336 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



it is called (though rather purple than white), principally used by the 

 Negroes, but also by the Whites, is larger, and resembles the lobster in 

 taste. These are amphibious, and are found in the low lands, principally 

 in the woods, where, as I have already said, they are caught at night with 

 torches. They are numerous also in cultivated fields, and in some of the 

 low-lying estates do considerable injury at times to the planters in dry 

 weather, when vegetation is slow, by nipping oft' the blade of the voting 

 canes and corn as it shoots through the ground. In such situations the 

 Negroes catch them in a singular manner. Thev know from the appea- 

 rance of a crab-hole, if there is a crab in it, and dig down till they come to 

 the water, say 18 in. or 2 ft. and then close the hole firmly with a handful 

 of dry grass: in this manner one Negro will stop two dozen holes in a 

 morning. About four hours after he returns, and his prisoners being by 

 this time drunhened (half-drowned), they tumbled out along with the plug 

 of grass and are caught. 



In 1811 there was a very extraordinary production of black crabs in the 

 eastern part of Jamaica. In June or July the whole district of Matichioneal 

 was covered with countless millions, swarming from the sea to the moun- 

 tains. Of this I was an eye-witness. On ascending- Oua Hill, from the vale 

 of Plantain Garden River, the road appeared of a reddish colour, as if 

 strewed with brick-dust It was owing to myriads of young black crabs, 

 about the size of the nail of a man's finger, moving at a pretty quick pace 

 direct for the mountains. I rode along the coast a distance of about fifteen 

 miles, and found it nearly the same the whole way ; only in some places 

 they were more numerous, in others less so. Returning the following dav, 

 1 found the road still covered with them the same as the day before, (low 

 have they been produced, and where do the) come from: were questions 

 everybody asked, and nobody could aivswer. It is well known that crabs 

 deposit their eggs once a year, in May ; but except on this occasion, though 

 bring on the coast, I had never seen above a dozen young crabs together, 

 and here were millions. No unusual number of old crabs bad been observed 

 in that season : and it is observable that they were moving from a rock- 

 bound coast of inaccessible cliffs, the abode of sea birds, and exposed to 

 the constant influence of the trade winds. No person, as far as I know, ever 

 saw the like except on that occasion ; and I have understood that, since 

 1811, black crabs have been abundant farther in the interior of the island 

 than they were ever known before. (Jamaica Itoiial Gazette, March, 1829.) 

 — Can you or any of your readers tell how many of the above crabs are 

 described ?— X, Y. June, 1829. 



STATISTICS. 



The Influence of Climate on National Character.— In order to eradicate 

 the common error, which induces us to consider nature as the almost exclu- 

 sive modeller of the character of nations, it is of paramount importance we 

 should carefully keep in view, that even in the physical world, however 

 obvious an influence they may produce, the climate, soil, and natural con- 

 stitution of a country, are by no means capable of explaining all the appear- 

 ances which will claim the inquirer's attention. This observation applies 

 with peculiar force to the distribution of the various families of the vegetable 

 and animal kingdoms over the surface of the earth. It is impossible to 

 explain on such a datum, why England and Van Oieiuen's Laud, though 

 similarly circumstanced as to climate, should differ so widely in respect of 

 their animal and vegetable productions; or why the Flora of southern 

 Africa should possess sl) distinct a character from that of the northern parts 

 of the African continent, or the flowers of New Holland be so essentially 

 peculiar to its own soil. Much less will climate or soil enable us to account 

 for the corpore;il distinctions which characterise the several races or families 

 of mankind. We know it is customar) te ascribe the dark complexion of 

 the negro to the extraordinary beat of the solar ray in his native clime ; but 

 do not the olive-coloured Hindoo and tin- fairer i-omplcxioned tenant of the 

 isles of the South Seas inhabit similar latitudes ? or does the negro's skin 

 become lest <\\\>\e when exposed to the less scorching skies of Jamaica or the 

 Florida* > Though surrounded by the same meteorological circumstances, 

 there is a striking dissimilarity in the complcxional characteristics of the 



