging from the trees perfectly dry, attached to the trunk only by this tenacious substance, and even then it requires no little muscular exertion to bring them down.

When a large bunch of the fruit is seen pending from, apparently, so fragile a stalk, it seems as if it were an impossibility that it could support such a cluster; from twelve to twenty large nuts, besides several small, unproductive nuts, may be seen on each bunch, and in good situations the tree will admit of the fruit being gathered four or five times in the course of the year. The state in which the fruit is most used as an article of food, both meat and drink, is the green or young cocoa-nut, (Oua of the Tahitans, Koroomba of the Singalese,) at which time it yields an abundance of a delicious, cooling beverage, to which, sometimes, Madeira wine, brandy, &c. is added. The water, beautifully clear, has a sweetness, with a slight degree of astringency which renders it very agreeable; this liquid has been erroneously considered by most persons as injurious, producing a predisposition to dropsical complaints, and has been considered among the Tahitans one of the exciting causes of that prevalent disease amongst them termed _féfé_ or _elephantiasis_; but I have recommended and adopted this cooling beverage during my frequent and long visits to intertropical countries, and have always found it the most cooling and refreshing beverage during my botanical and other excursions; but when an immoderate quantity is drunk, I have known a slight degree of strangury produced by it. The ladies, however, who may fear taking it internally, are informed that to the water of the green cocoa-nut is ascribed that inestimable property, to them, of clearing the face of all wrinkles and imperfections whatever, and imparting to it the rosy tints of youthful days!

In Ceylon, house-plasterers use the water of the green cocoa-nut, to which they attribute an adhesive quality in their white and other washes, in which Chunam[128] forms a chief ingredient for the walls of houses, &c. &c.; and the shells of the green cocoa-nut,[129] fixed on stakes, are used as illumination lamps for roads, trees, &c. The pulp in the interior of the young nut is very delicate, easily removed from the shell with a spoon, and may very well be named a vegetable _blanc mange_; in this state it is called _niaa_ by the Tahitans, who use it as well as the natives of other of the Polynesian Islands, in several made dishes. After the fruit is suffered to remain a short time longer, and the pulp becomes firmer, the Tahitans change the name to _Omato_, and the fully ripe nut is called _Opaa_; in this state it is sometimes but seldom eaten, being used principally for making oil, and contains a small quantity of oily milk; it is in this state the nuts are seen and sold in England. In Ceylon, when the nut is fully ripe, it is denominated by the Singalese _Pol_, or _Curry cocoa-nut_, the kernel of which is reduced to a very small size by an instrument called _Hiromane_; (a circle of notched iron fastened to the raised end of a piece of wood;) the kernel thus reduced is placed in a cloth, and water being poured on it, a white juice, which may with propriety be termed “cocoa-nut milk,” is extracted by pressure, and used invariably, either with or without the grated kernel, in their various curries and mulligatawnies.

I have never met with the water contained in a cocoa-nut of a brackish taste, as has been asserted, although the tree from which it had been produced had its roots laved by the sprays of the ocean. Mr. Finlayson[130] says, respecting some plantations of cocoa-nut trees, which surrounded a village situated on Pulo Condore, at the extremity of a plain, that “although they grow in great abundance, they are rather stunted in the stem, and their fruit, as well as the fluid it contains, has a peculiar and rather bitter taste.”

The shells of the cocoa-nut, when fully ripe, are of a tolerable thickness, and great hardness; they are cut transversely, scraped, polished, and mounted on silver, being edged also with the same metal, and are preserved as goblets, more for curiosity than utility; but the shell is also used for cups, (elegantly carved,) lamps, ladles, skimmers, spoons, &c.; they are used by the Polynesians, as well as other natives, entire, for containing their water, having two holes on the summit. The interior of the nut is extracted without breaking the shell, by filling it with salt-water, after which it is buried for some time in the sand, when the inside pulp becomes decayed, and the shell is then well washed out. The largest nuts are chosen for the purpose, and are often seen highly polished, and of a fine black colour. The cups of the natives are usually made of sections of the cocoa-nut in that stage of ripeness, when they are denominated by the Tahitans _Omutu_; they are then scraped so thin as to be nearly transparent, and are of a light-brown colour. The shells will make good lamp-black, and, reduced to charcoal and pulverized, also an excellent dentifrice.

The flowers are insignificant when the magnitude of the tree is considered, and are inclosed in a thick, tough spathe, which, when either opened artificially, or when seen just expanding naturally, have a beautiful milk-white appearance. The Tahitans call the flower _Tiari_, a name applied generally to all flowers; and the spathe is denominated _Pa tiari_; _Pa_ signifying a shell or any thing hard, sometimes applied to the shell of the cocoa-nut; and the spathe is thus considered the shell of the flowers. The first appearance of these flowers on a tree of moderate elevation (when they are well seen) has an elegant effect—the cluster erect, drooping, and delicately white. The taste of the flowers is most powerfully astringent, and in Ceylon is used medicinally in various debilitating diseases, more particularly that distressing malady in tropical climates—gonorrhœa. The mode in which it is administered is the expressed juice of the flower mixed with new milk, and taken in small quantities not exceeding a wine-glass full, but at regular periods, affords almost immediate temporary relief, and, if persevered in, effectual cure. It is from these flower spathes, before the flowers have yet expanded, that the delicious beverage, known to Europeans as toddy or palm-wine is made;[131] it is called by the Singalese _Ra_, and the Hindoo Portuguese _Soura_, but is unknown to the natives of Polynesia, although at some of the islands Europeans, who have visited those parts of India where they had seen the process of collecting it, had commenced instructing the natives, who were delighted to have a beverage possessing the stimulus of their favourite rum.

To procure the toddy[132] the spathe is tied with stripes of the milk-white leaves of the very young branches, (which are much tougher and stronger than the old ones,) to prevent its expansion; it is cut a little transversely from the top, and beaten either with the handle of the toddy knife or a small piece of ebony or iron wood; this process having been continued morning and evening (at dawn of day, and just as the sun declines below the horizon) for five or six successive days, the under part of the spathe is taken off, so as to permit of its being gradually bent, when the Chandos or toddy-drawers, for the purpose of keeping it in that position, attach it to some neighbouring branch. After a farther period of five days an earthen chatty or calabash is hung to the spathe, so as to receive the toddy that exudes, which is collected every morning and evening, and the spathe cut a little every day: the quantity collected varies much.

The toddy should be drunk at sunrise, when it is a most delicious drink, having a slightly stimulating effect, and acting as a gentle aperient, a remedy admirably adapted for constipated habits, particularly in those of delicate constitutions. The Singalese prefer it after fermentation has taken place, and with it they often intoxicate themselves. Fermentation takes place in a few hours after the toddy has been collected, and is used by the bakers as yeast, the bread made with it being remarkably light. Toddy is seldom or never used by Europeans during the rainy season, being then regarded highly unwholesome. I have often found the toddy in Ceylon, and a refreshing bath before or just on the eve of sunrise, cooling, and it braces one up to go through the heat of the day in that sultry, debilitating climate.

The spirit known in India by the name of _arrack_, or _rack_, is in several parts distilled from rice; but in Ceylon, where this spirit is named Pol, wakéré, it is distilled from toddy after it has undergone fermentation and become quite sour. One hundred gallons of toddy, it is stated, will produce, by distillation, twenty-five of arrack. Like all other spirits, when new, it is regarded injurious to the constitution, but when old, very wholesome. It is a favourite spirit among the drinkers of that far-famed English beverage, named punch.

Toddy, besides the foregoing uses, makes excellent vinegar,[133] &c. The toddy-drawers are a separate caste in Ceylon, called Chandos: almost all the families of this class reside in the neighbourhood of the sea-coast, where the trees grow in the greatest luxuriance and abundance, the whole line of coast between Point de Galle and Colombo being thickly planted with them; and the topes or groves are let at a stipulated sum of rix-dollars by the month; and it is also not uncommon for one or two families or more to have a share in a single tree, affording them sufficient for their favourite and universal food, the currie.

Besides vinegar, arrack, &c., the toddy yields abundance of jaggery or sugar. The toddy, being collected in a calabash, as before mentioned, in which a few pieces of the bark of the Allghas (_Hellenia Allughas_, Linn.) had been placed, a supply of sweet toddy is procured mornings and evenings; but particular care is required that the vessels be regularly changed, and that none are employed unless they have been well cleaned and dried. Eight gallons of sweet toddy, boiled over a slow fire, yield two gallons of a very luscious liquid, called Penni, or honey, or jaggery, or sugar-water; which quantity, being again boiled, a species of coarse brown sugar, called jaggery, which is formed into round cakes, and dried in the smoke of the huts; and, in order to preserve it free from humidity, each cake of jaggery is tied up in pieces of dried banana leaves, separately, and kept in smoky places, unless required for family use or the market. Jaggery is exported from Ceylon to various parts of India. In the interior a jaggery is drawn from the Kittul tree, the _Caryota urens_ of Linnæus, and is considered to possess more saccharine properties than that produced from the _Cocos nucifera_. The jaggery-makers are called in Ceylon _Hakuroos_, and are one of the subdivisions of the second in rank of the Singalese castes.

The rind or husk of the cocoa-nut[134] is very fibrous, and, when ripe, is the Koya or Koir of commerce. It is prepared by being soaked for some months in water, washed, beaten to pieces, and then laid in the sun to dry. This being effected, it is again well beaten until the fibres are so separated as to allow of their being worked up like hemp, similar to which it is made up in ropes of any size from the smallest cord to the largest cable, but will not receive tar; it is rough to handle, and has not so neat an appearance about the rigging of shipping as that made from hemp, but surpasses the latter in lightness and elasticity, and even, it is said, durability; more so if wetted frequently by salt-water. From its elasticity it is valuable for cables, enabling a ship to ride easier than with a hemp or even chain cable. I was once on board a ship, in a severe gale, when chain and hemp cables gave way; and we, at last, most unexpectedly rode the gale out with a small coir-cable. Among the Polynesian islands, where this valuable tree rears its elegant crest, the coir is used in the manufacture of “sinnet,” some of which is beautifully braided, and used by the natives for a variety of useful purposes, and at Tahiti is called Napé. At Tonga, (one of the Friendly Islands,) the natives dye the “sinnet,” called _Kafa_, of various colours, using it in tying the rafters of the huts, &c. and it has a very ornamental appearance. The rope for their canvas is all manufactured from this substance. The husk, from which the fibrous substance has not been separated, is used in Ceylon in lieu of scrubbing-brushes for the floor; and also brooms, mats, and bags are manufactured from it. A quantity of coir cordage, such as cables, hawsers, &c., is exported annually from Ceylon to various parts of the globe. At the Pulowat Islands, (Carolina Group, South Pacific Ocean,) we purchased an abundance of cordage, an inch and one and a half inch in diameter, for merely pieces of iron hoop.[135]

From the trunk of the cocoa-nut tree the Tahitans extract a gummy substance, called by them Pia, pia; it possesses no fragrant property, but is used by the native females to spread over their hair, in the same manner that they are accustomed to use the viscid gum of the bread-fruit tree.

Mariner mentions the charm at the Tonga islands of _Ta Niu_, which consists in spinning a cocoa-nut with the husk on, and judging, by the direction of the upper part when again at rest, of the object of inquiry, which is chiefly whether a sick person will recover: for this purpose, the nut being placed on the ground, a relation of the sick person determines that if the nut, when again at rest, points to such a quarter—the east for example—the sick man will recover; he then prays aloud to the patron god of the family, that he will be pleased to direct the nut, so that it may indicate the truth. The nut being next spun, the result is attended to with confidence, at least with a full conviction that it will truly declare the intentions of the gods at the time.

The other occasions on which the spinning of a cocoa-nut is used, are chiefly for amusement, and then no prayer is made, and no degree of credit is attached to the result. The women often spin a cocoa-nut to decide some dispute at a game.

Another valuable production of the cocoa-nut is the oil, which is a valuable article of exportation from Ceylon, and other parts of India, Polynesia, &c. It is used in various articles of domestic economy, besides being an excellent burning oil, (for which it is much admired, giving out neither smoke nor smell when burning, and having a clear bright flame,) it has since had an additional value, and more extended use at home, by the discovery of its capability of being manufactured into candles, rivalling wax or spermaceti, at the same time without being much higher in price than those of tallow. Soap has also been manufactured from it; and it is lavished by the Asiatics, Polynesians, and other intertropical natives, over their persons, and at Tongatabu, and other of the Polynesian islands, is used scented with sandal-wood and odoriferous flowers, giving a delightful fragrance to the flowing tresses and elegant persons of the dark beauties of those fascinating islands. In cold weather, (similar to most of the vegetable oils,) this oil becomes very hard, and requires to be melted before it can be used for burning.

The singular method of making the oil is very simple. The nut having been removed from the shell, is boiled in water for a short period; it is then pounded in a large mortar, taken out, and pressed. The _milk_, as it is called, is then boiled over a slow fire, when the oil floats on the top, which being skimmed off, and afterwards boiled by itself, two quarts of oil may be procured from fourteen or fifteen cocoa-nuts. When fresh, the oil is used in cookery, and has an excellent flavour; the Singalese anoint their bodies with it after bathing, and invariably use it for the sake of giving a glossy and smooth appearance to the hair, and it is in great requisition by both sexes.

The remains of the cocoa-nut, from which the oil has been extracted, is called by the Singalese _Poonak_, and the best _Poonak_ is obtained when the oil is extracted by pressure; it is an excellent food for pigs, poultry, &c. This substance is termed by the Tahitans _Ota_, and by the natives of Tongatabu _Efeniu_, and they use it also for fattening their pigs, poultry, &c. as also at the other Polynesian islands.

At Tahiti they procure the _Morii_, or oil from the nuts, by first grating the kernel, then depositing it in the hollow trunk of a tree, or some kind of hollow vessel, which is exposed to the sun during the day. After a few days have elapsed, the grated nut is heaped up in the trough or vessel, leaving a space between the heaps, the oil exuding drains into the hollow spaces, from whence it is collected by the natives into large bamboo canes; (containing each a gallon, or more;) in this way it is sold for shipping, or rather exchanged for axes, cotton, cloth, or rum; but the indolence of the natives prevents its being so important an article of traffic as it might be in the South Seas.

Sometimes the Tahitans, after the oil ceases to collect in the vessel, put the kernel into a bag, and submit it to the action of pressure by a rude lever press; but the oil thus obtained is considered inferior to that procured by the heat of the sun.

The Malabar method of extracting oil, is, by dividing the kernel into two equal parts, which are ranged on shelves made of laths of the Areka palm, or split bamboo, spaces being left between each lath of half an inch in width; under them a charcoal fire is then made, and kept up for about two or three days, in order to dry them. After this process they are exposed to the sun on mats, and when thoroughly dried (then called Koppera) are placed in an oil press, or Siccoor. The Malabars have a caste of oil pressers, called the Waany caste.

At Colombo (island of Ceylon) there is a government steam-engine, which was erected in 1815, for the purpose of extracting the oil from the nut in much larger quantities, and with greater facility than before. Ceylon furnishes an abundance of cocoa-nut oil, much is used in the colony, and a large quantity is also exported to Europe. In Ceylon the average price is from thirteen to fifteen pence per gallon.

There are medicinal properties attributed to different parts of the cocoa-nut tree in Ceylon; the root (the Tumu Haari of the natives of Tahiti) is used by the native doctors, small pieces of it being boiled with dried ginger and jaggery, and the decoction given at stated regular periods, and is considered highly efficacious in remittent and intermittent fevers. When this decoction is used as a gargle, it is mixed with the fresh oil of the nut, and generally affords considerable relief to the patient; and has good effect, it is said, in cases where pustules have formed in the mouth or tonsils. The expressed juice of the leaves, mixed with the fresh oil of the nut, is considered a sovereign remedy in hemorrhoids. The expressed juice of the nut, used as an external application, mixed with new milk, is regarded by the Singalese as a good remedy for ophthalmic complaints.

