in order to take them from one another.The commodities which fell moft readily in this country are, falt-petre, fulphur, lead, fine cloths, and barred or flowered chintz. Pearls, amber, and coral, were formerly in great request, but at prefent only the two laft are faleable; and even thefe will not answer unlefs the beads of coral be round, well polifhed, and of a beautiful red colour; the amber must also be extremely clear, the beads of an equal fize, and not larger than an hazel nut.

The only money current in Cochin-China is that of Japan, which is paid and received by weight. The money of the country is of copper, and as large as our counters; of a round figure, and having an hole in the middle by which the pieces may be ftrung like beads. Three hundred of thefe are put on one fide, and as many on the other, which in Cochin China pafs for a thoufand; because in 600 are found ten times 60, which make a century among almoft all the people of the eaft. There is, however, fcarce any country in which merchants are more apt to be deceived with regard to the value of money than Cochin-China; owing to the pieces being unequal in figure and quality, and the difficulty of determining their value, which is regulated only by a few characters ftamped upon them. The dealers must therefore be at pains to have honest and skilful people to ascertain the value of the pieces they receive; otherwife they run a great risk of being deceived in their value, as the Cochin-Chinese make a great merit of being able to cheat an European.

European merchants complain, according to M. Grofier, unjustly of the demands made in CochinChina for entrance, clearance, and anchorage. The duties indeed are very trifling, amounting only, even thofe of the cuftomhouse, to 4 per cent.; but nothing can be removed from a fhip which arrives there until he has first been infpected, when the customhoufe officers unload her, weigh and count the fmalleft pieces, and generally take what they look upon to be moft valuable, in order to fend it to the king. The monarch takes what he thinks proper, and returns the value; but the grandees are faid to keep part of the goods alfo, without paying any thing for them. Thus the ordinary goods, which, had they been accompanied with the more valuable part of the cargo, would have found a ready market, can now fcarcely be difpofed of; though our author is of opinion, that the matter is not altogether without remedy. When the Dutch fent to this country, veffels loaded with cloths, lead, and faltpetre, their cargoes were fuffered to remain entire, because they had taken the precaution to pay every year a certain fum for each veffel that entered. Other nations, by endeavouring to avoid the payment of this duty, entirely deftroyed their commerce: the people of Cochin-China, however, for fome years paft, have been much more moderate in their demands; and whatever their exactions may be, they are far lefs exorbitant than thofe of the Tonquinefe.

M. Grofier obferves, that a falfe report has gained ground in Europe, that when a trading veffel happens to run a-ground in Cochin-China, or to be driven into any of its harbours by ftrefs of weather, the king feizes the cargo if the rudder be broken. He affures us, however, that, so far from this being the cafe, a vef

fel in diftrefs is much fafer on the coafts of Cochin- Cochineal, China than almoft any where elfe. Barks are imme- Cochica. diately fent to the relief of the crew, and people employed to drag the fea with nets in order to recover the goods that are loft; and, in fhort, neither labour nor expences are fpared to put the fhip in the best condition poffible. Only two things can hurt the trade of foreigners at Cochin-China, one of which may be eafily avoided. This regards the clearing out of veffels. Thus, while the mafter is waiting on the evening before his departure, or on the day fixed for failing, in order to receive his difpatches, it often happens that he lofes his voyage, which may prove the ruin of a trader. For this reafon, care must be taken to folicit a clearance a month before; by which means one is always certain of obtaining it, and departing on the day appointed. The other difficulty is occafioned by the neceffity of felling goods on credit, which are feldom paid at the ftipulated time. This, however, is contrary to the inclination of the prince; for every merchant who can convey to him an account of thefe unjust delays, is fure to be paid, and fometimes even with interest.

COCHINEAL, or COCHENEEL, a drug ufed by the dyers, &c. for giving red colours, especially crimfons and fearlets, and for making carmine; and likewife in medicine as a cardiac, cordial, fudorific, alexipharmac, and febrifuge.

