approaches to it than one can to the gutturopalatial sounds for he says that it is five cubits in length, and in bulk apof the Hottentot language.' Le Vaillant had an oppor-proaches to that of the elephant. The teeth are not badly tunity of watching the progress of a hippopotamus under characterized by the same author; but he still leaves to the water at Great River. This river,' says he, contained animal the cloven hoof and the horse's tail. many hippopotami; on all sides I could hear them bellow and blow (mugir et souffler.) Anxious to observe them I mounted on the top of an elevated rock which advanced into the river, and I saw one walking at the bottom of the water (marcher et se promener au fond de l'eau). But I remarked that its colour, which when it is dry is greyish, and which when it is only humid and moist appears bluish, seemed then to be of a deep blue. I killed it at the moment when it came to the surface to breathe. It was a very old female and my people in their surprise, and to express its size, called it the grandmother of the river.' (Second Voyage.) Mr. Barrow, in his journey into the interior of Southern Africa, when he reached the mouth of the Great Fish River, saw towards the evening a vast number of Hippopotami (Sea-Cows of the Dutch) with their heads above the surface. Several paths made by these animals led from various parts of the river to a spring of fresh water about a mile distant. To this spring they went in the night to drink; the water of the river for some distance from the mouth being salt. According to Dampier and others, the Hippopotamus, when wounded or irritated, is violently ferocious, and has been known to sink a boat by its bite. History. For a long time it was considered that there was but one species of living Hippopotamus; but the better opinion now seems to be that there are at least two. Before we enter into this part of the subject it may be expected that we should give a slight sketch of the history of the Hippopotamus from the time of the antients. If the Hippopotamus be the Behemoth of Job (ch. xl.), we must refer to the well known verses 10 to 19, both inclusive, as the earliest description of the animal. But the identity is by no means satisfactorily ascertained. The vulgate uses the term Behemoth, and the Zürich version translates the word by Elephas. In the edition of the Bible, imprinted at London by Robert Barker, printer to the King's most excellent Majestie' (1615), Behemoth is the word in the text, with the following annotation:- This beast is thought to bee the elephant, or some other which is unknowen.' Bochart, Ludolph, Scheuchzer, and many others, hold that the Hippopotamus is the animal meant; while not a few of the learned have written in support of the elephant. Cuvier and others think that though we may believe with Bochart that the Hippopotamus is intended, the description in the book of Job is too vague to characterize it. Good comes to the conclusion that some extinct pachydermatous genus was probably represented by the term; and some have lately even gone so far as to contend that Behemoth and the Iguanodon of geologists are identical! Herodotus (ii. 71) gives a most incorrect description of nat must be regarded, from the context and other evidence, as the Hippopotamus. This description is borrowed almost entirely by Aristotle, who has not however given to the animal a horse's tail, which Herodotus bestowed upon it, adding, correctly enough, that its size was that of the largest oxen. Aristotle (Hist. Anim., book ii., chap. vii.) thus describes the Hippopotamus:- The Hippopotamus of Egypt has a mane like a horse; a bifurcated hoof like the ox; a flat visage or muzzle; an astragalus like the animals with eloven feet; projecting teeth which do not show themselves much; the tail of a hog; the voice of a horse; and in size it resembles an ass. Its skin is of such a thickness that spears are made of it.' Now, though there is enough in this curious description to lead to the conclusion that Aristotle meant no other than the Hippopotamus, there is also quite sufficient to show that he never saw the animal, and that he trusted to the wild accounts of others. We trace however the descriptions of Herodotus and Aristotle in many of the figures of the animal which were published after the revival of letters; for it is worthy of remark that notwithstanding the highly erroneous descriptions of antient authors, some of whom must, one should think, have had an opportunity of seeing the animal, the portraits of it by antient artists on coins, &c., are, almost without exception, far from bad representations of the animal. But to return to the antient authors. Diodorus (book i.) comes much nearer to the truth in his description, at least as to the size of the Hippopotamus; Pliny says of it (book viii., c. 25), after treating of the Crocodile and Scincus, 'Major altitudine in eodem Nilo belua hippopotamus editur,' and he gives it the bifid hoofs of the ox, the back, mane, and neigh of the horse, a flattened muzzle, the tail and teeth of the boar, adding, that though they are hooked they are less noxicus-ungulis bifidi quales bubus, dorso equi, et jubâ, et hinnitu, rostro resimo, cauda et dentibus aprorum, aduncis, sed minus