ceived they fled and disappeared. I have repeated the same observations at the isle of Thebes and at that of Hermuntis. The moment the crocodiles per ceived me, I saw them slowly turn themselves and make towards the river. At first, they proceeded with caution, and with a measured pace; but, arrived within a certain distance, they leaped, all at once, into the water. I approached the beach which they had quitted, and from the impression of their feet on the sand, the largest among them had leaped at least eight feet. I am also informed that crocodiles hear at a great distance. My conductors, who were not ignorant of this, recommended me to preserve the strictest silence, as the only means of approaching near to them. "As it lives in the water, it has its throat filled with leeches. All animals, every beast, avoids it; it lives in amity with nothing but the trochilus, from whom it receives most important services. It keeps its mouth open, the trochilus enters and eats up all the leeches. The crocodile feels so much pleasure in being thus relieved, that he never commits any outrage upon his deliverer." This passage is one which has exercised the ingenuity of commentators more than any other. Some have denied the fact altogether; but it is certain, that they are wrong in thus impeaching the veracity of this his torian. I took every pains possible to ascertain the fact that there is a small bird, which, flying constantly from beach to beach, and continually occupied in seeking for its food, enters sometimes into the throat of the crocodile when it is asleep, and eats the insects that are there sucking its blood, and not leeches, in the strict acceptation of the word, such as M. Larcher uses it in his translation. There are no leeches in the Nile; but there is a vast number of gnats engendered on its surface, which are a great torment to the crocodile, by inserting their proboscis into the orifices of the glands, which are very numerous in its tongue and palate. It has not yet been discovered what is the bird which performs this good office for the crocodile, except by ridiculous stories, which have been invented by way of explanation. Blanchard, among others, in the Memoirs de l'Academie des Inscriptions, attributes to it (doubtless from a false interpretation of an expression of Scaliger's) thorns on the back and at the end of the wings; and he describes it as a busy servant who endeavours to put the crocodile to sleep by a gentle tickling. Can it have been thought that the invention of this fable would increase the veracity of Herodotus? Marmol, who knows as little upon this subject as Blanchard, says that it is a white bird, of the size of a thrush. The greater part of translators have made it a wren, by giving a meaning, too absolute, to a passage in Pliny respecting the trochilus; but this errour has been removed by M. Larcher, who justly observes that the wren is a wood bird, which dwells in dry places and hedges. Aldrovandus, who lived before all the modern literati, has approached the nearest to truth, when he conjectures, from several passages of Aristotle and Atheneus that the trochilus is the coureur, an aquatick bird, very quick in running, having long legs and a straight and slender beak, Salerno endeavours to support this opinion by new proofs. Lastly, the trochilus has been discovered in modern times. Father Sicard, one of the missionaries sent to the Levant, notices it under its Arabian name of Sag-sag. It is to be lamented that he did not indicate to what species this individual belongs. There is no bird so frequent on the shores of the river as the trochilus. Hasselquist has described it under the name of charadrius ægyptius. It is a distinct species, though very similar to the small plover of Europe. Aristotle and Atheneus are both perfectly right in saying that it runs very quick, and that it goes, in calm "All beasts and animals fly from the crocodile." The common heron, on the contrary, seems to be fond of it: at least, he seeks the neighbourhood of the crocodile; but he takes care to have the river between him and his friend, doubtless, from motives of safety. Wherever herons are seen, there can be no doubt of crocodiles being found on the other bank. I recollect that the presence of these birds directed us, on the 21st October, 1799, to a troop of fifteen crocodiles, which were reposing quietly upon land, and whom we threw into confusion by a cannon ball which our vessel fired upon them the herons were not alarmed, but continued to watch. They keep thus very near the crocodiles to avail themselves of the terrour which they create in the river, and to be ready to seize the fish which their presence causes to fly in every direction. The pelican has the same instinct : but he does not confine himself to this sole fishing, nor does he persist with the same perseverance as the heron. "When the crocodile reposes upon land, he has the habit, almost always, of turning towards the side whence the wind blows, and of keeping his mouth open." This is a fact which I have frequently verified, both at the isle of Thebes and Hermuntes. I have been able to observe, very distinctly, upon the moist sand, the traces of two troops of crocodiles which my approach had driven away; almost all of them had their throats directed towards the northwest. Some of them had been lying on their sides, and the impression of their half opened jaws was very visible on the sand. My guides availed themselves of these circumstances to make me observe the difference between the males and females. I thought, indeed, that I could observe that the impressions which they attributed to the males, had a head much stronger, but shorter than the others. On this occasion they boasted much of the superiority of the males over the females; adding, that the males knew very well how to make themselves obeyed, by biting the females, or striking them severely with their tails. "Some of the Egyptians consider the crocodiles as sacred animals. The inhabitants of Thebes, for example, have a great veneration for them. The sacred cro codile is nourished with the flesh of viclong as it lives, it is taken the greatest care tims, and with other prescribed food. As of; when