It has been asserted, I believe by Lord Valentia, that cocoa-nut trees were injurious to the air in the places where they grew. Dr. Davy notices this in his excellent work on Ceylon, and says, “Respecting the good effect of the wind from the sea, there can be no doubt; and almost as little can be entertained respecting the ameliorating effect of cultivation, and the benefit derived from the shade of cultivated trees. Unfortunate would it be for the island, were the notions of a noble traveller on this subject correct, or were his suggestions, founded on these notions, carried into execution; who, supposing cocoa-nut trees to be injurious to the air, has recommended the destruction of those fine groves in the neighbourhood of Galle, with the idea of improving the wholesomeness of a place already remarkably wholesome. It was from notions similar to this, not long after we had possession of Trincomalie, that the majority of the cocoa-nut trees at that place were cut down, to the great detriment of the inhabitants, and to the deterioration rather than the improvement of the air. It is well established, and ought never to be forgotten, that it is not shade that is prejudicial in a hot climate; that it is not vigorous healthy vegetation that is noxious; but the accumulation of dead vegetable matter and its putrefaction; and that whilst every means are taken to prevent the latter, too much encouragement cannot be given to promote the former.”

It is interesting to see the natives ascend this lofty palm, to gather its fruit: they simply fasten a piece of bark round their feet, leaving between them a space of a few inches; they then clasp the tree, and ascend with great agility. In throwing down the nuts, a whirling motion is usually given to prevent their falling on the side, by which they may be burst.

The natives of the island of Tahiti, in one of their traditions, ascribe the origin of the cocoa-nut to its having grown from the head of a man: they have similar traditions for the origin of the bread-fruit, yams, &c. &c.

There are other species of the cocoas. The _C. butyracea_, a native of South America, the _C. guiniensis_, _aculeata_, _nypa_, &c. &c. all of which yield a fixed oil in use for various purposes.

Lionel Wafer, (1685,) when at the Island Cocoas, southern Pacific Ocean, (latitude 5° 15′ north,) attributes injurious effects to an indiscriminate use of the water of the cocoa-nut by some of his crew, by which that beverage was found unfit for a _jollification_; for he says, “Nor did we spare the cocoa-nuts, eating what we would, and drinking the milk; carried several hundreds of them on board. Some or other of our men went ashore every day; and one day, among the rest, being minded to make themselves very merry, they went ashore, and cut down a great many cocoa-trees, from which they gathered the fruit, and drew about twenty gallons of milk. Then they all sat down, and drank healths to the king, queen, &c. They drank an excessive quantity; yet it did not end in drunkenness. But, however, that sort of liquor had so chilled and benumbed their nerves, that they could neither go nor stand; nor could they return on board the ship, without the help of those who had not been partakers in the frolic; nor did they recover it under four or five days’ time.”

The continued use of the water contained in the young or green cocoa-nuts, is one of the causes attributed, (although I am inclined to consider it an erroneous opinion,) to produce the scrotal enlargements, &c. so often seen among natives of intertropical regions, more particularly those resident on the coast.

In a letter published in the Sydney Herald, of January 14th 1833, it is said, “The natives of Tahiti alone, make forty or fifty tons of cocoa-nut oil in the year, and all the other islands of the groups make an equal proportion. They sell it for calico, that costs about twopence-halfpenny per yard in England, and receive a fathom for four or five gallons. But the owners of vessels from this colony, (New South Wales,) find something more lucrative for their shipping than sending them to the islands, and the natives are discouraged at having no trade. The indigenous arrow-root remains undug, and the cocoa-nuts fall to the ground, and rot.” That the quantity of oil mentioned in the foregoing extract could be made, and even a much larger quantity, I do not doubt; but that it would pay a vessel to proceed from Sydney to the islands, I have my doubts: indeed it has been tried, and found a losing speculation,—native indolence causing much delay to the vessel; as, at one time they have a quantity of oil ready, at other times they are too indolent to manufacture any. Sending a vessel down, therefore, to the islands, is a risk, and as such it is well known to several of the Sydney merchants, although now and then good cargoes have been returned. With industry, however, those valuable and beautiful islands could produce abundance of cocoa-nut oil, sugar, arrow-root, and other articles of equal value; but, under the present state of things, I have not very sanguine hopes.

_The names of the Cocoa-nut, and portions of the trees in different countries, where it is found indigenous._

Cocoa-nut—Niu—Society, Friendly, and Fidge Sandwich Islands, Rótuma, Annatom, Tanna, and Immer, (New Hebrides group.) Society Islands Tumu haari, root of the cocoa-nut tree; leaf of the cocoa-palm, Niau; stalk in the centre of the leaflet, Niu. (This part tied up in bundles, forms excellent brooms for ships’ decks.) The fallen unripe fruit, Poniu; cocoa-nut, nearly ripe, Omato; unctuous part of the kernel, Haro; coagulated, or old milk of the nut, Utu; outward covering of the nut, Iri Haari; the hard shell, Abu Haari. At the Tonga Islands:—The plaited fronds, for thatching houses, &c., Baula; husk of the cocoa-nut, Bulu; a shell, husk, &c., Gnedji; cocoa-nut shells, Gnedji niu; a kind of cocoa-nut, the husk of which is eaten, Gnono-gnóno; a very young cocoa-nut, Gnonu; large cocoa-nut shells, for water, Hohoni; a cup, or cocoa-nut shell for drinking out of, Ibu; the oil, emulsion of the cocoa-nut, Loloi.

This palm is widely spread over tropical regions; even a small islet just appearing above the surface of the “great waters,” is usually decorated by several, although yet uninhabited; the tough, thick covering of the nut protects the germ whilst it floats on the briny wave, borne by the currents to a barren spot, on which it germinates, and, its fruit falling, again springs up, until a magnificent grove decorates the before-barren islet, delighting the eye, and affording refreshment to the wearied navigator. Ifelue Island, and numerous others in the southern Pacific Ocean, are instances of this wonderful provision of nature.

At the Marquesas and Washington Islands, “the _Tahunas_, or priests, have a distinctive dress, consisting of a cap, formed from a cocoa-nut leaf. A part of the stem, six or eight inches in length, is placed perpendicularly over the forehead, and the leaflets still attached to it, are passed round the head, on each side, and neatly fastened together behind.

“Besides this article on the head, they wear a cape of the same material. In this the stem is split till within an inch or two of one of the ends: it is then passed round the neck, so that the extremities rest on each shoulder, and the separated ends are tied together. The ribs running through the leaflets being taken out, they hang over the chest and back.

“These articles are usually worn by them on ordinary occasions, and always when in discharge of the services connected with their office.”[136]

At the same islands, one of their traditions gives an account of the introduction of the cocoa-nut tree. It is, “that a god, on a visit to them from an island which they call _Oatamaaua_, finding them destitute of this important tree, fetched it to them in a stone canoe: the whole transaction being described in a minute and equally incredible manner.”[137]

Among the articles brought off to the ships for barter at the Island of Tongatabu, were small calabashes, (fruit of _Melodinus scandens_,) filled with cocoa-nut oil perfumed by the sandal-wood, or various sweet-scented flowers, indigenous to the island. With this oil both the males and females anoint the upper parts of the body very profusely, giving a softness and glossiness to their dark-brown skins, and preventing the fervid rays of the sun from having any effect upon them, exposed as their naked bodies are to its influence.

The Papuas of New Guinea “in general wear a thin stuff that comes from the cocoa-nut tree, and resembles a coarse kind of cloth, tied forward round the middle, and up behind between the thighs.”[138]

The outer coarse fibres of the husk of the cocoa-nut, is made into a kind of rope, called Talie, api, or fire-rope, by the Javanese: it retains the fire for a long time, and is used in Batavia for lighting cigars.

The sinnet, made from the inner fibre of the husk of the cocoa-nut, can be procured in abundance at the island of Tongatabu, and other islands in the Polynesian Archipelago, where it is used for canoes, binding the rafters of their houses, and a variety of other purposes, both ornamental and useful.

REMARKS ON THE MORBID APPETITE OF BREEDING EWES, IN SEVERAL PARTS OF THE COLONY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, MORE PARTICULARLY OBSERVED ABOUT THE MURRUMBIDGEE COUNTRY, OCCASIONED BY EATING EARTH IMPREGNATED WITH SOME ALKALINE SALTS.

(_See Page 220_, Vol. i.)

On account of the morbid appetite existing in the sheep, which I am about to relate, their natural innocent dispositions are changed; they become carnivorous and savage; and it is difficult to drive them away from the pits in which earth impregnated with alkaline salts may be situated; although, when taken to a _fresh run_, they proceed feeding as usual, until this salt earth is again discovered, when they became addicted to the unnatural custom of devouring their lambs. On discovering one of the pits, they rush to it with the activity of deer, licking and gnawing the earth with avidity.

Among breeding-ewes, eating the earth was followed by their devouring the progeny of the other ewes, when brought forth; and, on the shepherds endeavouring to save the lambs just born from their voracity, they would rush upon them, biting their trowsers, and making strenuous efforts to seize the lambs in the arms of the men.

The different places about the Murrumbidgee country, where this took place, was shown me during my visit to that part of the colony. One place was a black bog earth, on which marks of the tongues of the animals, at those places where they had been licking, could be distinctly seen; the second place was similar to the first, and two others consisted of a reddish clay.

The situations were about limestone ranges; and it has been remarked, that the water holes, as they are termed, (which when dry, are the places frequented by the sheep, for the purpose of licking and gnawing the earth,) after standing for three or four days, acquire a peculiar sickly, sweetish taste: and it is in these pools, after the evaporation of the water, that the earth is situated, so eagerly devoured by the breeding-ewes. When driven away, they are seen licking their mouths, as if enjoying the delicious treat of which they had just partaken, making every endeavour to return: and men were required to be kept constantly on the watch, to prevent them; but with every exertion it was almost impossible to keep them off, for one flock advanced as another was driven away, and the people are soon tired out.[139]

After eating the earth, they do not feed on the herbage in any regular manner; they are restless, picking a bit of grass here and there, according to the statement of the shepherds, until, on the approach of evening, they feed in a more regular manner.

Sometimes six or eight ewes may be seen running to a particular spot on the pasturage, about the roots of clumps of grass, and sometimes those of fallen trees, licking and gnawing about the spot, as if it had a similar earth to that found in the _water holes_. They will burrow underneath the bank, to get the saline earth, at those places where it may be most moist.

This quality of the ground is supposed by the shepherds to be more prevalent about _limestone ranges_ than any other geological formation; but I cannot consider this as satisfactorily proved. Although it has prevailed, for the most part, in places at which the limestone has formed the principal geological character, yet there are other parts of the country, where sheep have manifested a similar morbid appetite, when no limestone has existed. An ewe being missing about some limestone ranges, was seen coming out of a small cavern, in which she seemed to have found some of the saline earth, as she had a quantity of earth about the mouth; and the place was afterwards much frequented by other ewes, until they were removed from the spot.

The sufferers in the loss of lambs and ewes from this morbid appetite of the latter, are principally Messrs. Dutton, O’Brien, Warby, Hume, Manton, &c., all having sheep-runs about the Murrumbidgee country.

Mr. Dutton addressed a letter to the government on the subject, with the intention of getting his grant of land, if possible, changed to some other part of the country. The following is an extract from his letter, which clearly points out the destructive effects produced among the flocks, the most valuable stock of the settler in this colony, and on which his prosperity greatly depends.

“The disadvantages which I have thus to detail to you, arise from the novel disease with which the sheep are affected. It appeared after the first lambing, and within four months from the time of my occupation of the land in question. Its unaccountable and destructive nature renders my selection utterly useless. The nature of the disease, as far as I have yet remarked, is as follows:—The sheep, in the first place, devour the earth ravenously, the pasture being at the same time luxuriant, principally rib-grass, and other succulent herbs; they become speedily emaciated, from this unnatural diet, more particularly as the lambing season advances, and when lambing commences: the other ewes surround the one lambing, and devour the young as they emerge from the mother. The lambs saved through the care of the shepherds become poverty stricken, from the low condition of the mothers, and generally die before they become a month old. Thus, instead of having twelve hundred lambs this season, as my regular increase, I do not count four hundred; besides a very great decrease from mortality in the maiden sheep, originally purchased at high prices. The number of shepherds required being at the same time thrice beyond the proportion usual in the colony.”—November 1832.

The result was, that as the regulations of the government could not permit the grant to be changed, Mr. D. was obliged to sell it as a cattle-station, and purchase land in a more favourable part of the colony for his flocks.

In December he removed them, as a temporary measure, to Yas Plains; some of the ewes lambed after they had been removed, but the morbid appetite had ceased with the exciting cause, and the lambs were not attacked by the other ewes.

At the Murrumbidgee country I saw one of the little lambs, which had just been saved from the ravenous ewes, and had its tail bitten off before it was rescued. The circumstance was as follows, which shows the mode of attack:—The ewe was lambing, when six or eight others rushed towards her, but were prevented from coming near by the shepherds; they would not, however, go away, but kept following; and as soon as the ewe dropped her lamb (the shepherds having been engaged for the moment in driving away another party from another lambing ewe) it was attacked, the tail was bitten, but they were prevented from proceeding further by the immediate return of the shepherds.

They also evince as much eagerness to devour the “_cleanings_,” or after-birth, if not prevented; but if the little animal has been licked clean by the mother, and is dry, it may be placed in the hurdles amongst the other ewes, without their being attacked or injured. Thus showing that the salt nature of the _liquor amnii_, which at that time covers the young one, is the principal exciting cause for this extraordinary propensity to destroy, that appetite being excited by having previously eaten the saline earth from the “water holes.”

At the places where this destruction to the hopes of the wool-grower takes place, the pasturage is luxuriant; and the situations would be selected, by a person ignorant of the before-mentioned circumstances, as some of the finest sheep-runs in the colony.

The mother will not devour her own progeny, but will sometimes (which is not unfrequent in maiden ewes) not take to the lambs, but forsake them; until the shepherds hurdling the mother and young one together, the mother at last acknowledges her young.

It is not uncommon, however, for them to follow other ewes, attack and devour the lambs brought forth by them, in as ravenous a manner as the others would have devoured their young.

The ewes will not even wait until the young lamb is born, but when they see an ewe yearning, will rush upon her, devour the young one as it proceeds from the mother, and thus sometimes half the lamb is devoured before it is wholly born. Although the shepherds, by attention, endeavour to avert the evil as much as possible, yet when many ewes are lambing, the number of shepherds attached to the flocks are too small to enable them to attend to every individual case.

It may be asked, Does not the usual impulse of natural feeling induce the mother to prevent the destruction of her offspring? In reply, it may be said, That the poor, helpless, timid creature bleats, but makes no effort to defend her young one from the furious attacks of the “mob.”

The poorest and leanest ewes are those remarked as being most eager to devour the lambs of others; they have been brought into that miserable state, from having previously been fine fat ewes, merely from the custom of devouring the saline earth.

The head shepherd of Mr. Dutton’s flocks told me that there was not a finer flock of sheep in the country than those, previous to their devouring the salt clay and earth; after which they “fell off in condition,” until they became in the miserable state in which I now saw them.

The following is another, among too many instances of their voracity. An ewe had just commenced lambing, was in labour, but no portion of the young one had yet been born, when from fifteen to twenty ewes were seen running towards her; the shepherds perceiving this, rescued the ewe, and remained near her until she had done lambing; the other ewes kept at a short distance, occasionally advancing to make an attack upon the young one. The lamb was brought forth, and when perfectly cleaned and dry, was placed in the sheep-fold, in the evening with the mother, as usual, but the other ewes then took no notice either of the mother or young one.

Although the breeding ewes suffer both in health, and acquire this morbid appetite of devouring the progeny of others, and their own cleanings, yet rams, wethers, and ewes, _not breeding_, fatten to an astonishing degree upon the same pasturage, where breeding ewes had become miserably lean, and died in numbers from being in so low a condition. On one of these spots, I saw a wether killed from a flock, which was so fat as to render the meat almost uneatable; and Mr. Manton, who, from the cause before-mentioned, had been obliged to remove all his breeding ewes from his pastures about the Murrumbidgee, would, nevertheless, send his rams and wethers on the luxuriant pasturage, as the best place to fatten them; indeed, all concurred that rams, wethers, and even the ewes, if not breeding, thrive and fatten upon that pasturage land about the Murrumbidgee country, which proves so destructive to breeding-ewes and their lambs.

Mr. Manton had sheep on the limestone ranges, near the banks of the Murrumbidgee river; they became impoverished, and acquired the morbid appetite for devouring the young lambs; but when he removed them to a granite soil, in the vicinity of Yas Plains, they speedily recovered their former good condition, and the morbid appetite left them, more probably from there being no “water holes” containing saline earth about the place, than from the change of strata; however, they never returned to the unnatural practices, as was so frequent on the sheep-runs at the former place.

