THE NATURAL HISTORY OF DISTANT LANDS 63 



of the humming-birds that they are no bigger than the 

 top of the thumb, and when plucked, only half as big ; 

 that they fly too fast for the movements of the wings 

 to be followed by the eye, and when first seen are taken 

 for hornets. Nest and bird together, he goes on, may 

 weigh no more than twenty-four grains, while the feet 

 and claws are as delicate as in the miniatures of an 

 illuminated prayer-book. The plumage is of all gay 

 colours, such as green and gold, and the bill is as fine 

 as a needle. Though so small, they are bold enough to 

 fly at the eyes of anyone who tries to plunder their 

 nests. It is easy to imagine the delight with which 

 such particulars were read for the first time. 



American Plants. Many edible and medicinal plants 

 are described, among the rest, maize, cassava, the pine- 

 apple and the prickly pear. We are told of the 

 singular efficacy of a prickly pear poultice in curing 

 fractured limbs, and of the edible fruit. The carmine 

 colouring matter is also noticed, but no mention is made 

 of the cochineal insect. India-rubber balls are said to 

 be used in an Indian game.^ 



Oviedo's figures of animals and plants are very rude, 

 but much allowance must be made for the clumsiness of 

 the wood-engraver.2 Maize, pine-apple, cacti, &c. are 

 represented for the first time in a printed book ; the 

 manatee is one of the few animals figured. 



1 This last I quote from Darmstadter's Oeschichte der NaturwissenscJia/ten, 

 having failed to verify his reference, or to discover the passage in the enormous 

 and unindexed volumes of the Madrid edition of Oviedo. 



The first mention of a lead-pencil occurs in Gesner's little book on fossils 

 {supra, p. 30), but the first mention of india-rubber aus useful for erasing 

 pencil marks is as late as 1770 (see Thorpe's Piieatley, p. 72). 



2 This clumsiness will strike any reader who recollects the high quality of 

 the wood-engraving executed in Germany, Holland and Flanders during the 

 first quarter of the sixteenth century ; Italy and France were not far behind. 

 The reproductions of Oviodo's figures in Ramusio are much better executed 

 than the originals. 



