fea, by the wad which furrounds it, and helps to bear it up, and by the hardness of its fhell, impenetrable to the water. It does not open by a joint, as our nuts do, but the juice comes out at one of the three orifices which nature has contrived at its extremity, and has afterwards covered with a cuticle. Cocoa-trees have been found upon the borders of the fea in defart iflands, and even upon fhoals of fand. This is the kind of palm which fringes the banks of the rivers between the tropics, as the fir does thofe of the north, and the date, thofe of the burning mountains of Palestine.

"I think I am not deceived, in saying that the cocoa is calculated to float upon the fea, and to fow itself afterwards in the fands. Every feed has its own peculiar method of propagating itself; but an investigation of this matter, would make me digrels too much from the fubject. I may, perhaps, fome day or other undertake it, and when ever I do, it will be with delight. The study of nature compenfates for our disappointments in the study of mankind, as we cannot but trace throughout the whole, the harmony with which intelligence and beneficence unite to render the fyftem compleat. But if it were poffible, that we should be deceived even in this ;-if all things by which mankind is furrounded, were combined to distract him; at least, let our errors be errors of our own choofing, and let us give the preference to those which afford confolation, rather than excite difguft.

"Those who imagine that nature in raising so high the heavy fruit of the cocoa-tree, has loft fight of that law which decrees the pumpkin to creep upon the ground, do not confider that the head of the cocoatree is but small, and can therefore afford but little fhade. 'Tis under the leaves of the oak, men feek a fhelter from the fun's fcorching rays. Why not rather obferve, that in India, as in Europe, thofe trees which bear a mellow fruit are but of a middling height, that in falling it may not be deftroyed; on the contrary, thofe producing fruit of a hard nature, as the cocoa, chefnut, acorn, and nut, are lofty, their fruit being not liable to be damaged by falling to the ground? Moreover, the trees that are furnished with a number of leaves yield as well in India as in Europe, a defirable fhelter without danger. There are some, as for inftance, the Jaca, which bear fruits of a very great fize; but then they bear them near to the trunk, and within reach of the hand: thus, nature, which man is ever accufing of imprudence, has contrived with equal bounty for his fhelter and his nourishment.

A kind of crab has been lately discovered to burrow at the foot of the cocoa-tree. Nature has provided this animal with a long claw, at the end of which is a nail, ferving to extract the fubftance of the fruit by the holes I have defcribed. It has not the large pincers of other crabs; they would be useless to it. This animal is found upon the Itle of Palms, to the northward of Madagascar, difcovered in 1769, by the fhipwreck of the Heureux, which was loft there in going to Bengal.

At the ifle of Sechelle, there is juft difcovered a tree bearing double cocoa-nuts, fome of which weigh upwards of forty pounds. The Indians attribute great virtues to it. They believe it to be a production of the fea, becaufe the currents formerly threw fome of VOL. II.

them

them upon the coaft of Malabar. They call it fea-cocoa. This fruit, mulieris corporis bifurcationem cum natura & pilis repræfentat. Its leaf, fhaped like a fan, will cover half a house. Order is obfervable in every work of nature,—the tree which bears this enormous fruit, bears three or four only at the most: the common cocoa-tree bears bunches of more than thirty; I have tafted both, and think their flavour very much alike. They have planted the fea-cocoa in the Ife of France, and it begins to bud."

Of the climate of this ifland, our Voyager speaks with no great encomium; at the fame time he gives us no unfavourable idea of his own tafte for horticulture.

"The climate of this ifland feems too cold for the trees of Asia, and too hot for those of Europe. Pliny obferves, that the tempera. ment of the air is more neceffary for the culture of plants, than the qualities of the foil; and fays, that in his time, pepper and citrontrees were feen in Italy, and incenfe-trees in Lydia; but that they merely vegitated. I am however of opinion, that the coffee-tree might be naturalifed in the fouth of France, for it delights in a cool and temperate air. Thefe expenfive experiments can fcarcely be carried on by any but princes; and yet, the acquifition of one plant unknown before, is a circumftance by which a whole nation may be benefited. To what purpofe have been all the wars upon our continent? Of what confequence is it now-a-days, that Mithridates was once conquered by the Romans, and Montezuma by the Spaniards? unless fome benefit accrue. Europe might with reafon weep over her unprofitable trophies; but whole provinces in Germany fubfift upon potatoes brought from America, and our fair ladies are indebted for the cherries they eat, to Lucullus. The defeet was indeed coftly; but for this our forc-fathers paid. Let us be wifer,-let us collect together the good things which nature has fcattered abroad.

