poffeffed an unusual share of health and vigor. His conversation was lively, replete with inftruction, and brilliant with fallies of true humour; yet too great fenfibility at times lowered his natural flow of fpirits, and occafioned fevere dejection. "Of his literary character the public is the impartial judge, and that public not only in this, but in foreign countries has fixed on it the ftamp of approbation. Bleffed with a memory the most retentive, his powers of compofition were rapid; his works were generally printed, as they flowed from the pen, with little or no correction, hence, fome inaccuracies may be expected, but their numbers are trifling. "Such, candid reader! is the true but imperfect sketch of the character of a man who to superior talents united the utmost goodness of heart. "Accept, fainted fpirit! this unavailing tribute of filial duty! May the example of thy virtues ftimulate my exertions! May my latter end refemble thine!" P. v. We perfectly agree with Mr. Pennant, that if engravings are not really illuftrative of the fubject difcuffed, they are better omitted; at least good maps, fuch as thofe given in these volumes, are infinitely more useful to the readers of a work profeffedly geographical. The great divifions of India extra Gangem, China, and Japan, into which the third volume is portioned out, are, in the course of description, again subdivided into smaller heads, and fubordinate ftates; and are accompanied with historical and geographical details, as amufing as the nature of fuch a work would permit. The most esteemed writers on those subjects, and the most authentic voyages and tra vels, are every where confulted and abridged; and we follow the writer with particular pleasure where his own favourite study, NATURAL HISTORY, leads him into difcuffions, always highly inftructive and often profound, concerning the various animal and vegetable productions of Afia. That is his peculiar excellence, which we fay without meaning to derogate from the other well-executed parts of this general furvey of nature and art; and on this topic, the author being perfectly at home, he will never fail to pleafe. In the furvey of China, the fubjoined account of the famous edible nefts, fo great an article of Afiatic luxury and commerce, will doubtless be gratifying ta our readers of the baut Goût. "It is this country that produces in fuch quantities the edible birds nefts, held by the epicure of the eaft to be the first of delicacies. It is chiefly made ufe of in foups and ragouts of chickens; the nefts are firft foftened in water, pulled to pieces, and mixed with ginfeng, put into the body of the fowl. The above is then to be ftewed in a pot with a fufficient quantity of water, and left on the coals the whole night. The beft kinds which are white, and quite pure from dirt, are diffolved in broths in order to thicken them, and to give them that flavor the Orientalists fo much admire. Of the black and foul nefts is made glue. "Mr. Latham gives the following account: "It weighs about half an ounce, and is in fhape like half a lemon, or, as fome compare it, to that of a faucer, with one fide flatted where it adheres to the rock. The texture of it is fomewhat like Ifinglafs, or rather more like fine Gum-dragon, and the feveral layers of the matter it is compofed of very apparent; being fabricated from repeated parcels of a foft flimy fubftance, in the fame manner as the martins form theirs of mud. Authors differ much as to the materials of which it is compofed; fome fuppofe it to confift of fea-worms of the Mollusca clafs; others of the fea-qualm (a kind of cuttle fish) or a glutinous fea-plant called Agal Agal. It has. alfo been fuppofed that they rob other birds of their eggs, and, after breaking the thells, apply the white of them for that purpose. "These nefts are found in vaft numbers in certain caverns in various ifles in the Soolo Archipelago, fituated between longitude 117° and 120', lat. 5 and 7; particularly in three fmall ifles or rather rocks, in the caverns of which the nefts are found fixed to the fides in astonishing numbers. They are also found in amazing quantities on a small island called Tor, in the ttreights of Sunda, the caverns of which are lined with the nefts, but no where in greater abundance than about Croce. near the fouth end of Sumatra, four miles up a river of that name; but they are not peculiar to the above places; for they are likewise common from Java to Cochin-China on the north, and from the point of Sumatra weft, where it is called Layung, to New Guinea on the east, where the fea is faid to be covered with a viscous fubftance like halfmelted glue, which the bird is fuppofed either to take up from the furface with its bill during flight, or to pick it from the rocks when left there by the waves. "The beft nefts, or those of a pure white, and free from mixture, fell in China from 1,000 to 1,500 dollars the picle, the black and dirty ones for only twenty dollars. The laft are fuppofed to arife from age, mixed with dirt or feathers; and the gatherers beat down all the black ones they can get at, in hopes that, from the neceffity of the birds making fresh netts, they may meet with the more valuable ones at the next gathering. It is faid, that the Dutch alone export from Batavia 1,000 picles of thefe nefts every year, which are brought from the ifles of Cochin-China, and thofe