[219] Lib. viii. cap. 10.

[220] Hist. Indica, cap. 10.

[221] See Herbelot. Bibl. Orient. p. 206 and 456. Oberlin. Litterarum omnis Ævi Fata. Argent. 1789. Tab. I. Traité des plus belles Bibliothèques de l’Europe, p. 33. and Sketches of the History, Religion and Learning of the Hindoos, p. 92 and 93.

[222] A certain kind of white East Indian chintz.

[223] It is indeed true, that a great part of the gold and silver brought from Brasil and Spanish America, passes first into the hands of the industrious Norlanders for timber, iron, flax, hemp, linen, and other merchandize; and then goes to China and the East Indies for articles of luxury, drugs, &c. But England, at any rate, does not lose much, as it draws large revenues from its extensive possessions in India, and has in its hands almost the whole trade of that part of the world. F.

[224] Lib. vi. cap. 17, et 22.

[225] This observation of the author does not display much penetration. Commerce is the bond which unites the most distant nations with each other. Without trade our artists and manufacturers would have much less employment; and much less opportunity would be afforded them for exercising their ingenuity and invention. Ignorance and want of mental culture prevail in all those countries which are contented with their own productions. Providence requires more general benevolence, and less selfishness among men; and the only means for accomplishing that end, are the arts and manufactures, navigation and trade. They are indeed shamefully abused; but the friends of humanity ought to cherish a hope, that good will one day arise from this evil. F.

[226] In the observations with which the author begins this chapter, he hazards assertions very erroneous. The intense heat in the tropical regions is destructive both to men and to animals. At Calcutta, which lies at a considerable distance from the line, wild pigeons sometimes drop down dead at noon, while flying over the market-place. People who are then employed in any labour, such as writers in the service of the East India Company, whose correspondence often will not admit of delay, sit naked immersed up to the neck in large vessels, into which cold water is continually pumped by slaves from a well. Such a country cannot be favourable to health or longevity. What are properly called the northern regions, are also a wretched and melancholy residence for the human race. It is only a moderate climate, such as that of Greece, Italy, and other countries lying under the same latitude, that can exalt men’s ideas, and produce the utmost degree of happiness. These gave birth to those illuminating rays which have contributed to the improvement of the human mind; and which, diffused thence to colder climates, still exercise their beneficent influence. F.

[227] How the Marsians, a people long settled in Italy, should be here introduced among the Cimbri, the Teutones and the Huns, is to me incomprehensible. They inhabited their country so long that they might be considered as the first people by whom it was cultivated. Their history may be seen in a very scarce book, entitled Mutii Phœbonii Marsi Historia Marsorum, Napoli 1678, 4to. F.

[228] On this very just assertion of Hippocrates, which is confirmed by Camper, some of our modern philosophers have founded their system of different races; according to which, the negroes are incapable of possessing moral qualities, and exhibit certain proofs of it in their looks. I have, however, seen thousands of these men, against whom so partial a sentence has been passed, and could observe nothing of the kind in their countenances, which often displayed great benevolence. Climate, manner of life, clothing, food, and other circumstances alter the soft parts of the body, as well as the features of the face; and the solid parts even, from the same causes, assume gradually a different form. Thus whole tribes acquire a peculiar cast of visage; and the shape, size, and turn of the body become changed. But this cannot destroy the powers of the mind, the passions, and the moral qualities, which alone constitute the character and the valuable part of man. F.

[229] The sedentary mode of life which prevailed among the higher classes of the Grecian women formerly occasioned diseases of the like kind. In the history of the Argives, about the time of Megapenthes, we find that their women, on account of their sedentary life, occasioned by their spinning, weaving, embroidering, and other labours of the like kind, and perhaps also by impure air in confined apartments, and by the use of wine, brought on disorders which had some resemblance to the real Tarantismus (not that occasioned by the bite of the tarantula). Bias, and Melampus the son of Amythares, were celebrated for curing this disease. Music and songs sung by handsome young men, kind treatment, and perhaps also dancing, brought back to Argos all the women, who had wandered to the forests and mountains. F.

