haunts in all directions by loud noises and the glare of torches. One quar ter alone, the enclosure I have defcribed, remains undisturbed, and here they are presented both with a peaceful retreat and plenty of water. To this fpot therefore they all repair, and are frequently compelled to haften their fleps by the approaching noifes which continually affail them from the rear. On coming to the entrance of the paths leading to the enclosure, their natural fagacity enables them to perceive the altered appearance of the place: the fences and narrow paths, where fo little room is left for their natural exertion, makes them fufpect that danger is at hand and a fnare laid for them; and they begin to thew eve y fymptom of dread and confternation. No time however is left them for deliberation, nor any opportunity of retreat; from the right and the left, as well as from behind, the noife and clamour of enemies immediately prefs upon them.

Urged on in this manner, they at length enter the paths, and push forward till they reach the large pace of the enclolure. As foon as they are thus fecured, tame elephants are fent in after them, and all the avenues fhut, except thofe narrow paths by which the natives are to approach them. The hunters now advance by thefe in all directions, and ufe every means to feparate the elephants, and drive them fingly into the fmaller compartments which are contained within the large enclosure. On this being effected, the only thing that remains is to fecure them with ropes. The tame elephants are here of the molt effectual service to the hunters, and greatly affift them in throwing ropes round the legs and neck of the wild animals. As foon as the wild elephant is made faft with ropes, he is led out by the ftraight path prepared for the purpofe, and made fait to the strongest trees on the outside of the labyrinth. The hunters then renew the fame process with the reft, till all the elephants within the encloture are fucceffively fecured.

"It frequently happens that the elephants when firft caught are very unruly and violent; in which cafe it is neceffary to have recourte to the powers and fagacity of the tame ones. The latter, when they perceive their wild brother is unmanageable, fall to jostling him, and belabouring him with their trunks, till fuch time as they have rendered him perfectly calm and compliant. They are alfo very affiduous in watching all his motions, and prevent him from making any fudden attack on their keepers.

"In 1797, no lefs than one hundred and feventy-fix elephants, taken in this manner, were fent over by Adam's bridge from Ceylon to the Continent. On their way I had an opportunity of feeing thefe immense animals at the Grand Pals beyond Columbo. One of them was exceedingly large and tall, and furpaffed in fize even the royal elephant in the poffelfion of the Nabob of Arcot, which I faw near his palace of Chepauk. Thefe animals, though fo lately taken in a wild ftate, appeared quite tractable, fhewed no fymptom of being mifchievous, and readily obeyed their keepers.

The fuperiority of the elephants of Ceylon does not confift in their fize, (for they are in general not fo tall as thole on the Continent;) but in their greater hardine's and powers for exertion, in their docility and freedom from vice and paffion. The natives are fo poffeffed with the idea of the excellence of their own elephants, as to affirm that the elephants of all other parts of the world make obeilance before thofe of Ceylon, and thus in tinctively acknowledge their fuperiority.

66

Thefe lords of the foreft, though from their fize and strength formid

able

able to all its other inhabitants, themfelves live in continual apprehension of a small reptile, against which neither their fagacity nor their prowess can at all defend them. This diminutive creature gets into the trunk of the elephant, and purfines its courfe till it finally fixes in his head, and by keeping him in continual agony, at length torments the ftupendous animal to death. So dreadfully afraid are the elephants of this dangerous enemy, that they ufe a variety of precautions to prevent his attacks; and never lay their trunks to the ground, except when to gather or feparate their food.

"The ftruggles which the elephants make to prevent themselves from being fecured, and the violence employed to render them tame, produce a number of accidents of which fome of them die while others are rendered completely ufelefs. Not above the half of those driven into the enclosure, or otherwise taken, can be preferved from injury fo as to be afterwards brought to fale. The hunt in 1797 was the greatest ever known."

The ichneumon of the Eaft is another curious and valuable animal, as will appear from the following account of it.

