RICA.

and Moral State.

5. AME- Buffon, to be the alpaca in its wild state, is an animal of a different species, though of the same genus, and, though inhabiting the same mountains, they are never Political found in each other's company. The vicunna rather resembles the than the camel. Its wool is now well goat known, and greatly esteemed in Europe, and is made into very fine cloth. The vicunnas are very abundant in the Cordillera of the Andes, and live on the most steep, craggy parts of those mountains: instead of receiving any injury from rain and snow, they, on the contrary, seem to derive much benefit from them; for if they be brought into the plains, they very soon. grow lean, and are covered with a sort of ring-worm, which kills them in a short time. Hence it happens, that they have not been reared well in any part of Europe. They feed in flocks, like goats, and they no sooner see a man than they escape with great velocity, driving their young before them. The hunters join in large bodies, surround some hill on which they are known to feed, and following them gently, they drive them towards some narrow passage, over which they have previously drawn a rope, on which they hang bunches of old rags: as soon as the vicunnas, which are naturally timid, see these, they are so frightened, that not daring to proceed any further, and huddling together, they permit the hunters to catch, sheer, and kill them. Notwithstanding the great numbers which have been daily killed for the sake of the meat, which is excellent, from the time of the conquest of America, the flocks are still undiminished, and it is probable they must have more than one at a birth.

Aleo.

Birds.

The alco, or native dog of the new hemisphere, does not seem to have differed greatly from that of the old, except that it possessed not the power of barking. The natives of St. Domingo fattened them with care, and accounted their flesh a great delicacy. The number and variety of the canine species are now so great in various parts of this continent, as rather to induce the belief that all that do bark were not brought from the eastern hemisphere. Any description of the monkey tribes would lead into a detail too extensive: suffice to say, that they are found in all the variety known in other parts of the globe.

BIRDS. The woods and groves of South America abound with various birds of exquisite plumage, and melodious voices, many of which are not known in the Old World. The trillis, or thrush of Chili, has a note equally harmonious with that of the European; but, as if partaking of the associations produced by the boundless extent of their native regions, they always pine and die if confined in a cage; its flesh exhales a disagreeable smell, and these two circumstances cause them to be so little sought after, that they are extremely abundant. There is a curious bird which they call in Peru the predicador, or preacher, from its imitation of a person preaching, in its natural action and gestures; its flesh is very good to eat. The mono has the extraordinary talent, in its warbling, of imitating the voices of men, dogs, and all other animals; but what is still more singular is, that not possessing the means of defending itself from its enemies, on account of the shortness of its beak and claws, it searches protection in the company of wasps, with whom it lives in the strictest union, and builds its nest in such a manner that they may defend it. This bird may, perhaps, be the same with the cuchucho of the Portuguese. There

3

is another bird which the Spaniards call the organ, s. A from its imitation of that instrument; and another the Ri trumpeter, from a similar power of imitation.

The curiquinqui, or Inca's bird, is larger than a hen, Pa and is considered the domestic fowl of Peru. It spends and the whole day in the useful occupation of clearing the fields of insects, and in the evening returns home to sleep. It is a mortal enemy to the snake, which it attacks, opposing its wing as a shield to guard against the sting; and having killed the snake, it separates the head from the body and eats it. The inhabitants of Quito say, that if the snake happens to bite the bird it runs immediately in quest of a herb which is a secure remedy for the poison.

Eagles, both of the grey and blue species, as well as other birds of prey, are found here in great numbers. Here are also paroquets in immense flocks, pigeons, great red-legged partridges, small partridges, wild ducks, and wild turkeys. Ostriches of a large species are very numerous; they are so fleet and active that even when well mounted it is impossible to get near them but by surprise; the stroke of their wing is said to be inconceivably strong.

