Singular Method of hunting JViU Swine. 3 ^ 



of authority. Thev add other extravagant fables: but it is 

 certain that the ^^«^C9 purrucs them wherever it finds them; 

 and that the fiidunns and negroes, who fpend the greater part 

 of their lime in the forefts and open fields, aflert, that to take 

 them with more fafety they prepare themfelvcs by eating 

 ionic leaves of the plant iii qnellion. This may be true ; 

 they may have difcovered the virtue of it, and experienced it 

 with fnc'cels. In this cafe, as in many others, the inftincl ot 

 animals has been of ufe to us. 



In regard to the plant, its genus has not yet been 

 clafled in anv book of botany I ""have ever feen ; and for 

 that reafon l' lliall venture to give a defcription of it as 

 well as I can, taking advantage of the memoir above men- 

 tioned. The root is fibrous, and extends in every direc- 

 tion. The ftem is (Iraight, pcrfedly cylindric when the 

 plant is tender, but when old becomes pentagonal, that is to 

 fav, acquires falient angles. The leaves which grow on the 

 ftem ftand oppofite to^ each other ; are {hapcd like a heart ; 

 have a dark green colour intermixed with violet ; are fmooth 

 on the lower fide, rough on the upper, and fomewhat vel- 

 vety : its corvmbifcrous^^flowers are yellow, flofculous, and 

 have four fle'urons in each common' calyx. The corolla is 

 monopetalous, infundibuliform, with five indentations; and 

 contains five (lamina,' united by antherse in the form of cy- 

 linders, which embrace the ftyle. The ftyle has a Itigma 

 deeplv divided, and the calyx contains feveral broad feeds, 

 each with a filky aigrette. 



The plant is vivacious, and is found in the^ hot and tem- 

 perate regions of the vice-royOiip of Santa- Fc ; it is, in ge- 

 neral, fond of growing on the borders of rivulets and in (liady 

 places, rather than in""the open plains. Nature has not pro- 

 duced it in the elevated or cold dillritls of this continent; 

 and for 'this reafon, no doubt, that its virtue would be ufelefs, 

 as there are no venomous ferptnts but in the countries where 

 it grows. 



VII i. Acconnl of a fingular Method of hunting IVild Swine 

 in the fyhmd of Sumatra. By Mr. John, Mijionary at 

 'I'ranquchor *. 



ITranquchar, Feb. JO, 1797. 

 N the kinadom of Siak, in the ifland of Sumatra, which 

 lies oppofite to Malacca, there are two kinds of wild fwuie : 

 one kind live in the forelts on roots and fruit ; ihcir flelh is 

 • From D<r GiQUJchtijt UMiiyf/rJcbaidcr F.curiJe zi< Bnlni N<nr 

 .i'( hifun, vyi, li. ,. , 



C 4 cxcecdini!,iy 