"The Indian ichneumon is a small creature, in appearance between a weazel and a mungoose. It is of infinite use to the natives, from its inve terate enmity to snakes, which would otherwife render every footstep of the traveller dangerous. The proofs of fagacity which I have feen in this little animal are truly furprifing, and afford a beautiful inftance of the wifdom with which Providence has fitted the powers of every animal to its particular fituation on the globe. This diminutive creature, on feeing a fnake ever fo large, will inftantly dart on it and feize it by the throat, provided he finds himself in an open place where he has an opportunity of running to a certain herb, which he knows inftinctively to be an antidote against the poison of the bite, if he should happen to receive one, I was present at an experiment tried at Columbo to afcertain the reality of this circumftance. The ichneumon, procured for the purpofe, was first shewn the fake in a clofe room. On being let down to the ground, he did not discover any inclination whatever to attack his enemy, but ran prying about the room to discover if there was any hole or aperture by which he might get out. On finding none, he returned haftily to his mafter, and placing himself in his bofom, could not by any means be induced to quit it, or face the fnake. On being carried out of the house, however, and laid down near his antagonist in an open place, he inftantly flew at the fnake and foon destroyed it. He then fuddenly difappeared for a few minutes, and again returned as foon as he had found the herb and eat of it. This ufeful inftinct impels the animal to have recourfe to the herb on all occafions, where it is engaged with a fnake, whether poisonous or not. one employed in this experiment was of the harmlefs kind, and procured for the purpose."

The

Among the birds of Ceylon, the honey-bird and the tailor bird are the m ft curious, particularly the former.

Among a great variety of fmaller birds, we particularly distinguish the honey-bird. It is fo called from a particular instinct by which it difcovers the honey concealed in trees. As if deigned for the fervice of the human fpecies, this bird continues to flutter about and make a great noise till it has attracted the notice of fome perfon, and induced him to follow the course it

points out to him. It then flutters before him, till it has led him to the tree where the bees have lodged their treasure. The man then carries off the honey, leaving a little for the ufe of the bird, which filently and contentedly watches till it is permitted to enjoy its reward. As foon as it, has eaten up its portion, it renews its noife, and goes in queft of another tree, followed by the man, who finds a guide here provided for him by nature.

"The tailor-bird is particularly remarkable for the art with which it conftructs its neft. This bird is of a yellow colour, not exceeding three inches in length, and flender in proportion. To prevent the poffibility of its little neft being thaken down, it contrives to attach it in fuch a manner to the leaves of the tree, that both must stand or fall together. The neft is formed of leaves which it picks up from the ground; and it contrives, by means of its flender bill and fome fine fibres, which it ufes as needle and thread, to few thete leaves to thofe growing on the tree with great dexterity. Hence it receives the name of the tailor-bird. The lining, which confifts of down, adds little to the weight of the neft, which is fcarcely felt on the twig that fupports it."

Poisonous fnakes and alligators abound in the woods and rivers of Ceylon. But on the other hand, the island produces abundance of many of the neceffaries and luxuries of life. Cinnamon may be called its ftaple produce; it yields pepper; the tea-plant has been found wild in the woods, of a kind equal to the beft tea-plants of China; the foil and climate are congenial to the growth of fugar and coffee; rice is plentiful; fruits and vegetables of all kinds flourish here; and many of the valuable woods are natives of Ceylon. Captain Percival offers many useful fuggeftions for the improvement of this important fettlement, in various refpects, which are entitled to, and will no doubt experience, the attention of our government; and we confider his work as a valuable addition to the accounts already published of different parts of our Eastern Empire.

Michaelis's Introduction to the New Teftament.

(Continued from P. 13.)

UR author having established the authenticity of the books of the New Tellament, proceeds, in his third chapter, to inquire into their inspiration. With refpect to the hiftorical books, he justly obferves, that this is not a matter of fo much importance as their authenticity; because a man of veracity may, without the aid of infpiration, faithfully record what he has feen and heard. The miracles performed by our Saviour would be complete evidence of his divine miffion, whether the hiftorian of thofe miracles were infpired or not; and the doctrines which he taught would be the doctrines of God, though committed to writing by the powers of mere men. He contends, however, that the gofpels of St. Matthew and St. John are undoubtedly infpired, because they were written by apostles, to whom our Lord had promised that the Holy Ghoft fhould teach them all things, and bring all things to their remembrance, whatsoever he had

faid

faid unto them;" but he abandons the infpiration of the gofpel by St. Luke, and feems more than inclined to give up that of St. Mark.

