There are no hares, but many rabbits, which are often killed by wild cats, in their predatory excursions: these are of the same species with the domestic cat, harbouring in the rocks, and wandering about by night in quest of prey-they carry off great numbers of poultry.

The houses both in town and the country, and the gardens, plantations, &c., are beset with multitudes of rats and mice; every means has been attempted to destroy them, but no apparent diminution of their thousands has been effected; the damage they do, particularly the rats, is almost incredible. One of the greatest benefits this island could experience, would be the extirpation of these vermin.

Of insects, reptiles, &c., none are venomous but the scorpion and centipede: their stings occasion considerable pain and inflammation of the wounded part, but seldom attended with more unpleasant effects. The remedy in general use is, to bruise the animal to pieces and apply it as a plaister, or to wash the place affected with spirits in which some of them are kept. This treatment speedily accomplishes a cure.

'The scorpion is small: the scolopendræ are from five to eight inches in length.

'Gryllus, domesticus et campestris, the house and field cricket appear to be identified in species, only that the former is of a pale, yellow, brown cast, and the latter more decidedly brown.

'A species of the beetle, and two of the grasshopper, abound.

The cattle-fly, probably oestrus tarandi, is the pest of oxen: when it inflicts its sting, the poor animal runs about in violent speed, careless of precipices, or any other danger; large worms are taken from under the hides, generated from the egg of this insect. Horses suffer also in like manner from their attacks: and instances have been known of persons stung by them, from whose flesh similar worms have been extracted.

'Innumerable ants are in every dry situation; the same with the common brown ant of England: they traverse the trunks and branches of trees in myriads, for the saccharine substance which a species of puceron affords. There are no white ants so destructive in India.

'A few lizards occasionally appear about houses, &c.-small and quite harmless.

'There are neither toads nor frogs.

'Butterflies and moths in great variety, and exceedingly beautiful,

are common.

'There are many sorts of spiders, some very large, and of colours elegantly diversified.

'The snail and slug are often found in gardens, and on the young plants in the upper lands.

"Grubs, produced most probably from moths' eggs, afterwards transformed into winged insects of the same description, are of great mischief in the gardens, destroying numbers of young plants, the tender stems of which they bite asunder, close to the surface of the earth.

'Mosquitoes are in swarms: the continual humming noise they make (which is astonishingly loud for so minute a fly) is nearly as annoying as their bite: in warm weather, wherever there happens to be any stagnant water they are innumerable, both in a winged state, and not yet furnished with ale, swimming about like tad-poles. There is another kind not so numerous, called the day mosquito, of the same size, but whose sting is yet more severe; a degree of inflammation instantly succeeds it, at

tended with intolerable itching, and virulent sores have been the consequence of scratching these places. This insect is of a dark brown colour, its body, legs, and wings, spotted with white.

The dragon-fly is from one to three inches in length: the colours red, green, and azure blue, of wonderful brilliance.

"Cock-roaches are very large, numerous, and annoying, paying their unceremonious and disgusting visits in every apartment of the house.

'It is is impossible to describe the ravages occasioned by caterpillars: extensive plantations of esculents, verdant and flourishing in the evening, present, too often, a leafless and distressing appearance when the morning calls the gardener to his accustomed employ; they are inconceivably numerous, and their visitations are frequently as sudden as those of locusts in other countries. The energy and expectations of the farmer receive in 10 way a more vexatious check, than from these destructive insects. Their departure in a body is sometimes as sudden as their arrival.'

ORNITHOLOGY.

'It appears from the best information which can now be obtained, that when Saint Helena was discovered it had no other birds than sea fowls, of the same species with those which now frequent the coast.

'These are the frigate pelican, or man of war, pelicanus aquilus: it is a large, dark-coloured bird, in length from three to four feet, and ten to fourteen feet in width, from the extremities of the wings: it soars to a great height; from which it darts with wonderful rapidity to seize its prey usually the flying-fish.

The tropic bird, phaeton ethereus: the bill is red, the eyes surrounded with black, a few of the larger quill feathers near their ends are black, tipped with white; all the rest of the bird is white, except the back, which is variegated with curved lines of black The legs and feet are of a vermilion red; the toes webbed; the tail consists of two long, straight, narrow, white feathers.

There are also the white-bird, black-bird, and egg-bird: they are about the size of a full-grown pigeon, and in abundance. The eggs of the latter, which are deposited in their nests on the islets and rocks round the coast, are very good: the skin of the white bird is in curious contrast to its plumage, which is uniformly and delicately white, and that as entirely black. These birds are sometimes brought to table, but not much liked, on account of their fishy taste.

