sentence is pronounced upon them by the judge, they are asked in court, whether they will die by the hands of the executioner, or whether they will go to the Upas tree for a box of the poison? They commonly prefer the latter proposal, as there is not only some chance of preserving their lives, but also a certainty, in case of their safe return, that a provision will be made for them by the emperor. They are also permitted to ask a favour of the emperor, which is generally a trifle, and commonly granted. They are then provided with a silver or tortoise-shell box, into which they are to put the poisonous gum, and are properly instructed how to proceed while they are upon their dangerous expedition. Among other particulars, they are always told to attend to the direction of the winds, as they are to go towards the tree before the wind, so that the effluvia from the tree is always blown from them. They are likewise told to travel with the utmost dispatch, as that is the only method of insuring a safe return. They are afterwards sent to the house of the old priest, to which place they are commonly attended by their friends and relations. Here they generally remain some days, in expectation of a favourable breeze. During that time the ecclesiastic prepares them for their future fate by prayers and admonitions.

When the hour of their departure arrives, the priest puts them on a long leather cap, with two glasses before their eyes, which comes down as far as their breast, and also provides them with a pair of leather gloves. They are then conducted by the priest, and their friends and relations, about two miles on their journey;-here the priest repeats his instructions, and tells them where they are to look for

the tree. He shews them a hill, which they are told to ascend, and that on the other side they will find a rivulet, which they are to follow, and which will conduct them directly to the Upas. They now take leave of each other, and, amidst prayers for their success, the delinquents hasten away,

The worthy old ecclesiastic assured me, that during his residence there, for upwards of thirty years, he had dismissed above seven hundred criminals, in the manner which I have described; and that scarcely two out of twenty have returned. He shewed me a catalogue of all the unhappy sufferers, with the date of their departure from his house aunexed; and a list of the offences for which they had been condemned; to which was added, a list of those who had returned in safety. I afterwards saw another list of these culprits, at the jail-keeper's, at Soura Charta, and found that they perfectly corresponded with each other, and with the different inform ations which I afterwards obtained.

I was present at some of these melancholy ceremonies, and desired different delinquents to bring with them some pieces of the wood, or a small branch, or some leaves, of this wonderful tree. I have also given them silk cords, desiring them to measure its thickness. I never could procure more than two dry leaves, that were picked by one of them on his return; and all I could learn of him concern. ing the tree itself was, that it stood on the border of a rivulet, as described by the old priest; that it was of a middling size; that five or six young trees of the same kind stood close by it; but that no shrub or plant could be seen near it; and that the ground was of a brownish sand, full of stones, almost impracticable for travelling, and covered with dead bodies.

The

The French Eagle.-The French Papers have given the following ccount of an Eagle, in the Menagerie, at Paris.

There has been some time in the garden of plants, an Eagle, which her majesty the empress sent thither; and which is as much distinguished by his beauty as by a silver ring which he carries in one of his talons. It was originally domesticated with an English game-cock, which has at last ser ved him for food. It is not known, whether the death of the game-cock was provoked by his own fierceness, by some movement of anger, or by the hunger of the Eagle. The following is the history of the Eagle since he lost his liberty. He was taken in the forests of Fontainbleau, in a trap set for foxes, and of which the spring broke his claw. Under the care of Doctor Paulet, his cure has been long, and attended with a painful operation. This the Eagle has supported with a patience which it would be difficult to find in man. During the operation his head only was at liberty, and of this he did not avail himself to oppose the dressing of his wound, from which several splinters were taken, nor to the apparatus which the fracture required. Swathed in a napkin, and laid on one side, he has passed the whole night upon straw, without the least motion. The next day, when all the bandages were unwrapped, he lodged himself upon a screen, where he passed twelve whole hours, without resting upon the unsound foot. During all that time he made no attempt to escape, though the windows were open; and he refused all nourishment. It was not till the thirteenth day that he tried his appetite upon a rabbit, which was given to

him. He seized it with his claw that was not injured, and killed it with a stroke of his beak, between the first vertebra of the neck and the head. After having devoured it, he resumed his place upon the screen, from whence he stirred no more till the twenty-first day after his accident. Then he began to try the wounded limb, and without deranging in the least the ligature by which it was bound, he has regained the use of it, by moderate and reasonable exercise. This interesting creature has passed three months in the room of a servant who attended to him. As soon as the fire was lighted he came up to it, and suffered himself to be caressed; at bed-time he mounted his screen, as close as possible to his attendant's bed, and removed to the opposite extremity as soon as the lamp went out. The confidence in his own power appeared to exempt him from everý kind of distrust. It is impossible to shew more resignation, more courage, and one might almost be tempted to say, more reason, during the long continuance of his illuess. He is of the most beautiful kind, and does not feel the least weakness from the accident which robbed him of his liberty.

