DISCOVERIES OF THE FRENCH. 201 
them, first at only a smart trot ; but getting heat- 
ed, and spreading its wings, soon ran with such 
swiftness, that it scarcely appeared to touch the 
ground. The ostrich moves exactly in the manner 
of the partridge ; and, as the latter, with its short 
legs, outstrips the swiftest runner, it may be infer- 
red what the latter will effect with dimensions so 
much larger. It is hence suggested what important 
services might be drawn from the ostrich, could it 
be trained and managed as a domestic animal. 
In the course of this voyage, our author had an 
opportunity of observing two trees, of a very re- 
markable character. The first was the mangrove. 
These are not more than fifty feet high. They 
grow only in water, or on banks daily inundated by 
the tide. But the remarkable circumstance is, that 
their lowest branches throw down roots, which pe- 
netrate, and strike into the bed of the river. They 
form thus a species of natural arcades, and their top 
a transparent terrace, which might even be walked 
over, were not the branches too much encumber- 
ed with leaves. The other tree is the baobab, which 
he called calabash, remarkable not for its height, 
which does not exceed sixty feet, but for its pro- 
digious thickness. In one, which he was shewn in 
the island of Senegal, he extended his arms thir* 
teen times as wide as he possibly could, before he 
embraced its circumference. On measuring* it 
round with a packthread, he found it sixty-fivt 