lying to the east of them. Among our East India imports, it is much to be wondered that, among other luxuries imported by us from the Eaft, the use of these nefts thould not have found a way to our tables; as yet being fo fcarce in England, as to be kept as rarities in the cabinets of collectors." P. 66. There is another article of great estimation in the Chinese marts, the account of which, by this eminent naturalift, will not fail to prove interesting to thofe engaged in fimilar purfuits. "Ging feng, the celebrated medical plant of the Chinese, is found in this country, and many parts of Chinese Tartary, of Korea, and even in the provinces of Shan-fi and Honan, in China itfelf; but the latter latter is of an inferior kind. It grows on the fteeps of wooded mountains, or rocks, and on the banks of deep rivers. The root which is applied to ufe is faid to be of the fhape of a man. There is not a phyfician of eminence but what has celebrated its virtues; and exactly in the ftyle of our empyrics." It fortifies," fays Shi-Chin," the noble parts, keeps the body in good plight, fixes the animal fpirits, cures the palpitations occafioned by fudden frights, difpels malignant vapours, clears the fight, opens and dilates the heart, and ftrengthens the judgment. When it is taken a confiderable time together, it makes the body light and active, and prolongs life." In a few words, there is not a disease incident to the human body but what it infallibly cures. The Manchews ftyle it Orkota, the most noble, or queen of plants; others the golden well bordered with pretious ftones. There are extant nine antient receipts, and fixty-nine modern. The value of the root increases; it was formerly worth its weight in filver; at prefent," fays Du Halde," it is fold for nearly its weight in gold." "In 1709, when the great Kang-hi was on one of his progreffes into his Mancher dominions, he was defirous to give his favourite Tartarians a valuable perquifite, and fent ten thousand of his foldiers to collect all the Ging feng they could find. Each were to give him two ounces of the beft, and to receive for the remainder an equal weight of fine filver. They fallied forth, and collected in the year twenty thousand pounds weight; but fuffered fufficiently, for they were allowed neither tent or any fort of covering, and the places of fearch fwarmed with tigers.. Thofe who did not return on the signal of moving their quarters, were fuppofed to have been devoured by thofe dreadful animals. "In the Chinese dominions, Gingfeng grows between the thirtyninth and forty-feventh degrees north latitude, and between ten and twenty eaft longitude from Peking: but is not confined to the old world; it was difcovered in Canada, in 1704, by M. Sarrafin, who fent fpecimens to Paris. It was introduced into England, in 1740, by the worthy Peter Collinfon, and now flourishes in Kew garden. Linnaus first called this plant Sion Ninfi, afterwards Pananx quinquefolium. Ehret. in Trew, tab. 6. names it Araliaftrum; and Catefly, Appendix, tab. 16. Aureliana Canadenfis, after Lafitau. Doctor Woodville, i. 270. retains the Linnæan name. "In America, it is not confined to Canada. It is found even as far fouth as Virginia, being difcovered on the fhady hills and vallies of that ftate, towards the end of the last century, by doctor John Clayton. The fix Indian nations call it Garangtoging, or the human thighs. The Europeans have imported a great deal into China; but it is not in the fame efteem, fays Ofbeck, in which the roots of the Chinefe dominions are held. The Indians of America do not apply them to any ufe, but multitudes are employed in collecting them for fale to the merchants of Quebec. Our phyficians depreciate the virtues of this root fo much, that notwithstanding it has found a place in our difpenfatory, yet is not mentioned in the Pharmacopaia of the London College. The power of the medicine may poffibly have been exaggerated in China, but I never can believe that a root fo univerfally efteemed in that empire for ages can be deftitute of virtues. Father Jartoux fpeaks highly of its qualities, from his own experience, on the very very fpot. To him I give full credit, but at the fame time shall obferve, that the trial he made was from the fresh roots. The experiments on which the Elif phyficians founded their opinion, were from dried and exhausted specimens." P. 163. At p. 171, we have also a very good account, or rather hiftory, of the valuable plant Rhubarb, which we infert for the fame reason, as the authorities adduced are indisputable, and the judgment of the reporter correct. "Let me here introduce fome account of the celebrated drug, the Rhubarb, of which Tartary and China is the feat. The rhubarb of all the medicinal kinds is found in great abundance in feveral parts of the Chinese dominions, and even in China itself. In the province of Se-chwen, in the mountains of Snow, in Shen-fi, where troops of camels are loaden with nets full of rhubarb in the months of October and November: it abounds alfo in Tanguth about the lake Koko-nor, Little Bucharia, and all the chain of hills from lake Baikal weftward. It grows fouth as far as Quang-tung; but the fouthern rhubarb is little esteemed, yet much of it comes to Europe by fea; I may add that, out of the Chinese empire, it is found in Thibet. "Rhubarb was known to Diofcorides, who lived in the reign of Nero, as a