The condor of America is said by Molina to differ in Ta colour only from the vulture of Switzerland, called laemmen geyer; this immense bird, the largest hitherto known, builds its nest on the rocky prominences in the most rugged parts of the mountains. They lay two large eggs, far exceeding in magnitude those of the turkey. Their usual food is the flesh of animals which they find dead, or which they kill: like wolves they frequently attack flocks of sheep and goats, and will kill calves a year old when separated from the mother. To effect this several of them unite, and besetting the calf on a sudden they surround it, with their wings extended, and pull out its eyes that it may not escape, when they tear it to pieces in a moment. The peasants, who watch every opportunity of destroying these aërial pirates, wrap themselves in the skin of an or newly slain, and lay themselves flat on the ground: the condor, deceived by the appearance, thinking it some dead body, approaches the peasant, who immediately seizes their legs with his hands, which are protected with strong gloves. As soon as the bird is seized, other peasants, who had lain in ambuscade, run to assist in securing and killing the captive. more cautious make a small inclosure with palisadoes, and place in it the carcase of some dead animal: the condor, whose eye is very piercing and sense of smell very quick, immediately falls upon it, and loads itself in such a manner that it cannot rise on the wing, through the small extent of the inclosure; otherwise, if it gets upon any eminence it flies with the greatest ease, however much it may have eaten, rising to a such a height that it hides itself entirely in the clouds, or looks no larger than a thrush.

Others

The fregata, or frigate, has its name from the circum- F stance of its being seen soaring out at sea at the distance of 300 leagues from land, though it cannot support itself on the water. It is about the size of a hen, but its wings are very long: with these it skims above the surface of the water with great ease, and strikes with such dexterity, that it never misses its aim. It pursues other sea-fowls for the sake of the fish which it takes out of their bellies. Father Lobat says, that its flesh is rank; it is very nourishing, and tastes something

d Moral

State.

AME like the water-hen. Its grease, applied as an ointRICA. ment, alleviates rheumatic pains. As it always follows ships, the appearance of this bird is looked upon as a Political certain sign that some vessel is at no great distance. There is a small island not far from Guadaloupe, called the island of Fragatas, from the great numbers which resort thither to pass the night and to build their nests. This bird is not now very common; the diminution of their species is owing to the great quantities that have been killed for the sake of their grease. The hunters strike them on the head with thick sticks, and they fall stunned to the ground. Two or three fishes, of the size of herrings, have been taken, half-digested, out of their stomachs.

,rep.

in

,&c.

The tropic (phaton æthereus) can soar as high as the frigate, but has the power of resting itself on the water, being able to swim like a duck. The Indians very much esteem the long feathers in the tail, with which they adorn their heads, and even thrust them through the cartilage of the nose to imitate mustachios. FISH, REPTILES, INSECTS, &c.-Amongst the amphibious animals of the creation none is more worthy of remark than the caiman, or alligator. The species Alliga found in America are, in many instances, different from the crocodile of the Nile, the first having no voice, whilst the latter can cry like a child. Its colour is grey, its aspect ferocious, and it is covered with a shell so very hard, that it is impenetrable to ball, which protects all its body in such a manner, that it is impossible to hurt them, except in the eyes and in a tender part under the fore-legs. It is very timid, and flies at the least noise; but when tempted to human flesh it is voracious and daring. The eyes are situated in two prominences, which are the only part of it that are visible when it is in the water; it comes to land to bask in the sun and to eat, which it cannot do in the water; it swallows a quantity of large stones, which serve as weights in its stomach to make it sink in the water; the mouth is very formidable, being furnished with seventy-two teeth, the twenty grinders being in double rows in each jaw. The flesh is insupportable to the taste, and the oil extracted from it is useless; nor can its bones or shell be turned to any advantage. The stomach has a strong smell of musk, extremely fetid. The caiman is excessively abundant in the rivers and creeks, and along the sea-coast. The female lays at each incubation 40 or 100 eggs, like the ostrich, which she deposits in the shore, making a hole and covering them with sand, at the same time counterfeiting others, to prevent them from being discovered. But the gallenazos watch them from the trees, and, as soon as the caiman retires, they descend to pull them out and eat them. If it were not for those birds, and for the circumstance of the old alligators eating their young ones, which they do till the latter are too large for them to swallow, they would soon vie in numbers with the flies. The eggs which escape the search of the gallenazos remain in the sands forty days before the em bryo arrives at a state of perfection, at which time the female returns and takes them out. Experiments have several times been made of covering them with dung, and they never failed to come out at the aforementioned period. Some have been seen in the rivers Guayaquil and Magdalena 24 feet in length. The head of a full-grown alligator is about three feet long, and the mouth opens nearly the same length; the

VOL. XVII.

