woman, who had been bit about four leagues off by a ferpent, and died of the poifon in lefs than two hours; and that her body had been just now removed to her cottage. The first shriek was made, according to cuftom, by one of the female relations of the deceased, before her door, which was very near to mine, At this fignal, all the women in the village came out, and setting up a moft terrible howl, they flocked about the place from whence the firft noife had iffued. One would have imagined, that they were all related to the deceafed, fo greatly did they feem to grieve and mourn; and, undoubtedly, this would have been a ftrong proof of their concern, if thofe lamentations had come from the bottom of their hearts: but they were no more than outward show, and merely the effect of national custom. This fhocking noise lafted fome hours, that is, till break of day: then the relations of the deceased coming into the cottage, took hold of her hand, and afked her feveral queftions, which were followed by offers of fervice: but finding that fhe made them no anfwer, they withdrew, faying: Alas! fhe is dead. Her friends did the fame; afterwards they conveyed her body into the ground; and on each fide they put an earthen pot, one full of water, and the other of couscous this without doubt was intended for her nourishment, in case she should once more take it into her head to eat or to drink. When the burial was over, the cries and lamentations ceafed. Thus ended the lugubrious ceremony their thoughts were now turned towards making an entertainment in honour of the deceased; and that fame evening they had a folgar, or a dance, which they continued for three nights fucceffively it was conducted in this manner:

All the young people of the village gathered together in a large area, in the middle of which they had lighted a great fire. The fpectators formed a long fquare, at both ends of which the dancers were ranged in two oppofite lines, the men on one fide, the women on the other. There were two tabors to regulate the dance; and as foon as they had beat a march, the performers began a fong, the burden of which was repeated by all the fpectators. At the fame time a dancer ftepping forth from each line, advanced towards the oppofite perfon that pleafed him moft, to the distance of two or three feet, and prefently drew back in cadence, till the found of the tabour ferved as a fignal for them to come clofe, and to ftrike their thighs against each other, that is, man to woman, and woman to man: this done, they drew back once more, and foon after renewed the fame monkey tricks, diverfifying their movements as often as the tabor directed them, till at length they returned to their place. The other performers did the fame, each in their turn, but without a repetition; then the two lines drew near to one another, and acted

their part in the fame manner. That these geftures are very immodeft, is obvious; but the other movements, which are hardly perceived, unlefs one is used to them, must be much more fo. The negroes do not dance a step, but every member of their body, every joint, and even the head itself, expreffeth a different motion, always keeping time, let it be never fo quick. And it is in the exact proportioning of this infinite number of motions, that the negroes dexterity in dancing chiefly confifts: none but those that are as fupple as they can poffibly imitate their agility. Notwithstanding the violence of this exercife, it lafted a good part of the night, during which they drank off fevera! pots of a very ftrong fort of beer made of mil-. let. They began the fame fcene the two nights following, and the third their entertainments ceafed. An European, on fuch an occafion, would have gone into mourning for fome months; while the African feizes this opportunity to rejoice: fuch are the whimfical cuftoms of different nations; what produceth joy and pleasure to one, is a fubject of grief to another.'

Among the ferpents met with in this country, Mr. Adanfon affures us of his having feen one, though of a middling size in regard to its fpecies, that was upwards of two and twenty feet. long, and eight inches thick. Its head, fays he, was of the fame fize as that of a crocodile, from five to fix feet; its teeth were upwards of half an inch long, ftrong and fharp; and its throat was more than wide enough to fwallow a hare, or even a pretty large dog, without having any occafion to chew it.'

With respect to the heat of the climate; our author complains of it as exceffive, and no doubt he feverely felt its effects: we cannot help taking notice, however, that, by his thermometer, the real heat of the atmosphere appears to have been much less than it fometimes has been with us in hot fummers: Indeed, feveral late obfervations give us reafon to think the air is feldom found fo hot within the torrid zone, as in the countries farther diftant from the line. It is the continuation of the heat that makes it fo intolerable, and not the exceffive degree of it in the atmosphere: and, as to the burning whirlwinds, of which our author gives an account, they feem to have been formed of loofe fand, or other light bodies, whofe heat is much greater than that of the ambient air. This Mr. Adanfon found, by putting his thermometer in the fand, which gave twice the heat of the open air in the shade.

Having hinted that our author's forte appears to lie in natural history, we cannot take leave of his work, without quoting the following paffage, as affording room for fpeculation to the curious. The neceffity I was under of returning ten times to

the

the fame places, and in different feafons, gave me an opportunity, the 12th of the month of October, of difcovering a thing which was very remote from my thoughts. Croffing at least the twentieth time, the Wood-ifland, in order to reach the village of Kionk, I perceived feveral fimall fishes in moraffes formed by rain water. They were all of the fame fpecies; and, by their lively red, I knew them to be the leffer kind of roaches. The rains had fubfided, and the water was beginning to dry up in thofe ponds; a fure fign that the fish were not long lived. They muft have died very foon, for I faw the ground two days after, when the waters were dried up. One would imagine, that the fpecies were loft for ever in regard to that particular spot; but, far from it, the next year new ones appeared, entirely like those of the preceding years. Here is a fact the more worthy of notice, as it does not appear by what means the fish could be conveyed to that place; for, on the one hand, the ponds, though deep, have no communication with the waters of the Niger, which is about three hundred fathoms from thence; and befides, this fpecies of fish is unknown to that river: fo that it cannot be fuppofed, that any of the aquatic birds should bring away the eggs. Surely, no body will pretend to fay, that the roaches lay their eggs every year in the bottom of those ponds, where they are preferved during the nine months of drought, till the return of the rain; because the fame difficulty would still fubfift in regard to the origin of the firft. It would be at least equally abfurd to imagine, that their feeds were conveyed to other places by vapours, which, as they fell down, fcattered them here and there into different basons.'

