tain articles in the New Dictionary of Natural History, in which I have shown that, whenever the Spanish author gives the freest scope to his virulence against the French writer, his blunders are then almost invariably the most egregious and complete.

Such, precisely, is the predicament in which he stands with respect to myself. Never was that Sonnini de Manoncour, to adopt M. de Azara's polite phraseology, more decidedly in the right than at the very moment when opprobrious language was addressed to him with so much vehemence, from Paraguay, from Spain, and various quarters of the world. Posterity, whose testimony M de Azara invokesposterity, if ever that term shall apply to him, or to myself-will appreciate the value and determine the name of that indecent criticism, of which he makes me the object; and he will, perhaps, blush for having published it, when I shall have shown that the foundation on which it rests has no reality nor existence. M de Azara has, in fact, committed a grievous mistake concerning the birds in question, since, in one word, his bataras are not my ant-caters. If passion were compatable with the exercise of the reasoning power, the slightest attention, the most simple and superficial reflection, might have convinced the observer of Paraguay that birds, so very different in their external forms and natural habits, could not be in cluded in the same family. Whoever will compare the account which M. de Azara gives of the bataras, with what I have mentioned of the ant-eaters, will be satis fied that features of dissimilarity, as numerous as they are striking, evidently se parate these birds from one another. M. de Azara, it is true, affirms, with as much decency as good breeding, that I have equally imposed on the publick in ali that I have advanced concerning the manners, habits, and conformation of the ant-eaters; yet no inhabitant of French Guiana; nor any mulatto or negro hunter, is ignorant that the alarum-thrush for cxample (and I quote that species as the most remarkable) never approaches habitations, nor quits the great forests, which it fills with sounds that have been aptly compared to those of an alarum-clock. With regard to the charge imputed to me by M. de Azara, of having disfigured the stued specimens of ant-eaters, it is absolutely ridiculous, to say nothing worse. It was in 1774 that I consigned to the king's cabinet a numerous collection of birds from our settlements in Guiana,

among which there happened, for the first time, to be included, several species of ant-eaters. Since that period, very frequent transmissions of birds from the same quarter of America to the royal cabinet have taken place; and the ant-eaters, which formed part of them, resembled in all re spects those which I had conveyed hither. To suppose that the inhabitants of Cayenne had come to a common understand. ing to cut short or pull out the tails of these birds, and to colour their plumage with the pencil, would be as absurd as to suspect me of taking the same trouble, in order that the ant-eaters, which I observed in 1774, might not resemble the bataras which M. de Azara was destined to de scribe thirty years afterwards.

"For the rest, these very unseemly attacks on the part of M. de Azara have not prevented me, in the course of this work, from doing him all the justice to which he is entitled; and from represent. ing him, if not as endued with much instruction in natural history, or much con versant in the art of comparative discussion, as at least a very good observer."

Much of the oblique and useless commentary, in which the Spanish writer has so gratuitously indulged, appears to have originated in his want of a familiar acquaintance with the principles of systematick ar rangement; a defect of education which the pages of Buffon were little calculated to remedy, and which often led him to fancy generick and specifick identities where none existed. A more cautious and scrupu lous investigation of his references might have rescued him from the charge of hasty and unavailing criticism, and have placed in a more conspicuous point of view the extent of his discoveries and the soundness of his understanding. From the means of such investigation, he was unavoidably precluded in the wilds of South America: but, in the Spanish capital, and with the facilities of communication with Paris, which he enjoyed, he might have commanded them to their fullest extent. For the manner, disgusting rudeness of

which characterizes his unseasonable strictures, we can devise no

other apology than that which we have hazarded in the commencement of our report.

The maps, which accompany these

volumes, form a very desirable supplement to their contents. But only seven quadrupeds, and four birds, are delineated in the plates.

CRITICK.

ON the subject of this poem, a friend has supplied us with an anecdote so remarkable, and so illustrative, not only of the power of the poetry, but of the nature of local reports, that we are convinced our readers will be pleased with it. The poet certainly cannot be displeased.

In a voyage, with adverse winds, from Leith to London, this friend was detained two days at Holy Island, the scene of the trial and fate of Constance in that poem. He went ashore with an officer, and examined the ruins of the abbey, and found, on what seemed the site of the cavern in which Constance Beverley was tried and immured, a small fortress, with a few invalids, under a barrack serjeant, and one company of a regiment of militia. The officer instantly recognised the old serjeant as a soldier who had served under his father, who had also been in the army; and their early acquaintance was easily renewed. The serjeant then guided the voyagers through the fortress, which is built on a high and steep rock; and when they were on the highest part of the rock, he very gravely said, that there must be some profound cavern in it, to which, after a long search, he had been unable to find the entrance. Our friend asked why he thought so? Because, said he, a bell is distinctly heard to ring every

VOL. V.

night at twelve o'clock, in the centre of the rock, and apparently at a great depth; probably as deep as the level of the sea. He observed our friend to smile at such a fancy, and then swore that he had himself repeatedly heard it. As the officer had mentioned that his old acquaintance had received some education, our friend immediately asked him whe ther he had ever read Marmion. On his saying, that he had read it with great pleasure, he was asked if the midnight bell had ever been heard by him before that period. “No,” said he, "we never till then thought of listening for it." The whole body of the invalids agreed in the same tale. They had all heard him read Marmion, and all had ever since heard the midnight bell, though be fore that time they never thought of listening for it.

