INDEX. 337 



verted by time and damps into a chalky powder ; wretched 

 people destined to fish for pearls ; usually die consumptive ; 

 in what manner they fish for them, v. 241. 



Pearls, in stags, are parts rising from the crust of the beam, 

 ii. 317. 



Peccary, or tajacu, art animal, a native of America, at first view 

 resembling a small hog ; its description ; has upon the back 

 a lump like the navel in other animals ; it consists of glands 

 producing a liquor of an offensive smell ; when killed, the 

 parts of generation, and the glands on the back, must be 

 taken instantly away, otherwise in half an hour the flesh be- 

 comes unfit to be eaten ; though like the hog in many re- 

 spects, is nevertheless a distinct race, and will not mix or 

 produce an intermediate race ; is easily tamed ; goes in herds 

 of two or three hundred, and unite, like hogs, in each 

 other's defence ; delights not in marshes or mud, like our 

 hogs ; an unceasing euemy to the lizard, the toad, and the 

 serpent kinds ; also feeds upon toads and serpents ; any 

 plunderer seizing their young, is surrounded, and often 

 killed, ii. 374. 



Pedigree, the Arabians preserve that of their best horses with 

 great care, and for several generations back, ii. 183. 



Pelagii, the Latin name for those shells fished up from the 

 deep ; those cast on the shore are the littorales, v. 209. 



Pelican, a native of Africa and America; once known in Eu- 

 rope, particularly in Russia ; fabulous accounts propagated 

 of it ; the description of it, particularly of its bill, and the 

 great pouch underneath, as wonderful ; Tertre affirms the 

 pouch will hide flesh enough to serve sixty hungry men for 

 a meal ; this pouch, placed at the top of the gullet, consider- 

 ed as the crop in other birds ; the description of the bird 

 from Father Labat ; indolent habits in preparing for incuba- 

 tion, and defending their young; their gluttony scarcely 

 to be satisfied ; their flesh rancid, and tastes worse than it 

 smells ; use made by the Americans of their pouches ; is not 

 entirely incapable of instruction in a domestic state ; in- 

 stances of it ; Aldrovandus mentions one believed to be fifty 

 years old, iv. 360. 



Penguin, union between this bird and the albatross, and regu- 

 larity in their building together, iv. 369. A heavy water- 

 fowl ; the wings of this tribe unfit for flight ; and their legs 

 still more awkwardly adapted for walking ; our sailors call 

 them arse-feet ; they dive to the bottom, or swim between 

 two waters ; they never visit land but when coming to breed ; 

 their colour ; are covered more warmly with feathers than 

 other birds ; description of the Magellanic penguin ; they 

 unite in them the qualities of men, fowls, and fishes ; in- 

 stances of its gluttonous appetite ; their food and flesh ; are 

 a bird of society ; season of laying, and manner of making 

 VOL. VI. 