At Jugiong, Mr. O’Brien suffered in the loss of lambs from the same cause; but by occasionally changing the pasturage, it was checked in some degree; and although lambs were sometimes lost, yet the destruction was much lessened.

Even when the lambs are not devoured or destroyed by the other ewes, yet from the miserable condition of the mothers, the shepherds have been obliged to remove the young from their care, from inability to support them, when they endeavour to rear them by hand as “pet lambs.” If this were not done, the ewe would be more weakened by having to nourish her offspring, so that (as is known from experience) both ewe and lamb would be lost.

In rearing lambs away from the mothers many perish; and besides, the shepherds object to raising pet lambs, if it could be avoided, because they are seldom good sheep; when turned out in the pasturage they become _poverty stricken_, still looking for the fostering hand that reared them.

At _Narangullen_ a sheep-station, in the Murrumbidgee country, near _Guadarigby_, before the sheep discovered the spots in which the saline earth was situated, they brought forth the young in the usual manner, and the cleansings (if the delivery happened during the night) were found in the fold, and given as usual to the dogs; but when the earth was discovered, the lambs were attacked at birth, and the “cleansings” were devoured, if not timely removed by the shepherds.

At Darbylara (also situated on the banks of the Murrumbidgee river) Mr. Warby, who has a fine farm at that place, suffered such losses among his flocks from this cause, that he was obliged to sell those that remained; yet at _Brungul_, a station about eight miles distant, near the Tumat river, there was a small flock of sheep which had not shown any of this morbid appetite, and were in excellent condition.

On visiting Mr. Warby’s farm, the whole had the appearance of being excellent pasturage, and affording excellent sheep-runs; but about the pastures there were several pools of brackish water, to which the sheep resorted, and from which it was found at last impossible to keep them.

At this place again, although so destructive to breeding-ewes, rams, wethers, and ewes, not breeding, would fatten, and become in the finest condition, upon the same pasturage.

The sheep at these places eagerly devour the _Azolla pinnata_, which grows abundantly in the whole of the ponds and rivulets.

At _Guadarigby_ I remarked that the cattle, after they had been turned out of the stock-yard, invariably came licking the ground about the huts. After some doubt as to the cause, it was found that the water in which salt-meat had been boiled, was thrown away about that place; and this it was that attracted the cattle: they would even attack one another to get at some places, which had been more impregnated with salt than another. This inclination of animals for salt is by no means adduced as any thing novel; it is not confined to those domesticated among the herbaceous, but also among the wild in that class of animals; for at _Blowrin Flat_, in the Tumat country, a water hole, nearly dry in some parts, and at others perfectly so, and similar to those I had before seen frequented by sheep, abounded in the tracks of the kangaroo; and, on a closer examination, the earth (which glittered in the sun, as if impregnated with saline particles) was licked and gnawed, as was done by sheep in other parts of the country; but it would be difficult to know whether similar results occurred with the breeding females of the kangaroos.

At _Lomebraes_, (about thirty miles from Goulburn Plains, on the road to Yas Plains,) the farm of Mr. John Hume, I was also informed that lambs and ewes had been lost, from similar causes to those I have been relating. The water of the river which runs through his farm in the summer season, when the stream is low, is _hard_, even so much so as to curdle the soap, and prevent any washing with it; but in the winter season, when the stream is increased, it becomes softer.

It is curious that Mr. Warby mentioned that a number of his cows had “slipped their calves,” or miscarried, and thought it proceeded from some poisonous herb they had eaten; but Mr. Hume mentioned that his cows, which are accustomed when breeding to devour the earth impregnated with saline particles, “slip their calves,” and he could attribute it to no other cause. This occurred also at the farms of _Gonnong_, _Mut, mut, billy_; and at all places where the same propensity of licking and gnawing the saline earth, and devouring the lambs, occurred among the ewes, “slipping the calves” occurred among the cows; but I heard nothing of their devouring the young.

THE ALBATROSS.

(_See_ page 45, vol. i.)

The Albatrosses are the largest of the oceanic birds, and their generic character (Diomedea) is thus defined:—Bill, very long, stout, edged, compressed; upper mandible channelled on the sides, and much hooked at the point; lower mandible smooth and truncated at the extremity; nostrils lateral, like short rolls and open in front; feet short, with only three very long toes, entirely webbed, but without any spur or toe behind, not even the little nail that is seen in the Petrel tribe; wings very long and narrow, with the primary quills short, and the secondaries long.

The known species are D. exulans, D. spadicea, D. chlororynchus, D. fuliginosa; and Cuvier also enumerates D. brachyura, Temm., D. melanophris, Temm.: for the two last species I have not had an opportunity of referring either to drawings or descriptions. There is a species found in Bass’s Straits, of which the description is as follows, copied from my journal at the time: it was captured, during a voyage from England to New South Wales:—

August 21st, 1832. Fine weather, wind from north to north-east, fresh breezes. About one o’clock, P.M., land (King’s Island, at the entrance of Bass’s Strait) was announced from the mast-head, and at the same time an Albatross was captured with a hook and line from the stern; immediately on seizing and swallowing the bait, it again rose into the air, and by hauling on the line, it was safely brought down (as a boy would a kite) on the deck. Several seized the bait, and flew up with it in a similar manner, but this one alone was caught; the hook slipping from the others, and the ship’s way being too great from the stormy state of the weather, to allow them much line to enable them to hook themselves better or swallow the bait. This one was the only specimen of the species we captured.

I placed this specimen in one of the hen coops; it fed heartily on large pieces of fat salt-pork, beef, &c., but seemed to prefer the fattest and most oily food. A great number of the same species of Albatross were about the ship at the same time, and when on the wing were mistaken for the species _spadicea_ or the _chlororynchus_. On being placed in the hen-coop the bird did not scream, make any noise, or flutter about to regain its liberty, but quietly settled itself, occasionally pecking with the sharp crooked point of the upper mandible against the rails of the coop, but did not continue this for any length of time. It remained during the whole time of its confinement always sitting down, excepting once or twice (the first time it was placed in the coop) walking the length of its prison, and had a perfectly contented appearance. The first two or three days, the bird refused any meat that was given it, but that being lean fresh meat, I do not think it was relished, for soon after giving it a fine fat lump of salt-pork it was eagerly devoured. In three days it was very quiet and tame, pecked its feathers, and seemed to be in good health, having a lively, bright, and beautiful eye; it uttered no cry when caught, nor has it done so during its confinement. After entering the Straits, these, and almost the whole of the oceanic birds which had before been following the ship, had forsaken us. I arrived with it safe at Sydney, on the 25th; it survived until the 29th, when it was found dead in the coop in the afternoon, although it fed well in the morning. The dimensions of the specimen (which was a male) were as follows:—

Feet. In. Length from base of bill to the extremity of the tail 2 6 Length of the bill 4½ Depth of the base of the bill 1⅞ Length of the tail 9 Length of ditto, exserted from feathers of the urupigium 5 Length of the thigh 6½ Length of the tarsus 3 Length of the middle phalanges 5⅛ Breadth of the wings expanded 7 0 Breadth between the wings from the first joint 4 Length of the first joint of the wing 10 Length of the second joint of the wing 10⅛ Length of the third joint of the wing 4 Length of the fourth, or pen-feathers 1 4 Length of inner angle of eye to base of beak 1⅔ Breadth of the foot when expanded 5 First pen-feather the longest.

The following is the general description of this species:—The head, neck, breast, and urupigium of a snowy white colour; back, dark lead colour, shaded off to a lighter tint towards the neck; wing coverts, and upper part of the wings and pen-feathers, brownish black; under surface of the wings of a white colour, intermingled with light brown, (forming a white streak, extending the whole length on the under surface,) except the pen-feathers which are the same colour above as beneath; tail, dark lead colour, of a lighter tint on the under surface; irides, light brown; a black mark on the upper and inner part around the eye, lightly shaded off towards the base of the bill; eyelids black; bill yellow, with the tips of the mandibles, especially the upper one, of a reddish colour, shaded with black; a black narrow membrane extends around the base of the bill, forming a distinguishing character in this species; feet bluish, with the web of a bluish brown colour.

The dissection of this specimen was as follows:—The pleura and peritoneum (similar to all the other specimens examined) were found inflated; muscles attached to the air-cells; liver large; right lobe in length three inches and two eighths, left two inches and three-eighths, soft, and easily torn; gall bladder in length three inches, and attached the whole of its length to the stomach, and part of the duodenum, and was filled with bile of a bright grass-green colour; length of the first stomach three inches and a half, longitudinal folds of the inner coat throughout its whole length; a line of demarcation marking the termination of the œsophagus and commencement of the first stomach; length of the second stomach or gizzard one inch, in which were found some small beaks of a sepia; length of the intestines, commencing from the second stomach and terminating at the rectum, six feet; the lower part of the rectum was distended with fœces, white, and of a calcareous deposition in appearance, some of which was concreted, but readily broke like a soft calculus; renal veins much distended; pancreas in length three inches and two-eighths, very narrow at the upper part, and attached by a cellular membrane at that part to the gall bladder, and a portion of the duodenum; it became larger in the middle, and narrower (but not so narrow as at the first part) at the termination; about four inches and a half before the termination of the rectum are two projections, one on each side; in the upper part of the rectum the fœces were dark-coloured, but at intervals were formed into hard lumps. The bird, in its general internal appearance, had not the healthy appearance of those recently killed, which must be attributed to its having been kept in a state of confinement.

The larger species of albatross arrives at the length of three feet, and the wings, from point to point, have a spread of from eight to fourteen feet. I have heard it asserted that specimens have been shot, and the wings, from point to point, found measuring twenty feet, the plumage of those birds being entirely white; but I have never myself seen the spread of the wings greater than fourteen feet. The bill is in the larger species (the type of the genus) of a pale, dirty yellow, the legs and feet flesh colour. The ladies on board generally request the down of these birds for tippets, &c.; and among the New Zealand _ladies_ it is used in small tufts for adorning the ears, being placed in the lobes, which are perforated for the purpose of receiving these or other adornments to satisfy their vanity, or command, if it be possible, public admiration. In New Zealand the bones of the same birds are frequently seen pending from the lobes of the ears and round their necks in the form of whistles and other ornaments. The Kamtschatdales are said to capture these birds chiefly for the sake of their bones, particularly those of the wing, which they convert to various uses.

During a former voyage, on the 1st of January, 1829, I had an opportunity of examining a specimen of the _Diomedea fuliginosa_, Sooty Albatross, or quaker-bird, which was captured (by a hook and line, and a piece of salt pork by way of bait,) in latitude 39° 40′ south, and longitude 101° 5′ east. The wings, when expanded, measured six feet eleven inches from point to point. This was called _Pio_ by some of the sailors on board. The bill was of a beautiful shining black, with a distinct white membrane passing about two-thirds down the lower mandible; the legs were naked, and, as well as the feet, of a flesh colour; irides brown, and a circle of white feathers surrounded the orbit; the head, neck, throat, and back, were of a sooty colour; breast and abdomen greyish; wing coverts of a light grey; the pen-feathers of a light black; the tail feathers above of a sooty, inferiorly of a light grey colour; the feet had each three toes, united by a web, slightly serrated at the edges; the first toe had five, the second four, and the third three phalanges.

On the 3rd of January another specimen was caught in latitude 40° 34′ south, and longitude 107° 18′ east, which differed in plumage from the preceding by having the sooty feathers on the head and back intermixed with white, which difference in plumage may have depended on age, as the sex of both birds was the same, being both males.

I have subsequently had opportunities of examining numerous specimens, in many of which there were slight differences of plumage, but none particularly marking the sex, that I could discover.

On the 5th of January, 1829, a specimen of the species named _Mollymawk_ by our sailors, the mountain Albatross of the Americans, was captured in latitude 40° 6′ south, and longitude 111° 49′ east. This I suspect only to be a young specimen of the large wandering Albatross. The bill was of a pale, dirty yellow; the head, neck, breast, and abdomen, were of a delicate and beautiful snowy whiteness; the back black, intermixed with brown, changing to snowy whiteness near the tail; tail feathers above black, underneath white; vent white; irides brown; orbits surrounded by a naked skin of a light bluish colour; black feathers at the inner angle of the eye; legs and feet of a flesh colour. The wings, when expanded, measured five feet from point to point.

“And is that the Albatross? the bird mentioned of such an extraordinary size? Well, I thought it a much larger bird; but having so often heard that travellers’ accounts are exaggerated, I ought not to wonder at my disappointment.”—These remarks are often made by persons who make a voyage to sea for the first time in their lives, and who have in their ideas conjectured that flying fishes, dolphins, albatrosses, &c. so far surpassed all other objects of the creation, that I have scarcely known an instance when such voyagers have not been disappointed at the reality, and considered all that has been related of them as marvellously incorrect. It was during my first voyage I watched eagerly from the stern of the vessel, for the first time, the majestic sailing of the huge Albatross in the air, seemingly enjoying the stormy winds which were at that time pouring their wrath upon our swift craft. It occasionally would sweep the rising billows, washing itself with the spray which broke from the conflicting waves, seemed to delight in the tempest, and looked to the superstitious seamen as if it was hovering over the devoted ship, regarding it, as the foaming billows dashed over its decks, as nigh destruction, and the inmates soon doomed to become its prey. It is a most interesting sight to see these birds during stormy weather flying with and against the wind, and approaching so close to the ship, as if they were about to alight, and seem “gayest of the gay” in the midst of foaming waves and howling winds.

One of my amusements on board was _fishing_ for albatrosses, Cape petrels, or pigeons as they are commonly termed, (from the supposed resemblance of their flight and bill to that of a pigeon,) with a hook and line, and a piece of fat pork as a bait, and a quantity of spare line to let out when the bird attacked my bait, so as to allow for the sailing of the ship, and give him time to hook himself as comfortably as possible, or as securely as desired. Many a laugh, and sapient gaze, and passing remark, have I had from my fellow-passengers, at the nonsense and folly of “_fishing_” for birds: I recollect having a crowd of eager, idle gazers looking on to see what success would attend this novel method of sporting among the feathered creation: the wind was light; and after some time spent in expectation, as is customary with that humane body, the fishers, fortune favoured me, for a huge Albatross greedily seized my bait, and hauling the ponderous bird for some distance through the water, at last I _landed_ him safely on deck: the strain of the line was very great, (with the ship not going above two or three knots an hour through the water,) and I was momentarily expecting it to give way. On this gigantic bird arriving on deck, its enormous size, and elegant, sleek plumage, was exposed to the close gaze of all the before disbelieving passengers, who flocked from cabin and steerage to view the splendid prize, which excited both their surprise and admiration, as it lay on the deck, with expanded wings, and half drowned from having been dragged some distance through the water. Nothing more was afterwards heard of the size of the bird being exaggerated; and it proved for a long time after a subject of conversation, all uniting in pronouncing it an enormous and splendid production of the feathered creation. A second specimen was caught soon after: the first measured fourteen feet from the extremity of one wing to that of the other; and the second, ten feet four inches. There was a slight difference of plumage in the two birds; one having the upper part of the head and back of a beautiful pencilled white; while the upper part of the head and back of the other was black. The skin, on dissecting the birds, was found to contain a very large quantity of oil, as is usual with the oceanic birds. A cluster of cartilaginous tumors was found attached to the web of the foot of one of the birds. The pharynx and œsophagus are capable of being distended to a very large size, which enables the bird to swallow large pieces of food entire.

At certain seasons of the year they retire to breed on rocky islands, as the Crozettes, Marion Islands, Tristan d’Acunha, &c. Captain Carmichael[140] describes their manner of breeding, as seen by himself on the Island of Tristan d’Acunha:—“As we walked down the mountain on our return,” he observes, “we passed among flocks of Albatrosses, engaged in the process of incubation, or tending their young. There are four species of them that breed on the island, none of which hatches more than one egg at a time;—the _Diomedea spadicea_, _exulans_, _chlororynchus_, and _fuliginosa_. The two former give themselves no trouble in constructing their nest, merely choosing a dry spot of ground, and giving it a slight concavity, to prevent the egg from rolling out of its place. The egg is white, very large, and of a peculiar shape, being uncommonly long in proportion to its diameter, and equally thick, or nearly so, at both ends.

“The black Albatrosses (_D. fuliginosa_) are at this season (January) gregarious, building their nests close to each other. In the area of half an acre I reckoned upwards of a hundred. They are constructed of mud, raised five or six inches, and slightly depressed at the top. At the time we passed, the young birds were more than half grown, and covered with a whitish down. There was something extremely grotesque in the appearance of these birds, standing, on their respective hillocks, motionless like so many statues, until we approached close to them, when they set up the strangest clattering with their beaks, and if we touched them, squirted on us a deluge of fetid oily fluid from the stomach.

