the objects, and the great extent of the region, allowed not of more minute investigation. "The method of travelling which begins at Surat, and is continued through most parts of India, is by oxen. The ox fupplies the ufe of the horse; the fmaller fort ferve as pads, the larger are used in drawing a kind of carriage called a hackerie. The beafts are commonly white, have black nofes, and large perpendicular horns: they are alfo remarkable, like most other Indian and African cattle, for a hunch rifing between the fhoulders. Thofe of Guzerat are moft remarkably large, and in great requeft through most parts of India. The hunch is highly efteemed as a delicacy, falted and boiled. When they are fitted for the faddle or the draft, a cord, and fometimes a piece of wood is paffed through the nofe from noftril to noftril, and a cord extended from each end, as a bridle. M. Sonnerat, vol. i, tab. 7, gives a print of the Hackerie or Gari, as it is called in India, and all its apparatus. In England, if thefe creatures are forced out of their ufual flow pace, it is too well known that they will faint, or lie down under their burthen; but at Bombay, they trot and gallop as naturally as horfes, and are equally as ferviceable in every other refpect, except that, by their being fubject to a loofe habit of body, they fometimes incommode the traveller by the filth thrown upon him by the continual motion of their tails. Whenever they get to the end of the journey, the driver always alights, and puts the near bullock in the other's place; then he puts his hand into both their mouths, and after pulling out the froth, mounts his box again and drives back. It feems this precaution is abfolutely neceffary, for as they travel at the rate of feven or eight miles an hour, they would otherwife be in danger of fuffocation. "Befides the large fpecies which I have engraven in vol. i. tab. ii. of my Hift. Quadr. is a diminutive fpecies, tab. iii, common at Surat, not bigger than a large dog, which has a fierce look, but is trained to draw children in their little carts. I have been informed, that a bull and cow from, I believe the Tanjore country, have been imported into England, the height of the firft not exceeding nineteen inches, and of the laft not eighteen. "Being on the fubject of animals, I fhall mention a fpecies of the next genus, the fheep. That called Cabrito by the Portuguese, is a very long legged kind, and of a very difgufting appearance. At Goa it is fometimes faddled and bridled, and ferves inftead of a poney, will carry a child of twelve years of age. and About Bombay is found the fquirrel, Hift. Quadr. ii. No. 336, known by the name of the place; it is very large, and of a purple colour. "I must now digrefs to a very different clafs. The tribe of fnakes is very numerous in India. I think their great hiftoriographer, M. de la Cepede, enumerates forty-four fpecies already known. I fhall only mention the most curious: I am uncertain whether they are quite local. Mr. Ives fpeaks of fome found in this ifland or neighborhood; the Cobra Capello I fhall defcribe fome time hence. Mr. Ives relates, that the Cobra Manilla is only a foot long, of a bluish color, haunting old walls. Its bite is as fatal as that of the Cobra Capello, which kills in the fpace of a quarter of an hour. The Cobra de Aurellia is only x inches long, and not thicker than the quill of a crow; it is apt to creep into the ear, and occafion death by madness. The fand fnake is fmall, but not lefs fatal than the others. The Palmira, with a viperine head, and varied body, is four feet long, yet in no part thicker than a fwan's quill. "Among the variety of beautiful fhells found on the coaft, is the noted Turbo Scalaris, or Wentle-trap, a fhell feldom an inch and a quarter long, of a pearly color, and with about feven fpires, each having feveral elegant ridges, crofing them from the firft fpire to the laft; a fine reprefentation of the winding ftaircafe. A painter I knew, filled with the Concha-mania, coce gave fifty-fix guineas for three of them, one alone he valued at twenty-five. "Some few other things, refpecting the natural hiftory of Bombay and its neighborhood, may be here taken notice of. The diseases of India begin to fhew themfelves in this place, but I fhall only attend to the Barbiers, which is more prevalent on this fide of the peninfula of India than the other. It is a pally, which takes its name from Beriberii, or the sheep, as the afflicted totter in their gait like that animal when feized with a giddinefs. Its fymptoms are both a numbnefs, a privation of the ufe of the limbs, a tremor, and an attendant titillation usually not fatal, but extremely difficult of cure. It comes on flowly, and ufually in the rainy feafon; but if a perfon drinks haftily, when heated, a large draught of Toddy, or the liquor of the coco ut, the attack of the difeafe is very fudden. Bontius (English