ANIMALS. 113 



them in pieces with a very easy effort. This ac- 

 count, with a variety of other circumstances, has 

 been confirmed by succeeding travellers : Her- 

 rera, Sebald Wert, Oliver, Van Noort, and James 

 le Maire, all correspond in affirming the fact, al- 

 though they differ in many particulars of their re- 

 spective descriptions. The last voyager we have 

 had that has seen this enormous race, is Commo- 

 dore Byron. I have talked with the person who 

 first gave the relation of that voyage, and who 

 was the carpenter of the Commodore's ship ; he 

 was a sensible understanding man, and I believe 

 extremely faithful. By him therefore I was as- 

 sured, in the most solemn manner, of the truth of 

 his relation ; and this account has since been con- 

 firmed by one or two publications, in all which the 

 particulars are pretty nearly the same. One of the 

 circumstances which most puzzled me to recon- 

 cile to probability, was that of the horses on which 

 they are described as riding down to the shore. 

 We know the American horse to be of European 

 breed, and in some measure to be degenerated 

 from the original. I was at a loss, therefore, to 

 account how a horse of not more than fourteen 

 hands high was capable of carrying a man of nine 

 feet, or, in other words, an animal almost as large 

 as itself. But the wonder will cease when we con- 

 sider, that so small a beast as an ass will carry a 

 man of ordinary size tolerably well ; and the pro- 

 portion between this and the former instance is 

 nearly exact. We can no longer, therefore, re- 

 fuse our assent to the existence of this gigantic 

 race of mankind. In what manner they are pro- 



VOL. II. H 