noxiis.' In short he seems to have followed with very little exception the account given by Aristotle, without attending to that of Diodorus. Pliny adds, that helmets and bucklers are made of its skin, which are impenetrable unless they are softened by moisture, and he speaks of its feeding on the crops depascitur segetes,' and its caution in avoiding snares. In his ninth book and twelfth chapter, on the covering of aquatic animals (Tegmenta Aquatilium'), the varieties of which he enumerates, he says, 'Alia corio et pilis teguntur, ut vituli et hippopotami; thus making it hairy like the seals, which we take to be meant by vituli ;' and yet, with all this monstrous error, he himself (book viii., c. 26) speaks of M. Scaurus as being the first who had shown the hippopotamus, together with five crocodiles, at Rome, during his ædileship; finishing the account however by making the former animal a master of one department in the art of healing, in consequence of his habit of letting blood by pressing the vein of his leg against some very sharp stake when his obesity requires such relief. We know moreover that Augustus exhibited one of these animals on occasion of his triumph over Cleopatra. (Dion., book li.) Not to weary the reader with the descriptions of the antients, we shall only further refer to that of Achilles Tatius (book iv., c. 2), which is, notwithstanding some errors, perhaps the most correct; and shall proceed to notice that, under the later emperors, a considerable number of hippopotami were introduced into the Roman shows. Thus Antoninus exhibited some, with crocodiles, tigers, and other animals. Commodus showed five on one occasion, and killed some of them with his own hand. Heliogabalus and the third Gordian also exhibited hippopotami. These demands seem to have produced their effect; for according to Marcellinus Ammianus (book xxii., c. 15) and others, the race of hippopotami had disappeared from Egypt since the time of the emperor Julian. Favourable circumstances however must have operated to restore it, as we collect from the account of Zerenghi above alluded to and others. That the animal was sacred, in some parts at least, appears from Herodotus (book ii., Euterpe'): Those which are found in the district of Papremis are sacred, but in other parts of Egypt they are not considered in the same light." Sonnini (Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt), who quotes this passage, and also one from Pausanias (book iv. 33), goes on to state that these animals laid waste whole countries by ravages as fearful as their size was enormous, and that they were equally formidable to man with the crocodile. From the terror which they inspired, they were, he asserts, generally looked upon as the symbol of Typhon, that giant who had spread death and destruction among the deities which were worshipped in that quarter; they were, he adds, of course the emblem of mischance and of cruelty, and the particular worship of them at Papremis must have been practised solely with the view of appeasing or averting their rage. We have mentioned that with few exceptions, if not with one only, the representations of the antient artists have been found faithful to nature when compared with the description of antient naturalists and authors. The exception is the figure copied by Hamilton (Egyptiaca, pl. xxii.), from one of the caves of Beni-Hassan, in which the feet are represented as cloven, and the lower tusks are so enormous as to render it impossible that they should be covered by the lips, whereas the largely developed muzzle and its conse quent concealment of the tusks are portrayed upon most of the antient figures and coins. We do not consider the figure found by Belzoni as an exception, because, as the author of Nome of Papremis; but they are not held sacred by the rest of the Egyptians The following is the entire passage: Hippopotami are held sacred in the Their nature and form are these: the animal is four-footed, bisulcated, with hoofs like those of an ox, a flat nose, a horse's maue, prominent teeth, and the so thick that when dried the shafts of darts are made of it.' tail and voice of a horse. In size it is as large as the greatest ox. The ski i the amusing book on Egyptian Antiquities observes, the designer sometimes placed on one animal a part taken from another, and that mentioned by Belzoni was a calf with the head of a hippopotamus. Though the details of the teeth and feet are not correct in the figure on the plinth of the statue of the Nile formerly in the Vatican, and afterwards taken to the French Museum, its general contour is good; and the animal occurs in other sculptures and in mosaics very characteristically represented. Some of these, that of the Vatican above mentioned, for instance, may have given rise to the story of the enmity borne towards the crocodile by the hippopotamus, which in that sculpture holds a crocodile in its mouth. On medals and coins of the Roman emperors the hippopotamus often appears, sometimes with the crocodile, sometimes without. Those of the emperors Trajan, Hadrian, and Philip, or rather of Marcia Otacilia Severa, Philip's wife, will occur to some of our readers. In more modern times we have the descriptions of Isidore of Seville, Vincent