RICA.

and Moral State.

eyes are comparatively small, and the whole head in S. AMEthe water appears, at a distance, like a piece of rotten, floating wood; the upper jaw only moves, and this they raise so as to form a right angle with the lower Political one. They open their mouths while they lie basking in the sun, on the banks of rivers and creeks, and when filled with flies, mosquitoes, and other insects, they suddenly let fall their upper jaw, with surprising noise, and thus secure their prey. They have two large, strong, conical tusks, as white as ivory, which are not covered with any skin or lips, and which give the animal a frightful appearance. In the spring, which is their season for breeding, they make a most hideous and terrifying roar, resembling the sound of distant thunder. The alligator is an oviparous animal; their nests, which are commonly built on the margin of some creek or river, at the distance of 15 or 20 yards from the water, are in the form of an obtuse cone, about four feet high, and four or five in diameter at their bases. They are constructed with a sort of mortar, made of a mixture of mud, grass, and herbage; first, they lay a floor of this composition, on which they deposit a layer of eggs, and upon this a stratum of their mortar, seven or eight inches thick, and then another layer of eggs; and in this manner, one stratum upon another, nearly to the top of the nest. The Indians in Guayaquil catch them Mode of with the tolete, which is a very strong piece of wood, catching three-quarters of a yard long, sharpened at both ex- them. tremities: at an equal distance from each end they tie a thong of ox-hide, which they keep in their hands, and play with the caiman with great dexterity and in perfect security; for though it can run swifter than a horse, yet, as it has no joints to assist it in turning, it is obliged to circumscribe a circle with the whole length of its body, so that by a single turn they laugh at the ferocity with which it runs to its prey with its deformed mouth wide open. When they have fatigued it by frequent attempts to catch them, they thrust the tolete horizontally into its mouth, placing it erect when it enters, by which means it remains fastened in both jaws. It was not known that this animal was productive of any good before the year 1721, when it was discovered, by a negro in the city of Panama, that the grinders are an efficacious antidote against all sorts of poison, by only placing them in some part where they may touch the flesh. From a number of experiments, which have confirmed the truth of this circumstance, it is customary to wear rings, crosses, &c. made of the grinders of the caiman.

animals.

The lizards, and other amphibious reptiles of that Other amgenus, found in the waters of the Orinoco and Ama- phibions zonas, are innumerable, all differing in some slight degree of variation. The iguana, which is about a yard long, has frequently found in its inside a stone about as large as a small turkey's egg, which is of a pale ash colour, and composed of different coats of lamina like an onion. Reduced to powder, and taken in warm water, it is a most efficacious remedy against the stone. The liron, also amphibious, is very small and beautiful, resembling the dormouse. The greatest singularity respecting it is that its belly is divided into two skins, which it opens and shuts at pleasure, like a doublet, pressing the sides together with such force that the juncture is scarcely perceptible. These two skins are lined, interiorly, with a soft and almost imperceptible fur. Within these skins the female carries 3 R

RICA.

and Moral State.

S. AME six young ones, attached to the umbilical gut and to a small twisted nipple, which each young one holds in its mouth, from its first formation till it is brought to light. Political Hence if you catch a female fifteen or twenty days gone with young, on opening the belly, you may discover the six young of the size of small mice, in the surprising and unnatural state in which they are engendered thus supported, which is so singular as to cause universal admiration: In the province of Venezuela it is called the little water-dog.

Sea-cow.

Sea-lion.

1. h.