The cochineal, in the ftate in which it is brought to us, is in fmall bodies of an irregular figure, ufually. convex, and ridged and furrowed on one fide, and con-cave on the other. The colour of the best is a purplish grey, powdered over with a fort of white duft. All that the world knew of it for a long time was, that it was gathered from certain plants in Mexico; and therefore it was naturally fuppofed to be a feed, till in the year 1692 Father Plumier gave Pomet an account of its being an animal. And this, though then difregarded, has been confirmed by fubfequent obfervations. Indeed, to determine the point, we have. now the means in our own hands, even in this part of the world.-We need only moisten and foak in wa ter, or in vinegar, a number of cochineals till they are fwelled and diftended, to know that every one is the more or lefs perfect body of an infect; the most imperfect and mutilated fpecimens always fhow the rings of the body; and from obferving others, it will be easy to find the number and difpofition of the legs;. parts, or even whole ones, being left on several, and often complete pairs. In this way the legs, anten-næ, and probofcis, may be discovered. See Coccus above.

M. Macquer obferves, that the cochineal of Sylvestre is gathered in the woods of Old and New Mexico. The infect lives, grows, and multiplies on the uncul tivated opuntias, which grow there in great abun dauce. It is there expofed to the inclemencies of the weather, and dies naturally. The colour is more durable than that of the common cochineal, but lefs bright: but there is no advantage in ufing it; for,. though cheaper, a greater quantity is requifite. COCHLEA, the fhell-fnail, in zoology. See HE

LIX.

COCHLEA, in Anatomy. See ANATOMY, p. 765. col. 1. COCHLEARIA,

Cochlearia

Cociatum.

COCHLEARIA, SCURVY-GRASS: A genus of the filiculofa order, belonging to the tetradynamia clafs of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 39th order, Siliquofa. The filicula is emarginated, turgid, and fcabrous; with the valves gibbous and obtufe. There are fix fpecies; the most remarkable of which are, 1. The angelica, or garden scurvy-grafs, grows naturally on the fea-fhore, in the north of England and in Holland; but is cultivated for ufe in the gardens near London. It hath a fibrous root, from which arife many round fucculent leaves, which are hollowed like a fpoon; the ftalks rife from fix inches to a foot high: thefe are brittle, and garnished with leaves which are oblong and finuated. The flowers are produced in clusters at the end of the branches, confifting of four small white petals which are placed in the form of a crofs; and are fucceeded by short, roundish, fwelling, feed-veffels, having two cells divided by a thin partition. In each of thefe are lodged four or five roundish feeds. 2. The armoracia, or horfe-radish, is fo well known as to need no defcription.

The first is propagated by feeds, which are to be fown in July, in a moift fpot of ground; and when the plants are come up, they fhould be thinned, fo as to be left at about fix inches diftance each way. The plants that are taken out may be tranfplanted into other borders. In the spring these plants will be fit for ufe; thofe that are left will run up to feed in May, and perfect their feeds in June. If the feeds are fown in the fpring, they feldom grow well. The horfe-radish is propagated by cuttings or buds from the fides of the old roots. The beft feafon for this work is in October or February; the former for dry lands, the latter for moist.

Ufes. Scurvy-grafs is a pungent ftimulating medicine; capable of diffolving vifcid juices, opening obftructions of the vifcera and the more diftant glands, and promoting the more fluid fecretions. It is particularly celebrated in fcurvies, and is the principal herb employed in thefe diforders in the northern countries. Horfe-radifh root has a quick pungent smell, and a penetrating acrid tafte; it nevertheless contains in certain veffels a sweet juice, which fometimes exfudes on the furface. By drying it lofes all its acrimony, becoming first sweetish, and then almost infipid: if kept in a cool place in fand, it retains its qualities for a confiderable time. The medical effects of it are to ftimulate the folids, attenuate the juices, and promote the fluid fecretions: it feems to extend its action through the whole habit, and to affect the minuteft glands. It has frequently done fervice in fome kinds of fcurvies, and other chronic diforders proceeding from a vifcidity of the juices or obftructions of the excretory ducts. Sydenham recommends it likewife in dropfies, particularly thofe which follow intermittent fevers. Both water and rectified fpirit extract the virtues of this root by infufion, and elevate them in diftillations: along with the aqueous fluid an effential oil rifes, poffeffing the whole taste and pungency of the horse-radish.

