16 



THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



commodities into France, manifests the ingenious enterprise of this active 

 people. The attempts now making in India are of the last importance 

 to the British dominions. It is opening up a new channel of trade, creat- 

 ing fresh demand? on our productive industry, and establishing additional 

 markets in a quarter from whence our wrought goods will ultimately pe- 

 netrate into the very heart of China itself. It will also prove in many 

 ways conducive to the benefit of India, and the melioration of its vast na- 

 tive population. It will introduce into a neglected portion of the country 

 British capital and enterprise, and a class of persons who will develop its 

 latent resources, and, in all probability, civilize its people. It will place 

 at the disposal of the Indian government a portion of the revenue which 

 now accrues to the Chinese government on the shipment of Tea from 

 Canton, and which England will not object to pay, provided it be applied 

 to the remission of the land revenue, and those other burdens with which 

 the natives of India are so sorely oppressed. And as the climate, where 

 cleared, is declared to be congenial to the European constitution, it will 

 supply that desideratum long anxiously looked for — a site for colonization 

 unincumbered by population, and the establishment of Sanatoria for our 

 pensioned English soldier, with employment suited to his health, strength, 

 and capacity, the cultivation of Tea being no more laborious than the 

 care of gooseberry bushes, and entirely conducted in the shade. Additional 

 information regarding the prospects of the cultivation in India will be 

 found in the Oriental Herald. 



REVIEWS. 



The Natural History of the Quadrupeds of Paraguay and t!ie River La 

 Plata ; from the Spanish of Don Felix de Azara, SfC. By R. W. Perce- 

 val Hunter, Esq., F. G. S., Z. S., &c A. & C. Black, Edinburgh. 

 Longman, &c, London. 1838, 8vo . Vol. I. 

 We need scarcely commence our short notice of this English edition of 

 Azara's work on the Quadrupeds of Paraguay with the statement that it 

 was greatly desiderated. The French translation of St Mery, published 

 nearly half a century ago, was prepared from an imperfect manuscript 

 which the author meant should never see the light. Of the original work 

 in Spanish, published at Madrid in the year 1802, two of the five volumes 

 beinc devoted to quadrupeds, and the remaining three to birds, it is im- 

 possible to procure a copy out of Spain, and even in that country it is not 

 often met with, while St Mery's work has long been out of print. The 

 best known production of the celebrated Spanish Naturalist, his " Voyages 

 dans L'Amerique Meridionale, &c," published under the superintend- 

 ence of the well-known naturalist Walckenaer, contains only a very short 

 abrid"ment of the treatise now before us ; and is principally occupied by 

 his geographical and political descriptions of Paraguay and the neighbour- 

 in" provinces, of their conquest, and their indigenous inhabitants ; the or- 

 nitholosical portion having obtained full consideration, and even ampli- 

 fication, from the pen of the celebrated Sonnini of Monancour. Except 

 then for this translation, Azara's work on qiradrupeds would be unpro- 

 curable and unknown, and hence our obligations to the spirited trans- 

 lator are too conspicuous to require remark. This is not the place to 

 enter into the particulars of Azara's eventful life. The short dedication 

 of this work, however, throws so much light upon his history as a Na- 

 turalist, upon his peculiar advantages, and his drawbacks, that we quote it. 

 It is addressed to his brother, Don Joseph Nicolas de Azara. — " Dear 



NrcoLAS We had scarcely seen the light, when orrr parents separated 



us; nor have we, during the whole course of our lives, ever met, or had 

 any communication with each other, save in Barcelona, for the short 

 space of two days, and that by accident. Equally separated has been 

 our path through life. You have lived in the great world; and by the 

 important offices you have filled, your talents, deeds, and virtues, have 

 become famous in Spain and out of it. Whilst I, without obtaining any 

 ostensible employment, and without any opportunity of making myself 

 known to y iu or any other person, have spent the best twenty years o( 

 my life in one of the remotest corners of the earth, forgotten even by my 

 friends, without books or rational intercourse, travelling continually 

 through deserts, and immense and frightful woods, holding communication 

 only with the birds and the wild beasts. Of these, then, have I written 

 the history, which 1 send and dedicate to you, in order that you may by 

 it know me, or at least become acquainted with the nature of my labours." 

 Azara's Notes, as he modestly styles this particular treatise, contain 

 an account of seventy-seven species of native Mammalia, and seven spe- 

 cies of Kepti'es, with numerous details respecting the European animals, 

 introduced by the Spanish conquerors, which are now found in numerous 

 herd? in a wild state on the Pampas of Buenos Ayres and Paraguay. 