The manati, or sea-cow, is a large amphibious animal, which seems to correspond with quadrupeds by the junction of the fore feet at the breast, and with the cetaceous as being destitute of hind legs and feet, and has only in place of these a very large tail, which it spreads like a fan horizontally; the head is larger than that of an ox, the eyes small, and is without an iris, and the holes which conduct to the organs of hearing only a line in diameter; it has no teeth in front, but a hard callous substance which serves to cut the grass, and thirty-two grinders; it is also destitute of a tongue. It has two fins placed near the head; the skin is an inch thick, and is covered with hair of an ash colour. Its usual weight is from 5 to 800 lbs.; the flesh is good and fresh, and tastes rather like veal than fish, and is more esteemed when dried and pickled. The fat is as sweet as butter, and the skin is made into thongs, &c. It likes the fresh water better than the sea, and is found in abundance in the Maragnon and the Orinoco.

The sea-lion is more active, beautiful, and better shaped than the other phocæ, though of a roundish form, and covered with a dark-brown hair; its back, from the shoulders to the tail, is very short; the neck and head are long, like those of the goat; its mane is very conspicuous, and gives it something of the outward appearance of the African lion, and an exclusive right to be called the lion-marine, or sea-lion. The name which Admiral Anson gave it, and which Linnæus afterwards adopted, is certainly very improper. The Indian natives of Chili, being unacquainted with the lion, gave it the name of thopel-lame, or the hairylame. It also bears a striking resemblance to the African lion, in the shape of its head and in the nose, which is long and flat, and bare from half the length to the end.

The amphibious tortoise differs from the land tortoise by its size, deformity, and feet, which are adapted for swimming, and resemble the fins of a fish. The Indians take them in great quantities. For this purpose they wait till they come out to lay their eggs in the sand, and then going on one side, turn them on their backs without a possibility of their being able to rectify themselves, on account of the flatness of their shell. They are from two to four feet long, two or three broad, and some weigh 400 lbs. They lay about 300 eggs at each incubation.

In the South sea, on the coast of the kingdom of Quito, there is a fish, called manta, which is found in such shoals that it has given its denomination to the port of that name. It is very large, resembling the sole, and the body is surrounded with a membrane of an oblong figure, three or four yards long and two broad, and nearly a hand in thickness. With this skin it seizes a man, of whom it is the mortal enemy, and squeezes him till he is drowned. For this reason the

and M

State.

divers carry with them a knife with two edges, and as S. AM soon as they perceive the fish begin to cover them, RICA before they press them tight, they take the knife and cut all round; and thus, after frequently stabbing the Politic creature under the belly, at once kill it, and ensure their own safety. For the epicure there is an endless banquet furnished by the rivers of South America; the boguilla, of delicious flavour, is common to the lake of Chucuito, in Peru; it is about four inches long, and three broad; the Indians sells them at six dollars per thousand. The guacarito is plentiful in the Orinoco; its great characteristic is its great partiality for blood, which is so predominant, that a few drops on the side of the canoe will draw them in shoals. The capitan is a delicious savoury fish, found in the rivers of the kingdom of New Granada. It is the bagra of other provinces, but those caught in Granada have a more delicious taste than those of any other part. It has been remarked, that when the bones of the head are separated, each one represents some one of the instruments of the passion of our Redeemer, forming the spear, cross, nails, &c. The common bagra of South America abounds in most of the rivers, and is properly esteemed one of the most delicious fishes. The bobo, or fool, is also very common, having its name from the facility with which it suffers itself to be caught.