ed the notice of mankind. Some naturalists have asserted, that they are capable of reasoning and reflecting; and that they are guided by an instinctive sagacity much superior to that of the brute creation in general. They are, however, certainly destitute of every essential faculty of man: incapable as well of thought as of speech, there is an immense interval betwixt the creature formed in mind after the image of God, and these mere brutes, bearing some rude traits of the elemental parts of the human frame.

Every one will acknowledge that, in general, both apes and monkies are excessively ugly. Their limbs are peculiarly strong; and they have great delight in breaking, tearing in pieces, or stealing whatever comes in their way. In all their operations and manœuvres, their agility is astonishing. Whenever any thing offends or throws them into a passion, they indicate their rage by chattering violently with their teeth. Many of them, if beaten, will sigh, groan, and weep, like children; but most of them, on these occasions, utter dreadful shrieks of distress. They make such ridiculous grimaces, place themselves in such strange and whimsical attitudes, and in other respects conduct themselves so singularly, that few persons, even of those who most dislike them, can on these occasions refrain from smiling, and nearly all must be amused by them.

It is said, that there are some races of monkies which keep up a certain discipline among themselves. Though active in the highest degree in pillaging plantations and cultivated grounds, they seldom go on important expeditions for this purpose but in numerous troops. If they meditate an attack (for instance) on a

melon bed, a large party of them en. ters the garden. The animals range themselves, if possible, under a hedge or fence, at some distance from each other, and throw the melons, from hand to hand, with astonishing rapidity. The line they form usually terminates in a mountain or forest, and all their operations are executed during the most profound silence.

Wafer tells us, that when he was on shore in the island of Gorgonia, he observed several monkies (of the four-fingered species) come down, at low water, to the rocks of the sea coast, for the purpose of devouring oysters. They got at the food contained within the shells, by placing one oyster on a stone, and beating it in pieces with another. The malbrouk of Bengal [Simia Faunus of Linnæus] is reported to do the same.

Many of these animals, and particularly the preacher and fourfingered monkies (Simia beelzebul and Simia paniscus of Linnæus), have sometimes dreadful contentions, in which great numbers on both sides are frequently slain. They employ weapons in their combats; and often arm themselves with stones and pieces of wood, which they throw with sure ain, and astonishing violence at each other. They have, on these occasions, neither deserters nor stragglers; for in times of danger they never forsake each other. They run along the plains, and even leap from tree to tree, with a surprizing rapidity.

J

The instincts and sagacity of these animals are, in many instances, such as not to be injured or diminished even by captivity. In some houses we see the wanderu (Simia Silenus of Linnæus), a cunning and audacious monkey, much inclined to ridicule and grimace. He may be taught to

dress

dress and undress himself, to spin, to poke the fire, to push a wheel-barrow, or play on a tambourine. He will wash earthen vessels or glasses without breaking them, and carry light burthens from place to place, whenever he is ordered to do so. A monkey of this species has been observed to turn a spit with one hand, whilst with the other he held a piece of bread under the meat to receive the gravy: it is perhaps needless to remark, that he immediately afterwards devoured it.

A wanderu was exhibited at Bourdeaux, in the year 1762, which by his actions excited much astonishment in the spectators. When mounted on an extended cord, he first stretched out each of his fect to have them chalked; then, taking in his hand a pole weighted at each end (similar to the balance employed by rope-dancers), he walked backward and forward, cut capers, and executed numerous other tricks, with infinitely greater ease and celerity than the most expert rope-dancer that had before been seen.

The monkies, however, that are trained and educated by some of the Indian buffoons, are reported to be by far the most agile and adroit of all animals that are reared in captivity.