 The volume now before us, and one only is yet published, in arrange- 

 ment differs somewhat from the original, and contains first Azara's ac- 

 count of the imported European animals, and then of nearly thirty of the 

 native Mammalia, accompanied with numerous notes. Azara's memoir 

 upon each animal is divided into three parts; 1st, An account, from close 

 and continued observation, of its habits, including its habitat, food, num- 



ber of its young, disposition, habits in confinement, enemies, arrd its do- 

 mestic uses, if any; 2d, A minute and detailed description of its external 

 character, from the living animals, or from specimens recently killed ; and, 

 3dly, A severe critical examination of the account given by Buffon, and 

 other previous authors. This last part forms by far the largest portion 

 of the whole, and, though frequently too circumstantial and prolix, yet, 

 in Mr Hunter's estimation, " it furnishes much valuable information which 

 could not have been altered or curtailed without considerable loss to the 

 value of the work." Of the non-indigenous animals we have an account 

 of the Wild Horse, the Ass, Mule, Wild Cows, Sheep, Goats, and Wild 

 Dogs : of the native Quadrupeds described, we have the Tapir, two kinds 

 of Peccaries, four species of Deer, two species of Ant-Eaters, nine of 

 FelinsB, including two species of Jaguars and the Puma, two kinds of 

 Weazel, the Skunk, the Red Wolf, the Grey Fox, the Racoon, the 

 Coatimondi, and the South American Otter. On a previous page we 

 have given a short analysis of the information supplied respecting the 

 South American Dogs. Of his account of the native animals we shall 

 quote a single paragraph, which will afford a fair specimen of the trans- 

 lator's style: it shall be respecting the Otter. " I have not met with 

 any one acquainted with the Guaranese name of this animal, known vul- 

 garly as the River Wolf; but, as it is not a Wolf, I have called it nutria, 

 or Otter, for it belongs to the same family as the European Otter, al- 

 though of a different species. It inhabits the lakes, rivers, and rivulets 

 of Paraguay: I believe it does not enter salt water, and that its geogra- 

 phical range does not extend beyond the river La Plata : It lives in troops, 

 which, sometimes ascending to the surface of the water, raise their heads 

 about the boats, and bark like hoarse dogs, using angry gesticulations, 

 and menacing snappings, althounh they never harm voyagers or swim- 

 mers. Each family appears to possess a separate domain. It is truly 

 an amphibious animal, for it spends almost as much time in water as upon 

 the land, and both elements are equally suited to its nature and habits : 

 it sometimes rises from the bottom with a fish in its month, to eat it on 

 land, and rears its young in holes, which it excavates on the banks. The 

 Payaguas Indians, who are continually sailing up and down the river Pa- 

 raguay, and are better acquainted with this animal than others, tell me 

 that it brings forth two at a birth, covered with hair, and that many fe- 

 males bring forth and rear their young at the same time, aid in the same 

 place, their usual resort throughout the year. They do not eat its flesh, 

 considering it very bad. This Otter smells differently from the marine 

 animal ; it moves slowly, dragging, as it were, its belly and muzzle along 

 the ground ; and, although it can run, it does so with little agility. Its 

 movements in biting and walking are much more tardy than those of the 

 Dog; so that, even when irritated, we can seize it by the back, and carry 



it off without its screaming, or making any sensible opposition." (p. 



326.) 



The Notes are numerous, taken from the writings of the most able and 

 popular Naturalists, as Cuvier. Desmarest, Pennant, Horsfield. Richard- 

 son, Swainson, Bennett, Audubon, Sir F. Head, and others, and unques- 

 tionably greatly enliven and illustrate the volume, though in a few in- 

 stances they are more piquant than relevant. Of the faithfulness of the 

 translation we entertain no doubt; whilst the style partakes somewhat of 

 the peculiarities of a foreign idiom, owing to what we regard a too great 

 scrupulosity of the translator to supply every minute turn of the author's 

 thoughts ; it is, however, generally quite clear and racy. This volume is 

 illustrated by a beautiful copy, by Gardner, of Azara's valuable map of 

 what were the Spanish South American Provinces, supplied at great 

 expense. Upon thewhole, we trust that Naturalists will so far appre- 

 ciate Mr Hunter's praise-worthy zeal and liberality, as to encourage hire 

 to complete the work he has so meritoriously begun, and thus to bring 

 within the sphere of all a store of useful knowledge, which has hitherto 

 been very much confined to the examination of a few. 



MISCELLANIES. 



Scotch Sugar.— Beet-root Sugar — " The Aberdeen Constitutional' 

 states, that one of its correspondents has sent a sample of sugar, made at 

 Macduff, from Beet-root grown in Banffshire. It is retailed iu London 

 at 8d a pound. The quantity is about a ton ; but the manufacturer says 

 that next season he will be able to supply any quantity. The Sugar is 

 well granulated, very dry, free from smell, particularly white, and tastes 

 like sugarcandy. 



New Parchment. — M. Pelouze states, that if a piece of paper, or of 

 cotton or linen, be plunged into aquafortis (nitric-acid), at the density of 

 1. 5, and left in it sufficient time to be saturated, say two or three minutes, 

 a species of parchment will be produced, which is impervious to damp, 

 and extremely combustible. 



Edinburgh : Published for the Proprietor, at the Office, No. 13, Hill Street. 

 London : Smith. Ei.hf.r, and Co., 65, Cornhill. Glasgow, and the West of 

 Scotland : John Smith and Son ; and Jchn Macleod. Dublin : Georce 

 Young. Paris : J. B. Bailliere, Rue de I'Ecole de Medecine, No. 13 bis. 



THE EDINBURGH TRINTING COMPANY. 