“The _D. chlororynchus_ builds its solitary nest in some sheltered corner, selecting, in particular, the small drains that draw the water off the land into the ravines. There it runs up its nest to the height of ten or twelve inches, of a cylindrical form, with a small ditch around the base. A curious circumstance with regard to this bird is, that when irritated, the feathers of its cheeks are separated, so as to display a beautiful stripe of naked orange skin, running from the corners of the mouth towards the back of the head. All these birds nourish their young by disgorging the contents of their stomach. They are never observed to carry any article of food in their bill: those matters indeed, from which they derive the chief part of their sustenance, the blubber of dead whales, seals, and sea lions, would melt away if carried in the bill to any distance. We could not help admiring the utter unconsciousness of danger displayed by them on our approach: they never showed the least disposition to move out of our way: even when kicked, or pulled off their nests, they made not the smallest show of resistance; but quietly returned to their post, or stood still until we passed on.

“Their plumage is of the finest order, copious, and without the slightest stain. They find great difficulty in getting on wing, and must run twenty or thirty yards along the ground with expanded wings, before they can get fairly under way. We had the curiosity to take one of them by the point of the wings and fling it over the rock; yet, though it had several hundred feet of a clear fall, it never recovered itself, but dropped down like a stone. On this account, when not engaged with their young, they usually rest upon the edge of the precipice, from which they can launch at once into the air; and on entering again upon that difficult part of our route, we had to kick upwards of a dozen of them to the right and left of us before we could get on.”

It is almost incredible the distance these birds will fly: this has been repeatedly ascertained by marking birds that had been captured, and then suffering them again to be at liberty, watching how long they remain constant about the ship: they follow the vessels for the sake of the offal, which is daily thrown overboard. Eight or ten days before the pairing season, the male Albatrosses come to the land, fix on a spot, which they scrape clear, where the intention is to form the nest; this being completed, they fly away again to sea, and return a few days afterwards, in company with the females.

When the wind falls light, the Albatross fishers are on the alert; it is then that all the hooks and lines that can be procured on board are put into requisition, and the steward receives frequent solicitations for pieces of fat pork for bait; some of these birds when hooked, before they can be brought on board either manage to detach themselves from the hook, or escape by its breaking. It is laughable to see, when one is hooked, with what eagerness he is followed by the others, (while dragged through the water by his capturers,) all eager to seize the bait, they consider he is monopolizing; they pounce down upon it, and look surprised to find themselves quietly perched on the waves while the other poor hooked bird, bait and all, is before them in rapid progress towards being taken on board.[141] Numerous eager gazers are all ready assembled on the poop of the vessel to receive the stranger; where, on its arrival, it remains the patient, stupid-looking subject of a hundred passing remarks: the ladies give their due share of praise to its large bright eyes, fine sleek and clean plumage; the expansion of wings is duly measured, the bird, during the time remaining sitting in a quiet manner, appearing very sulky, and apparently unmindful of all around, until a few practical jokes keep its bright eyes on the alert against all personal attacks. After having been admired and pitied (as much as its situation may be considered to require) by the fair sex, and having satisfied the curiosity of both sexes, it is consigned either to the anatomist to be dissected and stuffed for the benefit of science, or to form a skeleton to grace some of the museums in England; or sometimes regains its liberty, with a piece of ribbon tied around the neck, by which it may be readily recognised should it continue to follow the ship, which it usually does for a long time after. Sometimes the passengers on board will amuse themselves by firing with ball at the poor bird as it follows the bait; one I saw struck by the deadly shot, turned on its back, dead, and, as the ship passed it, we could see its companions fall upon it eager to make it their prey. We were inclined to consider this wanton act a useless destruction of bird-life; but his companions seemed to regard it only in the light of a fine, fat, oily prize.

These birds are sometimes very ravenous, and even when foiled in several attempts to seize the bait, by the passage of the ship through the water being too rapid for them, they will persevere as long as they seem to think there is any chance of success.

In 1828, when dissecting the head of the Albatross, I observed, imbedded in a bony cavity, situated immediately over the orbit, a gland, which was covered above by a dense fascia. The cavity to which the gland corresponded was of a semilunar form, and situated over each orbit: at the anterior part of this cavity or depression a small portion was left membranous, excepting a minute orifice, permitting the passage of what seemed to me to be an excretory duct, but the course of which I lost soon after it had penetrated this membrane. The floor of the cavity was perforated by numerous minute foramina, probably for the passage of nutritient vessels to the substance of the gland. This gland is found in most, if not in all, the aquatic birds, but varies in them, both with respect to exact situation or extent. On the dissection of the common duck, I found it, not imbedded in a bony cavity, but situated on a dense fascia, slightly projecting over the superior and posterior margins of the orbit. It is similarly situated in the boobies and others. In the Cape petrel (_Procellaria Capensis_) this gland is situated partly in a narrow semilunar depression over the orbit, and partly on a dense membrane, continuous from the margin of this bony cavity, extending from two orbital processes, serving to complete the superior part of the orbit on which the gland rested. A dense fascia covers the glands, which fascia is not continuous over the other part of the head, but binds the glands firmly down in their situation.

In the gull tribe (_Larus_) it is situated in a bony depression over the orbit, but more superficial than in the Albatross, and extends over the cranium, so as nearly, if not actually, to touch the gland on the opposite side, and both extending so as to cover the anterior part of the cranium.

It is difficult to conjecture the use of this gland, as those possessing it have also a lacrymal gland in the usual situation. I could not observe at this time, either in the Albatross, or any other oceanic or aquatic bird, any excretory duct. Cuvier, in his _Comparative Anatomy_, (vol. ii. p. 440,) thus alludes to it: “Les oiseaux du genre des canards, et d’autres oiseaux d’eaux et de rivage, ont un corps glanduleux, dur, grenu, qui occupe toute la partie supérieure de l’orbite et se contourne en arrière pour suivre la courbure de l’œil. Dans le morillon (_Anas fuligula_) il est si large qu’il touche son correspondant par dessus le crâne. Ce corps paroît tenir lieu de la glande lacrymale: _je n’en ai cependant pas encore vu le canal excréteur_.”

In July, 1832, during a passage to New South Wales, a capture of an Albatross afforded me an opportunity of again dissecting this gland, with the view of ascertaining, if possible, whether an excretory duct actually existed. I found the gland of a hard granulated substance and pale colour, consisting of numerous, distinct, minute oval bodies, and on being cut it is found to be abundantly nourished by blood-vessels; the nerves supplying it came from the minute foramina seen on the floor of the cavity, and are distributed in and about the substance of the gland. These glandular bodies are placed in two rather semicircular depressions, (one over each orbit,) to which the form of the gland corresponds, accurately filling up those cavities, and bound down firmly by a strong and dense fascia: the distance between these cavities, or depressions, (in the specimen now under examination) was three-eighths of an inch; the external margin of this cavity is very narrow, partly cartilaginous, partly bony; the gland does not project over the outer margin, a distance of one-eighth of an inch being left beyond it. Not finding any duct when I came to the anterior portion of the gland, which was visible, I commenced a further research, by laying open the bony plate which covered the olfactory part of the upper mandible, continuing the destruction of this portion of the bill, on one side, to the nostril. I then found that the gland was continued for a short distance further, under the bone, towards the nostril, situated rather above and anterior to the nasal portion of the orbit. On pursuing my dissection further, I found a nerve (a branch of the fifth pair?) passing down the thin bony plate, at the interior part of the upper mandible; this I traced until it entered the skull, and thus found it had no connexion with the gland, as its first appearance led me to suspect; but close to and under it was another appearance, which could be distinctly traced, emerging from the gland; it was about a line, or rather more, in thickness, and, tracing its course, I found it proceeded in a straight direction, and then had an almost imperceptible inclination upwards, until I lost it among the cellular substance of the upper mandible, (to which it was attached partially, if not entirely,) rather more than an inch from the base of the bill; the length of the duct, as far as traced, was one inch and seven-eighths. I made a drawing of the preparation.

An interesting subject next for inquiry is, what this gland secretes, and what is its use in that situation? which at present cannot be answered.

Some of these birds, when brought on board, will throw up a quantity of fœtid oily fluid and undigested food, becoming “sea-sick,” as it is usually termed; such, however, is not invariably the case, as numbers are brought on board who are not guilty of such indecorous conduct, but it always happens when any of the petrel tribe are captured.

Although accustomed to dissect several of the oceanic birds which were captured on board, still I cannot refrain from making some remarks on the cruelty of those who pass away a leisure hour on board, by firing at them as they fly about the ship. These little “indefatigables,” as some are pleased to term them, are too often doomed to become the subjects of this murderous sport. Often and often, with broken wings, they are left to linger on the wide expanse of waters, unable to procure any food but that which may accidentally pass them; buffetted about by the waves, and helpless in themselves, they linger out a miserable existence, until death puts a period to their misery. It is revolting to the feelings to see these beautiful and perfectly innocent birds destroyed, solely to gratify the inclination to destroy.

In latitude 36° 25′ south, longitude 5° 18′ west, in July, 1832, the _D. fuliginosa_, or Sooty Albatross, was first seen flying about the ship; these breed in great numbers on the island of Tristan d’Acunha. The greatest number I ever saw of this species about the ship, was during strong breezes on the 30th of July, which were attributed to the vicinity of St. Paul’s and Amsterdam Islands, about which islands I have always remarked this species of Albatross to predominate: there were a few resembling Chlororynchus amongst them. We had seen the _fuliginosa_ very rarely since we had arrived at the eastward of the Cape, four or five at the utmost only being visible; the last two or three days they have been more numerous, the large white species having disappeared for some time; but on approaching the islands before mentioned, their numbers increased, although we did not see the islands. As we approached towards King’s Island, at the entrance of Bass’s Straits, this species had forsaken us. These birds, as well as all the Albatross genus, Cape Petrels, and other birds, follow the ship during the whole of the night, reposing for a short period on the water, in which position they have been passed close by ships, riding like a duck on the water, but they seldom remain long on the waves, usually alighting for food, and soon resume their flight.

I directed my attention to observe whether these birds followed the ship during the night, and the result of those observations was a decision in the affirmative, as marked birds have been seen about the ship for days together, when the strong gales have carried the vessel at a daily rapid rate through the water. I have seen, occasionally, the Cape Petrels and Albatrosses flying near the stern of the vessel as late as midnight; and it is not unusual to hear the twittering note of the Stormy Petrel (_Procellaria pelagica_,) under the stern during the night.

Captain Beechey gives the following instance of the Sooty Albatrosses confining their flight within certain limits, and considers it may add weight to the opinion, provided it were not accidental, which future navigators might probably ascertain.

“Off the River Plate, we fell in with the Dusky Albatross, (_Diomedia fuliginosa_,) and as we proceeded southward they became very numerous; but on reaching the latitude of 51° south, they all quitted us. We rounded the Cape, and on regaining the same parallel of 51° south on the opposite side, they again came round us, and accompanied the ship up the Chili coast.”—_Voyage to the Pacific and Beering’s Strait_, vol. i. p. 17.

The Albatross delights in food of an oily nature when it can be procured; and on the islands where they breed are often seen in flocks about the carcase of a whale, sea-lion, seals, &c., which have been thrown dead on the rocks, and there they seem to fatten and luxuriate on their luscious repast; but when at sea, their food consists of the Sepiæ, or cuttle-fish tribe, Aplysiæ, or sea-hares, the spawn of fish, and numerous other species of the Mollusca animals, as Vellela, Salpa, Medusa, &c., and they follow ships for the purpose of procuring the remains of food which may be thrown from them.

The gall-bladder in the Albatross is usually found full of bile, of a fine grass-green colour, which dries of a greenish-yellow colour, and is perfectly applicable for water-colour drawing, where such a tint may be required.

The usual size of the large white or Wandering Albatross, (_Diomedea exulans_,) is as follows:—

Feet. In. The expanded wings 14 0 Length of the body 3 0 Length of the bill 0 7 Foot, when expanded 0 6

On the 18th of July 1832, in latitude 40° 12′ south, and longitude 27° 52′ east, the species of Albatross called _spadicea_, was taken. The description and measurement of this specimen, was as follows:—It was called _Nelly_ by our sailors. The head, neck, and urupigum, white; back, wing-coverts, pen-feathers and tail, brownish black; under parts of the wings and tail, lighter colour; the brownish black of the back is shaded off towards the hinder part of the neck, and becomes a plumbo-atro or lead-coloured black; the first pen-feather is the longest, which differs from the usual character in this genus; the pen-feathers decrease _gradatim_ from the first; irides brownish; a black mark from half an inch before the inner and upper part of the eyes, behind and above the outer angle of the eyes; eyelids black; the base of the upper mandible black, as well as the termination of both mandibles; the remainder of the mandibles of an olive green, with delicate black tints; wings same length, when closed, as the extremes of the tail; quills of the pen-feathers white; skin dark-coloured; a quantity of fine down between the skin and the feathers; base of the feathers white; feet flesh-coloured, with bluish tints; the circulation of the venous and arterial system is beautifully seen ramifying over the web; nails of the toes short, and slightly covered outwards in one, and inwards in the opposite foot; the cuticle of the feet is readily abraded when it is placed on a hard surface, even for a short period of time; the web of the foot thick, and it is usual for sailors to make _purses_, as they term them, by extracting the phalanges, without injuring the web, leaving the claws at the extremities.

The measurement of the specimen (which was a male) was as follows:—

Feet. In. Length of the body, from base of bill to extremity of tail 2 4 Length of the bill 0 4 Depth of the base of the bill 0 1⅝ Length of the tail 0 8¼ Length of ditto, exserted from the feathers of the urupigum 0 3⅜ Length of the thigh 0 3¾ Length of the tarsus 0 3⅛ Length of the middle phalanges 0 5⅛ Breadth of wings expanded 7 4 Breadth between the wings from the 1st joint 0 4½ Length of the 1st joint of the wing 0 10¼ Length of the 2nd joint 0 10½ Length of the 3rd joint 0 4 Length of the 4th, or pen-feathers[142] 1 3 Length of the inner angle of the eye to the base of the beak 0 1⅛

The structure of the mandible is much thinner in this than in the large white species, and the nostrils are not so elevated and twisted.

The dissection exhibited the following appearances. The pleura and peritoneum were found inflated; the abdominal viscera, except the liver, were seen behind the latter; liver large; right lobe longer and larger than the left; gall-bladder two and one-eighth inches in length, narrow, attached to the liver only by the biliary ducts; stomach covered externally with much fat; the interior consisted of numerous rather tortuous longitudinal folds, and numerous papillæ covered the internal surface, from which, on pressure, a small quantity of a thick substance exuded, leaving a gaping opening: the first stomach was empty; the second stomach was lined with a greenish substance, and contained only an undigested beak of a cuttle fish; heart covered with much fat; gall-bladder full of bile of a grass-green colour; kidneys four-lobed, on one of the lobes was a small diseased spot, of the size of a pin’s head, from which some inky fluid could be expressed. This lobe was easily broken, and evidently diseased: it was the first lobe of the right kidney; ureters long, terminating in the cloaca.

The bill in this species differs from others of the genus, in being more slender and delicate in formation, more particularly when compared with that enormous type of the genus the _D. exulans_.

The interior of the mouth is of a white colour, excepting near the edges of the mandibles, which have a delicate pink tinge.

From the length of the bill in these birds their bite is not severe, except when they seize or strike with the hooked mandible, when the impression is strong, but not so great as would be expected from so large a bird.

On the 24th of July, 1832, in latitude 40° 32′ south, longitude 50° 45′ east, we captured the species called _chlororynchus_.[143] It was taken by getting its wing entangled in the line, (which was out with a bait attached to it,) as it flew under the stern; it was too old a bird to take bait, but not so wise as to escape the line, and avoid being entangled in it. On being hauled on board, it became unusually vociferous, and screamed for liberty in loud, hoarse, discordant cries. When, in the gentlest manner imaginable, we commenced measuring him, he vehemently exclaimed against it, and was declared by all on board a very noisy bird; he was, probably, an old stager, perfectly well aware of the fate that awaited him. He received the usual share of commiseration from the ladies when they understood he was to be dissected, accompanied by a request for the down.