The snakes of South America are, generally speak- Snakes. ing, large and venomous. The boa (constrictor mag- Boa coa nus) is said to have the property of attracting with its strictur. breath birds and other animals for its prey. It is a native of America, and is found in many parts of that country; it has 240 rings on its belly, and 60 on its tail; it is amphibious, and so very large that some are upwards of 36 feet in length; the body is very thick, greatly resembling the trunk of a large tree; it is of a dusky pale colour, and the upper part of the back is marked with numerous spots; the tail is of a darker colour, and the sides are beautifully speckled; the head is covered with small scales, and it has a black streak a little above the eye; it has no grinders, nor is its bite venomous; the tongue is fleshy, and very thin; the part above each eye is a little elevated; the scales are small and very smooth, and the tail is not more than one-eighth part of its body. The Indians adore this monster, the skin serves as an ornamental part of their dress, and the body is eaten by them. It generally lives in caverns and very thick woods, taking its station near some tree, round which it twines its tail and springs out upon any thing that passes within its reach. As soon as it has got possession of its prey, particularly if it be some large animal, it surrounds the body, squeezing it very hard to break the bones, which it readily accomplishes by the force of its circular muscles: after this is done, it passes its tongue over the skin, leaving on it a kind of saliva, to facilitate deglutition, and by degrees swallows it. If its prey happen to be a deer, or other horned animal, it begins at the hind feet and finishes at the head, leaving the horns hanging out of the mouth till the body is di gested, and they then fall.. After it has devoured a large animal, it is incapable of motion for two or three days. The hunters, when informed of this circumstance, avail themselves of the opportunity and kill it. When irritated, it sends forth terrible hisses. It frequently rolls in mire, and then hides itself among the fallen leaves, waiting for prey near some path fre

ME. quented by wild beasts; and in this state the hunters CA. have sometimes set their foot upon it, mistaking it for a fallen tree. This snake is found in the kingdom of tical Terra Firma, in the kingdom of New Grenada, and in many other parts of America. In the province of Chaco they are called ampalabas, and by the Dutch, in their colonies, smugglers.

Moral

te.

The flying snake is peculiar to the province of Guayaquil, in the kingdom of Quito, where it is, with great reason, more feared than any other. It is about three palms in length, slender, of a dark colour, and very venomous. The vulgar persuade themselves that it has hidden wings, which it expands when it wishes to fly; but its flight is nothing more than a contraction of the body, and the flying off like an arrow, taking incredibly large jumps. This snake is the chinchinton of Guatimala.

The coral snake is a yard long, and of an inch in diameter, with a very beautiful skin; but its bite is instant death. The effect is so instantaneous, that the person who is bitten immediately swells and begins to shed blood from every part of his body, all his veins being burst, and he expires in an instant, drowned in his own blood. There are very few who are cured of the bite of this animal; and if it happen to be in a vein, it is absolutely impracticable, because the activity of the poison does not allow time to apply the proper remedies. This serpent is very frequent in every part of America. Bomare confounds it with the yacumana of the Amazonas, but the difference between them is very great.

The distinguishing mark of the rattle-snake is, that it has a rattle in the end of its tail, consisting of several sounding shells, or rather a small shelly bag with a little bone in the inside, which rattles when the animal moves, and serves to warn those who hear it to guard against its bite, which is mortal. It every year receives an increase of one bell, or rattle. There are five species: the horridus, or American rattle-snake, is of a deep orange colour, or blackish on the back and ash-coloured on the belly, from four to five feet long. The second is the miliar, ash-coloured, with black spots, peculiar to Carolina. The third, the dryinas, of a whitish colour, with a few spots of yellow. The fourth, the durysus, spotted with white and yellow; and, fifthly, the mutus, of a rhomboidal figure, with black spots on the back, and a streak of the same colour behind its eyes. This last is a native of Surinam. They are all found in North and South America, where they are very numerous; the bite of any of them is so extremely venomous, that it kills in a very short time.

There is no cause operating more powerfully against the comfort of the inhabitants of these regions than that of the numerous kinds of insects with which they are infested. In every city and colony they are, almost without exception, equally annoying; and most of them unknown to European climes. The comajen is a very diminutive insect, resembling the moth in its destructive qualities, but so very active, that, in the space of one night, it will penetrate the hardest substances; and there have been instances of its having perforated from one side to the other, in the above-mentioned time, a bale of paper, containing 24 reams. It is very frequent in hot, rainy countries; and the greatest precaution is necessary to prevent it from entering the

RICA.

magazines, for it would destroy every thing in a very S. AMEshort time. Tar is generally used to prevent its effects; and quicklime is recommended by Linnæus.