it dies, they embalm it, and deposit it in a sacred chest." Many mummies of crocodiles were found in the catacombs where the people of the city of Thebes were buried. I myself found two: M. Pugnet, one of the most able of the medical men belonging to the army of the east, found also, a very fine one: and, lastly, the grottos of Heletia were filled with the bones of large crocodiles that had been embalmed. I have also brought, from the same places and from the burial grounds of Memphis, the figures of crocodiles modelled in porcelain, and in baked earth. "The inhabitants of the environs of Thebes, select a crocodile, which they rear and instruct with such care, that it will suffer itself to be touched by the hand. They adorn it with ear-rings, made of gold or stone.” There is not a single circumstance, even down to so minute a one as this, which I have not had an opportunity of verifying. Having had occasion for the head of one of my crocodile mummies, I drew it forth from its bandages, and I had the satisfaction of perceiving, from the apertures in its ears, that they had been perforated to hang ear-rings in them. I have thus commented upon every paragraph of Herodotus respecting the crocodile, and I have done it without prejudice. I may be suspected of admiring this great man, and I am willing to confess that I do. FROM THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE. An Account of the Colony of Cayenne, in South America; with Anecdotes of the celebrated Victor Hugues-from the French of Piton. GUIANA, or Grand Terre, is a part of America, properly so called, comprehending about ten degrees of latitude; bounded, on the east, by the north Atlantick ocean; on the west, by the mountains of the Cordeliers; on the north, by the river Oronoco; and on the south, by the river of the Amazons, or the Line. south is sixteen miles and a half; and its circumference, taking in all its windings, is about fifty miles. That part of the circumference bordered by the ocean, and which is to the north east, may, perhaps, be about eleven or twelve miles. The town of Cayenne, situated at the north-west extremity of the island, at the mouth of the river of the same name, is fortified, and might be capable of being advantageously defend to it. Its latitude is 4 degrees 56 minutes, and longitude 54 degrees 35 minutes, from the meridian of Paris, according to the observations of M. de la Condamine, in 1744. French Guiana, is divided into districts, which take their names from the principal rivers or capes. The Maroni and Oyapoe are the only ried by a small mountain which is close vers which have their source in the great chain of mountains, which, in this part of the world, separate the waters which flow towards the ocean, from those which fall into the Amazon. The rivers Mana, Symmamari, Oyac, and Appronague, spring from the mountains of the second class; the others, less considerable, from the mountains of the inferiour order. All have several branches, more or less rapid, increased by a great number of smaller streams. The chief place of the colony of Cayenne, is generally known by the name of the Island of Cayenne; but no just idea can be formed of this island, if it is represented as being separated at a distance from the continent, and surrounded by a sea, navigable for vessels of all descriptions. On the contrary, when the navigator first makes this land, it appears to him as forming a part of Terra Firma. Possibly it might have been so formerly. At present it is only separated from it by a river, or strait, which rises and falls with every tide, and which can be only navigated by boats, or vessels of very little burthen. The greatest breadth of the island of Cayenne, measured on a line running from east to west, is four leagues, or twelve English miles; its greatest length from north to The days and nights are equal throughout the year, with the exception of about half an hour, which we lose from September to March, but gain in the six other months. Day appears at half-past five; and at six the sun darts from the bosom of the ocean, surrounded with clouds of brilliant purple. We have two summers, two equinoxes, two winters, and two solstices. The heat is tempered by abundant rains, which fall during the winter solstice, from the middle of December to March, and return again from May to the end of July, when the summer commences, and continues to December. The sun is twice vertical here, the 20th of April, and the 20th of August. It is but little felt the first time, owing to the rains, by which the earth is so moist. ened and cooled. Its return, however, gives about six weeks of fine weather, which dries up the ground a little ; but the fickleness of these climates often deceives the planters, who would be able to reap two abundant crops, if the summers and winters were regular. Europeans will smile at hearing of summer and winter in the torrid zone. The summer is a scorching sun, which, for several months, is only refreshed by a sort of breeze, which blows constantly from the east, or north-east, during the day. This wind comes from the sea, and gets the better of the landbreeze. This latter is only felt on the coast at certain hours, almost always morning and evening, just at sunrise and at sunset. The winter is one continued fall of rain, so heavy and abundant, as often to inundate whole plantations, and cover them entirely with a sheet of water. The rain sometimes falls for fifteen days successively, without the slightest intermission. It was this which made the Abbe Raynal say, that the shore, where the colony of 1763, had disembarked, was a land under water. The winter is sometimes, however, dry and warm; then the plants and the trees wither; the north wind, with its dry, cold, nitrous breath, Furns and parches up the flowers, fruits, and tender buds: such is the north wind of warm climates, more destructive than a scorching sun in a dry summer in Europe. than The old town of Cayenne has a very miserable appearance; the houses are nothing more wretched cabins, with sashes without glass; a heap of buildings, erected, or rather huddled together, without art or taste; sloping streets, dirty and narrow; and paved, one would suppose, from the