edition, p. 1), treats largely of the cure. He recommends ftrongly baths or fomentations of the Nachile of the Malabars, or Lagondi of the Malays, or the Jafminum Indicum. "The phænomenon of small fish appearing in the rainy season, in places before dry, is as true as it is furprifing. The natives begin to fish for them the tenth day after the first rains, and they make a common difh at the tables. Many are the modes of accounting for this annual appearance. It has been fuggefted that the fpawn may have been brought by the water fowl, or may have been caught up by the Typhons, which rage at the commencement of the wet feafon, and be conveyed in the torrents of rain. I can only give an explanation, much lefs violent: That these fishes never had been any where but near the places where they are found. That they have had a pre-existent state, and began life in form of frogs; that it had been the Rana paradoxa of Gm. Linn. iii. p. 10, 55. Their transformation is certainly wonderful. I refer the reader to Seba, i. p. 125, tab. 78; and to Merian's Surinam, p. 71, tab. 71, in which are full accounts of the wonderful phænomenon of thefe tranfmuted reptiles, which complete their last transformation in the first rains. "All kinds of reptiles appear about that feafon, among others, toads of most enormous fizes. Mr. Ives mentions one that he fuppofed weighed between four and five pounds; and measured, from the toe of the fore to that of the hind leg, twenty-two inches." P. 99. After the above defcriptive progrefs through Western Hindeftan, to which alone the firft volume is confined, the author arrives arrives at Cape Comorin, and paffing Adam's Bridge at the extremity, (which should have been noticed as a mistake, for it ought to be Ramas Bridge) enters on his tour through Ceylon, an island, the account of which, from its prefent connection with the British empire in India, and its vaft importance to our commerce, will probably excite more general attention than what concerns the often-travelled continent of India. After noticing the inaccurate defcriptions of Ceylon and its productions, by the ancient geographers of Greece and Rome, by the Portugueze, and the Dutch, Mr. P. proceeds to confider the more authentic narrations of our countryman Knox, of Sonnerat, of Baron Thunberg, and details the private communications of a learned naturalift, his particular friend, the late John Gideon Loten, Efq. who refided a confiderable time in Ceylon, and filled various offices of importance, under the Batavian government. To this gentleman he confeffes himfelf indebted for the materials of his Indian Zoology, and from the fame fource the reader is here prefented with a more complete account of the natural hiftory of this celebrated island than the public has yet feen. But we shall referve that subject for the clofe of our review of the fecond volume. We are at prefent principally concerned with the topographical part, and our readers may not be difpleased to fee the following general account of the island. "The form and extent of the isle of Ceylon, are very much undetermined. The figure which is generally adopted in the maps, is that of a pear, with the ftalk turned towards the north. The length, from Dondra bead fouth, to Tellipeli north, is about two hundred and eighty miles; the greateft breadth, or from Colombo to Trincoli, is about a hundred and fixty. The latitudes of the two extremes in length, are between 5° 50' o", and 9° 51. Its extremes of longitude are 79° 50 ́, and 82o 10'. "The inland rifes from on every fide to the mountains, which run in chains, principally from north to fouth. The highest and rudeft tract is the kingdom of Conde Uda, which is impervious, by reason of rocks and forests, except by narrow paths, which are alfo impeded by gates of thorns, clofely watched by guards. At the western skirt of thefe mountains foars Hamalell, and, in the European language, Adam's Peak. It rifes pre-eminent above all the reft, in form of a fugar loaf. Le Brun, ii, p. 81, gives a view as it appears from the fea. On the fummit is a flat flone, with an impreffion refembling a human foot, two feet long, it is called that of our great and common anceftor. The Cingalefe, or aborigines of Ceylon, fay that it is of Buddo, their great deity, when he afcended into heaven, from whom they expect falvation. The Mahometan tradition is, that Adam was caft down from Paradise (we make his Paradife an earthly one) and fell on this fummit, and Erve near Judda, in Arabia,” P, 188, Its capital, and noble, but only fecure haven, are thus defcribed. We presume the account was written before Trincomale again became fubject to the British empire. "The city of Jaffanapatam ftands on the western fide of one of the ifles; this retains its Cingalefe name; moft of the other places in the neighborhood have been changed to Dutch. When the city was taken from the natives by the