COCHLITES, in natural history, an appellation given to the petrified fhells of the cochleæ or fnails.

COCINTUM (anc. geog.), a promontory of the Bruttii, reckoned the longeft in Italy: and which

Cock-Pit, a fort of theatre upon which game-cocks fight.

It muft appear aftonishing to every reflecting mind, that a mode of diverfion fo cruel and inhuman as that of cock-fighting fhould fo generally prevail, that not only the ancients, barbarians, Greeks, and Romans, fhould have adopted it; but that a practice fo favage and heathenifh fhould be continued by Christians of all forts, and even pursued in these better and more enlightened times.

The ancient Greeks and Romans, as is well known, were wont to call all the nations in the world barbarians; yet certainly, if we confider the many inftances of cruelty practifed among them, there was very little reafon for the diftinction. Human facrifices were common both to them and the barbarians; and with them the expofing of infants, the combats of men with wild beafts, and of men with men in the gladiatorial scenes, were fpectacles of delight and feftivity.

The islanders of Delos, it feems, were great lovers of cock-fighting; and Tanagra a city in Boeotia, the ifle of Rhodes, Chalcis in Euboea, and the country of Media, were famous for their generous and magnanimous race of chickens. The kingdom of Perfia was probably included in the laft, from whence this kind of poultry was firft brought into Greece; and if one may judge of the reft from the fowls of Rhodes and Media, the excellency of the broods at that time con fitted in their weight and largenefs (as the fowls of thofe countries were heavy and bulky), and of the nature of what our sportsmen call bakebags or turnpokes. The Greeks, moreover, had fome method of preparing the birds for battle, by feeding; as may be collected from Columella.

It fhould feem, that at firft cock-fighting was partly a religious and partly a political inftitution at Athens; and was there continued for the purpose of improving the feeds of valour in the minds of their youth; but was afterwards abused and perverted both here and in the other parts of Greece to a common paftime, without any moral, political, or religious intention, and as it is now followed and practised among us.

At Rome, as the Romans were prone to imitate the Greeks, we may expect to find them following their example in this mode of diverfion, and in the worst way, viz. without any good or laudable motives; fince, when they took and brought it to Rome, the Greeks had forgotten every thing that was commendable in it, and had already perverted it to a low and unmeaning fport. Signior Hyam thinks the Romans borrowed the paftime from Dardanus in Afia; but there is little

P 2

reafon

of many other males, he will fcratch and provide for Cock Pit, them with an affiduity almoft equal to that of the hen; ~~~ and his generofity is fo great, that, on finding a hoard of meat, he will chuckle the hens together, and without touching one bit himself will relinquish the whole of it to them. He was called the bird, xar toxnv, by many of the ancients; he was highly efteemed in some countries, and in others was even held facred, infomuch that one cannot but regret that a creature fo useful and noble, fhould, by a ftrange fatality, be fo enormously abused by us. It is true, our αλεκτρυομανία, οι the maffacre of Shrove Tuesday, is now in a declining way; and, in a few years, it is to be hoped will be totally difufed: but the cock-pit ftill continues a reproach to the humanity of Englishmen, and to their religion; the pureft, the tendereft, and moft compalfionate, of all others, not excepting even the Brach

Cock Pit. reafon for making them go fo far from it, when it was fo generally followed in Greece, whofe cultoms the Romans were addicted to borrow and imitate. However, it is probable, they did not adopt this opinion very early. It may be gathered from Columella, that the Romans did not ule the fport in his time. This author ftyles cock fighting a Grecian diverfion; and fpeaks of it in terms of ignominy, as an expenfive amufement, unbecoming the frugal householder, and often attended with the ruin of the parties that followed it. The words are remarkable. "Nos enim cenfemus inftituere vectigal induftrii patris familias, non rixofarum avium lanillæ, cujus plerumque totum patrinonium pignus aleæ, victor gallinaceus pyétes abitulit:" Where he defcribes, as we think, the manner, not of the Romans, but of the Greeks, who had in his time converted the diverfion of cock-fighting into a fpecies of gaming, and even to the total ruin of their families, as happens but too often in England at this day. The Romans, however, at laft gave into the custom, tho' not till the decline of the empire. The firft caufe of contention between the two brothers Baffianus and Geta, fons of the emperor Septimus Severus, happened, according to Herodian, in their youth, about the fighting of their cocks; and if the battling between these two princes was the firft inflance of it, probably they had feen and learned it in Greece, whither they had often accompanied the emperor their fa.

ther.