I now proceed to describe this specimen, commencing with the dimensions, which may be regarded as the usual size of this species. This bird is doubtless the _D. chlororynchus_ of Gmelin, allowing the slight difference in the plumage to be the result of age. Gmelin thus describes it:—

“D. alba, rostro nigro, carina mandibulæ superioris basique inferioris flava, capite grisco, _cenia_, macula supra oculos caudaque obscuris, dorso, alis maculaque inter rostrum et oculos nigris. Irides fuscæ; nucha et uropygium alba; pedes pallide ochroleuci, anterius cum membranâ digitos connectente obscuri.”

Feet. In. Length of the body from the tip of the bill to extremity of the tail 2 5½ Length of the bill 0 4 Depth of the base of the bill 0 1¾ Length of the tail 0 8½ Length of the tail, exserted from feathers of the urupigium 0 3¾ Length of the thigh 0 6 Length of the tarsus 0 3 Length of the middle phalanges 0 4⅜ Breadth of wings expanded 6 4 Breadth between the wings from the first scapular joint 0 5 Length of the first joint 0 9 Length of the second joint 0 9¾ Length of the third joint 0 3¾ Length of the fourth joint, or pen-feathers 1 3 Length from the inner angle of the eye to the base of the beak 0 1 Breadth of the foot when expanded 0 5½

The plumage was clean, delicate, and very handsome, particularly about the head. From this bird I procured a small parasitical animal, probably a _Ricinus_, which was found rather numerous about its feathers, it is prettily marked on each side, with a silvery appearance on the back, when viewed through a microscope.

The upper surface of the wings, scapulars, and back in this bird, was a brownish black; the urupigium, white; the head, chin, and neck, of a delicate grey, or blue grey. The back is shaded off towards the neck, which becomes of a soft and beautiful leaden colour, of more light and delicate tints as it proceeds around the front part of the neck, extending towards the breast; eyelids black: the upper surface of the tail was of a light black; shaded with white in a very delicate and beautiful manner. At first, this appearance was supposed only to be the result of the different lights in which the bird was occasionally placed; but subsequent observations confirmed its being the marked colour. On examining one of the tail-feathers plucked from the bird, it was found delicately tinted; the shaft diminishing gradually as it proceeded from the quill to the extremity, until it terminated in a very fine filament, projecting one-eighth of an inch from the plume; this was observed in the whole of the upper and large tail-feathers. The plume as it came off on each side from the base, terminated in a beautiful downy appearance; tail-feathers underneath of a lighter colour—vent (crissum) white, which gives a light delicate appearance to the edge of the feather.

The breast and abdomen are of a snow-white; under surface of the wings, upper line along the wing-bones, and a little below, brownish-black; middle white, (excepting a few brown feathers near the axilla,) forming a continuous broad white line the whole length of the under surface of the wings; lower feathers base white, tips black, under surface of the pen-feathers black; shafts white.

At the inferior part of the external angle of the eye, around the margin of the lid, a narrow white mark extends for the length of seven-eighths of an inch. A diffused black-mark was situated over, and extended to the inner angle of the eye, terminating near the base of the bill in lighter shades of the same colour, forming an agreeable contrast with the delicate leaden hue extending over the head and neck.

Bill blackish; upper surface horny, (shaded with light black at some parts,) extending, of a similar appearance, to the hooked process of the upper mandible. At the lower part of the inferior mandible, this horny appearance also extends to within an inch of the tip. Irides brown; the first pen-feather the longest; feet and legs marbled, the web marbled blue, more at the anterior edges, and between the second and third toes; claws of the toes turned outwards, (to the right.)

There is a very minute tubercle at the posterior, and lower part of the tarsus, which is considered by some as a rudiment of thumb, and I suppose to be that alluded to by Lesson, when he says of this genus, “pouce sans ongles.”

The fœces of this specimen were of a reddish purple colour, as if occasioned by his swallowing some Aplysiæ; but the skeleton of a Loligo was solely found in his stomach, the interior of which, as well as the whole length of the intestinal canal, was seen on dissection to be tinged of a similar colour; but no remains of Aplysiæ were to be found: could the colour, then, have been produced by the Loligo? The second stomach contained one perfect and one imperfect beak of a sepia, both of small size. The gizzard or second stomach is small in proportion to the size of the bird.

The specimen was a female; the cluster of ovaries of a yellowish colour, and situated just above the superior lobes of the kidneys, were distinctly seen.

This animal attacked furiously every thing that was placed before it, screaming with its trumpet-like voice at the same time. It always made some impression with its beak when the hooked end of the mandible came in contact with the object attacked, but not without.

This bird, on being placed on the skylight of the poop, tied by the leg, made one attempt to regain its liberty; finding that attempt fruitless, it never renewed it, but remained with folded wings, apparently content, but appearing to watch the approach of intruders with its large brilliant eyes. When left alone, the bird remained seated, perfectly quiet, pecking its feathers, and looking as content and unconscious of danger as when I have seen them resting tranquilly on the water, undisturbed by the ship, as it has passed quite close to them. I cannot, however, consider its sight very acute, as, although watching me, I found no difficulty at any time in seizing him by the neck. Indeed these, unlike the man-of-war bird, gannet, &c., do not require great acuteness of vision, as their food is principally the sluggish mollusca, not fish, as has been often asserted as serving them for prey, this bird being regarded also, but I consider erroneously, as one of the enemies of the flying fish.

The Albatross does not require that acuteness of vision requisite in the _Tachypetes aquila_, or man-of-war hawk, which hovers to a great height in the air, and then darts with rapidity on its finny prey. The flight of the Albatross, on the contrary, is low, and it frequently skims the surface of the water, watching for the objects which serve it for food, or the sepiæ, as they leap from, or swim tardily near, the surface of the ocean.

Sometimes the Albatrosses form a sea-dish, and are eaten by the crew; but it is seldom they are used for this purpose in the present day, although formerly they were caught and esteemed for that purpose, as a change to the miserable salt junk. Captain Cook mentions, in his first voyage, the method used to prepare the birds before cooking them, and passes much commendation on the dish. “The Albatrosses,” he observes, “we skinned, and, having soaked them in salt water until the morning, we parboiled them, then, throwing away the liquor, stewed them in a very little fresh water till they were tender, and had them served up with savoury sauce: thus dressed, the dish was universally commended, and we ate of it very heartily, even when there was fresh pork upon the table.”

I was not aware, until I perused the entertaining “Fragments of Voyages and Travels,” by Captain Hall, that the Albatross was ever found so near the equator. “On the 24th of May,” he writes, “the day before crossing the equator, a number of those huge birds, the Albatrosses, were seen soaring over the face of the waters, and the flying fish, when rising into the air to avoid their natural enemies, the dolphin and bonito, were frequently caught by these poaching birds, to the very reasonable disappointment of the sporting fish below, on whose manor they were trespassing. These intruders proceeded not altogether with impunity, however, for we hooked several of them, who, confident in their own sagacity and strength of wing, swooped eagerly at the baited hooks, towed far astern of the ship, and were thus drawn on board, screaming and flapping their wings in a very ridiculous plight.”

On the 23d of July, 1832, in latitude 40° 16′ south, longitude 46° 45′ east, an Albatross was hooked; and when about to haul it in, the line (which was out its whole length) accidentally slipped; the bird consequently swallowed hook, bait, and a portion of the line; the remainder hung out from his bill. He was seen about the ship in the afternoon with a long portion of the line pending from the beak. This morning he was seen following the ship, but the length of line which hung from his beak was now reduced to very short dimensions: he had, probably by gradually swallowing, thus reduced it. From this bird being thus marked, we have ascertained that he has followed the ship for two days; and as we have been sailing at the rate of two hundred miles per day, (from the irregular flight of this bird, their actual flight may be correctly quadrupled,) it has followed us in a direct line four hundred miles. How long previously it had been about the ship, or subsequently followed it, we had no means of ascertaining, as the following day none of the Albatrosses had a string pending from the beak: our friend, no doubt, having swallowed the whole of it.

Sometimes the bait would attract an Albatross, cause him to alight, and shake it with his beak; but, “putting on a knowing look,” he eyed it again, perhaps suspicious of its appearance, would refuse it, and fly off. Perhaps he had had a good feast of cuttle-fish, and therefore, being in a dainty mood, did not like the bit of skinny pork that was offered for his acceptance.

These birds are the greatest part of their existence on the wing; but there are other of the oceanic birds which merely seek their food during the day, returning to the land to roost at night; but, from sometimes being blown away by heavy gales, they are obliged to bear away for the nearest port, and take refuge, much exhausted, on the rigging of ships. The booby is one of these; and from the circumstance of being easily captured at night on the rigging, has received its common name, whereas it is as much gifted with sense as any of the oceanic tribe of birds, which, at the best, is not an overplus; but Nature, no doubt, has given them as much as they require for their existence in this world.

So marked is the form of the superorbital depression in aquatic birds, that I have no doubt, judging from my limited series of observations, the genus may be determined by it alone. So marked is it in the Albatross genus, that from it the skull of that bird may be easily recognized. The Petrel tribe have it only half bony, the membranous portion projecting from the outer edge of the bone, which membranous portion is usually found wanting in the prepared skulls of those birds. In the Larus or gull tribe, the flatness of the cavities, and their extending over the anterior part of the skull, so as nearly, if not actually, to touch, seems a distinguishing mark in that genus. In the booby, duck, and some others, there is no depression, although the gland exists, being situated over the orbit, merely on a membranous projection.

My brother, Mr. F. D. Bennett, exhibited, at the meeting of the Zoological Society, on the 25th of June, 1833, a dried preparation of the upper larynx and adjoining parts of the Albatross, (_Diomedea exulans_, Linn.) for the purpose of demonstrating the existence in that bird of an epiglottis; and observed, “that the _rima glottidis_ is bounded by two elevated fleshy lips, which consist of mucous membrane and some few muscular fibres, and are armed with retroflexed spiculæ. These lips are in perfect contact at the hinder part of the glottis when it is closed, but diverge near their anterior part, so as to leave a triangular open space of about the size of a pea, the edges of which are incapable of being approximated to each other. In front of this triangular aperture, and at some distance behind the tongue, (to which it is connected by mucous membrane and muscular fibres,) is an elevated substance of a soft leathery texture, resembling that of the epiglottis of _Mammalia_: its form is triangular, the apex being inferior, and connected with the tongue, and the base being elevated, and terminating in three convex portions or lobes. The middle one of these lobes is the largest; it is free, and rests immediately over the triangular orifice of the larynx just described, which, when depressed, it is in size adapted to cover. In a line continuous with the floor of the upper larynx and penetrating beneath the epiglottis, is a cavity or sac lined with mucous membrane.”

Having demonstrated these parts on the preparation exhibited by him, he added that as it had been the opinion of naturalists in all ages that no bird possesses an epiglottis, the structure which he had brought under the notice of the Society appeared to him highly interesting. So fixed was the opinion to which he had adverted, that when Warren showed the existence in the ostrich (_Struthio Camelus_, Linn.) of a structure which he regarded as an epiglottis, the denomination was generally rejected, even in this anomalous bird, and the part was considered as a mere elevation at the base of the tongue, a rudiment, but without the function, of the organ. In the Albatross, however, the function is that of an epiglottis; and the size, though small, is sufficient for the protection of that portion of the rima glottidis which cannot be closed in the manner usual in birds by the apposition of its margins. With a peculiar structure of the glottis there exists an apparatus equally peculiar in the class, as a provision against the inconvenience which might otherwise result from the deviation from the normal structure.[144]

NOTES ON THE PLANTAIN AND BANANA TREES.

(_See_ page 385, vol. i.)

If we regard the immense varieties of the vegetable kingdom, their peculiar forms, large and minute flowers of splendid tints, and delicious fruits,—we find them all conduce to the happiness and luxury of man—affording him raiment, food, and adding to the comforts of his existence.

When we contemplate the vegetable productions of nature, we find that they impart a tranquillity to the mind, which the animal kingdom, ever slaves to conflicting passions, can never produce;—when suffering from violent emotions, an indescribable degree of repose is felt while viewing the tranquil but beautiful scene of a well-furnished garden, or the more magnificent grandeur of forest scenery. A calmness is produced, which, counteracting our more violent passions, leads us back to our sober reason, and to reflection.

Among the splendid, varied, and profuse vegetation, with which tropical countries abound in so infinite a degree, the magnificent, herbaceous plant, the Plantain tree, usually attracts particular notice; and, together with the cocoa and other palms, are the productions of the vegetable kingdom which adorn the picture of the artist, when depicting the scenery of the tropics. The broad leaves overhang gracefully the succulent and huge stem of this plant; whilst, just at their bases, huge clusters of fruit, of yellow, red, and other colours, contrast harmoniously with the shining, dark-green foliage.

The size this splendid plant usually attains is eight feet; but I have seen them at the elevation of twelve, and even fifteen feet, with a diameter of stalk from one foot to two feet. The stem is formed partly from the united petioles of the leaves; and they are said to contain such a quantity of spiral vessels, that they are capable of being pulled out by handfuls, and are actually collected, in the West Indies, and sold as tinder: or, according to the quotation from “Decandolle’s Organographie Végétale,” tom. i. p. 38, “the top of the Plantain tree appears to be composed almost entirely of spiral vessels, when cut across; and so abundant are they, as to be collected in handfuls, in the Antilles, and form a kind of tinder.”

The number of threads capable of being drawn from each convolution of these spiral vessels, is from seven, as M. de la Chesnay has calculated even to twenty-two. (Idem, p. 37.) The young shoots of the Banana trees make an excellent edible.

The threads procured from the stalks of some species of this family are used for very fine and delicate-textured linen and muslin. At Manilla there is an extensive manufacture of muslins and sinamaya, or grass cloth, from the coarsest to the finest texture it is possible to manufacture, and, sometimes it has been stated, “made of fibres so fine, that they require to be manufactured under water, because, if exposed to the sun and air, they become too fragile to work.”[145] The coarsest fibres of the same plant form the Avaca, or Manilla hemp of commerce, used in the manufacture of cordage. The species of Musa is called _M. textilis_; but I do not consider it at all accurately known: it forms plantations at Manilla, but I could never see it during my visit to that country.

Finlayson gives the following interesting information respecting the wild Plantain tree, found on the island of Pulo Ubi, off the southern extremity of Cambodia.

“We had,” he says, “the good fortune to find that splendid herbaceous plant in flower: unlike, however, to that luscious and most delicious fruit raised by the hand of man, the fruit of the wild Plantain contains scarce any pulp whatever. Its leathery sheath incloses numerous series of large black seeds, attached to a pithy, central stem, and immersed in a gummy substance resembling birdlime.

“It appeared, by our systematic works, that the seeds of this most useful plant have been but rarely seen by botanists; hence doubts had been expressed upon the subject. In none of the cultivated varieties are there any seeds discoverable; though, at times, we may observe minute black points in the pulp, disposed in longitudinal rows. These are, probably, the feeble traces of seeds not yet quite extinguished by cultivation, the black perisperm being the last to disappear. The seeds were numerous, covered with a thick, black, brittle shell, and as large as those of the custard apple, but of a more irregular shape.

“There is no necessity to refer, as Willdenow does, the origin of all the cultivated varieties, and of all the species enumerated by botanists, to the _Musa troglodytarum_, a native of the Molucca Islands, as the parent stock. Our specimens accorded with the descriptions given of _Musa sapientum_. The seeds were in all respects perfect, and apparently capable of propagating the plant. Indeed, its existence on these islands, so rarely frequented by man, and altogether unfit for cultivation, can be accounted for on no other principle than the fertility of the seeds.”[146]

It is, however, curious (and whether it depends on the fertility of the soil, I will leave for the decision of others) that the _Fehi_, or _Wild Plantain tree_, (_Musa Fehi_,) which is found growing so luxuriantly about the declivities of the mountains, has no seeds in its fruit. Sometimes a few straggling plants are found in the romantic valleys of the beautiful island of Tahiti, (and also others of the Polynesian Islands,) propagating themselves by suckers: so dense at some places have I seen them, that they appear almost united into one mass. The fruit produced from this species is large, full, of a dark orange colour, (which contrasts harmoniously with the very dark green colour of the foliage,) containing a bright yellow pulp; and although in a perfectly wild state, does not contain any seeds: its taste, when perfectly ripe, is sweetish, but with a roughness or astringency of flavour, so that they are usually preferred roasted, by which their flavour is evidently very much improved. This species also yields, from the trunk, a quantity of a dark, purplish juice, which I did not find was used by the natives for any purpose, but it may, probably, be applicable as a dye.