Portuguese, in 1560, they found in the treasury the tooth of an ape, fo highly venerated by the people of Ceylon, that immenfe fums were offered for its redemption, but in vain. To destroy this piece of idolatry, the viceroy ordered it to be reduced to powder, and then burnt. Apes are in many parts of India highly venerated, out of refpect to the god Hannaman, a deity partaking of the form of that race, with the addition of heads of bears, who rendered the god Vitchenou great fervices in this very ifle, flaying giants, and performing fo many wondrous deeds. In vol. iii. p. 863, of Churchill's collection, is a long detail of his exploits. There is a wonderful extravagance in the Indian mythology; the warmth of their climate creates ideas filled with the ftrangeft imagery. The tooth was probably worfhipped as one belonging to his godfhip. "Most of the eastern fide of Ceylon is guarded with fand banks or rocks. Trincomale harbour is in Lat. 8° 30', a fine and fecure port, protected by a ftrong garrifon, confifting of about four hundred men. Such was the number in fort Oftenburgh, when it was taken by assaust, on January 11, 1782, by our brave feaman, Sir Edward Hughes; which, on Auguft 26 of the fame year, was wrefted from us by his active and gallant rival Suffrein." P. 252. This first volume contains nine well-executed plates, thofe of a botanical kind, of remarkable beauty and delicacy; the work, if not original, is curious and interesting, and we fhall with pleasure return to the confideration of it in our next number. (To be concluded in our next.) ART. VIII. Confiderations upon the State of Public Affairs, in the Year 1798. Part the Third. The domeftic State and general Policy of Great Britain. 8vo. 105 pp. Rivingtons, and Hatchard. 1798. 2s. 6d. THIS able and fagacious writer continues to merit and attract the attention of the public. He continues also, on general topics of policy, an ally of the prefent administration; and fuch an ally, as in our opinion, any government fhould be glad to have; one who, by the undisguised strength of his re prehenfion, prehenfion, where he differs in opinion, proves the complete fincerity of his praife when he approves. The general tendency of the pamphlet is to enforce the idea, that, under the prefent circumstances of Europe, we must regard a state of war as our inevitable and permanent fituation, probably for feveral years to come; and muft provide by rigid ceconomy, and the moft prudent plans of finance, for the poffibility of continuing and flourishing under that flate. All this he holds to be perfectly practicable, and endeavours even to point out the means. This part of his tract is replete with original ideas and found arguments, very forcibly expreffed. The point on which he differs moft effentially from the ministry, and against which he bursts out on every poffible occafion, with every imaginable variety of invective, is the negotiation of peace at Lille. On this topic he out-Burkes Burke, by an inexhaustible profufion of metaphors; all expreffing contempt and abhorrence of the thing, and the moft triumphant fatisfaction at the rejection of our offers," that profperous defeat, that fortunate difgrace, that happy calamity."-" From the very hour and moment," he adds, in which we turned our back upon Lille, our affairs have affumed another aspect, every fun has fhone out brighter, and a warmer glow has gilded our horizon" (p. 26). But though we agree moft fully, that fuch a peace as could then have been made, would have been pregnant with our utter ruin, yet we are far from thinking it poffible, that after the flagitious pains which had been employed to inflame the natural defire for peace into a blind and inordinate craving, the eyes of the nation ever could have been opened, without fuch offers as fhould prove to them, that nothing but our immediate and undifguifed ruin would fatisfy the haughty tyrants of France. Without the difcoveries which that negotiation made public, the evil-minded would ftill be whining for peace, and the weak and wavering would all be joining in the chorus; and that unanimity which now diftinguishes our measures, would have been altogether unattainable. So poffible is it to differ totally, even from a writer whom in general we admire, on the fubject wherein he is moft pofitive and moft violent. Yet he blames, as he declares, with unwillingness. Speaking of the minifters, he says, "If I lift my voice it is not in anger; I have not forgotten that they have often defended their country, though in a moment of weaknefs, they expofed its fate! I have not forgotten that they have steered the vefiel profperous and fafe through the tempeft of war, and the night of revolution; that in the ftrife and anarchy of all the moral elements, in the chaos and confufion, and darkness and collifion, of every principle and paffion of man, they have maintained him in fociety, and defended |