both within and without with the mortar already men tioned. The lower apartments communicate with the water, where they enjoy the luxury of bathing, often remaining the greater part of the day in the water, in an upright posture, so that only the head and fore parts are visible. In the upper apartments, which have doors towards the land, they keep their stores; they also retire to these whenever the water rises so as to incommode them in the lower story. In summer they live on fruits and plants, and their winter provisions consist chiefly of the wood of the birch, plane, and other trees, which they pile up in regular order as in a wood yard. They cut down branches from three to ten feet in length; the largest are conveyed to their magazine by a whole company of beavers, but the smallest by one only The fur of the beaver is much valued.

NATIONAL LIBRARY.-Abridged.

XI.—MAHOGANY, CORK, AND OTHER TREES. THE Mahogany Tree, a native of Jamaica, Cuba, and the Spanish Main, has been long celebrated for its extensive use in cabinet work; to which purpose it was first applied in the beginning of the eighteenth century. It is a magnificent tree, growing sometimes to the height of one hundred feet; it thrives well in almost every soil, but the wood of the closest texture, and most beautifully veined, is obtained from trees which grow on rocky ground. It is now scarce in Jamaica, and met with only in mountainous situations. The mahogany is, perhaps, the most majestic of timber-trees; for, though some rise to a greater height, this tree, like the oak and the cedar, impresses the spectator with the strongest feelings of its firmness and duration. In the rich valleys among the mountains of Cuba, and those that open upon the Bay of Honduras, the mahogany expands to so giant a trunk, divides into so many massy arms, and throws the shade of its shining green leaves, spotted with tufts of pearly flowers, over so vast an extent of surface, that it is difficult to imagine a vegetable production combining in such a degree the qualities of

elegance and strength. The precise period of its growth is not known, but it is supposed to take two hundred years to arrive at maturity.

The Suber or Cork Tree grows abundantly in Italy, the south of France, Spain, and Portugal, and furnishes the well-known substance, cork, of so much importance in domestic economy. The cork tree is an ever-green, with oblong leaves slightly downy underneath. Cork is a singular substance, which is produced on the cuticle or bark. The trees are barked for the first time before they are twenty years old, but the best cork is obtained from the oldest trees; and after every peeling the succeeding bark is of a better quality. They are generally peeled once in eight or ten years, and this operation so far from being injurious, contributes to their growth and vigour; for it is observed, that those trees which are not stripped of the bark, in a few years begin to decay, and in the course of fifty or sixty years, a whole plantation is destroyed; but those trees that are regularly barked, live, and thrive more than two hundred years. When the cork is stripped off, an exudation of a reddish brown colour immediately takes place; and of the excreted matter, as it acquires consistency by the action of the air, the succeeding layer of cork is formed. The cork tree grows to the height of our apple tree, and spreads its branches much in the same manner, but the trunk is of much greater dimensions, and the foliage of a more gloomy complexion.

The Chocolate-nut Tree is carefully cultivated in some of the West India Islands. It delights in shady places and deep valleys, and grows to the height of twelve or sixteen feet. The leaves are oblong, large, and pointed. The flowers, which are small and pale red, spring from the trunk and large branches, and the pods are oval and pointed. The seeds or nuts are numerous, and curiously enclosed in a white pithy substance. The cacao nuts being gently parched in an iron pot over the fire, the external covering easily separates; the kernel is then reduced to a powder, which, with a little water, is formed into a mass, and made up into rolls of one pound weight each.

The Castor-oil-nut Tree is cultivated in the West Indies for the sake of its seeds; and the growth of the tree is so rapid, that it attains the full size of fifteen and even twenty feet in a single year. From the seeds or nuts, the castor-oil, so much employed in medicine, is obtained, either by expression, when it is said to be cold-drawn, and is esteemed of the best quality, or by boiling, the product of which brings an inferior price.

The Gall Oak is a native of Asia Minor, from the Bosphorus to Syria, and from the shores of the Archipelago to the frontiers of Persia; it seldom attains a height of more than six feet, and more frequently appears in the form of a shrub. The galls, so extensively employed in dyeing brown or black, are produced on the shoots of the young branches, and the best are those which are collected before the escape of the insect to which their production is owing. These excrescences are usually of a globular shape, but irregular, and with numerous knobs or points. The darkest and heaviest are considered the best, as they are strongest, and strike the deepest black.