A stronger proof of the impres sive nature of the poetry cannot easily be imagined; and it may serve to show also by means of what faculty strange and preternatural sounds are usually heard, or sights of that description seen.

We meant to have interwoven this little narrative in our account of the Lady of the Lake; but having accidentally omitted it, we thought it too curious, knowing it to be literally a fact, not to be given to the publick.

"The gangs of negroes employed in this work consist of from ten to fifty each; few exceed the latter number. The large bodies are commonly divided into several small ones, a plan which it is supposed greatly facilitates labour.

"Each gang of slaves has one belonging to it, who is styled the huntsman. He is generally selected from the most intelligent of his fellows, and his chief occupa tion is to search the woods, or as in this country it is termed, the bush, to find labour for the whole. A negro of this description is often valued at more than five hundred pounds.

"About the beginning of August, the kuntsman is despatched on his errand, and if his owner be working on his own ground, this is seldom an employment of much delay or difficulty. He cuts his way through the thickest of the woods to the highest spots, and climbs the tallest tree he finds, from which he minutely surveys the surrounding country. At this season, the leaves of the mahogany tree are invariably of a yellow reddish hue, and an eye accustomed to this kind of exercise, can discover, at a great distance, the places where the wood is most abundant. He now descends, and to these his steps are directed; and without compass or other guide than what observation has imprinted on his recollection, he never fails to reach the exact point to which he aims.

"It not unfrequently happens, when the huntsman has been particularly successful in finding a large body of wood, that it becomes a contest with his conscience whether he shall disclose the matter to his master, or sell it to his neighbour. A liberal equivalent for this breach of fidelity being always punctually discharged. Those, however, who afford encourage. ment to such practices, by such impolitick temptation, are perhaps not more mindful of the old adage than of their interest, as it cannot but indirectly sanction their own slaves to take equal advantage, whenever the opportunity presents itself.

"The mahogany tree is commonly cut

about twelve feet from the ground, and a stage is erected for the axe-man employed in levelling it. This to an observer would appear a labour of much danger; but an accident rarely happens to the person engaged in it. The body of the tree, from the dimensions of the wood it furnishes, is deemed the most valuable; but for purposes of ornamental kind, the branches or limbs are generally preferred, the grain of these being much closer, and the veins more rich and variegated.

"The mahogany tree is seldom found in clusters or groups, but single and often much dispersed; what, therefore, is denominated a mahogany work, comprehends an extent of several miles. The growth of this tree is considered rapid, but that of the logwood much more so, which, it is said, attains maturity in five years.

"The logs of mahogany are generally brought out by cattle and trucks to the water side, or to the Barquadier, as it has been termed in this country, which has been previously prepared by the foreman of the work for their reception. When the distance is great, this is a labour of infinite and tedious difficulty. As soon as a sufficient number to form a raft is collected, and the waters have gained the necessary height, they are singly thrown from the banks, and require no other aid or guidance than the force of the current to Hoat them to the booms, which are large cables placed across the rivers at the dif ferent eddies or fails. Here they are once more collected, each party claiming his own from the general inass, and formed into separate rafts for their final destination. Sometimes more than a thousand logs together are supported by the booms, and the catastrophe attendant on their breaking asunder, which, during extraordinary floods, often happens, has previously been noticed.

"The mahogany, when disposed of at Honduras, produces from sixteen to thirty pounds, Jamaica currency, per thousand feet."

contain 12,000 feet superficial; vaA single tree has been found to lued at 1,000l. But these advantages are counterpoised by heavy draw. backs; such as, the keep of slaves, the price of every article of cloth. ing and provision, all of which are imported (for the colony raises one) to which may be added, the dispersed state of society; for except at Christmas, the settlers have but

few enjoyments arising from reciprocal intercourse.

We suspect some errour in the rapid growth attributed to the mahogany tree; from the general grain of the superiour kinds of this wood, we should have thought it of slow growth, rather than rapid.

From capt. H.'s visit to the Mosquito Indians, we learn that

"This nation cannot number at the utmost more than 1500 or 2000 men capable of using arms. Immediately contiguous to it are two other tribes, called the Poyers and the Towkcas. These people are more numerous, and considered much more enterprising and brave, although they are tributary to the former, and have been so from time immemorial. The acknowledg

ment of this dependence is expressed by the annual payment of a certain number of cattle. But neither the Poyers or the Towkcas possess any thing like the civilisation of the Mosquito people. Hence unquestionably the cause and continuance of their vassalage."

Our author seems to think these savages tolerably happy. Their coun try is pleasant and fertile Nevertheless, we find among them murder and treason; for "the late king George was murdered, and his death Stephen; we find discontent and attributed very openly to his brother envy; and the messengers who carry the king's commands, carry also his

cane.

WE seize on this specimen, which chance has restored to our observation, lest it should again be overlooked and forgotten. Arduous as the task is, of continuing an approved poem, this author is by no means unsuccessful in it; and the modest manner in which he presents it to the publick, renders his work the more interesting. "Notwithstanding the encouragement given him by his friends, he is," he declares, "very diffident of success with the publick. He therefore offers his poem in its present unfinished state, not as a pledge for its completion, but that he may find, in the manner of its reception, a touchstone by which to ascertain its real merit." Though unknown to the author, we would willingly stand among the friends who encourage him to proceed. He writes with purity and elegance, and we see no deficiency of poetick talent of any kind, which should prevent his concluding the tale with success. The following passage will probably induce many of our readers to judge as we do.