valuable purge; and Paulus Æginetus, a phyfician of the feventh century, prefcribed it for the fame purpofe. It was brought from the remote parts of the ancient Scythia, and the ufe was continued through all fucceeding ages, without any certain knowledge of the plant to which the roots belonged. Marco Polo obferved it on the rocky mountain near Suchur, in the province of Tanguth, and fays it was fent to all parts of the earth; for it found its way to Europe from thofe diftant regions even in that early time. "Gerard gives a figure of the well known rhubarb of our gardens, with roundish crifped leaves. This he names, very properly, Rha verum antiquorum. Parkinfon gives another in his Paradifus terreftris, which he procured from doctor Mathew Lifter, phyfician to Charles I. This is acknowledged, from both their accounts, to be weaker than the other kind which came from China; it is frequent in our gardens. I do not remember that the roots were ever applied to medicinal uses, but of the tender fhoots of the leaves are made excellent tarts, in the early fummer, not inferior in taste to the codling. The plants which produce the true rhubarb have been but lately difcovered; the feeds of the Rheum Palmatum were fent from Ruffia by the late doctor Mounfey, to doctor Hope, of Edinburgh, in 1763. He fowed them in the botanical garden; they fucceeded greatly; and he, with his ufual liberality, communicated them to the curious. He drew up an account of the plant, and inferted it, attended with moft accurate plates, in vol. lv. p. 290, of our Phil. Tranfactions. Doctor Woodville gives aife a good figure of the plant, at p. 227 of his medicinal botany; as to that referred to by Linnæus (Le Brun's travels, i. p. 188, 189) it seems of fome other fpecies of Rheum. "That moft excellent character, the Duke of Athol, propagated it with great fuccefs, not only in his garden, but on the highland mountains that furround his feat at Athol. His benevolent defign of rendering common and cheap this useful medicine, is bleft with the utmoft fuccefs fuccefs. The roots which he cultivated in the light foils, fimilar to thofe of the Tartarian deserts, the native place, encrease to a vast size; fome, when fresh, have been found to weigh fifty pounds, and to be equal in smell, tafte, and effect, to those we import at an enormous expence to our country. On being dried, they fhrink to one quarter of their original weight. There is reafon to fuppofe that the Scatch rhubarb may be fuperior in virtue to the foreign, the laft being gathered in all feafons, as the Mongall hunters chance to pafs by. They draw up the roots indifcriminately, pierce them at one end, string them on their belts, and leave them to dry on their tents without further care. In all probability the time is not remote in which the British rhubarb will fuperfede the neceffity of the use of the foreign. "But there are other kinds which are faid to be equally efficacious with the Rheum Palmatum, fuch as the Rheum Rhabarbarum of Linnæus, the Undulatum of the Hortus Kewenfis, with long waved leaves; the Rheum Compa&um, a third fpecies, boafts of the fame virtues; Miller had the feeds fent to him as thofe of the true kind. The Rheum Rhaponticum is befides met with in Tartary about lake Baikal, as well as moft of the others. This is the fpecies which gave the name of Rhubarb, or rather Rhabarb, to this drug, the plant being firft obferved near to the banks of the ancient Rba, or river Volga; the fame prefcribed by Paulus Eginatus as one of the ingredients for a purge, under the name of Rheum Ponticum; perhaps the trivial name might be derived from its being brought from fome part of Pontus, to which it was carried from its place of growth. Pliny mentions a plant, with a medicinal root, called Rhacoma; he fays it came from the countries beyond the kingdom of Pontus, and, by the name, probably from the Rha. He defçribes its uses, but none of them are fimilar to that of the rhubarb; I cannot therefore venture to fay that it is the fame plant. "In Chinefe Tartary the Bobak Marmots, (Hift. Quad. ii. N° 324) are faid to be the propagators of Rhubarb. Wherever ten or twenty plants grow you are fure of finding feveral burrows under the shades of their broad fpreading leaves. It is probable the manure they depofit about the roots contributes not a little to its increase; and their cafting up the earth makes it fhoot out young buds and multiply. It appears that the Mangalls never accounted it worth cultivating; but that the world is obliged to the Marmots for the quantities scattered, at random, in many diftricts of this country. For whatever part of the ripe feed happens to be blown among the thick grafs, can very feldom reach the ground but muft there wither and die; whereas, fhould it fall among the loofe earth thrown up by those animals, it immediately takes root, and produces a new plant. "The Chinese call rhubarb Tay-whang; they ufe it nearly in the fame manner as is done in Europe; efteem its virtues much as we do, except that which comes from Canton: the greateft part of the Tartarian, or most valuable, is engroffed by the Ruffians, who purchase it at their town of Kiachta (a little fouth of lake Baikal) from Buchavian merchants, and fend it to Petersburgh. This is called the Turkey Rhubarb, because formerly it was brought from Conftantinople, the * Usually called Ægineta. Rev. merchants |