It is obfervable, that cocks and quails pitted for the purpofe of engaging one another, a outrance, or to the laft gafp, for diverfion, are frequently compared, and with much propriety, to gladiators. Hence Pliny's expreffion, Gallorum ceu gladiatorum; and that of Columella, rixofarum avium lanifta; lanifla being the proper term for the mafter of the gladiators. Confequently one would expect, that when the bloody fcenes of the amphitheatre were discarded, as they were foon after the Chriftian religion became the establishment of the empire, the wanton fhedding of mens blood in fport, being of too cruel and favage a nature to be patronifed and encouraged in an inftitution fo harmlefs and innocent as the Chriftian was, one might justly expect that the opruyouania and the axixIpuoμania would have ceafed of courfe. The fathers of the church are continually inveighing against the fpectacles of the arena, and upbraiding their adverfaries with them. Thefe indeed were more unnatural and fhocking than a main of cocks; but this, however, had a tendency towards infufing the like ferocity and implacability in the breafts and difpofitions of men.

Befides, this mode of diverfion has been in fact the bane and deftruction of thousands here, as well as thofe of lanifta avium, "cock-feeders," mentioned by Columella, whofe patrimonial fortunes were totally diffipated and destroyed by it.

The cock is not only an useful animal, but ftately in his figure, and magnificent in his plumage. "Imperitant fuo generi, fays Pliny, et regnum, in quacunque funt domo, exercent" Aristophanes compares him to the king of Perfia; most authors alfo take notice of the " fpectatifimum infigne, ferratum, quod eorum verticem regia corone modo exornat." His tenderness towards his brood is fuch, that, contrary to the custom

mannic.

It is unknown when the pitched battle first entered England; but it was probably brought thither by the Romans. The bird was here before Cafar's arrival, but no notice of his fighting occurs earlier than the time of William Fitz-Stephen, who wrote the life of archbishop Becket, fome time in the reign of Henry II. and describes the cocking as a sport of school-boys on Shrove Tuesday. From this time at least the diverfion, however abfurd, and even impious, was continued amongst us. It was followed, though difapproved and prohibited 39 Edward III.: alfo in the reign of Henry VIII; and A. D. 1569. It has by fome been called a royal diverfion; and, as every one knows, the cock-pit at Whitehall was erected by a crowned head, for the more magnificent celebration of it. There was another pit in Drury-lane, and another in Javin-freet. It was prohibited, however, by one of Oliver's acts,. March 31. 1664. What aggravates the reproach and difgrace upon Englishmen, are thofe fpecies of fighting which are called the battle-royal and the Welfb-main, known no where in the world but there'; neither in China, nor in Perfia, nor in Malacca, nor among the favage tribes in America. Thefe are scenes fo bloody as almost to be too fhocking to relate; and yet, as many may not be acquainted with the horrible nature of them, it may be proper for the excitement of our averfion and deteftation to defcribe them in a few words. In the former, an unlimited number of fowls are pitted, and when they have flaughtered one another for the diverfion (Dii boni!) of the other wife generous and humane Englifhman, the fingle furviving bird is to be efteemed the victor, and carries away the prize. The Welsh-main confifts, we will fuppofe of 16 pair of cocks; of these, the 16 conquerors are pitted a fecond time; the 8 conquerors of these are pitted a third time; the 4 conquerors the fourth time; and laftly, the two conquerors of these are pitted the fifthtime; fo that (incredible barbarity!) 31 cocks are fure to be most inhumanely murdered for the sport and pleasure, the noife and nonfenfe, the profane curfing and fwearing, of those who have the effrontery to call themfelves, with all thefe bloody doings, and with all this impiety about them, Chriflians; nay, what with: many is a fuperíor and diftinét character, men of benevolence and morality. But let the morality and benevolence of fuch be appretiated from the following inftance recorded as authentic in the obituary of the Gentleman's