its leaves very much resemble thofe of the Bay." Its trunk is thick; the bark of a brownish complexion; and the ramifications ftrong, clofe, and extended." P. 20. The camphor is found in fmall whitith flakes, near the centre of the body the tree, which, in confequence, is obliged to be cut down, when they collect it for the market of China, where they are fold in chefts, for the value of nearly 350l. fterling. Its principal medical virtues are next pointed out, which are too well known in Europe to need enumeration here. The neceffity of cutting down the whole tree to obtain the produce, is juftly ftated as a reason that it will, as thofe trees grow lefs numerous, become hereafter immoderately dear. A drawing of the plant is referred to, which is not inferted.

On the coral of Sumatra, this author, after referring that Species of plant, as he denominates it, to the clafs of Cryptogamia of Linnæus, obferves, that it differs from the defcriptions of coral hitherto given. He, therefore, obliges us with the following more accurate account of it:

"It is of three colours; red, black, and whitish yellow; the last is the most common in the eastern feas. It is of a fungous texture, equally hard out of and in its natural element; and its pores are charged with a juice of milky appearance, in fome degree acrid. The bark covers every part of the tree, and contains a number of perforated papilla, terminating in tubes. The internal projections of the papilla adhere to the particles of fand and ftone, on which the coral grows, and are the only appearance of roots it exhibits." P. 24.

The tree, he obferves, in general grows to the height of two feet, but fome grow to that of ten feet. From its rapid growth on the western coaft of Sumatra, he thinks that the coral ought undoubtedly to rank as a vegetable; yet modern naturalifts feem to have determined differently concerning this production of the ocean; fome affirming it to be a foffile, formed like chryftals and fpars, while others rank it among the animal tribes. Sir William Jones, in an additional note, defines corals and corallines, according to the approved fyftem of Ellis, as the cretaceous habitations of animals, and one of the links in the great chain of nature. Mr. Macdonald's notion, that an artificial ifland, for the purpose of fafe anchorage, might in time be produced, from a quantity of corals, mixed with ftones and other fubftances, tranfported to the coaft of Coromandel, and funk at the mouth of the dangerous part of Madras, is a very ingenious one, were it practicable; but Sir William juftly remarks, that it would, in all probability, occafion, from its quick increase, a dangerous reef of rocks, before that ifland could be formed.

The third effay, on the copper-ore of Sumatra, was prefented to the Society, accompanied by a fpecimen of it, and is intended as elucidatory

K. 2

elucidatory of it. It is picked up in loose maffes, on the hills fhattered by earthquakes, which are very prevalent in this ifland. The natives are ignorant of mining; but the writer fuppofes that its mountains contain inexhaustible stores of this mineral On smelting it, a confiderabe portion of gold is found to be included in the ore: and from this, and other reasons, gold is thought alfo to abound in Sumatra. This confideration is properly fubmitted to the East-India Company for their attentive reflection; fince, however ultimately advantageous, no private unaffisted body of men could engage, without ruin, in the enormous expences that would attend the working of the mines. On the whole, we are much pleased with this threefold differtation, which exhibits confiderable diligence of enquiry and eruidition, in regard to the particular fubjects difcuffed; and we the more readily give it our commendation, because it tends to fill up the great outline marked by the late prefident, for investigating the natural History of the Afiatic regions.

ARTICLE III.

On the Plant Morinda, and its Ufes. By William Hunter, Elq. P. 35.

This article alfo evinces the attention of the members of the fociety, to the advice of their founder, fince it ftill further purfues thofe botanical inquiries, to which he himself latterly devoted fo large a portion of his valuable time. The Morinda is a very important plant to the manufacturers of India, affording them that beautiful and lasting red, and by an easy additional process, that rich purple dye, which are the distinguished characteristic of excellence, in the varied productions of the Indian loom. It is peculiarly cultivated in the provinces of Malava, and forms a large part of its domeftic commerce, being exported in great quantities thence to Guzurat, and the northern parts of Hindoftan. It is defignated by Linnæus, under the fame name, and belongs to the Clafs and Order Pentandria Monogynia, in his fyftem. The mode of rearing this valuable vegetable, the accidents to which it is expofed, during its culture, the proper feafon for getting it in, with minute details of the process ied in dying with it, are diftinctly given by Mr. Hunter, and will doubtlefs be extremely useful in India, but might not be for interelting to our readers; and as the fubjects in the present volume are uncommonly numerous, we shall pass on to

ARTICLE IV.

On the Inhabitants of the Hills, near Rajámahall. By Lieutenant Thomas Shaw. P. 45.

From vegetables we afcend to MAN, who feems to exhibit very different afpects, in various regions of Hindoftan, as he.