de Beauvais, Albertus Magnus, James of Vitry, and all more or less fabulous; but Abdallatif gives a very good account of the animal. Belon and Gillius however seem to have been the first among the moderns who actually saw, or at least who have recorded that they saw, the animal alive. They both saw it at Constantinople, and perhaps they saw the same. Sonnini seems to doubt whether the animal which Belon saw was a hippopotamus (Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt, vol. iii.), and quotes Matthiolus, who speaks very slightingly of Belon; but a perusal of that accurate observer's account will, we think, satisfy the most scrupulous that he saw a living hippopotamus; he even alludes to the differences between the figures of that animal on antient works of art and the specimen which he had before his eyes, and rectifies the error in the figure on the plinth of the statue of the Nile, which has five toes instead of four. Of the teeth indeed he only remarks that they approach to those of a horse. Gesner does little but quote Belon, and without detaining the reader with the descriptions of Zerenghi, who is above alluded to, which were good, or the compilation of Aldrovandus, who did not use the figure of Zerenghi, but another sent to him from Padua (Cuvier thinks, by Prosper Alpinus), or the good description and more accurate representation given by Fabius Columna, we come to Ludolph, who in his History of Ethiopia' gives an entire figure on a large scale. This is the best which had been hitherto published; but the teeth are exaggerated, and a great deal too much exposed, and the ears are rather long. Below this is a figure of the sea-horse, putting up his head above the water; thence called the river-horse by the Greekes.' The head and neck alone are visible; but the exaggeration and exposure of the teeth are continued, and the draftsman, by lengthening the neck, head, and ears, has given a much more horse-like character to the figure. Thevenot, in his 'Voyage to the Levant,' very fairly describes an individual killed in his time (1658) near Girgeh, and taken to Cairo. The date of the last of these authors is 1689, but in 1735 the work of Prosper Alpinus was published, and obscured the subject again by giving a representation of two stuffed skins, the one of a large female animal, and the other of her foetus, which he had seen in the house of the Pacha of Cairo. These were the skins of two Hippopotami, but the skulls had been withdrawn, and the absence of the projecting teeth led Prosper to the conclusion that he had at last found in this, which he took for a distinct creature, the animal represented by the antient artists, forgetting, or more probably not knowing, that when the Hippopotami of the present day keep their mouths closed no tooth is visible. We need not detain the reader with a reference to the figures and descriptions given by other zoologists,* but shall come at once to Linnæus, and this will bring us to the question of the geographical distribution of the genus, and of the number of species. Linnæus, in his last edition of his 'Systema Naturæ, gives only one species, Hippopotamus amphibius, and places its habitat in Nilo et Bambolo Africæ, et ad ostia fluviorum Asiæ.' First we will advert to the Geographical Distribution.-Africa appears to be the only quarter of the globe in which this form exists; and though Onesicritus (Arrian, Indic., c. 6) places the Hippopotamus in the Indus, Strabo (690, 707, Casaub.) seems to • Grew, A. Jussieu, Daubenton, Pallas, Buffon, &c. prefer the testimony of Aristobulus in contradiction of the fact, and Pausanias (iv. 34) agrees with Strabe. Cuvier, who has collected almost all the learning on | this subject, well observes that no traveller of credit has reported that it has been found on the continent of India. He remarks that Buffon gave no credence to the testimony of Michael Boyn, who states China to be one of the localities. he observes that it is nearly without authority that Linnæus supposes the animal to occur at the mouths of the rivers of Asia, and is of opinion that M. Faujas appears to be well authorized in denying that it is to be found on the continent of India. Marsden includes the Hippopotamus among the animals of the islands of Sumatra and Java; but Cuvier ('Osse mens Fossiles') enters into an interesting discussion, weil worthy of the perusal of the reader, to show that Marsden is mistaken; and, in addition to his arguments, he brings forward the fact that MM. Diard and Duvaucel, who travelled over a considerable part of Java and Sumatra in different directions, could not find a Hippopotamus, though they succeeded in obtaining two species of Rhinoceros and a Tapir. Upon the whole evidence at present known, it seems to be established that the geographical distribution of this pachydermatous form is confined to the great rivers and lakes of Africa. Species. It remains to be considered how many species of Hippopotamus at present exist. M. Desmoulins (Journal de Physiologie, &c., par F. Magendie, tome v.) gives osteological reasons, drawn princi pally from the differences in the skull, for distinguishing at least two species of Hippopotamus. And upon the whole it must be allowed that he appears to be borne out