The coya is a very venomous insect, generated in the hot provinces, such as that of San Juan de los Llanos, and particularly in the plains of Aciva. It is the same shape and size as that which is known in Europe by the name of cochinilla de San Anton, or cochineal of St. Anthony. It neither stings nor bites; but if it happen to burst, and its blood touch any part of the body, except the soles of the feet and the palms of the hands, it is said to produce violent and often fatal convulsions. As this is the effect of a sudden coagulation of the blood, the ordinary remedy is to make a fire of straw, and expose the patient freely to the action of the flames. The instinct in animals which are pasturing and see one of these insects near them is very singular; they instantly snort and gallop off in another direction.

Political and Moral State.

The mosquito de Gusano is of a cream-colour, and when it bites it leaves behind the seed of a small grub, which increases daily in magnitude. At first it is covered over with a skin, and causes very intense pain. It afterwards breaks out into a wound, and, if not properly attended to, ends in a gangrene, which puts an end to the existence of the unfortunate sufferer. This insect has been extended to several provinces in which it was not formerly found, by means of the cattle. The nigua is a very small kind of flea, which easily The nigua. penetrates the stockings, and introduces itself under the nails and into the joints and top of the toes. The pain which it causes on piercing the skin is like the bite of a common flea. As soon as it has fixed its situation, it begins to corrode the flesh around it, and causes a slight itching. In this state it attains the size of a small pea and lays its eggs, which are so many other young niguas, which settle near the mother, and live in the same manner, increasing with such wonderful celerity, that if care be not taken to pull them out, they corrupt all the flesh near them, and cause malignant ulcers and frequently gangrenes. When the bite of the nigua is felt, any bad effects may be easily prevented by breaking the skin where the insect is situated, which is readily known by the colour; and gently removing the skin, it may be extracted with the point of a needle, putting a pinch of snuff, or ashes out of a tobacco-pipe, into the wound. The greatest care is necessary to prevent any wet from entering the sore part, as it would infallibly occasion spasms. The negroes and other people of colour, who are very dirty, frequently lose the use of their feet for want of dislodging these insects at the proper time, and many have been obliged to submit to amputation of the leg. Pigs are also very subject to this disease, and their feet are always full of this insect. In Peru it is called pique.

The centipedes here are found from three to ten inches Centipedes. in length, and have the power of biting with both head and tail, the wound causing a fever and violent pain. There is also a small insect called the alicuya, generated amongst the herbs in Peru, and very prejudicial t cthe flocks. It eats its way into the inside of a beast, settles in its liver, and causes an ulceration, of which vast numbers die. Salt is the best preservative against it. The ants, in many provinces, are exceedingly numerous, and would be altogether intolerable, but for

Political and Bioral State.

Conclusion.

But, of the indigenous worms, insects, &c. of this continent, it is hardly possible to give an exact account, any more than of other portions of its natural history. In Chili alone there are thirty-six species of insects; and the tunicated cuttle-fish found here is 150 lbs. weight. In the same province there are thirteen species of crabs and craw-fish found on the coast, and four species in the fresh waters. There are 135 species of land birds, and of quadrupeds thirty-six. The various kinds of esculent fish found upon the coast are computed by the fishermen at seventy-six, most of them differing from those of the northern hemisphere..

CONCLUSION. In the preceding pages has been given, in a condensed form, a general description of the continents of North and South America. As a portion of our terraqueous globe, the reader will not fail to have seen that in few respects does this hemisphere yield in interest and importance to that of the eastern. Indeed, whilst the drama of human events appears to be losing much of its late vigour and excitement in the Old World, the scene is continually shifting, with magnificent and surprising objects, in the New. Every day produces new actors and actions of accumulated interest, nor is it possible for the spirit of political foresight to divine what will be the denouement of events in a great measure so unparalleled in their importance.

