Rules for preserving Health./

Hush'd are the cares and labours of the day,
The sun's meridian glow is felt no more,
Round the rude huts the noisy children play,
While age recounts his legendary lore.

Beneath the humble shed, their frugal meal,
Behold Sumatra's tawny sons prepare,
No wish for other dainties do they feel,
Than their own simple vegetable fare*.

Not so, where Europe's sons enjoy the hour,
There the rich mantling goblet flows around;
Ambrosial odours rise from ev'ry bow'r,

And fruits nectareous strew the scented ground.

Rash youths, beware! the demon of disease
In sullen triumph hovers o'er your heads,
Pours in each cup the black Lethean lees,
And o'er the feast his baleful influence sheds.

Hear then the counsel of the friendly Muse,
Nor scorn the precept though uncouth the rhyme,
So blooming health shall through your frame diffuse
Her genial blessings in a burning clime.

Soon as Aurora gilds the eastern skies,

And birds in pearly dew their plumage lave,
Dispel your slumbers-from your couch arise,
And fearless plunge into the briny wave.

Next where the tow'ring hills their umbrage lend,
And tall arecas scent the morning gale,

On the swift steed your devious courses bend,
And health from ev'ry passing breeze inhale.

But when the sun, with fierce meridian ray,
Pours the bright torrent of ethereal fire,
When rav'ning birds, and prowling beasts of prey,
Seek the green shade, or to the den retire:

1805. March

Boiled rice and a kind of pepper called chillies.

1805.

March.

Rules for preserving Health.

Then, stretch'd at ease in plantain-shelter'd bow'r,
Poetic fiction, or the classic page,
Should oft beguile the tedious sultry hour,

While the ripe cocoa would my thirst assuage.

Thus till the noontide skies had ceas'd to glow,
No anxious care should occupy my breast;
No toiling step my languid limbs should know,
Nor Pleasure's train disturb my soothing rest.

Soon as the western hills their shades extend
In shapes fantastic o'er the flow'ry green,
To duty's call then sedulous attend,

Or range excursive through the woodland scene.

When round the genial board, in festive glee,
Each ev'ning sees the youthful circle join,
From curbing rules and frigid maxims free,
Resolv'd their cares to drown in gen'rous wine,

Ah! trust the Muse, by sure experience taught,
To dread the luring, mirth-inspiring, bowl;
These fleeting joys, that banish serious thought,
Destroy the finest feelings of the soul.

But not the mind alone their influence feels,
The sympathising frame soon owns their pow'r,
Through ev'ry vein the rankling poison steals,
And blasts the bloom of youth's unfolding flow'r !

Observe the Hindoo, whose untutor❜d mind,
Such false seductive luxury disdains,
To Nature's wants his wishes are confin'd,
While Health her empire o'er his frame maintains.

His modes of life, by ancient sages plann'd,

To suit the temper of his burning skies,
He, who the climate's rage would long withstand,
Will wisely imitate, nor e'er despise.

These rules observ'd-to Providence resign'd,
Let no unmauly fear fair hope subdue;
If once that slavish yoke your spirits bind,
To fortune, fame, and life itself adieu!

Animals on the Island.

The thermometer at the bungalows generally 1805. ranges from 70 to 80 degrees; sometimes at March. night, however, it stands as low as 62°; and indeed so cool did we feel it, that we generally slept with a blanket over us; a very rare occurrence within six degrees of the equator.

As soon as it gets dark on this mountain, there arises on every side a curious concert of birds and insects, which deprived us of sleep for the first two or three nights. Far above the rest, the trumpeter (a very singular insect, about an inch in length,) saluted our ears regularly for a few hours after sun set, with a sound so strong, that the first time I heard it, I actually thought a party of dragoons were approaching the bungalows; nor could I be persuaded for some time, that such a diminutive creature could possibly possess organs capable of emitting such a tremendous loud note.

A very curious species of deer is sometimes, though rarely, found in the woods of this island; but lions, tigers, and other ferocious animals, are unknown. A tiger, indeed, did once swim across from the Queda shore, and made for the mountains here, but was shot soon after his landing; he was supposed to be the only one that ever was on the island. Birds of the most

beautiful plumage are seen on almost every branch of a tree through this island; but nature has been so very bountiful in clothing them with her most gaudy liveries, that she has thought proper to make a drawback, by depriving them of those melodious notes, which so often charm us in birds of a more homely exterior. There is, however, one small bird on this island, (whose

1805.

Buffaloes Running a Muck.

name I forget,) which perches among the leaves March. of the tall areca-tree, and sings, mornings and evenings, in a style far superior to that of any bird I have seen between the tropics. Argus pheasants are found on this island; but they are generally brought over stuffed from the Malay coast, where they abound in great plenty, and are here sold for a dollar each.

With respect to the domestic animals, they are but few; and those are brought from the neighbouring parts: horses from Pedir, on the coast of Sumatra; buffaloes from Queda, and sheep, &c. from Bengal.

The buffaloes are brought over from the opposite coast in a very curious manner: six or eight of them being collected together on the beach, thongs of leather, or pieces of ratan, are passed in at one nostril and out at the other, then made fast to the sides and stern of one of the boats, which is pushed off from the shore, and the buffaloes driven into the water along with it; these thongs or ratans keeping their noses above water, and assisting them in swimming, until they gain the opposite shore, unless seized on their passage by the alligator. The buffalo often becomes a most dangerous animal when enraged by the heat of the sun, or any other cause; and seems then to imitate the frantic tragedy, which his savage master, the Malay, occasionally performs, when running the muck*. At these periods, the ani

* Running a muck, is a practice that has prevailed time immemorial among the Malays. To run a muck, in the ori ginal sense of the word, is to get intoxicated with opium or bangue, (juice of the hemp, which has an intoxicating que

Buffaloes.

1805.

mal rushes furiously upon every thing in his way dashes into the houses, upsetting and breaking March. through all obstructions; and as he is possessed of great muscular strength, there is no mode of subduing him but by killing him with spears or shot. A large one lately made a desperate sally through George-town, while the gentlemen of the settlement fired on him in all directions from their verendahs; at length he rushed through the governor's kitchen, upsetting the cook and all his utensils; but what was still worse, a ball from a rifle, aimed at the furious buffalo, unfortunately struck the poor harmless cook, who, from the fright occasioned by the animal, and the wound, very nearly lost his life. As these creatures have very little hair on their bodies, they are utterly unable to bear the scorching rays of the sun towards mid-day; at these times, therefore, they betake themselves to every pool and puddle in the neighbourhood, rolling themselves in the mud, and then lying with their nostrils just above water, until the fervency of the atmosphere has somewhat abated. On coming out from their cool retreats, they are the most uncouth and disgusting objects imaginable; having a coat of clay an inch or two in thickness,

lity,) and then rush into the streets, with a drawn weapon, and kill every one that comes in the way, till the party is himself either killed, or taken prisoner. If the officer takes one of these amocks or mohawks (as they have been called by an easy corruption) alive, he has a considerable reward, and the unhappy wretches are always broken alive on the wheel; but such is the fury of their desperation, that three out of four are necessarily destroyed in attempting to secure them.

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