inhabits

inhabits its lofty mountains, or its fpacious plains. Mr. Shaw defcribes the race of people inhabiting this range of hills, as materially differing, both in their features, and the rites of their religion, from the generality of the Hindoos. Contrary to the ufual economy of nature, which has, for the most part, conftituted the inhabitants of mountainous diftricts, where the air is pure, and circulates more freely, of elevated ftature, these wild tribes are, in general, of inferior height to the reft of their fpecies, fcarcely exceeding five feet three inches, and many confiderably under that ftandard. They are, however, well proportioned and robuft. From the circumstances mentioned (p. 95) of their fomewhat refembling the Caffres of Africa, in their flat nofes and thick lips, it is not impoffible, that they actually may have originally defcended from an Abyffinian ftem, and been transported hither in the armies of those most ancient invaders of India, on whom claffical history, whatever might have been their real names, confers the appellation of Dionyfius, Sefoftris, &c. Herodotus, indeed, exprefsly notices various circumstances of refemblance between the Ethiopians and Indians, which give reason to fufpect, that colonies of the former had migrated to the latter nation; and modern refearches confirm the furmife. Those invaders would, probably, endeavour to establish and strengthen themselves in hilly fituations, that they might not be furprised by the jealous natives, upon whom they would naturally make frequent incurfions; as, in fact, thefe inhabitants of Rajamahall were accuftomed to do, till very recently; when their predatory spirit that induced them to ravage the low country in their neighbourhood, was happily and effectually checked; first by the vigorous military exertions of Captain Brooke, and finally, by the mild, yet firm and judicious conduct of Mr. Cleveland, the EaftIndia Company's late collector in thefe diftricts (p. 105). With refpect to the rites of their religion, they are very barbarous, and diffimilar to thofe of the native Indians of the flat country. They believe, indeed, in a Supreme Being, a future ftate, and in the metempfychofis, but of all thefe doctrines the Egyptian, not lefs than the Hindoo priefts, were strenuous fupporters. They are very fanguinary alfo in their facrifices, to propitiate the evil dæmon, but do not facrifice men, as the Hindoos anciently did. They feed on fleth which the Indian abhors; the hog which is immolated at this day, to their great deity Goffaih, as anciently we know that animal was to

See the notes to Beloe's Herodotus, vol. i, p. 361; and the text, vol. iii, p. 199.

Ofiris,

Ofiris, in Egypt, in deteftation of Typhon, being afterwards eaten by the facrificer (p. 67). Goats too, and cocks, are in great requeft for the altar; at all events, therefore, they are not from Mendes, where the goat was worshipped; yet still the goat, in other places of Egypt, as the deftroyer of vines, was fometimes flaughtered at the thrine of Ofiris. They have, unfortunately for the purfuit of this concife parallel, no knowledge of letters, and no hieroglyphics among them. They have a traditional account, that, at the creation, God fent from heaven feven brothers to people the new-formed earth, whole wild adventures are not worth repeating; though their fummary of oral laws, recited from p. 47, to p. 52, contains fome admirable precepts, blended with the ftrangeft abfurdities. After their religous, their civil laws and customs are confidered. The addreffes of the fond youth to his intended bride, are obliged to be carried on by stealth; darknefs and privacy are supposed by them to exalt the glow of affection; they are even permitted to fleep together; but then, if the error which cannot be repaired is committed, they are ever after to be confidered as man and wife. Polygamy is allowed; and what is very remarkable, as in the Levitical law, if the elder married brother die, the younger brother, or brothers in fucceffion, espouse the widow. The crime of adultery is expiated by the blood of a hog plentifully fprinkled on the offending parties; they afterwards feaft together, and are prefumed to be pure. Witchcraft and forcery, the perpetual abomination of an ignorant and bigotted people, have also their reign among them; but the practitioner is dreaded and abhorred. Every uncommon incident, every unforefeen calamity is imputed to their diabolical agency; the guilt of this crime is expiated, and its effects are annihilated, by the fire-ordeal. The bodies of the dead are not burned, but buried,

ARTICLE V.

Additional Remarks on the Spikenard of the Ancients. By the Prefident. P. 109.

In this fequel to his learned enquiry, in the fecond volume of the Afiatic Researches, on the fame fubject, the prefident corrects one or two material errors in Dr. Blanc's treatise on this plant, in the Philofophical Tranfactions. Some geographical and critical ftrictures are alfo introduced, of confiderable importance to any future hiftorian of the life of Alexander the Great, Sir William always contrived to interweave, with the profeffed object of his investigations, that collateral information, which the ftores of erudition, treafured up in his mind, enabled him

with eafe to afford; and which, whether the fubject happen to be the ftars fpread over the heavens, or the humble shrubs fcattered over the earth, was equally inftructive and impreffive.

(To be continued.)

ART. III. The Progrefs of Satire: an Effay in Verfe. With Notes, containing Remarks on The Purfuits of Literature. 8vo. 32 PP. Is. Bell, No. 148, Oxford-Street. 1798. THEN a fatirifttacks many perfons, and particularly authors, he muft expect retaliation: the beft he has to hope is, that his affailants may be wrong, or dull, or both. This fortune the author of the Baviad has conftantly had; and the unknown writer of the Purfuits of Literature has experienced it in general, but not in the prefent inftance. The author of the Progrefs of Satire appears to be neither contemptible as a poet, nor as a critic: though he does not, certainly, in either character, approach to the vigour and animation of the perfon whom he ventures to encounter. Had we been able to whisper in the author's ear in time, we thould have fuggefted to him to remove all fuch feeble lines as the 84th, the 97th, &c. from fo fhort a poem, of a polemic kind: and ftill more to avoid the repetition of the burlefque rhyme Spirit and merit, twice within fifty lines. There is alfo, we cannot but pronounce, a degree of languor in the first hundred and fifty lines or more. When he becomes perfonally engaged with his antagonist, the poet affumes more vigour; and all the latter part is much fuperior to the beginning.

It was probably not without an eye to this opponent, that the author of the Purfuits of Literature clofed the introductory letter, prefixed to the new edition of his whole poem, with a kind of hiftory of fatire. Their views of the fubject are very different. The prefent author feems to confider temporary and perfonal fatire as altogether unworthy of the Mufe. But let him ftate his defign for himself. After fome general obfervations on the ufe of public criticism, he says,

"The foregoing reflections gave birth to the Efay in Verfe (for 1 prefume thefe gentlemen will not permit me to call it a Poem) which follows; in which I have endeavoured, firft, to fhew that fatire is not in itself a very amiable, or perhaps the most laudable, fpecies of compofition; fecondly, to mark it's origin, and trace it's progrefs; and,

laftly,