in his position that the distinctions between the two species, one of which he designates as the Hippopotamus of the Cape (Hippopotamus Capensis), and the other as the Hippopotamus of Senegal (Hippopotamus Senegalensis), are as strong as those on which Cuvier founded his specific separation of the fossil Hippopotamus from that of the Cape. M. Des moulins is further of opinion that it is not impossible that the Hippopotamus of the Nile differs specifically from the other two. The external differences do not appear to be considerable, if any. M. Desmoulins indeed remarks, that of forty Hippopotami seen by M. Caillaud in the Upper Nile, two or three were bluish-black, all the others reddish; and M. Desmoulins even hints that there may be two species in that river. The latter adds that of the two Hippo potami of the Cape possessed by the Paris Museum, one is black, the other reddish; but he considers that the nume rical disproportion observed between the individuals of the two colours in the Nile can hardly admit of a sexual solution. We have examined several skulls of Hippopotami, and some of them certainly present many striking differences; but i should be remembered that safe inferences as to spec.fe distinction can only be drawn from a very extensive exami nation of skeletons, combined with unquestionable data a to the locality, age, and sex of the subjects examined. With regard to the supposed two Nilotic species we, with all due submission, have our doubts; nor do we give muchi weight to the alleged difference of colour. The animal the water and out of it presents a very different appearance and, to say nothing of the possibility of a difference in thể case of sex, there is every probability that some change in the colour may take place as the animal advances in age. W have seen the remark of Le Vaillant as to the difference t colour when the skin is dry, when it is only moist, and whe the animal, in full life, is walking at the bottom of the river. It need hardly be observed that the Romans must have derived their Hippopotami from Northern Africa; and w we have given Sparrmann's description, among others.. the noise made by the southern animal, we may be excusperhaps for remarking that Burckhardt (Travels in Nudo. describes the voice of the Hippopotamus as a harsh and hea sound, like the creaking or groaning of a large woode door. This noise, he says, is made when the animal raises huge head out of the water, and when he retires into it aga We may also add, with regard to the alleged disappearan of the Hippopotamus from Lower Egypt, that, as Cava remarks, the French Savans attached to the expedition : Egypt, who ascended the Nile above Srene, did not me with one. Utility to Man.-We have adverted to the damage dea by the Hippopotamus to cultivated grounds; but when w look at the enormous ripping, chisel-like canines of the lower jaw, and the lower incisors formed for uprooting, we cannot but think that such an animal must be an active agent in clearing rivers from the greater water-plants which might in time, if left undisturbed, go far to convert the running stream into a sluggish swamp. With regard to minor details, the flesh of this Wasser Ochs is much esteemed as an article of food. In the first catalogue of the African Museum we read that it is much in request both among the natives and the colonists, and that the epicures of Cape Town do not disdain to use their influence with the country farmers to obtain a preference in the matter of Sea Cow's Speck, as the fat which lies immediately, under the skin is called when salted and dried. Nor are the whips which are made of the skin of the Hippopotami of the Nile thought lightly of in the neighbouring countries. They are said to be made by cutting the fresh skin into triangular strips some five or six feet in length: one extremity of the strip is pointed, and it gradually widens till the breadth at the opposite extremity is equal to the intended circumference of the bulk of the whip. The strip is then rolled up so as to form a sort of conical pipe, is firmly tied to keep it in place, and dried in the sun. When all is finished a light and elastic whip is produced. But there is no part of the Hippopotamus in more request than the great canine teeth, the ivory of which is so highly valued by dentists for making artificial teeth. No other ivory keeps its colour equally well; and these canine teeth are imported in great numbers to this country (where more are sent in the first instance than anywhere else perhaps) for this purpose, and sell at a very high price. From the closeness of the ivory, the weight of the tooth, a portion only of which is available for the artificial purpose above mentioned, is heavy in proportion to its bulk, and the article fetches, or did fetch, upon an average, about thirty shillings, more or less, per pound. One of the specific distinctions pointed out by M. Desmoulins is tne comparative abrasion of the canines in the supposed two species; and we would call the attention of the curious who deal in these teeth to this circumstance and the papers above quoted. FOSSIL HIPPOPOTAMI. Hippopotamus. The remains of fossil Hippopotami occur abundantly in the tertiary series. They are most common in the Pliocene