At the Society Islands, the natives dry and press the ripe fruit of the Banana, which forms in that state an excellent sweetmeat, and might be probably a profitable export to Sydney, (N. S. Wales,) where it is now occasionally seen when sent as a present to some resident at that town.

It is related in Cook’s First Voyage, whilst in Endeavour River, that a “party returned about noon, with a few palm cabbages, and a bunch or two of wild plantains; the plantains were the smallest I had ever seen, and the pulp, although it was well-tasted, was full of small stones.”[147]

Captain King stated to me that he attempted to find this tree during his stay at Endeavour River, when he surveyed the Australian coasts, but his researches were unsuccessful. In another part of the same volume,[148] it is stated of the Bananas, at Batavia—“There is one which deserves the particular notice of the botanist, because, contrary to the nature of its tribe, it is full of seeds, and is therefore called _Pisang batu_, or _Pisang bidgie_; it has, however, no excellence to recommend it to the taste, but the Malays use it as a remedy for the flux.”

Where grass or hay cannot be procured, voyagers will find the succulent stem and leaves of this plant, as well as the leaves of the _Dracæna terminalis_, an excellent substitute, for feeding goats and other animals.

THE INHABITANT OF THE NAUTILUS POMPILIUS.

(_See_ page 399, vol. i.)

It was on the 24th of August, 1829, (calm and fine weather, thermometer at noon 79°,) in the evening, when the ship Sophia was lying at anchor in _Marakini Bay_, on the south-west side of the island of Erromanga, one of the New Hebrides Group, Southern Pacific Ocean, that something was seen floating on the surface of the water, at some distance from the ship; to many it appeared like a small dead tortoiseshell cat, which would have been such an unusual object to be seen in this part of the world, that the boat which was alongside the ship at the time, was sent for the purpose of ascertaining the nature of the floating object.

On approaching near, it was observed to be the shell-fish, commonly known by the name of the Pearly Nautilus; (_Nautilus pompilius_;) it was captured and brought on board, but the shell was shattered from having been struck with the boat-hook in capturing it, as the animal was sinking, when the boat approached, and had it not been so damaged would have escaped.

I extracted the fish in a perfect state, which was firmly attached to each side of the upper cavity of the shell. On being brought on board, I observed it retract the tentacula still closer than before, and this was the only sensation of vitality it gave after being caught; I preserved the soft parts immediately in spirits, after making a rude pen and ink sketch of its form.

On breaking the lower part of the shell, the chambers, or cavities, were found filled with water.

The _hood_ has been stated by Dr. Shaw (Lectures, vol. ii. p. 165) “as being of a pale reddish purple colour, with deeper spots and variegations;” the colour, however, as it appeared in this recent specimen, was of a dark reddish brown, in fact, resembling the colour produced by the _Koka_ on the stained cloth of the Tongatabu natives, intermingled with white.

We had fine weather—light winds and calms, a day or two previous to this animal being caught.

The representations of the animal in Dr. Shaw’s works are not at all correct; that by _Rumphius_ is correct, as far as regards the description of the external parts of the animal.

This species of Nautilus is stated to be called _Kika, lapia_, and _Krang modang_, by the natives of Amboyna; and _Bia papeda_, _Bia cojin_, by the Malays.

This animal has, for a number of years, been a _desideratum_ of science; but some doubt existed whether it might not have been captured with the shell; and the collectors, not valuing the animal, or being unaware of the value attached to it by naturalists, may have extracted and thrown it away.

The two following accounts confirm this supposition; I place dependence upon the statements, because at the time both persons were ignorant of the form of the fish, and were also unaware of its value: they knew it more from the beautiful colours of its shell, than from any other part connected with it.

An officer of his Majesty’s ship Ariadne informed me that he caught the shell with the animal within it, on a reef at the _island of Pemba_, near _Zanzibar_, on the _eastern coast of Africa_, at the time himself and several others, belonging to the ship, were seeking for shells. (This occurred in the year 1824.) The animal was not floating upon the water, but was in a hole on the reef; he does not recollect which part of the shell was uppermost. The mantle of the fish, like a thin membrane, covered the shell, which was drawn in as soon as it was touched, and the elegant shell was then displayed. “I and others,” observed my informant, “when it was first seen, did not notice it, regarding the animal, as the membrane enveloped the shell, merely as a piece of blubber; but having touched it by accident, the membranous covering was drawn in, and we soon secured our beautiful prize.”

“The fish,” he further observed, “was a large mass attached to the shell, which we soon extracted and threw away, as we only wanted to _collect shells_.”

The mantle was compared to what he had subsequently seen covering the shells of the _Harps_ and _Cowries_.

These animals were not numerous, for this was the only one collected during the time they remained there, or on subsequent visits.

A section of the shell was afterwards made on board, but none of the appearances, or whether air or water was contained within, could be recollected.

A mate of a whaler, who had been shipwrecked upon, and resided among the Fidgi group of islands in the Southern Pacific, for nearly three years, says he has seen the shell of the _Pearly Nautilus_, containing the living animal, floating on the water, near one of the islands. He had only seen two, as they are not commonly seen _with the fish in them_, although the empty shells were very numerous among that group of islands.

He stated, the first time he saw one, was when in a canoe with some other shipwrecked Europeans; it was then floating upon the surface of the water, the mouth of the shell uppermost. It was enveloped in the mantle, which extended some distance upwards, and over the whole of the shell; it had such an appearance as to cause one of the men in the canoe to say, “There is a large piece of blubber upon the water:” on approaching it the animal retracting the mantle, displayed the beautiful striped shell, and sank before they could capture it.

At Manilla, the shells of this species of Nautilus are in great abundance; they are neatly carved, the whole of the coloured part of the shell being removed, and the portion exposed appearing of a beautiful nacre, or mother-of-pearl, with the raised white carved figures upon it, which have a pretty effect. I could not procure any with the soft parts, but was told by a gentleman that he had seen them with the fish, but it was always taken out and thrown away, and the shell alone preserved.

One of the shells cut, and the aperture turned downwards, forms the base; the keel of the shell, with the aperture uppermost, is placed upon it, forming a pretty vase of antique form, and highly esteemed in Europe as ornaments for the mantel-piece; they are sold at Manilla for a few reals the pair.

The inhabitant of this beautiful shell, which I brought safely to England, has been described and dissected by my esteemed friend, R. Owen, Esq., and published, with splendid engravings, by the Curators of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London.

ON THE HABITS OF THE VIVERRA MUSSUNGA, OR JAVA CAT.

(_See_ page 438, vol. i.)

On the 14th of May 1833, I purchased one of these animals from a native canoe, which came off to the ship on the coast of Java: it is commonly known among Europeans by the name of the _Java-cat_, and is a native of Java, Sumatra, and perhaps others of the eastern islands. This specimen was young, and appeared very tame. The native from whom I procured it, had it inclosed in a bamboo cage, in which I also kept it for a short time.

The colour of the back is blackish, intermingled with shorter hairs, of a dirty-white; the forehead and most of the face whitish, intermingled with black; neck and abdomen of a yellowish colour; the eyes are full and large, of a yellowish-brown colour; pupil perpendicular, becoming dilated at night. It resembles the cat, in being more of a night than day animal.

It feeds on plantains and other fruit, and also fowls’ bones. When busily engaged in picking the wing-bone of a fowl, it growls most savagely if disturbed in its repast; which well shows the nature of the beast. “He eats only plantain,” said the Javanese, from whom I purchased it; but could the animal have spoken for himself, he would have probably hinted that “portions of the animals composing the feathery kingdom” would also be acceptable, by way of variety. It is tame and playful, like a kitten, throwing itself on the back, playing with a bit of string, making, at the same time, a low, whining noise.

It utters a sharp, quick, squeaking noise, as well as a low moaning, more particularly at night, or when in want of food, or some water to quench its thirst. The specimen is a male: it was very playful, and climbed up my arm, by aid of its claws, like a cat. When it drinks, it laps like the dog or cat.

May 17th. This morning, the animal had broken through and escaped from its cage during the night, and was about some part of the ship.

May 18th. The whole of yesterday, the creature was reported as “absent without leave;” but early this morning he was found in the cabin of the second officer, asleep upon a jacket. He appears sufficiently tame to be left at liberty, so I did not immure him in a cage again, but kept a piece of long string attached to one of the hind legs, so as to limit his extent of range, when I found it necessary.

Whilst writing in my cabin, the animal was either lying down quietly asleep, or else came to see what I was about, thrusting its little sharp snout among my papers, and amusing himself by playing with my pens and pencils.

The animal is called _Mussong_, at Java, and I found it was also known by the same name among the natives on the north-east coast of Sumatra: it licks and cleans its furry coat with the tongue like the cat, especially after it has been much handled; and seems also to possess the _caution_ and _secretiveness_ of that tribe. It growls savagely when disturbed or teazed. It lapped some coffee one morning, but became sick soon after.

It seems to be a fretful, impatient, little creature, and when it does not get its wants gratified, becomes “terribly out of temper,” or rather gets into a temper which is of a bad description. It then snaps ferociously at the finger placed near it, but its young teeth can make but little impression; it is in downright earnest, however, for it bristles up and advances its long whiskers, uttering a series of peevish cries and growls.

It was lying upon the pillow of my bed one morning, when I took the creature off, and placed it upon as soft a place which had been made up in the cabin on purpose for it; but this would not do; it did not like the removal, and there was no termination to its peevish, fretful cries, until it was removed back to the old place, where being deposited, after licking itself about those parts of its furred coat that had been ruffled by handling, it stretched itself, and laid down quite contented.

The squeaking, discontented noise of the creature during the night, when it is tied up, is very annoying. I suppose the desire of making nocturnal rambles, as is the nature of the tribe, was the cause to which the cries were to be attributed.

At last I used to give it fowl bones at night to amuse itself, and being occupied in _crunching_ them, I was no more annoyed by its nocturnal cries.

When fighting it uses the fore-paws, with extended claws, biting at the same time, retreating and advancing quickly, snapping, bristling up its long whiskers, and appearing a fierce object for one of the small animals of the creation. It does not spring at the object of attack like the cat, but jumps forward; it uses the claws of the fore-feet more than those of the hind, which, being both longer and sharper, are more calculated for the purpose of defence, as well as in climbing. It regards the object well previously to attack, exercising the three prominent organs in the feline race of _caution_, _secretiveness_, and _destruction_; and then, with its little angular mouth expanded, it pounces upon, and firmly grasps its prey.

The little beast has a very morose looking countenance, what some people skilled in physiognomy would call a “_sour, forbidding countenance_;” and, judging from what I have seen of this tamed and young specimen, it must be, in the wild state, a very savage animal.

Unlike the cat, when drinking it does not care about wetting its feet, for it often places the fore-paws in the water at the time.

It often plays with its long tail, as well as with any thing that may be in the way, similar to what we observe in kittens; and often scratches against objects, growling at the same time, as if practising for future defence.

It eats fowl readily, but not other kinds of meat so well; it ate some pine-apple with much avidity.

It will carry away a bone given to it into a dark corner, growling and snapping at any one that may attempt to take it away.

Sometimes, when left to itself, it utters such loud squeaking cries, as to be heard all over the ship. One day, at dinner time, (when the animal was first on board,) a noise was heard, from whence it proceeded, or from what, we could not tell, until the mystery was explained by the steward, who said it was “the foreign cat.”

Like all animals, whether of the genus _Homo_, or lower in the scale of creation, the Java Cat does not like to be disturbed at meals. This little ill-humoured quadruped is particularly savage at that time, but, like the human race in all its numerous varieties, when “feeding time” is over, and it has had a sufficiency of provender, it will remain quiet, and be usually in a tolerable good-humour; but when hungry, there is nothing but growling, whining, screeching, grumbling, crying, until the appetite is satisfied.

I gave the animal one morning a dead cockroach, but after turning and twisting about, and licking it for some time—perhaps it was not hungry, it would not eat it.

When the creature is excessively annoyed, it retires into some dark hole or corner, making a spitting noise, and is very furious against any one that may attempt to dislodge it from that place, thus formed into a refuge for the ill-tempered.

When first set at liberty he was missing for one or two days, having gone on a tour by way of change of scene; he soon, however, returned to his old quarters, ran about the cabins, and when sleepy during the day would take to the warmest and most comfortable situation the cabins afforded; it was as fully domesticated as a cat.

The _Mussong_ runs about quite domesticated, and climbs well, occasionally aiding itself by the tail having a prehensile power.

He also runs about, particularly at night, and in the morning is usually found quietly asleep upon the softest bundle of clothes he can meet with, in the cabin into which he has introduced himself: he dislikes much to be handled, or petted, or crammed, (unless he crams himself, which he very often does,) and, therefore, he is not to be recommended to that variety of the human species called a “maiden lady, of a certain age.”

At last I let the creature ramble about where it pleased in the after part of the ship; it reposed in the cabins, or any other place it liked. It used to wander about like a cat, and come at meal time for food, until the 14th of June, when it was missing, and search being made about its usual haunts, the animal was discovered dead among some oakum in one of the cabins.

When at Pedir, on the north-east coast of Sumatra, I procured another young but larger specimen than the preceding; it was purchased for half a rupee. Although wild with strangers, with the native from whom the animal was purchased it was exceedingly domesticated. I have seen it follow him like a cat along the pathway for some distance, when he placed it out of his arms upon the ground; the natives gave it the same name here as at Java, _Mussong_.

These animals attain the size of our domestic cats, living in their wild state upon the summits of trees, eating the fruit, and also birds, when they have caught them.

They eat sugar-cane, plantain, rice, and also those troublesome insects the cockroaches.

When I placed this animal in my cabin it remained very quiet, not making so much noise as the last; but, a few days after, it became so very vicious, not suffering any one to approach or touch it, without spitting, growling, and fighting so furiously, that I at last was obliged to destroy it, preserving the skin in a dried state for stuffing, and the body in spirits for a future dissection.

LUMINOSITY OF THE OCEAN.

(_See_ page 35, vol. i.)

Mr. F. D. Bennett, exhibited, at a meeting of the Zoological Society, on the 25th of June, 1833, several specimens of a species of Pyrosoma, captured by him, on the 6th of September, 1832, at sea, in latitude 1° 41′ north, longitude 11° 56′ west. Between 2 and 4 A.M. the sea, having been two hours before less luminous than usual, presented one mass of bright phosphoric light, extending to a considerable distance around the vessel. The extensive field of bright luminous matter emitted so powerful a light as to illuminate the sails, and to permit a book of small print to be read with facility near the windows of the stern cabins. Above this luminous field numerous sea fowl were hovering in search of their prey. The light appeared to be entirely owing to the Pyrosomata.

Specimens taken from the sea and placed in a vessel containing sea water, ceased altogether to emit light, or emitted it but sparingly while they remained at rest. On the water, however, being agitated, or when one of the masses of animals was taken into the hand, the whole became instantly illuminated by myriads of bright dots, much resembling in hue the points on the elytra of a diamond beetle (_Curculio imperialis_, Fab.)

The Pyrosoma, thus enveloped throughout its whole extent in a flame of bright phosphorescent light gleaming with its peculiar hue, presented a most splendid spectacle; the light shed by it was sufficient to render objects distinctly visible in every part of an otherwise dark room. If long retained in the hand, or returned to a quiescent state in the water, the luminous spots gradually faded, and no light was visible until the animal was again disturbed, when the illumination instantly returned with all its vivid splendour. After death it emitted no light.

The mass of Pyrosoma, of the usual cylindrical form and gelatinous substance, was about four inches in length and one and a half in circumference. The tube, passing along its middle, is described as being open at both ends; the orifice at the broader extremity being much better defined in its circular form, larger, and more distinct than that of the opposite end. The surface of the mass appeared to be studded with numerous prominent, rigid, and pearly tubercles intermingled with small specks of a brown or red colour. In these latter the power of emitting light appeared chiefly to be seated, these being frequently bright, while the remainder of the body exhibited only its natural white or yellowish white hue; a hue which changed after death into a red tinge. The brown specks, when removed from the body, did not emit light.[149]

TREATY BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND ACHEENESE GOVERNMENTS.

(_See_ page 2, vol. ii.)

