these, and he will Years will steal

constantly exercised in labours like not soon find the breaches of age. upon him insensibly; he will grow old by degrees. and without feeling it; nay, when he comes to break at last the house will crumble gently, and fall down so slowly as not to give him any great uneasinefs."

Thus has the master of Roman eloquence delightfully examplified in Cato, the advantage that arises. from continuing those exercises of the memory and judgement, in which manhood had formerly been occupied, without the dangerous fervor of imagination, or too much activity either of body or of mind; and although every man in age must be regulated in his amusement, by the bent of his genius, and the fund of his former experience, yet in the innocent, healthful, and useful occupations of agriculture and gardening, it would seem that every man, let his condition have been whatsoever, will find great contentment and advantage; and it is in the uniform variety united to simplicity that much of this pleasure consists, as the cultivated mind will evidently perceive in the affectionate reception which he giveth to the unadorned and simple description of the Corycian swain, the old man of virgils IV. Georgic, with which I fhall conclude my present lucubration.*

"Now where with stately towers Tarentum stands,
And deep Galesus soaks the yellow sands,

I chanc'd an old Corycian swain to know,

Lord of few acres, and these barren too;

Unfit for theep or vines, and more unfit to sow:

* The latin quototion is omitted on account of our general readers, and the translation by Dryden, is substituted in its place. Edit,

Yet lab'ring well his little spot of ground,

Some scatt'ring pot herbs here and there he found:
Which, cultivated with his daily care,

And bruis'd with vervain, were his frugal fare.
Sometimes white lilies did their leaves afford,

With wholesome poppie flowers to mend his homely board!
For late returning home he sup'd at ease,

And wisely deem'd the wealth of monarchs lefs,
Than little of his own, because his own did please,
To quit his care, he gather'd first of all,

In spring the roses, apples in the fall:

And when cold winter split the rocks in twain,
And ice the running rivers did restrain,

He stript the bears foot of its leafy growth,

}

And, calling western winds, accus'd the spring of sloth.
He therefore first among the swains was found,
To reap the product of his labour'd ground,

And squeese the combs with golden liquor crown'd.
His limes were first in flower, his lofty pines,
With friendly fhade, secur'd his tender vines.
For ev'ry bloom his trees in spring afford,
An autumn apple was by tale restor❜d;
He knew to rank his elms in even rows,
For fruit the grafted pear tree to dispose:
And tame to plumbs the sourness of the sloes.
With spreading planes he made a cool retreat,
To fhade good fellows from the summer's heat.

}

}

INTELLIGENCE FROM INDIA.

In the xi. volume of the Bee, p.89.was given an account of some very singular facts respecting the generation of fishes in India, which appeared so extraordinary as to require farther elucidation before they could be admitted as certain. The Editor indeed has received letters since that time from persons who said they had been in India, flatly contradicting the whole account. The fol lowing communication from Madras, received by the King George East Indiaman, will afford some satisfaction to our readers on this very curious subject.

The other subjects mentioned in this communication are equally cu rious and interesting.

FARTHER ELUCIDATIONS RESPECTING THE SUDDEN GENERATION OF FISHES IN INDIA, FROM A CORRESPONDENT AT MADRAS.

For the Bee.

Ler Berry/

We were not surprised at reading your paper on the generation of fishes,-we every day hear similar accounts; but when we endeavour to trace them to their source, vain is the attempt. Like many other stories they have passed current so long as to be believed ; and the great quantities of small fish that are found during the monsoon so universally over the face of the country, and on such elevated spots as are never overflowed by rivers or reservoirs of water, seemingly give probability to them; and the appearance of fish of considerable magnitude, two or three inches long, that are caught in streams from high grounds, induce many to believe that they must have fallen from the heavens'; for no fish could have existed there before.

That fish are found wherever there is standing or running water, and frequently on very high ground, is most true; but that fish are found on the tops of houses, I'must have occular demonstration to believe. The instance you mention as occurring at St. Thomas's Mount, was not I believe on the top of a house, but on the high ground there, which equally astonished those that saw it. Mankind are fond of the marvellous, and always improve such stories.

I have not paid much attention to this subject, but believe there is nothing wonderful in what we gene

rally see.

or more of

During the monsoon, the torrents of rain are so heavy, that there is a stream of running water over the whole face of the country; the grafs, that then grows luxuriantly, keeps up an inch running water on the highest grounds. From the eagerness with which I have seen fish endeavour to ascend running streams, and from having frequently seen them make their way through wet grafs, I am convinced that all the fish of any magnitude, that appear at the commencement of the rains, come from the sea by the rivers, that are soon filled; for none I believe are correct enough as to time, to say that there was not water running into the sea, by which they might ascend; and that it is only after having got to the highest grounds that the fish are caught in nets placed at the bottom of the descending

streams.

The natives believe that these immense quantities of fish are produced from the eggs of fish deposited in the mud; and they afsert that they mud of any tank, if put in water, will produce fish. Some mud that has been brought me gives great probability to this opinion; for it is full of eggs. I have forwarded a lit tle to your correspondent in London. They say that these eggs are not destroyed although exposed to the burning rays of the sun for months.* I am trying some just now taken from a tank that has been dry

*

* This is a very curious fact, and deserves to be ascertained with care. The mud is not yet come to hand, but when it does experiments fhall be tried with it. In the mean we we are to hope that our correspondents in India will prosecute this subject.

Edit

175 above fix weeks. If it succeeds I have no doubt that what I have sent will produce fish; for I hope you will receive it before the period of our monsoon.

It is not necefsary however to suppose that the eggs are exposed to much heat, for as the mud dries, it cracks, and they may be preserved in the fifsures: It is pofsible also, that the fish may bury themselves in the soft mud, when they deposit their eggs; for our fresh water fish can live in little water, and even in mud. The fish that are generally caught in the paddy (rice) fields, are not confined to one species. I have had a list of above twenty given me, that are known to those I spoke to; most of which are fresh water fish.t But this mode of producing fish will not account for their sudden appearance of considerable size at the very commencement of the rains; I must therefore still believe they come from the sea. Fish are fre quently carried to tanks and put in wells; as the na tives know they are useful in purifying water, by devouring the filth.

a singular fifh caught on trees.

I was in hopes of sending you along with this, a description of a fifh, a species of pike, that will lefsen your astonishment at the idea of finding fifh in the highest situations, when this is found on the tops of trees. This species of pike has been discovered by a lieutenant Dalderff a very ingenious Dane, and learned in all the branches of natural history. This fish, with the assistance of two hooks on its breast fins, makes a dart through the stream of water falling from the leaves and running down the trunk of the palmira,

This list will prove very acceptable. Edit.