"If labour fhould ever become neceflary for my health, I will make a garden after the Chinese fashion ;-the fituation they delight in, is on the banks of a river;-they chufe an irregular piece of ground, on which are old trees, large rocks, and ring hills. They form round it a boundary of rugged rocks, placed upon one another, fo that their junctures cannot be perceived. Hereon grow clumps of fcolopendria, tendrils with blue and purple flowers, and borders of mofs of different colours. A ftream of water meanders among these vegetables, whence it efcapes in cafcades. Health and enjoyment are diffused over fuch a fpot as this, while the European's garden prefents him with no other view but that of a dreary brick-wall.

"Of the hollow grounds they make pieces of water, which they ftock with fish, furround with banks of turf, and plant with trees. They are particularly careful that no level fpot or trait line fhall appear; nor any mafonry; how often docs the fancied fkill of the artist mar the fimplicity of Nature's handy-work?

The plain is diverfified with tufts of flowers, and walks of green fod, in which fruit-trees are planted. The fides of the hills are variegated with clumps of fhrubs, fome bearing fruit, others flowers; the fummit is crowned with trees whofe fpreading branches afford a pleafing retreat from the parching r. ys of the fun.

"There

There are no ftrait walks, difcovering to you every object at once; but winding paths, which open to your view in an agreeable fucceffion. Nor are their objects, ftatues, or vafes, ufelefs, as they are large; but a vine bending under a load of ripening grapes, and adorned with rofe-bushes and other flowers: the mind is at the fame time delighted with a fannet or epigram upon the bark of an orange-tree, or a philofophical maxim upon a piece of broken rock. "This garden is not an orchard, a park, a lawn, but an agreeable affemblage of them all ;-'tis itfelf a country, with hills, woods, and plains, where each object contributes to the perfection of the whole. A Chinese has no more idea of a regular garden, than he has of cutting a flowering fhrub into the fquared form of a cheft of tea.

"Travellers fay, that there is no leaving thefe delightful retreats but with a kind of regret; for my part, I would enhance the pleasures of them, by the fociety of an amiable woman, and by having in my neighbourhood fuch a friend as yourself."

We fhall give our readers a fhort quotation or two more from our Voyager's journey on foot over the island, and then take our leave of him. The following is a defcription of the house and family of one M. le Normand, to whom he paid a vifit in his

tour.

of

"There was but one large room, and of this the whole houfe confifted; in the middle was the kitchen; at one end, they kept their ftores, and here allo lay the fervants; at the other was the bed where lay the mafter and his wife; it was covered with a cloth by way tefter, upon which was a hen fitting upon eggs; under the bed were fome ducks ;-pigeons harboured among the leaves of the roof; and at the door were three great dogs.

"All the implements both of the hufbandry and housewifery were hung up against the walls. What was my furprize at finding the mittrefs of this wretched dwelling, to be a very handfome genteel woman. Both fhe and her husband were of good families in France. They had come here feveral years fince to feek their fortune; and had quitted their relations, their friends, and their country, to pass their days in this defart, where nothing is to be feen but the fea, and the frightful cliffs of the promontory of Brabant; but the air of contentment and good-nature about this young mother of a family, feemed to make every body happy who came near her. She gave fuck to her youngest child, while the four others flood round her, playful and contented.

"Supper-time being come, every thing the houfe afforded was ferved up with the utmost propriety.This meal appeared a very agrecable one to me. I could not help being ftruck with the fight of the pigeons fluttering about the table, the goat kids and the chil dren at play together, and fuch a variety of animals in perfect agreement with this amiable family, and with each other. Their peaceful fports, the folitude of the place, the murmuring noife of the fea, all combined to prefent to my imagination, a picture of thofe times when the children of Noah, defcended upon a new earth, began afresh to partake of the domeftic-enjoyments they had fo long been strangers to.

I a

After

"After fupper, I was fhewn to my lodging-room, which was a little hut newly built of wood, at about two hundred paces from the houfe. The door was not yet put up; but I clofed the opening with the boards of which it was made. I laid my arms in readiness, the Maron negroes being very numerous in this part. A few years ago, about forty of them, retired to the promontory, and began to make plantations. An attempt was made to take them; but fooner than fuffer this, they all threw themselves into the sea.