Treaty of friendship and alliance between the Honourable English East India Company and the kingdom of Acheen, concluded by the Honourable Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, Knight, and Captain John Monckton Combs, agents to the governor-general, in the name and on the behalf of the Most Noble Francis Marquis of Hastings, Knight of the most noble order of the Garter, one of his Britannic Majesty’s most honourable Privy Council, Governor-general in Council of the British possessions in India, on the one part, and his highness Sri, Sultan Alla Iddeen Jowhara, Allum, Shah, king of Acheen, for himself, his heirs, and successors, on the other.

In consideration of the long and uninterrupted peace, amity, and good understanding, which has subsisted between the Honourable English East India Company and his highness’s ancestors, the kings of Acheen, and in order to perpetuate and improve their friendship, to the advantage and prosperity of their mutual states and subjects. It is hereby agreed and determined.

ARTICLE I.—There shall be a perpetual peace, friendship and defensive alliance, between the states, dominions, and subjects of the high contracting parties, neither of whom shall give any aid or assistance to the enemies of the other.

ARTICLE II.—At the request of his highness, the British government engages to require and to use its influence to effect the removal of Syfful Allum from his highness’s territories, and the British government further engage to prohibit him or any of his family, as far as they may be subject to their authority, from doing or committing in future any act or acts, tending to prevent or impede the full re-establishment of his highness’s authority. His highness the king engaging himself to place at the disposal of the supreme government of British India, such pension or annuity, as it may, in its wisdom, deem meet to recommend for the said Syfful Allum, on the condition of his retiring to Penang, and engaging to relinquish all claims to the sovereignty of Acheen, within three months from the date hereof.

ARTICLE III.—His highness the king grants to the British government the free trade of all his ports, and engages that the duties on merchandise, levied at those ports, shall be fixed and declared, and shall also be paid by the resident merchant. His highness likewise engages not to grant or authorize a monopoly of the produce of his states by any person whatever.

ARTICLE IV.—His highness engages, whenever the British Government may desire it, to receive and protect an accredited agent of the British government, with a suitable establishment, who shall be permitted to reside at his highness’s court, for the purpose of conducting the affairs of the Honourable Company.

ARTICLE V.—In consideration of the injury which might result to the British trade from its exclusion from the ports of his highness’s states, not at present subject to his authority,—his highness agrees and consents that the ships and vessels of Great Britain shall continue their commercial intercourse with the ports of Acheen and Tullasamoy, in the same manner as heretofore, unless a temporary blockade of these ports, or either of them, shall at any time be established by and with the consent of the British government, or resident authority.

It is clearly understood, however, by the contracting parties, that no warlike stores or arms of any kind shall be furnished, given, or sold, to any of his highness’s rebellious subjects, by the vessels so trading to the aforesaid ports, under penalty of confiscation of ship and cargo.

ARTICLE VI.—His highness Sri, Sultan, Alla, Iddeen, Jowhara, Allum, Shah, agrees, promises, and engages himself, his heirs, and successors, to exclude the subjects of every other European power, and likewise all Americans, from a fixed habitation or residence in his dominions; he also engages not to enter into any negotiations, or to conclude any treaty, with any power, prince, or potentate whatsoever, unless with the knowledge and consent of the British government.

ARTICLE VII.—His highness engages not to permit the residence, in his dominions, of any British subject to whom the resident agent shall offer any objections.

ARTICLE VIII.—The British government agrees to give and furnish to his highness, without delay, all the arms and military stores which are detailed in the paper appended to this treaty, and signed by his highness. (Arms and military stores; gunpowder, forty barrels; four hundred muskets; grape and round shot; four hundred musket balls, &c. &c.; cash, Spanish dollars, fifty thousand.) The British government agrees to advance to his highness the sum of money, therein mentioned, as a temporary loan to be repaid by his highness at his earliest convenience.

ARTICLE IX.—This treaty, consisting of nine Articles, has this day been concluded, subject to the ratification of the governor-general, within six months from the date hereof; but it is to be understood that the several provisions herein contained may be carried into immediate effect, without awaiting the said ratification.

Done at Sirduli, near Pedir, in the country of Acheen, on the 22nd day of April, in the year of our Lord, 1819; corresponding with the year of the Hegira, 1234, and the 26th day of Jemadil Akir.

(Company’s seal.)

Signed,

T. S. RAFFLES. (Seal.) JOHN MONCKTON COMBS. (Seal.)

FOOTNOTES

[1] See Appendix A, at the end of the volume.

[2] One of the merchants, a Moorman, named _Mahomet Monsour_, engaged, if a ship was brought next season to Sawang, (a village further to the eastward) to deliver on board six thousand peculs of the Areka-nut in the space of eight days.

[3] Pungarang is the title of prince.

[4] I understand that no arms or warlike stores are permitted to be exported for Penang, or any other of our settlements for this coast; if the Acheenese king requires any, he sends a requisition to the government of Penang, who supplies him at fifteen per cent. above the cost price, to cover the expenses of freight, &c.

[5] Most of the country vessels that visit the coast have native supercargoes, as they effect much better bargains with the native merchants upon the coast than Europeans.

[6] I have before stated, that the heat generated by a cargo of the Areka-nut is excessive. I recollect the carpenter of a ship, when desirous of bending some wood, placing it under the main hatch, among the nuts; in a few minutes it was sufficiently steamed for its intended purpose; after a fortnight or three weeks the heat is materially moderated.

[7] A number of vessels from Penang come for the nut at this season, to take it to that settlement in time for the Indiamen, who purchase it for the China market.

[8] Abel’s China, 4to. p. 59.

[9] Abel’s China, 4to. pp. 60, 61.

[10] The definition of this harbour in the Chinese language is as follows:—

Kum, Sing, Moon, Gold, Star, Gate.

“Gold Star” among the Chinese is the planet Mars, so that this place is named _Margate_.

[11] White porpoises, slightly tinged with pink, are frequently seen tumbling about in the “moons” and sea in the vicinity.

[12] At one time, during a rebellion in China, the emperor’s troops lost courage, (which to us must appear a wonderful event among Chinese,) and would not proceed against the rebels: this called forth from the emperor the following public rebuke:—“The emperor rebukes very sharply all the governors of the Chih-sang provinces, from which authority emanates, on account of their negligence in attending to the state of the military under their jurisdiction. He makes particular mention of the prevalent use of opium among the Canton military, and of the misconduct of the Ho, nan troops on their road to Fuh, keen.”—_Canton Register_, No. 13, 14, 16th Sept 1833.

[13] No individuals, except Portuguese, or naturalized Portuguese, are permitted to be owners of houses at Macao.

[14] The name _Kaki_ is said to be Japanese; this fruit is not so named by the Chinese.

[15] I had models of the two kinds just mentioned, executed with great accuracy by a Chinese. The imitations of the fruit were modelled from clay, and accurately coloured afterwards according to nature.

[16] It is curious that Linnæus, by bestowing upon this bird the specific name of _Apoda_, or without feet, should have credited the assertion that it was so.

[17] Made from the milky juice yielded by the trunk of the Sukun, or bread-fruit tree.

[18] Forrest’s Voyage to New Guinea, &c., pp. 134-137.

[19] It has been stated, that during flight they cry like starlings.

[20] Pigafetta says, in his relation of Magellan’s voyage round the world, that in the island of Bachian, (one of the Molucca islands,) a species of bird, of exquisite beauty, was found, which the natives called “the bird of God,” saying it came from Paradise.

[21] Kai usually expresses any birds of the gallinaceous tribe.

[22] In the common Canton dialect, Kum signifies gold; but in the Mandarin dialect, Kin is the name for gold; so that this bird is named both Kum, kai, and Kin, kai.

[23] The brilliancy of the Chinese colours for painting, &c. has often been very highly extolled as being superior to the European. What surprise must it create, then, when we are informed that the colours used are of English manufacture, and the Chinese artists are eager for, and anxiously inquire after, them. This reminds me of the gross ignorance frequently displayed by our countrymen in foreign countries,—purchasing English articles abroad at a high price as foreign manufacture, and as unattainable in their native land. It was mentioned as a fact, that a person purchased an elegant London clock in a shop at Canton, at a high price, to take to England as a specimen of China manufacture. Do not we see these follies committed by our countrymen almost every day at Paris?

[24] In Griffiths’ _Animal Kingdom_, vol. viii. p. 275. Aves, this bird is mentioned as being “distinguished by its brilliant plumage; but it wants the elegant shape which distinguishes the true Columbæ. It remains by preference _generally on the ground_. It runs with great celerity, _and constructs its nest like a partridge_. _It never perches, except to pass the night._ Its cooing is hoarse and dull.”

[25] Sweet potatoes are recommended as a good sea-stock for the purpose of feeding pigeons, birds of paradise, parrots, &c., as a variety of food on board a ship, as those birds often require fruit as a change of diet, which it is found impossible to keep on board during a long voyage; this root, therefore, given to them, either in a raw or boiled state, perfectly serves as a substitute.

[26] Mr. Beale assured me that for four years he has been endeavouring to get specimens of this shrub to England, but as yet without success, they having all perished on the passage.

[27] There were also some splendid large varieties of the _Hibiscus rosa chinensis_, of different tints; and the beautiful _Hibiscus mutabilis_ changes its blossoms, after their expansion, from a white to a beautiful rose colour. The celebrated Mou-tan, or Peony, of China, I was told was merely a very large and splendid variety of the _Hibiscus rosa chinensis_.

[28] Besides the unequalled living collection of birds, &c., in the possession of this gentleman, his portfolios are stocked with a large and valuable collection of beautiful and correct drawings by Chinese artists, from nature, of birds, fish, plants, &c. indigenous to China and the eastern islands.

[29] The specimen to which I allude is named by the Spaniards _Triste de Corazon_, or Sorrow of the Heart; when dried and kept in that state for any length of time, and afterwards placed in water, (even after several years have elapsed,) its foliage expands, and reassumes a partial verdant appearance.

[30] Abel’s China, 4to. pp. 121, 122.

[31] I have several specimens of the pith, and one specimen I saw, nearly an inch in diameter, was hollow in the centre.

[32] Mr. Beale is making great efforts to procure both seeds and young plants, of the above-mentioned plants, and there is some expectation of success.

[33] Chu, signifying pig; long, basket; and tzo, grass.

[34] We passed close to Tiger Island, with its lofty and rounded summits of hills. There is a heavily-mounted stone fort upon this island, but not in a commanding situation. There is no appearance of cultivation upon the island; but it is verdant from a quantity of fern-brake and numerous stunted shrubs, &c. scattered about, which serve to give some animation to it.

[35] Several pagodas are seen erected upon elevated situations at certain distances up the river to Canton, and even beyond. Looking from the terrace of the Honourable East India Company’s factory, it was observed, that they formed a line of watch-towers, and signals of lights from them could pass with rapidity from one to the other, forming excellent means of telegraphic communication, and, from their extending at certain distances up the river as far as the eye could reach, they are no doubt intended for that purpose.

[36] Named Old and New China Streets.

[37] There is another place much frequented by European visitors, called “Carpenter Square,” which is confined for the most part to upholsterers, trunkmakers, &c. Here the camphor wood trunks are purchased, the majority of which, sold to strangers as such, are merely made from common wood, rubbed over with camphorated oil.

[38] If larger, but not rotten, in the heart, and also of good quality, it will be cut into pieces of the above-mentioned size, and rounded.

[39] The sandal-wood brought from the Bonin Islands, I am informed, is of a very excellent quality.

[40] The wood is frequently buried, and the sap allowed to rot off; and this is considered to improve its quality.

[41] See Notices concerning China, published at Malacca in 1823, p. 10.

[42] It was in the rooms of the chief priest at this temple that Lord Amherst’s embassy was lodged.

[43] The situation of this temple is near the inner harbour of Macao, and of a romantic and highly beautiful character. An image of a lion decorates each side of the granite steps, carved out of the same kind of stone, having a ball carved in their mouths, every attempt to take out, which is found to be in vain, puzzling many; (like the curious and elegant ivory balls, carved one within the other;) there are also several groups of figures beautifully carved in granite in basso relievo. On entering, neat winding, and tastefully-executed granite steps, lead from little temples to other recesses for idol worship, amongst natural groups of granite rocks, piled one upon the other, as if by the fabled giants of old during their warfare; huge trees, bending in various fantastic forms, overhang the temples, and cast a silence and gloom over this place devoted to pagan worship,—a place, however, well calculated to produce awe in the human mind, and to bind either still closer the fetters of bigotry, or, if it had been selected as the place of a truer worship, to cause the mind in this retired spot to commune more closely with its Creator. This spot, so beautiful, so delightful to behold, would form an elegant and valuable embellishment for one of our English annuals. I saw an accurate and delightful sketch of this religious spot taken by Chinnery, and a painting, half-finished, from that sketch, which even in that state reminded me of the original. I hope that talented artist will complete and send it home, so that an engraving may recall it to the memory of those who have seen, but may be now remote from its beauties.

[44] In September 1833, the floods of the river were so great, as to cause a considerable loss of lives and property. All business at Canton was transacted in boats, and the poorer class of people suffered much distress through a great part of China in consequence.

[45] “The Lappa, in Chinese, Tuy, meen, shan, is a small island opposite to Macao, forming the western side of the inner harbour. It affords room for a pleasant variety in walk and scene occasionally.”—_Morrisons Comp. to Angl. Chin. Kalendar_, 1832.

[46] Shan signifies hill; and tchong the pine tree.

[47] So named by the Portuguese, after a picturesque spot of the same name, near the city of Lisbon.

[48] This island is of an elliptical form, and is said to be about twenty-seven miles in its greatest length, and containing an estimated area of about two hundred and seventy square miles. The latitude of Singapore flag-staff is in 1° 17′ 22″ north, and longitude 103° 51′ 45″ east.

Singapoor is derived from Sing-gah, signifying to call or touch at, bait, stop by the way, and Poor, a village, (generally fortified,) a town, &c. (Marsden’s Malay Dictionary.) It is considered at this island, or rather at this part of the island where the town is now situated, (the name, however, has been given by Europeans to the whole island,) there was formerly a village, inhabited principally by fishermen. The Malays, who traded from the eastward to Malacca, and other of the ports to the westward, touched at this place. Singa also signifies a lion, (known by name only in the Malay countries,) from which the name of the island has been (no doubt erroneously) supposed to be derived.

[49] Kampong Glam, near Singapore, has its name derived, it is said, from Kampong, signifying a village, and Glam, the name of a particular kind of tree.

[50] Crawford’s Embassy to Siam and Cochin China, 4to. pp. 565 to 567.

[51] Blackan Mattee is derived from the Malay word “Blackan,” behind; and Mattee, dead or lost: it was supposed to be so named, because the hill, when this place was resorted to by pirates, concealed them from the view of the settlement or village—the present town. The explanation, however, of the name is not very satisfactory.

[52] The sugar-cane is cultivated to a very limited extent, and the canes I inspected were of very fine size and quality; they are only used, however, for edible purposes, no sugar being as yet manufactured from them.

[53] When the barking noise was made, the lips were pursed out, and the air driven into the sac, at the same time that the sound was uttered, the lower jaw was also a little protruded.

[54] The account of the orang-utan, given by Dr. Abel, in the _Narrative of a Journey in the Interior of China_, accords with the habits of this animal, and the comparison is very interesting.

[55] “Hanno sailed from Sierra Leone southerly to the equinox, where he discovered an island, not far from the African coast, inhabited by a rough and hairy people, to take one of whom, he used all possible means, but could not: only two _women_, being encompassed by soldiers, were taken and carried aboard; but being very savage, and barbarously wild, could not be tamed, or brought to any complacency; so they killed them, and carried their stuffed-up skins to Carthage, where they were a long time gazed upon with _great admiration_. This island, which Hanno then found, can be no other but that which we call St. Thomas; and the hairy people which he makes mention of were babeons, or baboons, which Africa, in this place, breeds large, to the amazement of the beholders.”—_Ogilby’s America_, p. 20.

[56] I have heard that the natives of Terra del Fuego, who were lately brought to England, when they arrived in the hot latitudes, would lie down and roll about the decks of the ship which conveyed them from their native land, exclaiming, “Why they had been brought into this fiery country?”

[57] The ape and monkey tribe, although approaching so near the human race in external appearance, as well as in its omnivorous habits of diet, still differs materially in not being able to sustain a change of climate; nor is it readily inured to a cold climate, if a native of the tropical regions.

[58] The lungs in the orang-utan are entire on each side, and not divided into lobes. See my friend Mr. Owen’s Dissection of the Orang-utan, in No. I. of the _Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London_.

