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which is a certain indication of general oppreffion and poverty-equally detrimental to men of power and property in all countries.-I feel disturbed with fome apprehenfions, that enormous taxes, and the ill-judging avarice of many landlords in Scotland, may in time. force our people to fuch ufe of this fluggish, but ferviceable and eafily fupported little animal.

2d October, I breakfafted well at the poft-house Lucy le bois-All night at the Maison Neuve, thirty feven miles, very well ufed-For dinner, wine, lodging and fire only twelve livres. On the first two pofts of this day's journey, the country appears barren and ftony; it mends as we go on-is moftly a corn country, few vines to be feen except on diftant hills-Some attempts appear to form inclosures in the English manner, by thorn hedges and rows of trees-unfuccefs fully, for want of fkill and care in the modes of planting and prefervation-yet at a distance, and on a general view, the trees, and even defective hedges, give an ornament to the face of the country-I have remarked that the men and women, and alfo the horses, are larger and handfomer in Champaigne and Burgundy than in the other parts of France where I have travelled.—Certainly the French people in general have naturally a greater portion of what is called fpirit, than the British-yet their horfes are mostly luggish, and have not the figure, fire, and mettle of ours-l fuppofe chiefly from defect of pasture, fodder, and proper grain.

October 3. I breakfalled at the poft-house ViteauxI obferve, that my old friend Smollet was in a violent paffion, when overcharged at the inns, and threatened vengeance by force or law, ever without redress.-On fuch occafions, hitherto rare, I have tried a different method with better fuccefs.-At this inn, the landlady demanded forty fous for my break faft.-I calmly remonftrated, to this purpose:-" I am no unexperienced "traveller ;-I know your demand is extravagant, near "double the higheft ufual rate :-Yet, if you infift, I

fhall pay you ;--but be fure I fhall hereafter avoid ་ your house, and report your behaviour to other tra“vellers."--The woman readily restricted her bill to twenty-four fous, equal to one fhilling terling, and received it thankfully.-By the fame argument at the Lion d'or, Effone, I reduced an extravagant bill, no less than fix livres,-which made it reasonable,and the balance was also thankfully received.-Indeed, on fuch occafions, the experience and honefty of my foreign fervant have been materially useful.-He generally fettles my bill before I enter the inn-but when this precaution has been omitted, I never fail to reform an unreasonable bill, in the above method.-I put up all night at the Prince de Conde, Dijon,-capital of Burgundy.It has a very agreeable fituation, and thriving appearance, populous and cleanly. The prince has a handfome palace here,-and there is a large fine building for an academy of iciences. Near this city, there is a small territory, the prince's property, which produces the wine called Romané, of much fuperior quality and flavour to any other Burgundy.--The great family of Condé had long been in use to engross all this excellent wine; and what could be fpared from their own hofpitality, they gave in presents mostly to the king of France, and other fovereign princes.-This prince of Condé finding measures of economy very ne ceffary from the ftate of his finances, among others, had ordered this precious wine to be faved for several years paft; and a large quantity of it was lately fold to the merchants at Paris, of which my friends purchafed a confiderable share, at fuch a price, that they satisfied me, it could not be fold in retail at London, under the rate of one guinea per bottle.-After repeatedly tafting it, I expreffed regret, that I could not, without apparent extravagance, take any wine at fuch a price. They very obligingly agreed to let me have a hamper of nine dozen, without profit.-This parcel ftood me at the rate of nearly nine livres per bottle, prime

coft in Paris-In fact, it came into my poffeffion in Britain, happily, without adulteration ;--but not without fome breakage and embezzlement on the paffage.--I have occafionally regaled my friends with a bottle of it-When finished, I defpair to have again fo exquifite a bon bouche for their entertainment. The profpects and environs of this town are delightful;-for a great part of this day's journey, the country is mountainous ;we saw few vines, and poor crops of corn.-I observe, that plantations of foreft trees would thrive well ;-but they are quite neglected. In some of the low grounds, tspecially on the borders of rivulets, my favourite popears make a charming figure, and again invite me to an lexperiment at home.