'To these may be added, the noddy, sterna stolida; petrel, procellaria capensis; and the grenadier gross-beak, loxia orix, locally called wirebird.

"The following are the land birds, all of which have been gradually introduced: the varieties are more valuable than numerous, most of them being articles of food.

'Peacock, brought from Bombay in 1788: it is a magnificent bird, larger than the turkey: the female deposits her eggs in some secret place to prevent the male destroying them. They are wild.

Pheasants. A species from China; the plumage of peculiar beauty: by night they roost on the alpine trees, and by day descend into the brakes and bushes of the lower pastures; they do potatoe crops considerable damage, by raking them out of the earth.

'Partridge. Said to be from France: they prefer the rocky and barren parts of the island; their plumage is cinereous, the chin white, with

a black band-the bills and legs blood-red. This bird is properly the only game, the pheasants being reserved for hospitalities to strangers; and a proper delicacy to the inhabitants has generally disposed the gov ernor to decline complying with the wish for a sport, from which the gentlemen of the island are excluded.

'Domestic poultry are plentiful, and all good in their kinds, but much too dear; large supplies of them are furnished to shipping.

'Guinea-fowls, not numerous: the common pigeons are plentiful. 'The other land birds are the dove, Java sparrow, amaduvade, and Canary, the two last as numerous as sparrows in England.'

On the subject of ichthyology, captain Barnes gives us a curious account of the sea-lion. Could some of our excessively plethoric citizens disencumber themselves of their superfluous fat as easily as this animal does of his, we should soon have some of our useless shipping chartered for Napoleon's rock. Our author quotes the words of Mr. Thomas Leech.

"There is also here the manatee, commonly called the sea-cow, though it certainly is the sea-lion, mentioned by lord Anson, in his Voyage round the World: this creature comes on shore to disencumber itself of its fat, or blubber, which it does by cutting its skin against the rocks, from whence issues a great quantity of oil; and after it has rid itself of its burden, it retires to the sea again. It will lay four, five, or more days on shore, if not disturbed, but on the least disturbance makes towards the sea: it has a large head and neck, like that of a bull, with large teeth and whiskers, rather resembling horn than hair; (the common people affirm, that wearing these, ring fashion, is a specific against the cramp.) In smelling, it moves its nose like a dog: it has two short paws, or feet, not much unlike those of a dog, extremely strong, and the claws are also not much different; the tail part is divided into a kind of fin, to assist it in swimming. The eyelids of this creature are very remarkable: the undermost is a thin, transparent skin, which falls down over the eye, while the eye itself remains entirely open; this, I imagine, Nature has provided for the security of the creature's eye, while under water, as it can certainly see through it: when it sleeps on shore, both the eyelids of each eye are shut. The method of taking it is, by shooting it near the eye, or with a hatchet to split its head open; for, if you fire twenty or more balls at its body, they will take little or no effect, on account of the thickness of its fat.""

The island of St. Helena has been frequently represented as uncommonly barren and dry; but captain Barnes informs us, that it contains five hundred species of plants; that rains are not unfrequent; that fields of potatoes have been suffered to rot in the ground, because the market price would not defray the expense of digging them; and that on this little speck of the ocean, there are certainly several thousand acres of excellent land, now lying waste, which might, with great facility and advantage, be cultivated.'Upon most, if not all of the estates and farms, are plantations of young trees, valuable in their kind, and rapidly advancing in their growth." The greatest pests of the island are mice, blackberry bushes, and Napoleon.

150

ART. VIII. Persian Anthology-From the Asiatic Journal. MR. EDITOR,

IN

N the last Edinburgh Review, p. 243, on the article of Dugald Stewart's Introduction to the Encyclopædia Britannica, is the following note:

At the conclusion of bishop Taylor's Liberty of Prophesying is a Jewish story, told in the manner of a chapter of Genesis, in which God' is represented as rebuking Abraham for having driven an idolater out of his tent. This story, the bishop says, is somewhere to be found in the Rabinical books; but till the original is discovered, we may ascribe the beauty of the imitation, if not the invention of the incidents, to the bishop himself.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin gave the same story, with some slight variations, to lord Kaimes, who published it in his Sketches of the History of Man.'