[59] A portion of the ulcerated intestine has been deposited in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London.

[60] The larynx and appendages have been deposited in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London.

[61] Lyell’s Principles of Geology, vol. ii. p. 15.

[62] The other Camphor-trees are principally of the genus _Laurus_.

[63] See my observations on the Kayu-puteh-oil, vol. i. p. 166.

[64] Ladies visiting their friends on the opposite side of the creek are obliged to stop the carriage on one side of the bridge and walk across, at the risk of deranging their curls by the breezes, or injuring the fairness of their complexions by the fervent rays of a tropical sun. And besides, they must have a conveyance in waiting on the opposite side to take them to the place they may be desirous of visiting. When so much—in splendid mansions and other improvements to the settlement—has been done by private merchants, it is to be regretted that a new bridge for the convenience of the settlement has been so long deferred by the government.

[65] The Gambir extract has been sent to England to be tried as a mordant for dying, or to be used in the tanning of leather, the extract having been found to contain a very large proportion of tannin. I know not what may have been the result of the experiment.

[66] There are some, but very few pepper plantations upon the island, without a Gambir boiling-house being near them; but although those without the benefit of having the boiled Gambir-leaves strewed over the soil, look well, still the planters say, that the pepper produced by the vines, is neither prolific, nor of so fine a quality.

[67] As, on a former occasion, I had some doubt whether the shrub was monoecious or dioecious, I took another opportunity of making my examinations; the result of which was, that although a great many of the shrubs had male and female flowers on separate trees, yet a few had both male and female on the same tree.

[68] One Chinese proprietor of a Gambir manufactory said, he could make half a pecul of the extract daily. The baskets for packing the Gambir when ready for sale, are made from a common kind of rattan, found in the jungle.

[69] Since the above was in the hands of the printer, I understand that the Calcutta government have taken into consideration the subject of quit-rents, and that more judicious regulations have been instituted; so it may be hoped that the rising prosperity of the settlement will no longer be impeded.

[70] The Malays at Singapore, in the employ of Europeans, often use the flowers of this shrub for cleansing shoes, by rubbing them with the petals of the flowers, which contain a quantity of purplish black astringent juice. After rubbing them over the shoes, they polish the latter by aid of a brush; it certainly prevents the white dresses, usually worn in eastern climates, from being sullied by the shoes, which often happens when blacking has been used; this is probably the cause of its being called the _shoe-flower_ by Europeans.

[71] Rumphius says that the natives of Amboyna were unwilling to bring him specimens of the plants from the mountains, from the full persuasion, that if the appendages were gathered and emptied of water, heavy rain would overtake them before their return. In conformity with the same belief, when suffering from a long drought, they pour the water from all the appendages they can find, satisfied that the ceremony will be followed by a change of weather. Such belief is curiously contrasted with their notions of the medicinal properties of the water contained in them, which they believe an infallible specific for incontinence of urine.—_Rumph. cit. in Abel’s China_, pp. 340, 341.

[72] “At Amboyna,” says Labillardiere, “the natives contrive to procure threads from the bastard aloe, called _Agave vivipara_: the master of the house went and cut a branch of this plant, and resting it on its thigh in order to scrape it with his large knife, and take off its pulp, he obtained from it a fascicle of threads as long as the leaf, and as strong as those of our best hemp.”

[73] From the expense attending labour, as well as its scarcity in this settlement, the pine-apple fibre could not be prepared at present under thirty-eight or forty dollars the pecul; but in Penang, or other places, where labour is cheap, and, as in the preparation of this article, women and children may be employed, the expense attending it would hardly exceed ten dollars per pecul.

[74] Situated at Teluk-ayer, (teluk, bay; and ayer, water).

[75] There is a very coarse granulated sago in large grains, and of a dirty greyish colour, which is imported by the native boats from Borneo, and is used at this settlement during a scarcity of rice by the poorer class of people.

[76] In the list of imports published in the Singapore Chronicle, the raw sago is usually designated as sago tamping, (tamping signifying a package, from the raw sago, being always imported wrapt in the leaves of the Pandanus tree;) it is imported in this country by fleets of ten boats, or even more, having to the amount of twenty thousand tampings or packages on board; the packages vary in weight, some weighing more and some less to the pecul.

[77] “In the language of the western countries of the Archipelago, the tree is named according to the idiom of the pronunciation of the people, Mangkudu, Bangkudu, or Wangkudu; the three initial consonants in these cases being commutable and very arbitrarily used.”—_Crawford’s Indian Archipelago._

[78] Sandal-wood oil is also regarded as a never-failing specific for this very troublesome eruptive disease.—I am inclined to consider that more efficacy is stated to be possessed by the _Cassia alata_ than can be justified by actual experience, with regard to the ring-worm; for I have, since writing the above, been informed that it had often been tried upon cases at Singapore for nearly a month, without any decidedly good effect resulting from its use, although the disease had been evidently mitigated by its application: it might certainly be more efficacious if used simply bruised, without the addition of lime-juice and salt, which latter is the mode of application adopted; but the addition of the latter articles is regarded as tending to increase its efficacy in the disease.

[79] Forrest’s New Guinea, p. 74. 4to. 1780.

[80] At noon of the day the bird died, we were in lat. 22° 58′ south, long. 67° 0′ east.

[81] I have preserved the whole of the alimentary canal from the œsophagus to the rectum, (including the distended gizzard left unopened,) in an entire state in spirits. The liver, ovaries, and trachea, I have also preserved in a similar manner, and presented to the Royal College of Surgeons, in London.

[82] Some of the fir-trees in the plantations we passed had a very peculiar appearance, from the trunk and branches being covered by a dark-red lichen, which gave them the appearance of being painted.

[83] As the willows require much moisture, they are carefully watered every morning and evening by the soldier who attends and has charge of the place.

[84] Which is at present occupied by the governor, the former residence, Plantation-house, being found in a very unhealthy situation.

[85] After the revolution at Paris, in 1830, and the tri-coloured banner had again waved over the towers of France, when the first French ship arrived at St. Helena, with that revolutionary standard at her gaff, her commander and crew visiting the tomb, placed a tri-coloured cockade upon it, glorying in “restoring to him his colours, under which he had so often led the French nation to victory, and which ensign was again the emblem of liberty to France.”

[86] The want of rain for the plantations appears to be much needed; but next month heavy rain is expected to fall.

[87] A large gannet was seen flying about the ship on the afternoon of the previous day, indicating a near approach to land: we were at that time about ninety miles distant from the island.

[88] Three lazy frigate-birds, too indolent to fish for themselves, were seen, pursuing an unfortunate sea-swallow, which had probably succeeded in capturing a fish. It is usual for these birds to pursue the gannets, and others, when returning from their fishing excursions, compelling them to disgorge their fish.

[89] Blumenbach’s Comparative Anatomy, by Lawrence and Coulson, page 76.

[90] The shark is more wary of taking the bait when unaccompanied by the pilot-fish; it will then approach, and retire, several times before it ventures to seize it; but when the little pilot is in company it will first approach the bait, (the shark waiting at some distance,) and return, as if to report; when the shark advances and seizes the bait without hesitation: this I have remarked in numerous instances.

[91] Being at first stationary, and of a dark colour, a ship passing it rapidly might have considered it as one, and reported accordingly, and such a circumstance has no doubt caused many rocks to be laid down in the charts which have actually no existence.

[92] In one of the fabulous legends of the natives of the Island of Tahiti, their island is represented “as having been a shark, originally from Raitea. Matarafau, in the east, was the head; and a place near Faaa, on the west, was the tail; the large lake Vaihiria was the ventricles or gills; while the lofty Orehena, the highest mountain in the island, probably six or seven thousand feet above the sea, was regarded as its dorsal fin; and its ventral fin was Matavai.”—_Ellis’s Polynesian Researches_, vol. i. page 167.

[93] I am informed by Mr. William Holderness, that in the month of October, 1828, when on a voyage from Guayaquil and Lima, in the brig Bolivar, E. Bransfield, R. N., commander, having heard rumours of war in Europe, they touched at Pernambuco, to ascertain its correctness, and left the next day, carrying the south-east trade to about 12° north latitude. After a few days calm, they got fine breezes from south-west, which carried them across the usual limits of the north-east trade, and then had nothing but light north-east winds until they reached Gibraltar.

[94] Greville’s Algæ Britannicæ, 8vo.—The figure of the _Sargassum vulgare_ in this work is coloured far too dark, and does not seem to have been done from a recent specimen.

[95] The generic name is derived from _Sargaço_, or _Sargazo_, the Spanish name for the masses of sea-weed found floating on the surface of the ocean.

[96] Greville’s Algæ Britannicæ, 8vo. 1830. Introd. p. xii.

[97] Osbeck mentions, that, if prepared with vinegar, it furnishes an excellent pickle; and Rumphius, according to Mr. Turner, relates, that, in the East, salads are made of it, as well as other Algæ. It is also eaten in Chili.—_Greville’s Algæ Britannicæ_, 8vo. 1830, p. 2.

[98] Vide Labillardiere’s Voyages, vol. i. p. 334.

[99] The fronds of the palms every year throw off those of the year preceding, and it is the bases of the old fronds that form the rough bark.

[100] Lindley’s Nat. Syst. of Botany.

[101] Artocarpus integrifolia, Linn.

[102] Caryota urens.

[103] Generally of Bignonia indica, Tabernæmontana, Jasminum odoratum, and zeylanicum and luteum; Polyanthes tuberosa, Nyctanthes arbor tristis, Michelia champaca, Nerium odoratissimum, Mimosa arabica, and Lawsonia inermis.

[104] In worship of Budhoo, and acknowledgment of his being the Omniscient.

[105] A liberty is here taken with the tradition, blue and green being synonymous in Singalese, (Nil-pata.)

[106] Supposed to be derived from a Tamul word, _bodhi_, which signifies _wisdom_. The present object of Singalese worship is the fourth Budhoo, called Goutama Budha Arkabandoo, or descendant from the sun.

[107] Considered by many learned Indians an incarnation of Vishnu, and his religion to be founded on that of Brahma.

[108] Brahmata-Brahma, a name of Budhoo.

[109] Anadewara, also a name of Budhoo.

[110] Native drums; of which there are four kinds, generally made of jack-wood, and covered with deer-skin, from which the hair has been previously removed. It is laid on in a wet state, and dried in the sun.

[111] The Singalese language has no signification for brown, reddish, orange-coloured, scarlet, or pink, which are all expressed by the monosyllable “rat,” red.

[112] “Samanta-chacksa,” covered with eyes.

[113] The green cocoa-nut, called in Singalese, Koroomba.

[114] Probably the Manis, commonly called Negombo Devil.

[115] “Kandi,” high, lofty, mountainous.

[116] The Cocos is a name said to be taken from the Portuguese coco, or coquin, the three holes at the end of the cocoa-nut shell, giving it some resemblance to a monkey’s head.

[117] This palm is rarely, or never, seen growing straight; it has usually, when full, or nearly full, grown, an inclination in one direction or another.

[118] “The cocoa-nut tree, on the sea-shore, is certainly larger and more productive than in the interior of Ceylon. In the former situation it frequently grows to the height of one hundred feet. Its flourishing most in this situation, and close to the dwellings of the natives, is probably connected with the circumstance, that its leaves, in a healthy state, contain a very large portion of saline matter. The Singalese are well aware of this: the washermen burn its leaves for the sake of its alkaline ashes; and it is a common practice, in planting a cocoa-nut, to put a little salt into the pit.”—_Davy’s Ceylon_, 4to. p. 355.

[119] The natives of Tonga give the cocoa-nut, when in the act of germinating, the same appellation as the brain—“Uto.”

[120] A ludicrous mistake, I recollect, once occurred respecting this word in one of the missionary letters sent to England; it was mentioned that they preached to the natives in _topes_ of cocoa-nut trees: this, when it appeared in one of the missionary journals, was printed thus:—“they preached to the natives _on tops_ of cocoa-nut trees!!”

[121] The midribs of the leaves, tied together, form good brooms for the decks of ships.

Formerly it was not unusual for the Tahitan females to produce abortion, by using a midrib of the cocoa-nut leaflets as an instrument for the purpose; but this crime is now, I am happy to say, very rare indeed, if practised at all, in the present state of that splendid island.

[122] Baula, branches of cocoa-nut tree plaited, with which the houses are thatched; they will last two or three years. The matting for the floors, of similar plaited fronds, is called _Takapau_, or rather a coarse kind of matting made from the young leaves, only used for covering the floors of the houses; and the screens _Tatau_, at Tonga Islands.

[123] Ellis, vol. i. p. 52.

[124] The Singalese used the white young leaves in forming ornaments, in a tasteful and elegant manner peculiar to themselves, on the occasion of any festival, decorating arches, &c., in various picturesque forms of crowns, flowers, &c. &c.

[125] Papalangi was applied to any thing foreign; we were Papalangis; our cloth was Gnatoo papalangi; our rum Kava papalangi, &c.

[126] There is a kind of seam along the centre, exactly under the stem of the leaf, from both sides of which long and tough fibres, about the size of a bristle, regularly diverge in an oblique direction; sometimes there appear to be two layers of fibres, which cross each other, and the whole is cemented with a still finer, fibrous, and adhesive substance. The length and evenness of the threads, or fibres, the regular manner in which they cross each other at oblique angles, the extent of surface, and the thickness of the piece, corresponding with that of coarse cotton cloth, the singular manner in which the fibres are attached to each other, cause this curious substance, woven in the loom of nature, to present to the eye a remarkable resemblance to cloth spun and woven by human ingenuity.—_Ellis_, vol. i. p. 53.

[127] This substance is also used for small bags.

[128] Lime prepared from burnt shells and coral.

[129] The shell of the Oua, or young cocoa-nut, is said to be used medicinally by the Tahitans.

[130] Mission to Siam, page 290.

[131] The palm wine of Africa is procured in a similar manner, but I believe from other species of palms.

[132] Formerly the toddy was supposed to be the sap of the tree drawn from the branches. “The wine issues from the top of the tree, and is procured thus:—They cut a _branch_, binding it hard, and hang an earthen pot under the cut end, which they empty every morning and evening.”—_Fitch’s Journey to India Overland, in 1583._ (Kerr’s Collection of Voyages, vol. vii. p. 476.)

[133] The vinegar is thus prepared:—The toddy is collected in dry weather, put into jars, and well covered. After a month the contents are strained, and replaced in the same jars, with the addition of a little Chili pepper, (_Capsicum frutescens_,) commonly called bird-pepper; a small piece of Ghorkah, (fruit of the gamboge tree,) the red sort of which is to be preferred, being most acid; and the pod of the horseradish tree (_Hyperanthera moringa_). At the expiration of a month or five weeks it becomes very excellent vinegar.

[134] From one inch to two inches in thickness.

[135] The Tahitans do not use the coir in the manufacture of large ropes; for that purpose they use the bark of the _Hibiscus tiliaceus_, or Purau.

[136] Stewart’s South Seas, 1829, 1830, p. 175.

[137] Stewart’s South Seas, 1829, 1830, p. 177.

[138] Forrest’s Voyage to New Guinea, 4to. 1780, p. 96.

[139] It is said, if sheep have not bitter herbs in their pasturage, they will not thrive.

[140] Description of the Island of Tristan d’Acunha, and its Natural Productions.—_Linnean Trans._ vol. xii. 1818.

[141] These birds, when brought on board, seldom utter any sound, and that which sometimes proceeds from them is a raucous but not a loud sound. None of the oceanic birds seem to have a very loud note, that of the tropic bird seems the most shrill; the Storm Petrel, or “Mother Carey’s chicken,” has a pleasing twittering note.

[142] The wing has four joints, of which the second is the longest.

[143] It is difficult, indeed I should say impossible, to state correctly the species of Albatross seen during flight, particularly by the plumage, as, at one time, in a certain position, the appearance is different from that which it assumes, almost immediately afterwards, in another.

[144] Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, June 25th, 1833.

[145] Abel’s Narrative of a Journey in China, &c. &c. 4to. p. 251.

[146] Finlayson’s Journal of a Mission to Siam, &c. pp. 86, 87.

[147] Vol. i. p. 143. 8vo. Edit.

[148] Vol. i. page 309, 8vo. edition.

[149] See published proceedings of the Zoological Society, No. 6, June 25th, 1833.

THE END.

LONDON: IBOTSON AND PALMER, PRINTERS, SAVOY-STREET, STRAND.