Whilst in the southern hemisphere a whole people

AMER

FORT.

are successively rising against the constituted authori- s. AME ties of their ancient dominion, we behold in the United RICA. States a conglomerated mass of population, consisting, as it were, of the disjected particles of every nation in the universe, a people of yesterday, flourishing under a government and laws in many respects replete with Political human wisdom; and a population already increased be- and Mor yond all precedent in the history of empires, widening, State in regular yearly succession, the mighty basis of its dominion, and, with a colossal power, threatening to hold in its subjection an extent of coast of some thousand miles, commanding on the one side the ports of the Pacific, and on the other those of the Atlantic. In the British possessions on the Northern Continent, and in the West Indies, it has been shown, are sources of commercial wealth, with which any trading communication with the Old Continent has not been able in profit or amount to yield any parallel, and which are so far from being either exhaustible or likely to decrease, that the open trade to the continent of South America, so much the subject of present speculation, would still augment the value of those islands, from the numerous entrepôts which must necessarily be then established in them.

All further information, therefore, which it has not been possible to include (agreeably to the plan in which it has been treated) in the article America, will be found under those of BRAZIL, CANADA, CAPE BRETON, CHILI, EAST MAINE, HUDSON'S BAY, INDIANS, ISTHMUS, LABRADOR, MEXICO, NEW BRUNSWICK, NEWFOUNDLAND, NEW SOUTH WALES, NOVA SCOTIA, PARAGUAY, PERU, UNITED STATES, WEST INDIES, and the several United States respectively.

AMERICAN COMPANY, the RUSSIAN. Considerable success having attended the Russian voyages to the Aleutian islands, and along the north-western shore of North America, in the middle of the last century, two Russian mercantile houses, of the names of Schelikoff and Golikoff, projected, in 1785, the formation of a regular company, to encourage the fur-trade of these regions. Schelikoff himself, the head of one of the establishments, was the commander of all their early expeditions. They erected forts for the protection of a chain of factories on most of the islands, and induced a number of respectable merchants to join in their extensive and lucrative adventures at the expence of the natives, from whom they did not fail to seize every opportunity of wresting the staple of the district. Many cruelties were charged upon their conduct at this time, and the Emperor Paul was upon the eve of suppressing the association altogether, when the company pledged itself, through its active agent, M. Von Resanoff, to more regular proceedings. In 1799 it was formally established with considerable privileges. The present emperor took it under his particular patronage at his accession; and the intelligent minister Romanzoff has introduced many useful changes in its constitution. The condition of the fur-collectors of the company, called promischleniks, is said, however, to be still wretched in the extreme, and only to be exceeded by that of the oppressed Aleutians, who are, in turn, their slaves.

AMERICAMA, in Zoology, a name given by some

writers to a very small animal of the lizard species, found in Brazil.

AMERIMNUM, in Botany, a genus of plants be longing to the class Diadelphia, and order Decandria. AMERONGEN, a town of the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht, and district of Zergst, 14 miles S. S. E. of Utrecht. This town contains 1020 inhabitants.

AMERPORE, a town of Hindostan, in the district of Mockwanpore, on the N. W. of the Baymutty river. It forms a part of the territories of the rajah of Nepaul, and lies at ten miles distance from Mockwanpore, and 137 from Patna, in Bengal. E. lon. 85°, 28. N. lat. 27°, 31'.

AMERSFORT, a considerable town of the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht, on the river Eem, or Ems; the second in importance in the whole province. It is situated in the midst of meadows, fertile in grain and pasturage, at the foot of a hill called Amersfortberg; and the river, by the assistance of smaller streams, is navigable up to the walls of the town. It was successively one of the towns having a vote among the states of the province; the capital of the quarter of Zoesdyk, in the department of Utrecht; and under the French domination, the chief town of a canton, in the department of Zuyder Zee. This town, which is fortified, forms the principal point of mer cantile communication between Germany and Amsterdam, from which it is distant only about 32 miles, and it has intercourse, by well-conducted canals, with