The Braziletto or Brazil wood is a native of America and the West Indies, but more especially of Brazil. It produces a fine pyramidal spike of white flowers, beautifully variegated with red. The wood is of great density, and sinks in water, and the heaviest part is preferred for dyeing. It is usually sold in the form of chips or saw-dust, and when first cut is of a pale red, which grows darker by exposure to the air.

Logwood, one of the most common dye stuffs used for producing various shades of red, is the substance of a tree, which grows chiefly in Campeachy bay and the West Indies, and rises to the height of sixteen or twenty feet. Various.

XII. ELEPHANT, RHINOCEROS, AND HIPPOPOTAMUS.

THE Elephant, which in size and strength surpasses all terrestrial animals, and in sagacity is inferior only to man, is a native both of Asia and Africa, but is most

numerous in the latter, where they are seen in large herds, consisting of many hundreds. The height of this wonderful quadruped, at the Cape of Good Hope, is from twelve to fifteen feet. His eyes are very small in proportion to his size, but lively, brilliant, and full of expression. His ears are very large, long, and pendulous; but he can raise them, when he pleases, and makes use of them as a fan to cool himself, and drive away the flies or insects. His hearing is remarkably fine. He delights in the sound of musical instruments, to which he is easily brought to move in cadence. His sense of smelling is equally delicate; and he is highly delighted with the scent of odoriferous herbs. Two ivory tusks of great size project from his mouth, one on each side of the trunk or proboscis. In each jaw he has four grinders, one of which sometimes measures nine inches in breadth, and weighs four pounds and a-half. The texture of the skin is uneven and wrinkled, and full of deep fissures, resembling the bark of an old tree. The colour is tawny, inclining to grey. The legs of this animal are massy columns, of three or four feet in circumference, and five or six in height. His feet are rounded at the bottom, divided into five toes covered with skin, so as not to be visible, and terminated in a nail or hoof of a horny subHis body is remarkably round and bulky, and nearly destitute of hair. The trunk is the most singular and peculiar characteristic of this extraordinary quadruped; it consists of a fleshy tube, which the animal can bend, contract, lengthen, and turn in every direction. It terminates in a protuberance, which stretches out on the upper side in the form of a finger, and possesses, in a considerable degree, the dexterity of that useful member of the human body. With this instrument, the animal can lift from the ground the smallest piece of money, select herbs and flowers, untie knots, and grasp any thing so firmly, that no force can tear it from his grasp. At the end of this trunk are placed the nostrils, through which he draws in water for the purpose of quenching his thirst, or of washing and cooling himself, which he performs by taking in a large quantity, and then spouting it over his whole body, as if it issued from

stance.

a fountain. These quadrupeds associate in numerous herds; they subsist wholly on vegetables, and appear to have an antipathy to animal food. Although the elephant is indisputably the strongest, as well as the largest of all quadrupeds, yet, in his native woods and deserts, he is by no means ferocious; and when tamed by man, he is most tractable and obedient. He bends the knee for the accommodation of those who wish to mount upon his back, suffers himself to be harnessed, and seems to delight in the finery of his trappings. These animals are used in drawing chariots, waggons, and various sorts of machines-one elephant drawing as much as six horses,—and are of great use in carrying large quantities of luggage across rivers. Their great bulk seems to be an advantage to them in swimming, for they do not swim so deep in the water as other animals, whilst by carrying their trunk aloft, they breathe freely. They can travel nearly a hundred miles a-day, and fifty or sixty regularly, without any violent effort.

Next to the elephant, the Rhinoceros is the most powerful of animals. Twelve feet long from the tip

of the nose to the insertion of the tail; from six to seven feet high; and the circumference of its body being nearly equal to its length; the rhinoceros is in bulk nearly equal to the elephant, and it appears smaller only because its legs are much shorter. Its head is furnished with a horn, growing from the snout, sometimes three feet and a halt long; the upper lip ends in a point, and being very pliable serves to collect its food, and deliver it into the mouth; the ears are large, erect, and pointed; the eyes small and piercing; the skin is naked, rough, knotty. and lies upon the body in folds, in a very peculiar fashion. There are two very remarkable folds, one above the shoulders, and another over the rump. The skin, which is of a dirty brown colour, is so thick as to turn the edge of a scimitar, and is even said to resist a musket ball; the belly hangs low; the legs are short, strong, and thick; and the hoofs are divided into three parts. The rhinoceros is a native of the deserts of Asia and Africa, and is usually found in those extensive forests that are frequented by the elephant and the lion. It subsists on