Some of the apes, such as the oran otans, the patas and the dog-faced apes, are said always to place a centinel on the top of a tree, or on some other elevated situation, to keep watch when the rest are either about to sleep or to engage in any marauding expedition. The motions or the cry of this animal are a signal of danger, and immediately the whole troop scampers off with the utmost rapidity. It has been asserted, but few persons will be inclined to credit the assertion, that the centinels are often punished with death for neglecting their duty.

The Europeans at the Cape of Good Hope sometimes catch young apes by stratagem, or by previously killing their dam, and bring them up with care for the purpose of rendering them afterwards serviceable. When they have attained their growth, they are taught to guard the house of their owner, during the night, and on all occasions of his absence. This they do with great fidelity; but as they increase in age, their mischievous propensities develope themselves, and they oftentimes become extremely ill-tempered and ferocious. These apes, which are of the ursine species, are so much inclined to imitation, that they seldom see any thing done without attempting to do the same. Some of them are very stubborn and perverse; but many are readily susceptible of education, learning, without difficulty, almost every thing that is taught them.

Condamine and Bouger saw, in Peru, some domesticated monkies of large size, which had been admitted into the apartments of the academicians, during the time they were employed in making observations in the mountains. These animals greatly excited the astonishment of the academicians, by afterwards, of their own accord, going through a series of imitations. They planted the signals, ran to the pendulum, and then imme diately to the table, as if for the purpose of committing to paper the observations they had made. They occasionally pointed the telescopes towards the heavens, as if to view the planets or stars, and performed numerous other feats of a similar nature.

The whimsical occurrence which took place before the troops of Alex ander the Great, is too singular and too amusing to be passed over in si

lence.

lence. The soldiers under command. of this monarch always marched in order of battle. They happened one night to encamp on a mountain that was inhabited by a numerous tribe of monkies. On the following morning, they saw at a distance what appeared to be an immense body of troops approaching them, as if with the intention of coming to an engagement. The commanders, as well as the soldiers, were in the utmost astonishment. Having entirely subdued the prince of the country, they could not conceive from whence this new force could have come; they had not previously been informed of any thing of the kind. The alarm was immediately given, and in a short time the whole Macedonian army was drawn up in battle-array, to combat with this unexpected enemy. The prince of the country, who was a prisoner in the camp, was interrogated respecting it. He was surprised to be informed of such a force in the neighbourhood, and requested permission to behold it himself. He smiled at the mistake; and the Macedonians were not a little chagrined, that they should have been snch fools as to take a troop of these imitative animals for a band of armed

men.

All the apes and monkies are reported to entertain a natural aversion and antipathy to the crocodile. It is said, that some of them will even faint at seeing or smelling the skin of these frightful reptiles.

The animals of that subdivision of the tribe denominated sapajous have long tails, which they can coil up, and employ (in some respects, but particularly in descending trees,) as a hand. By means of their tails, they are also able to swing themselves backward and forward amongst the branches of trees.

Monkies are seldom known to produce young ones, except in hot cli-1 mates. The Barbary apes, however, (Simia inuus of Linnæus), which are found wild at Gibraltar, bring young ones in great abundance amongst the inaccessible precipices of the rock.A female of this species has also been known to produce offspring in a state of captivity, at one of the hotels in Paris. A striated monkey (Simia jacchus) brought forth young ones in the house of a merchant at Lisbon, and another in that of a lady at Paris.

Female monkies generally carry their young ones nearly in the same manner as negresses do their children. The little animals cling to the back of their dam by their hind feet, and embrace the neck with their paws.When the females suckle them, it is said that they hold them in their arms, and present the teat as a wonian would to a child.

Monkies usually live in much more extensive troops than apes. The troops of patas, or red monkies of Senegal, are reported to amount sometimes to as many as three or four thousand. Some naturalists believe that they form a sort of republic, in which a great degree of subordination is kept up; that they always travel in good order, conducted by chiefs, the strongest and most experienced animals of their troop; and that on these occasious, some of the largest monkies are likewise placed in the rear, the sound of whose voice immediately silences that of any of the others that happen to be too noisy. The orderly and expert retreat of these creatures from danger, is an amusing sight to Europeans, unaccustomed to the native manners of such animals. The negroes believe them to be a vagabond race of men, who are too indolent to construct habi

tations