pain we felt in walking through them,with the points of bayonets. in place of carriages and phaetons, old sorry looking jades, more lean and wretched than the animals which drag our hackney coaches, seven or eight fastened to a vehicle meant for a cart, drag slowly along some barrels of salt beef or ish. In the old town, houses of two stories high are palaces; and stores, which are let out for eight or ten thousand francs per annum (from 350 to 450 pounds British) as maga zines for the different productions of he colonies, or of Europe. The new town is more regular, more lively, although built in the same style, on a Savanna, or marshy meadow, drained about fifteen or twenty years ago; the whole, taken together, is less considerable than a large village in France. The houses appear empty, or, for the most part, occupied by people of colour, who have nothing, do nothing, trouble themselves about nothing, and who live more at their ease than our respectable tradesmen in France, whom the sun never shines upon in bed, and who labour hard all day. Here every one sclls, exchanges, buys, and resells the same thing again; every thing is almost at the price of its own weight in gold, and every one procures it without scarcely knowing how. This paradox is very easily understood, when we come to know the colonies. Those who inhabit them, spend with profusion the money they acquire without troubles their indolence is so great, that sooner than incommode themselves, they will pay a servant to pluck the fruits which are under their hands, and another to carry them to their mouths. Those who arrive from Europe pay for all; and when vessels are delayed, and do not arrive at the usual time, the famine becomes general without alarming any person. Population. There are as many different races of men here, as there are distinctions under a monarchy The whites, or planters, who differ from the Europeans by their light hair, their pale and sometimes leadlike countenances; the negroes, by the shades more or less grounded in their skins, of bronze, of ebony, or a reddish copper, approaching to a sort of brownish red. The mixture of all these colours gives a race of people not unlike the jacket of harlequin. An Indian and a white woman will have a child, whose skin is of a reddish white. A negro and an Indian woman, one of a copper hue, tinged with brown. A white man and a negress, a mulatto. A mulatto and a white woman, a mestee. A mestee and a white, a quadroon. Each species has its various shades of singularity, and often partakes of the influence of their country. The Indian has all the cunning, the jealousy, and the ferocity, of the wandering tribes of the three Arabias. The negroes, the idle, crafty, malicious, yet shall low and confined ideas of the savages of Africa. The others spring from the mixture of the different races, with the vices of the climate, and the stupidity of their ancestors; indeed, it is a matter of doubt, whether it were not to be wished, that there were more blacks than those half whites in our colonies. That part of Cayenne which is on the continent is but partially cultivated. The principal plantations are there; but they are situated at a great distance from each other. The post of Synnamari owes its name to a fountain about two leagues to the southeast, near the river, remarkable for the salubrity of its waters. There formerly was a hospital there; but it does not now exist. Synnamari is at the northwest extremity of a large Savanna of 15 or 16 miles long, and eight or ten wide. It consists of 15 or 16 huts, the melancholy remains of the colony of 1763. Konamana, the place allotted for the banished deputies and others, is six leagues further on. Some merchants of Rouen landed there in 1626. The shore, from which the sea has retir. ed full two leagues and a half, was then under water almost to the mountains. The Konamana appeared to them a proper situation to found a colony, Cayenne and its environs being then peopled only by savages. They settled upon the summit of the rocks, in order to carry on a war against the Indians. At the end of three weeks, three-fourths of them were carried off by pestilential fe vers, and the remainder got on board their vessels, and set sail for France. The chief productions of Cayenne are sugar, coffee, cotton, indigo roucou.-The sugar-cane originally came from Asia, whence it was carried to Europe, and the island of Madeira. This latter place furnished a part of what the Europeans brought into America. There are two sorts; the one yellow, the other violet. The last sort was cultivated here by the Indians, before we discovered the New World. North America produces a tree not unlike our maple, from which sugar is obtained by making incisions in it. The process of curing it is much less expensive than that from the cane; it is tapped twice a year, and yields a white agreeable sugar, but less solid than that from the cane. The cotton tree is a shrub, which the planters are obliged to keep in a dwarfish state, in order to render it more productive. It is not certain, whether it is a natural plant of the country. It is not to be met with in the woods of Guiana; and yet before our discovery, the Indians cultivated it to make hammocks and other articles. The leaf is broad, octagonal, smooth, and soft, on the inside, and a little woolly on the out. The flower is of a beautiful yellow, shaped like a bell, and not unlike that of our gourd or pumpkin. When the flower falls off, a large pod, something in the shape of an egg, appears, which contains the cotton and the seed. When this egg is fully grown, the heat opens it, and it shows four or five small black grains about the size of our vetches; from this grain is made an oil. The cattle are very fond of them, and will often destroy the fences to get at them. The cotton tree bears in a year. It gives two crops annually; but that of the month of March, which is but trifling, is frequently destroyed by the caterpil lars, which always spring up after the first rains. The cotton of Cayenne is more esteemed in trade than that of other colonies, as much from its superiour quality, as from the care they bestow upon its culture. The origin of the discovery of cof |