"September 1, the mafter of the house having returned home in the night, perfuaded me to defer my journey till afternoon; promifing to accompany me part of the way. It was no more than three fhort leagues to Belle-ombre, the last plantation, or house that I should find. Madame de Normand herself, prepared a remedy to apply to the wound of my poor negro. She made over the fire a kind of Samaritan's balfam, with turpentine, fugar, wine, and oil. His wound being dreffed, I fent him on before with his comrade. At three o'clock, I took leave of this hofpitable house, and of the amiable and excellent miftrefs of it. Her husband and I fet out. He was a very robust man; and his arms, legs, and face were exceedingly funburnt. He worked himself in the plantation, as well as in cutting down and clearing away trees. Nothing gave him concern, he said, but the ill health his wife brought upon herself by bringing up her children; and that she had lately added to the fatigue, by taking upon her the charge of an orphan. He told me only his grievances, for he could not but perceive how fenfible I was of the happiness he enjoyed."

After quitting this hofpitable family and their hoft, he proceeds: "Before I had gone two hundred yards, there met me a troop of negroes armed with fufils; upon their nearer approach, I perceived them to be a party fent out by the police of the ifland; they stopped when they came up to me. One of them had got in the fhell of a gourd, two puppies juft whelped; another of them led a woman tied by the neck with a cord made of rufhes; this was the booty they had taken from a camp of Maron negroes, which they had routed. They had killed one man, whofe grifgris they fhewed me,—it was a kind of talifman made like a rofary. The poor negro-woman feemed overwhelmed with grief. I afked her fome queftions, but fhe did not answer me. She carried upon her back a bag made of vacoa, I opened it, and was fhocked beyond measure at finding in it the head of a man. The country before me feemed no longer beautiful in my eyes, but was converted to a scene of horrors, from which I fled with precipitation.

66

My companions met me again as I was with fome difficulty going down a declivity, towards the arm of the fea de la Savanna; it was now night, and we feated ourselves under fome trees at the bottom of the bay; where we fupped by the light of flambeaux.

"Our converistion turned upon the fubject of the Maron negroes, for they as well as I, had met the party with the poor woman, who was carrying, perhaps, the head of her lover! M. Etiene told us, there were troops of them, of two or three hundred in number in the invirons of Belle-ombie. and that they elected a chief, difobedience to

whose

whofe orders was punished with death. They are forbidden to take any thing from the houses in the neighbourhood, or to go to the fide of the frequented rivers to feek for fish or other food. In the night they go down to the fea fide and fifh; and in the day-time drive the deer or flags to the interior parts of the woods, with dogs trained to great perfection for this purpose. When there is but one woman in a party, fhe is referved for the chief; but if there are many, they are in common. The children that are born, are immediately killed, left their cries fhould discover their retreat. The whole morning is fpent in cafting lots to prefage the deftiny of the enfuing day."

Our Voyager gives next a fhort account of the commerce and ftate of defence of this ifland; together with the incidents attending his return home; but we have already extended this article to a fufficient length.

ART. IV. Philofophical Transactions. Vol. LXV. For the Year 1775. Part I. Continued from page 73.

Among the papers of Natural Hiftory contained in this volume, the most remarkable are the tenth and eleventh; relative to an extraordinary fish, that appears to have fimilar properties to the torpedo, and is called the gymnetus electricus, or the electrical eel. -We fhall infert the firft of thofe papers, for the information and entertainment of the reader.

"Experiments and Obfervations on the Gymnotus Electricus, or Electrical Eel, By Hugh Williamfon, M. D. Communicated by John Welsh, Efq. F. R. S.

"To JOHN WALSH, Efq.

London, Feb 7. 1775. "Redde, Feb. 9, 1775. SIR, As the electrical eel has lately engaged the public attention, and yours in particular, I have taken the liberty of fending you fome experiments which I made on that fish: they are the fame that I had the pleasure of fhewing you last winter, on my arrival from Penfylvania. If you apprehend they may tend to caft any light on that curious part of natural history, or to gratify the curiofity of the public, be pleafed to make any use of them you may think proper. Befides my own fuperficial acquaintance with the fubject of electricity, of which I am very confcious, there are other circumftances that may help to apologize for the imperfect state in which thefe experiments appear. The cel being fickened by the change of climate, its cwner refufed to let us take it out of the water, for the purpote of making experiments, on reafonable terms; and there were many experiments which I could not make on it in the water, to my own fatisfaction. While I made thefe experiments, the eel was kept in a large veffel, fupported by pieces of dry timber, about three feet above the floor. Perhaps it may deferve notice, that a fmall hole being bored in the veffel in which the eel was fwimming, one perfon pro voked the cel fo as to receive a fhock; another perfon at the famne time, not in contact with him, but holding his finger in the fiream

13.

that