period of Lyell, and are frequently met with in the superficial beds of gravel, clay, and sand, termed by some diluvial, in the ossiferous caverns, osseous breccia, &c. They are also found in some of the beds of the Miocene period. The following species are named: Hippopotamus major (Nesti and Cuv.); Hippopotamus minutus (Cuv.); Hippopotamus medius (Cuv.); and Hippopotamus dubius, (Cuv.). A comparatively small species was detected by Mr. Clift among the fossil remains found on the left bank of the Irawaddy, and presented to the Geological Society by Mr. Crawfurd. Remains of Hippopotamus were also abundantly present in the large collection of bones obtained by Captain Cautley among the ruins of fallen cliffs, and partly in situ in the sandstone of the Sewalik mountains, at the southern foot of the Himalayas, between the Sutlej and the Ganges. (Geol. Proc.) HIPPOPUS. [TRIDACNIDE.] HIPPOTHE'RIUM, the name of an extinct quadruped allied to the horse, found and described by Professor Kaup, from the strata of sand at Epplesheim, near Altzey, about twelve leagues south of Mayence, referrible to the second or Miocene period of the tertiary formation. • Pausanias (vni. 46) mentions the statue of Dindymene whose face was formed of these teeth instead of elephant's ivory. This is the catalogue of M. Hermann von Meyer. M. Lesson gives the following list of fossil species: Hippopotamus antiquus (Cuv.); Hippopotamus minor (Cuv.); Hippopotamus medius (Cuv.); and Hippopotamus minimus (Cuv.). P. C., No. 755, HIPPO'THOE (Lamouroux), a small celluliferous co ralline attached to marine plants in the Mediterranean. It is capillary and branched, the branches articulated; the articulations are single fusiform cells, with a round polypiferous opening near the summit. (Tableau Méthodique.) HIPPURIC ACID. When the urine of horses and cows is mixed with muriatic acid in excess, a precipitate is obtained, which, when purified by boiling with cream of lime, a little chloride, and with animal charcoal, is rendered nearly inodorous. The solution is again to be mixed with hot muriatic acid, from which hippuric acid separates in prismatic crystals on cooling, which are perfectly white. Hippuric acid is analogous in its characters to benzoic acid, and was at first supposed to be that acid modified by the presence of animal matter; but it is stated by Liebeg that it is distinguishable from benzoic acid by the nature of its salts, which are less soluble in water, and also in containing azote, which benzoic acid does not. It is composed of Nine equivalents of hydrogen Six One 9 120 48 14 191 It is stated that this acid, when scented by subliming with a little benzoic acid, is substituted as an article of com merce for benzoic acid, VOL. XII-2 K HIPPURITES (in Zoology), a name given by Knorr and Schroeter to a fossil coral (Cyathophyllum ceratites, Goldfuss) of the Eifel transition limestone. Guettard also used this title for a lamelliferous coral. By Lamarck, Defrance, and other writers, this name is given to a somewhat problematical group of fossils found in limestones of the oolitic age which flank the Alps in the Untersberg, near Salzburg, at Regensburg, &c., in the chalk of Perigord, Alet, &c. HIRUNDI'NIDE. [SWALLOWS.] HI'SPALIS. [SEVILLE.] HISPA'NIA. [SPAIN.] HISPANIOLA, HISPAÑOLA, ESPAÑO'LA (2.. Little Spain), known also under the names of SAINT DOMINGO and HAITI, is one of the Great Antilles or larger islands of the West Indies. It extends from the Mena Passage, which separates it from Puerto Rico, to the Windward Passage, which lies between it and Jamaica and Cuba, Lamarck places hippurites with belemnites and ortho- from 68° 30' to 74° 30′ W. long. Its length is therefore ceratites, among the cephalopoda. (Conchyliologie,' Nouv. about 360 miles. It lies between 18° and 20° N. lat.; but Dict. des Sciences Nat.) Latreille takes nearly the same a promontory on the southern coast projects about 20' beview as Lamarck. ('Familles Naturelles' du Règne Animal.) | yond 18° N. lat. Its surface is about 25,000 square miles, Rang, referring to batolites and raphanistes of Montfort, or nearly the extent of Ireland. It is four times as large as and amplexus of Sowerby (which is certainly a lamelliferous Jamaica. coral), introduces the genus among the acephalous rudista, according to the views of De Blainville. The structure of the rudista has been studied by M. Ch. Des Moulins and M. Deshayes, and the location of hippurites in that group may, on their competent authority, be definitively adopted. Considered as a bivalve shell, whose valves are excessively unequal, one may be described as cylindrical, conical, or curved; the other as flat, or tumid externally, and operculiform. The lamina of the large valve are sometimes separated, as in some spondyli, and subject to such convolutions on one part of the circumference as to cause the appearance of longitudinal siphons immersed in the shell. These are arguments, and very insufficient ones, for comparing hippurites with cephalopoda. The shell is fibrous, or rather formed of prismatic cells, of a six-sided figure, in a longitudinal direction, which have been compared to the cellular structure of the shells of Balanus. The shells are sometimes attached side by side, as two portions