About twenty years ago, I sent to the Asiatic Society at Calcutta a paper on the coincidences of the European and oriental classics, ancient and modern, part of which my friend general Kirkpatrick furnished the editor of the Asiatic Register with a copy of, in which it appeared; but what I now send you has never been in print. In Europe we have of late been much amused by stories of Muhammadan intolerance; but it has been by writers, who were either ignorant of the Mussulman tenets, or wilfully misrepresented them. In the Koran we are told that

'Jews, Christians, and Sabians, and indeed whoever believeth in God and the last day, and doeth that which is right, shall have his reward with the Almighty, and no fear shall come upon him, neither needeth he to grieve.' And Sadi, in quoting that passage in one of his sermons, adds that any fellow-creature, who believes in God after his own fashion and heart, and thus accomplishes good works, may expect a favourable reception and final sentence on the last day, notwithstanding his failure in ritual duty; that there is salvation for a virtuous infidel, but none for a vicious believer.' He moreover adds- Many a believer is arrayed in vain glory, and many an infidel wears the garb of humility.'

But what finer examples of toleration can I offer than the following two apologues, from the Bustan of Sadi?

A Mogh, or fireworshipper, had secluded himself from the world, and devoted his whole time to the service of an idol. Some years afterwards that professor of a rejected faith happened to fall into distressed circumstances. Confident of relief, he threw himself at the feet of his idol, and ay prostrate and helpless on the floor of its temple, saying, "I am undone: take me, oh! my idol! by the hand: I am afflicted to the soul: have compassion on my body." Oftentimes would he be thus fervent in his devotional duty; for his affairs were not in the train of being settled. But how shall an image forward any man's concern, which cannot drive a fly from settling on its own body? The poor Mogh waxed warm, and added, in his passion, "Oh! slave of error! how long have I worshipped thee to a vain purpose! accomplish for me at once the object of my heart, otherwise I must ask it of Providence, or the Lord God paramount!" That contaminated Mogh still

lay with his face in the dust, now that the pure spirit of the Almighty had complied with his prayer. One of the true faith, whose sincere adoration had been ever clouded with calamity, expressed himself astonished at what had come to pass, and said, "Here is a despicable and obstinate worshipper of the fire, whose mind is still intoxicated with the wine of his temple; his heart full of infidelity, and hand soiled with perfidy; yet has God fulfilled the object of his wish!" This holy man's mind was occupied in trying to resolve this difficulty, when a message from heaven was revealed into the ear of his soul, intimating to him, "This old and perverted sinner often implored his idol, and his prayers were disregarded; but were he to quit the threshold of my tribunal disappointed, then where would be the difference between a dumb and perishable idol, and the Lord God Eternal?" Put your trust, oh! my dearly beloved friends! in Providence, for nothing is more helpless than a stock or a stone idol. It were lamentable, when you might lay your heads on this threshold, if you should come to leave it disappointed of your object.

Sadi's second apologue is as follows:

'I have heard that no son of the road, or traveller, had approached the hospitable abode of that friend of God, Abraham, for a whole week. From the natural goodness of his heart, he could never partake of his morning repast, till some weary stranger had entered his dwelling. He took himself forth, and explored every quarter; he viewed the valley to its uttermost border, and descried from afar a man, solitary as a willow, whose head and beard were whitened with the snow of years. In order to administer comfort, he went up and gave him a hearty welcome, and, after the custom of the generous, thus kindly entreated him, saying "Oh! precious apple of mine eye! be courteously pleased to become my guest!" The old man consented, and getting up, stept briskly forward; for he well knew the beneficent disposition of Abraham (on whom be God's blessing). The domestic companions of that beloved friend of God seated with reverence the poor old man: orders were issued, and the table spread, and the family took their respective stations around it. When the company began to ask God's blessing before meat, nobody could hear the stranger utter a word. Then did Abraham say to him, "Oh! sage of ancient times! thou seemest not to be holy and devout, as is usual with the aged. Is it not their duty, when they break his bread, to call upon that Providence, who has graciously bestowed it?" The old man replied, "I follow no religious rite, that has not had the sanction of my priest of the fire!" The wellomened prophet was now made aware that this depraved old wretch had been bred a Guebre; as an alien to his faith, he thrust him forth with scorn; for the pure abhor the contamination of the vile. From glorious Omnipotence an angel came down, and in the harshness of rebuke called aloud, "Oh! Abraham, for a century of years I bestowed on him life and food, whom thou hast taken to abominate on an hour's acquaintance; for though he is offering adoration to the fire, why art thou to withhold the hand of toleration from him?”'

We are told by oriental writers-for the Persians claim Abraham as one of their forefathers-that the Almighty often communed with him thus, and was pleased to impart to him the secret counsels and purposes of his Providence; whence he was styled the