[230] See Lettre à M. Sonnerat à l’Isle de France, de l’Imprimerie Royale 1784, chap. vi. p. 102.

[231] The Bangue is nothing else than our hemp, the leaves of which, when smoked, have an intoxicating quality. F.

[232] See Tractatio medico-practica de Lue Venerea, Hermanni Boerhaave, Lugd. Bat. 1751.

[233] From the name Malabar china, I suspect that the Vèppa is the Swietenia febrifuga, five rubra, lately made known by Dr. Roxburgh. F.

[234] Perhaps the Averrhoa carambola Linn. F.

[235] Perhaps the root of the Cissampelos pareira L.

[236] This kind of plums are produced by the Phyllanthus Emblica L.

[237] See Rheede Hort. Malabar. vol. i. t. 57. What the author here says is incorrect. The wild cinnamon is the bark of the Karuvà, and is the Laurus Cassia L. On the other hand, the true Cassia lignea is the Katou Karuà in the Hort. Malab. vol. v. t. 53, and the Laurus Malabathrum L. F.

[238] In the Hort. Malab. vol. vi. p. 19. and in the System Guilandina Moringa L. F.

[239] Amomum Curcuma Linn.

[240] Perhaps the Melissa officinalis L. or our common balm. F.

[241] This sensitive plant, according to every appearance, is a Mimosa casta Lin. F.

[242] The Vayambu of Rheede, Hort. Malab. vol. xi. t. 60, is the Acorus calamus Lin. F.

[243] Lib. xii. cap. 5.

[244] Lib. xiv. cap. 38.

[245] The author probably here means the order of Cincinnatus. F.

[246] All these are now in the hands of the British government.

[247] This kingdom, as well as the capital of the same name, was called by the old geographers Candia; but the more modern give it the name of Candy. The translator, however, has adhered to the orthography of the author.

[248] Lib. vi. cap. 23.

[249] An account of Thibet by Father Giuseppe, chief of the mission, may be found in the Asiatic Researches. There is also a letter on the same subject in the Philosophical Transactions. F.

[250] This tree produces a singular kind of berries, which taste and smell as if a great number of spices were mixed together. A.

[251] According to the author’s description we might be induced to believe that there were burning volcanoes among these mountains of Africa; but on the southern coast there are no volcanoes, and the flames seen by the author arose from the dry grass which the wild inhabitants of these districts are accustomed to set on fire. F.

[252] As the whale is viviparous, and nourishes its young from the milk vessels which lie on each side of the matrix, the above substance cannot be the spawn of the whale. It is rather, as I know from my own researches, the embryo or eggs of the sea-nettle. F.

[253] These fruits do not grow in the interior parts, but in districts which have been cultivated by the Europeans, particularly German and French settlers. The case is the same with the beautiful oranges and the vines from Schiras, which grow on the plantations of Constantia. F.

[254] On the side of the island opposite to the harbour, where ships generally anchor, or E. by S. there is a high mountain, which, according to its external appearance, is of a calcareous nature, and which in the year 1775 I actually found so. It produces a few herbs, which afford a wretched support to the wild goats. In a valley on this mountain there is also a kind of spring, but it yields very little water. To the north east of the anchoring place there was also a spot amidst the volcanic flag, which was well covered with grass. F.

[255] The man-of-war bird (Pelicanus Aquilus Linn.) These birds are so careful of their eggs and young, that, rather than desert them, they suffer themselves to be caught by the hand. F.

[256] I much doubt that these burning holes in the northern mountains of India are real volcanoes. They appear much rather to proceed from some inflammable matter under the earth, like that at Baku on the Caspian Sea, arising from the remains of old volcanoes. F.

[257] See Lettre à M. Sonnerat par Charpentier de Cossigny, à l’Isle de France, 1784, p. 58-60.

[258] It is remarkable that the northern lights should be seen in so low a latitude as that of the Azores. I have seen them in Prussia and England, but never in any part of Europe so far to the south. F.