of a coral. The internal cavity is far from corresponding to the external figure of the shell, and the cast in this cavity has been called Birostrites. The abundance of these fossils in certain calcareous bases of the chalk or top of the oolitic formation in the Pyrenees, the Untersberg near Salzburg, the Bellunese, &c., is extraordinary, so that particular strata receive from the circumstance the name of Hippurite Limestone. HIPTAGE, a genus of plants of the family of Malpigheacea, better known by the name Gærtnera, given it by Schreber in honour of the celebrated Gærtner; though the name assigned by himself, as prior, is now alone admitted. The genus contains only two species: one, H. Madablota, figured by Sonnerat under the latter name (Voy. ii., t. 135), which is common in the forests of many parts of India; the other, H. obtusifolia, is found in China, but commonly cultivated as an ornamental plant in India. Both species are remarkable for their great size as climbers, ascending to the tops of the loftiest trees, and hanging down in elegant festoons of white flowers. HIPUDAUS. [LEMMING.] HIRCIN, a principle similar to butyrine, which exists in goat's fat and in mutton suet, combined with olein; its name is derived from hircus, and it is obtained from the fat of the goat by a process similar to that by which butyrine is procured, from which it appears to differ by yielding hircic acid, by treatment with the caustic alkalis. HIRE, LA. [LAHIRE.] HIʼRTIUS, AULUS, born of a patrician Roman family, applied early to the study of rhetoric, and became intimate with Cicero, who speaks highly of his oratorical talents. There is a letter of Hirtius to Cicero in Ep. ad Att., xv. 6. Hirtius served with distinction under Cæsar in the Gallic War. He is generally supposed to be the author of the eighth book of the Commentaries (Suetonius, Life of Caesar, c. 56), as well as of the books of Cæsar's Alexandrian and African campaigns, which are avowedly written by the same person as the eighth book of the Commentaries. With regard to the book De Bello Hispanico,' it appears to be written by a different and an inferior hand, and it has been attributed by some to C. Oppius, another friend of Cæsar. (Vossius, De Historicis Latinis.) Hirtius remained attached to Cæsar till his death, after which he took the part of the senate against Antony, and was named consul with C. Vibius Pansa. The two consuls had an engagement with Antony, whom they defeated near Mutina (Modena), B.C. 43, but Hirtius was killed in the battle, HIRUDI'NIDÆ. [LEECHES.] | Hispaniola is justly considered the most fertile island m the West Indies. Its surface exhibits a great variety on rather a large scale. Near the centre of the island, but somewhat nearer the northern than the southern shores, there is a mountain-knot, called Cibao, whose elevation has not been determined, but it is thought that its highest summits do not fall short of 8000 feet. From this point a range runs southward, and terminates on the southern coast in a broad and rugged promontory opposite the rocky island of Alta Vela. Three ranges branch off from the western side of these mountains towards the west. The two northern are immediately connected with the mountains of Cibao. The most northern gradually approaches the northern coast, which it skirts at a short distance from Cap Français, or Cap Haïtien, and then cont:nues near the shores to Cap St. Nicolas. The middle chain diverges to the south-west, and then turns west, continuing in that direction until it nearly attains the bay of Gonaves, when it runs along the shore to its termination at Cap S. Marc, south of the bay of S. Marc. The most southern chain is an offset of the mountain-mass of Mount Bahoruco, which occupies the centre of the peninsula opposite the island of Alta Vela. It runs along the southern shore at a short distance from it, through the whole length of the south-western peninsula, as far as Capes Tiburon and Dame Marie. These ranges, which may rise from 2000 to 5000 feet, perhaps occupy more than half the surface of the island, but contain between them two extensive valleys, or rather plains. In the eastern part of the northern plain are extensive savannahs, or natural meadows; but towards the west there is a fruitful soil, which may be irrigated by the waters of the river Artibonite; and hence it is called the Plain of Artibonite. The southern plain is called Cul de Sac. At its eastern extremity is the lake called Laguna de Henriquillo, which is 50 miles in circuit. The water is salt, and has no outlet. The surrounding country is exceedingly picturesque. West of it, at no great distance, is a smaller lake of fresh water, called Saumache. The country round these lakes is not cultivated, and abounds in game. The western district of this plain, which reaches to Port au Prince, is exceedingly fertile. Besides these two great plains several level tracts occur between the mountains and the shores, which are very fertile, but not of great extent. The connexion of the eastern ranges is not well known. It seems that east-south-east of the Cibao Mountains there is a very rugged and mountainous tract, which is almost uninhabited and rarely visited. With this tract seems to be connected the range