It is very difficult to enter into argument with him on this fubject; because he has not defined what he means by infpiration, and the omiffion is not well fupplied by the editor; but whatever be the import of that word, there is no good reafon to confider it as denoting a gift, which was bestowed on the apostles alone. The number of difciples, on whom the Holy Ghoft defcended on the day of Pentecoft, was a hundred and twenty; and had St. Mark and St. Luke been of that number, every argument which is here urged for the infpiration of the first and laft gofpels, would have proved, with equal force, the inspiration of the fecond and third. But there is no reafon to fuppofe that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghoft were confined even to thofe hundred and twenty men. They feem to have been very generally bestowed on the first converts to the faith; for the apoftles could not, otherwife, have defired the multitude of difciples to look out among themfelves feven men full of the Holy Ghoft, whom they might appoint to the office of deacon. Nor were thefe effufions of the Spirit peculiar to the Jewish Church. Lord Barrington has proved with the force of demonftration, that the various gifts of the Spirit enumerated by St. Paul were very plentifully beftowed upon all the first churches of the Gentiles; and, therefore, granting that St. Mark and St. Luke were converted long after our Lord's afcenfion, it is much more than probable, that thofe gifts were beftowed upon them, fince it is paft difpute that they were helps to St. Peter and St. Paul in the performance of their apoftolical duties. But if this be granted, furely it is incredible that the degree of infpiration, which enabled them to preach the gospel to individual affemblies, was withdrawn from them, when they fat down to write that gofpel for the ufe of the church in every age and in every nation,

Our author's reafoning on this fubject is often inconclufive, and fometimes contradictory; and the whole chapter, when compared with that in which he treats of the authenticity of the New Testament, is a piece of very crude compofition indeed. Even the notes of the editor are lefs fatisfactory than ufual; and on one occafion, when he differs from his author,t he feems to have forgotten, that St.. Paul received the gofpel, which he preached, from none of the evangelifts, but by immediate revelation from Jefus Chrift. He has, however, enumerated various authors whom the ftudent of theology will do well to confult for that information which he will not receive from Michaelis, refpecting the infpiration of the books of the New Teftament; and on that account his notes are valuable.

Their value, however, is very inconsiderable, when they are com

*See his Essay on the Teaching and Witness of the Holy Spirit, in Bishop Watfon's Tracts. Vol. IV.

See P. 86, and Pp. 386, 387.

pared

pared with the notes fubjoined to the fourth chapter. In that chapter Michaelis treats of the language of the New Teftament; but though he difplays much ingenuity and confiderable erudition, truth compels us to fay that fome of the fections, into which the chapter is divided, would be worfe than useless, were not the rafh conjectures of the author corrected by the found judgment and folid learning of the editor, who never contents himself with index-reading.

In the first fection fome very good reafons are affigned why the New Teftament, or, at leaft, the greater part of it, was written in Greek rather than in Latin, or any other language which was fpoken at the commencement of the Chriftian æra. In addition to them we beg leave to obferve, that the Greek was then more generally underftood than any other language; that the Holy Ghoft forefaw that it would be of lor ger duration, as a living language, than the Latin, which alone had any pretence to rival it; and that it is poffible to write, on abstract fubjects, with greater precision in Greek than in Latin, or any other language, perhaps, that has yet been spoken by. man. The number of books too that have been preserved in the Greek language, to which thofe in the Latin tongue bear a very fmall proportion, gives the modern interpreter of the facred text much affiftance, which he could not otherwise have had, in ascertaining the fenfe of an obfcure paflage.

The Greek of the New Teftament, however, is not always pure; and Michaelis points out, with confiderable accuracy, the various fources whence its unclaffical words and phrafes have been derived. This, fo far from being an objection to its authenticity, or to the infpiration of its writers, he fhews to be a very strong argument in fupport of both. Of the advocates for the purity of the New Teftament Greek, Mr. Marfh enumerates only Pfochenius, Stolberg, Schmid, Georgi and Blackwall; and no other at prefent occurs to us, who has any claim to be confidered as a scholar. On the other hand, Erafmus, Luther, Melanthon, Camererius, Beza, Drufius, Cafaubon, Glaffius, Gataker, Solanus, Olearius and Vorftius, together with Origen and Chryfoftom, exprefsly admit that the language of the New Teftament is not claffical, but Jewith Greek, abounding with Hebraifms, Rabbinifms, and Syriafins. The attempts which have been made by modern infidels to deduce from this fact an argument against the infpiration of the apoftles and evangelifts, are thewn by our author to have no force; but perhaps the fubject has never been more ably handled than by Warburton in his Doctrine of Grace. In that work the fophifms of Shaitefbury and Dr. Middleton are completely expofed, and what they urged as objections is fhewn to be the strongest proof that the New Teftament can be nothing elfe than what it profeffes to be.

From this account of the language of the New Teftament our author infers the great importance of oriental learning to the Chriftian divine; and he urges in particular on every clergyman, as a duty indifpenfable, the ftudy of the Septuagint tranflation of the Old Tefta

ment,