We fhall make no other remark on this paffage, than barely to hint, in general terms, that the notion of fpontaneous generation, long ago fuppofed to have been fully confuted, by Swammerdam and others, appears to be much countenanced by certain Naturalifts of the prefent age; Mr. Gueneau, the judicious Editor of the Collection Academique, having, among the reft, publifhed fome notable arguments on this curious and interesting subject.

In juftice to Mr. Adanfon, it may be proper to take notice of a late grofs mifreprefentation of his thermometrical experiments. Our Author,' fays the pretended Critic, found the ordinary heat of the air to be more than fixty degrees by Reaumur's thermometor;'-whereas the truth is, he tells us he found it but thirty-one, at moft. Indeed the impoffibility of fuch an affertion's being true, muft have appeared at firft fight, to any perfon who had the leaft knowlege of what he was writing about.

K-n-k

Exotic Botany, illuftrated in thirty-five Figures of curious and elegant Plants: explaining the jexual fyftem, and tending to give Some new lights into the vegetable philofophy. By John Hill, M. D. Folio, 21. 12s. 6d. plain; coloured 51. 5 s. Printed for the Author.

T has often fallen in our way to exprefs our admiration at the unremitted induftry of Dr. Hill, though we have not always been able to extol the fruits of his labour. Some of his productions have undoubtedly merited praife, while others have equally deferved the cenfure which, in juftice to the Public, we could not with-hold. In regard to the latter, as a fignal manifestation of our impartiality, we have generally been so happy as to concur in opinion, not only with the majority of his readers, but even with the Doctor himself. Such of his works as we have commended, have been chiefly those which he has not been afhamed to own; fuch as we have difapproved, were his anonymous pieces. The Doctor himself, it appears, was conscious of their want of merit, by fuppreffing the name of their author: he it was who firft paffed the fentence, which we have only repeated; and therefore it is hoped, that though he may poffibly have thought us rather fevere, upon fome occafions, he will, upon recollection, acquit us of all fufpicion of prejudice against him or his works. We have almoft daily occafion to admire his APPLICATION; often his INGENUITY: the work now before us is a lively inftance of both.

The prefent undertaking is, indeed, performed in a masterly manner; whether we confider the figures of the plants, or the vivid colours beftowed upon them, which are really excellent. The method by which the Doctor obtained fuch exact drawings from exotic plants, is explained by him in these words: The following figures are engraved from nature. Most of the plants came over dried, as fpecimens, and they were brought to the ftate wherein they are reprefented in these defigns, by maceration in warm water. The method was this: the plant was laid in a china dish, and water was poured upon it, nearly as much as the cavity would hold; another dish, fomewhat smaller, was turned down upon this, and the edges were cemented with common pafte, spread upon brown paper. This was fet upon a pot half full of cold water, and placed over a genile fire. Thus after a little time the lower difh heats, and the water gradually in it: a few minutes then compleat the bufinefs. The plant, however rumpled up in drying, expands, and takes the natural form it had when freth. Even the minutest parts appear ditinctly. The fpecimen is deftroyed by this operation, but it REV. April, 1759.

Bb

thews

fhews itself, for the time, in full perfection: I could have withed to fave fome of thefe, but they were facrificed to the work; and I hope their remembrance will live in the defigns.' The feeds of thefe plants came over with the fpecimens; and they are now in the ground in four remote parts of the kingdom, where I have correfpondence with those who have ftoves, and have been moft fuccefsful in raifing tender fpecies: many must be expected to fail, and fome lie long in the earth; but the prefent feafon has raifed feveral of them.'-' In all these places, each plant will be tried in the ftove, the green-house, and the open air. This way we fhall know what each will bear: and there is no other.' We fincerely with the Doctor all the fuccefs fo ufeful and noble a ftudy deferves: as in this application of his abilities, he proves himself a friend to his country.

Nothing more offers but the particular descriptions of the feveral plants exhibited; to which we refer the curious enquirer N

Account of FOREIGN BOOK S.

Le Pitture antiche d'Ercolano, e contorni, incife con qualche Spiegazione. Tomo primo. Or,

A Defcription of the antique Paintings difcovered at Herculaneum, and parts adjacent. Volume the Firft. Naples, printed at the Royal Prefs, and containing about 300 pages in large folio, 1759.

THE

HE lovers of antiquity and the fine arts having directed their curiofity, for near twenty years paft, to the interefting difcoveries, occafionally made among the ruins of Herculaneum, the publication of a particular and fatisfactory description of thofe valuable remains, has been long impatiently expected. The catalogue published at Naples, in the year 1754, rather heightened this impatience, and increased the thirst of curiofity, than allayed it. At length, however, we find this curious work hath begun to make its appearance; nor, if our information be exact, doth it seem to have at all fuffered by the delay: this volume being executed in fo magnificent and mafterly a ftile, that it cannot fail of giving the highest fatisfaction to the Public.

In this first volume are contained fifty plates, all which, reprefenting the defigns of the original paintings, are admired as excellent proofs of the tafte and fkill of the feveral artists concerned in their execution; among whom we learn the names of

Camillus