which runs along the northern shores from the bay of Monte Christi, on the west, to Vieux Cap Français, on the east, and descends to the coast with a steep declivity. Between this range and the Cibao Mour tains there is a wide and very fertile valley, called the Plain of S. Iago. It is watered by the river Yague. The remainder of the eastern part of the island is occupied by twe large plains, lying east and west, with a range of low mountains between them, which issues from the uninhabited mountain-tract, and terminates at the most eastern. promontory of the island, Cap Engaño. On the north e this range is a plain, La Vega, noted for its great fert. lity, though it has never been well cultivated. This pla is above 50 miles in length, with an average width of 25 of 30 miles. The rivers Cotuy and Yuna, which drain it, fa⠀ after their union into the bay of Samana under the latter name. The southern plain, called Los Llanos, extends from the town of St. Domingo to that of Higuey, about 85 savannah adapted for pasture-ground, the rank grass of HIRUDINE'LLA, à name given by M. Bory to a genus miles in length, with a width of 30 miles; but it is only a of Microzoaria. which being burnt in the dry season, whilst the cattle take to the forests or the mountains, serves as a manure to the new grass, which springs up in the rainy season. The coast, which is about 1200 miles in length, has a great number of harbours, which admit vessels of moderate size: some of them are spacious, deep, and safe. Near Cape St. Nicolas is the port of St. Nicolas, which is 6 miles long, and capable of holding an immense fleet. Ships of the largest size may safely ride at anchor, sheltered from all winds, the harbour being surrounded on every side by mountains of considerable elevation. The harbour of Cape Français is spacious, and though not so well sheltered, offers good anchorage. At the eastern extremity of the island is the bay of Samana, which is very capacious, and affords excellent anchorage. The island of Samana, which lies to the north of it, and which is united by a low neck of land to Hispaniola, is low and swampy, and on that account nearly uninhabited. The harbour of the town of St. Domingo is a very indifferent one, being too much exposed to the southern winds; but the ground is good for holding, In the bay of Gonaves are the ports of Port au Prince and Gonaïve. Port au Prince has two harbours, formed by some islets, which offer good and safe anchorage. The port of Gonaïve is rather large, and excellent in point of security, being formed by a little island, which leaves a narrow channel, but with sufficient depth of water. The climate of Hispaniola differs considerably from that of the other Antilles, the rainy season occurring in different parts of the year on the southern and northern coasts. On the southern it agrees with the rainy season of Jamaica, beginning with gentle showers from the south at the end of April. These showers continue for three weeks or a month, and are followed by dry weather, which lasts six weeks or two months. In July begin the abundant rains, which continue through August, September, and October, and cease in November. The quantity of rain which falls in this season is not exactly known, but it is supposed to be from 60 to 70 inches. The winter is rather cool, the thermometer rarely exceeding 70° and still more rarely descending below 60°. The northern coast has only showers during August, September, and October, and in November the rains cease for a short time, but in December and January they descend in torrents: afterwards they are moderate, and cease entirely in April. The heat of the summer is moderated by the prevailing northern winds. Hurricanes are as frequent on the southern coast as in Jamaica, but they occur rarely on the northern shores. plained when we consider the abundance of fertile lana which is still unoccupied, the limited wants of the people, and the facility with which the bare means of existence are obtained. Port au Prince, the capital and the seat of government, is situated between the large plain of Cul de Sac and a more narrow one extending along the southern shores of the Bay of Gonaves to Leogane and farther, both of which are very fertile, but badly cultivated. The streets of the town are straight and sufficiently wide and commodious, but the houses are low and mean, with the exception of a few built by the French, which outlived the revolution and the fires. Its commerce with the United States and with Jamaica is considerable. The population is estimated at about 30,000. On the same Bay of Gonaves are Leogane and Goave, two small but thriving places. On the northern coast is Cap Haïtien, formerly Cap Français, with about 12,000 inhabitants it carries on some trade with the United States. S. Domingo, on the southern coast, is the oldest European establishment in America, having been built by Columbus in 1504; the town of Isabella, which was erected on the northern coast in 1493, was abandoned. The population of S. Domingo is about 15,000 souls; and it formerly carried on a considerable trade with the Spanish colonies on the mainland and with Cuba, especially in jerked beef; but its trade is now very limited. Hispaniola was discovered by Columbus