To be continued.

Defcription of the Plate.

THE plate that accompanies this number represents a fcene in Caffraria, near the Cape of Good Hope. The principal object in it is a large tree, the Mimofa Nilotica, which grows to a very large fize, and is here efteemed one of the most valuable productions of the earth. Most of the trees of this genus produce gums, that are useful in arts, and which may be occafionally ufed for food; but none of them produce gum in fuch abundance, or of such a nutricious quality as the Nilotica. This fubftance, which the natives collect with care, and preferve as a principal part of their food, fupplies, in fome measure, the place both of fruit and of grain. It grows in great abundance all over this diftrict

and the adjacent countries, but never has yet been cultivated in any other country; neither is it yet known, if the gum this plant affords could be applied to any use in arts, nor has its nutricious quality, when compared with that of other kinds of food, been

afcertained by experiment; neither hath any attempt been made to procure it for the ufe of feamen on long voyages, though it is evident, that fubftances of this fort, if they were found to be very nutricious, and could be got at a moderate price, would be more proper for fea flores, than either fruits, or grain, or meat of any fort, as they could be preferved much longer from corruption than any of these. Had the natives of Africa been induced to cultivate this, and other useful trees and plants fuited to their climate, along their vast extended coafts, how much more beneficially would they have been employed, than in hunting one another like wild beafts, to be fold for flaves to Europeans!

The leaves and young branches of this tree alfo is the principal food of the Camelopardalis, a fingular animal of uncommon form and ftature, which is found in thefe regions, of which we fhall fpeak more fully be

low.

On one of the branches of this tree alfo is reprefented a very fingular fpecies of birds neft, of a conítruction. that has nothing analogous to it, that we yet know of on the globe. The bird to which it belongs, is a species of Loxia, which always makes choice of this tree for its neft, feemingly on account of its great fize, and the uncommon fmoothness of its bark, on which ferpents have great difficulty to mount, which are the great enemies of fmall birds of all kinds in warm regions. The great ftrength of the boughs alfo of this tree are well calculated to bear the great weight, which this fingular congeries of nefts fometimes attains.

For thefe birds do not build feparate detached nefts, as almost all others do; but they form, as it were, a town of nests built clofe to one another like the houses of men in a city, the whole ftructure being covered with one common roof, that protects every individual habitation from the inclemencies of the weather. This town is arranged into many itreets, with nefts opening

into them on every fide, all the inhabitants of each ftreet being obliged to pass and repafs into it through one common entry, or gateway, if you please to call it fo. Several of these entries are feen in the figure.

The number of nefts that are thus brought together into one of these aerial towns, as our author *, with propriety enough, calls it, is fometimes very great. The particular city that he examined, he thought, could not contain fewer than from eight to ten hundred; and many he saw of much larger dimenfions. Indeed there feems to be no bounds to their fize, but the ftrength of the branches on which they are placed; for a town being once founded, he thinks they continue to join new habitations to it, as the number of the birds increase, by gradual additions, till the branch being entirely covered with them, and overloaded, breaks down, when they are under the neceffity of deferting their ruined town and building themselves a new one. The materials chiefly used for building these nefts, is a kind of grass that there abounds, which they dexterously faften, by way of thatch, over the whole. Sometimes, the top of one of these large trees is totally covered with these nefts,--which must have required a great many years to complete them.

The Camelopardalis is represented on the plate, at a diftance. This quadruped, when it stands upright, af fumes fomewhat the fame appearance of most other quadrupeds when in the act of rifing; its foreparts being remarkably high in proportion to thofe behind.-Its head is crowned with two blunt protuberances, by way of horns, about a foot in length. These are terminated with a kind of knob, and are ftreight.--The height of the animal, when its head is upright, is about fourteen feet.--On its neck, grows a mane, confifting of ftiff streight hairs, of a reddish colour, about four inch es in length. "Thefe animals, in the words of our author, chiefly fubfift on the mimofa, and wild apricots. Their colour is, in general, reddish, or dark brown and white, and fome of them black and white; they are VOL. III.

* Mr. Paterfon.

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