in his first voyage, at which time it received this name. The Spaniards formed settlements, first at Isabella and then at S. Domingo. For nearly half a century these settlements received much attention, and rose to great prosperity, until different parts of the American continent were discovered and conquered. From that time Hispaniola was neglected, and as the natives had been nearly extirpated, the island soon became depopulated, and the northern and western districts were nearly a desert. The Buccaneers now settled on the island of Tortuga, opposite Cap Français, and also on the coast. Perceiving that they would be driven away by the Spaniards, they voluntarily submitted to France, and Lewis XIV. sent them a governor. In 1697 the Spaniards were obliged to give up the western districts, or nearly one-third of the island to France. The French, who considered their portion of Hispaniola as the most valuable of all their foreign settlements, began to cultivate it with great care. In 1791 the agricultural produce of the French portion only was valued at more than eight millions of pounds sterling. In 1794 the negro slaves were declared free by the Fifty years ago Hispaniola was noted for its extensive National Convention, a declaration which was followed by plantations of sugar, coffee, and cotton, but they have now a general insurrection of the negroes and mulattoes, who almost entirely disappeared, except those of coffee, which compelled all the white inhabitants to emigrate who had are much reduced. The present population having few not been massacred. One of their chiefs, Toussaint L'Ouwants, and valuing their ease more than anything else, em-verture, established in 1801 a kind of republic, but was ploy only about two hours daily in productive labour. They obliged to submit to a French army sent out by Bonaparte cultivate maize, millet, cassava, plantains, sweet potatoes, in 1802. After he had been treacherously taken prisoner &c. Besides cocoa-nuts and pine-apples, their gardens and sent to France, the negroes rallied under Dessalines, produce the fruits of the south of Europe, as figs, oranges, and expelled the French in 1803. Dessalines gave the island pomegranates, and almonds. The principal commercial the name of Haïti. In 1804 he followed the example of wealth of the island is derived from the forests which cover Bonaparte and called himself emperor: in 1806 he was murthe greatest part of the mountains. The timber consists dered. After his death the French portion of Hispaniola chiefly of mahogany-trees and different kinds of dye-woods, was divided into two states; the northern coast was formed which are exported to the United States, England, and other into a negro republic under Christophe, who in 1811 also parts of Europe. Numerous herds of cattle pasture on the took the title of emperor: the plains about the Bay of plains in the eastern districts of Hispaniola, and their hides Gonaves became a mulatto republic under Petion. Conand jerked beef likewise make an article of export. The tinual war was carried on between these two republics. horses are small, but the asses and mules are large and After the death of Petion (1813) he was succeeded as prestrong. Game abounds in the forests. At the arrival of sident of the republic by Boyer. Christophe having killed the Spaniards gold was collected near the mountains of himself on the breaking out of an insurrection in 1820, Cibao; but this branch of industry was soon abandoned. Boyer united the whole under his authority. In the meantime the Spanish part of Hispaniola had been ceded to France in 1795, but was reoccupied by the Spaniards in 1808. The following year however it declared its independence of the Spanish government, and remained in an unsettled state until 1822, when it was subjected to the authority of Boyer. France recognised the independence of Haïti in 1825. According to the constitution promulgated in 1816, Haïti is a republic governed by a president, chosen for life, and assisted by a legislature consisting of two houses, a senate and a house of representatives. It ought perhaps to be considered as a despotism, the chief being chosen by the army, but some republican forms have been added The government is anxious to promote education, and to encourage the settlement of whites; but they do not enjoy the same privileges as the coloured people. The French The aborigines are now extinct, though it is stated that in 1717 there still existed about 100 individuals. But a considerable part of the present population consists of their descendants, mixed with the blood of Europeans and negroes. The number of mulattoes, or descendants of Europeans and negroes, is still greater; indeed they may be considered as constituting the nation, the negroes of pure blood not being numerous; and the creoles, or descendants of Europeans, being still fewer in number. The population according to a census of 1824 amounted to 935,000, but in 1826 it was stated to be not less than 1,200,000 souls. Before 1791 it was thought not to exceed 700,000 souls. It is remarkable that though the commerce of the island has decreased considerably since that date, its population has continually been on the increase; but this circumstance is easily ex |