Paraguay presents the same marks of unsparing beneficence and bountiful profusion in the POULTRY KIND. This granivorous tribe makes no pretensions to any connubial attachment or fidelity, and contains a vast number of birds as yet undomesticated. Whilst the true originals of some of its domestic species are, through the lapse of ages, entirely extinct, our epicurean entertainments have a wide range in the future, as yet almost unattempted. In addition to the varieties of the common cock, peacock, turkey and guinea hen, very many species of the grouse, bustard, quail, pheasant, and some two or three of the partridge, abound in all parts of the Republic. The pheasant is not only one of the most beautiful of birds, but one of the most easily tamed and it is strange that with the knowledge of this fact, our poultry yards are not stocked with them. Frank Forrester, (Mr. H. W. | Herbert,) in his able sporting papers, positively says, that there is not a single variety of the pheasant in America. Mr. Herbert is mistaken. He may answer for North America, and for aught we know, some parts of South America, but he has never been in Paraguay. Natural History hitherto has drawn far larger resources in specimens and various species of this bird from the Eastern world than from our hemisphere; and though Asia probably contains a much greater variety, America will yet add another store to the family. The TRUMPETER is most abundant from the Amazon to the La Plata, and is characterized by the wonderful noise which it makes, and from which it was named. It is easily familiarized, and its attachment is strong. Of birds of the SPARROW KIND we have but little to say. Chiefly distinguished for their song, the large majority of them are occupants of the temperate zones. The presumption is, also, that possessing but little fidelity, promiscuous intercourse continually increases the varieties. The latter remark may, in a great measure, apply to the extended tribe of HUMMING-BIRDS, which deserve a more extended notice, and to which man has been unable to place any bounds. These lovely and delicate beings have ever excited the admiration of their discoverers, and, indeed, of every one who has observed them, either revelling in their native glades, or, shorn of their chief beau

ties, eternally at rest, in the artificial display of our museums. Sir Wm. Jardine mentions the historical fact, that the Mexicans used their feathers for superb mantles in the time of Montezuma. The Indian could appreciate their loveliness, delighting to adorn his bride with gems and jewelry plucked from the starry frontlets of these beauteous forms. Every epithet which the ingenuity of language could invent, has been employed to depict the richness of their coloring: the lustre of the topaz, of the emerald and the ruby, has been compared with them, and applied in their names. "The hue of roses steeped in liquid fire," and even the Cheveux de l'astre du jour" of the imaginative Buffon, fall short of their versatile tints. These birds belong exclusively to the New World, and almost entirely to its tropical portion. In the wild and uncultivated parts of the latter, they inhabit those forests of magnificent trees, overhung with Lianas and the superb tribe of Bignonacea, the huge trunks clothed with a rich drapery of parasites, whose blossoms only yield in beauty to the sparkling tints of their airy tenants. The enthusiastic Audubon calls the only species of the Humming-bird that is found with us, "the glittering fragment of a rainbow." From the Trochilus gigas, a bird about eight inches in length, to the T. Gouldii or T. magnificus, an inch and a half long, all sizes, tints and colors are found, far beyond the power of language or the painter's pencil to depict. Description is baffled, and an idea can only be conveyed by likening them to some familiar object, such as the bright and changing hue of steel, and other metals, united to the splendid tints of precious stones. Lesson's work contains two hundred and nineteen plates, and an account of nearly as many varieties already discovered. Yet when we think of the vast tropical expanse yet unknown to any save the LORD of the trackless forest, we may safely say, that the knowledge of the synonyms and economy of this wonderful tribe of birds is yet almost in its infancy.

M.

Thus we leave the land birds of Paraguay, happy if we shall succeed in drawing the attention of naturalists to their beautiful selves, and still more beautiful country. In yet more astonishing profusion most kinds of WATER BIRDS find a rich

with a formidable sting, said to be capable of inflicting death, unless prevented by immediate attention. But the PALOMETA is really a dangerous creature, and may, with propriety, be called the fresh-water shark. Its jaws are armed with fourteen very sharp triangular teeth, with which it is fully able to cut in two the human body. One species of fish, like the Doras Costalus of Demerara, has the singular property of travelling over land in seasons of severe drought, in search of water, and from the superabundance of its secretory ducts it never becomes dry as long as life continues. We must refer the reader to the fourth volume of Humboldt's Personal Narrative for an account of the GYMNOTUS or ELECTRICAL EEL. It may be sufficient to observe here, that their electric power far surpasses that of any known species of the TORPEDO. A kind of CRAB, as well as both land and water TURTLES, are most abundant here, and excellent for the table. A good account of the latter may be found in Edwards's "Voyage." SHRIMP, the delicacy of which all travellers to tropical America will readily recall, are very numerous in the fresh-water rivers of Paraguay. But they are extremely small, and when taken by the net, they are first dried in the sun and then preserved as household provision. We recommend to M. Agassiz to take a trip to the interior of South America, before he returns to Europe again. There he may do more for Ichthyology in a short time, than he has yet done during his whole life, though that is enough for a full measure of fame and

renown.

Of ENTOMOLOGY we are obliged to acknowledge our utter and entire ignorance, and must be content with saying that South America affords to the lovers of insects the most boundless and untrodden field in nature. The naturalist Ray asserts that he discovered in England, within two or three miles of his residence, upwards of three hundred different kinds of one tribe of insects, (papiliones.) Therefore we would say to the ambitious Entomologist, that, should he be endued with the life and health of Methusaleh to follow this pursuit, we doubt whether, when he came to die, he would have become acquainted with a tithe of the insects contained within a thousand square miles of Paraguay.

Under this head, however, we must notice two or three pests which do not add to the otherwise exceeding comfort of a residence in this lovely region. The first is the CHIGOE OF JIGGER. The male is not unlike the common flea, and the abdomen of the female, like that of the queen of the white ants, the Cocci, enlarges to an enormous extent. These insects penetrate the skin of the toes near the nail, and there nestle and breed with wonderful rapidity; so that the sufferers soon behold their extremities in an awfully deformed and horribly disgusting condition, and a stranger would suppose that they must die by inches. But these insects are easily removed at first, and cause no inconvenience. Moreover a sure preventive is the constant use of shoes and stockings. Again Humboldt, Bonpland, and Gmellin all mention a species of gad-fly which attacks mankind. It deposits its egg under the skin of the abdomen, in which the grub remains six entire months. If molested it sinks deeper and deeper, and, creating ulcers or inflammation, often causes death. This is also simply provided against by clothing.

But there is a plague far worse than both of these, in what we commonly call the seven years' locust. This pestiferous insect is only a visitor within a circle around Asuncion of about fifteen leagues. In this they literally cover the land as with a shroud, for they bring grief andmourning to all. The time of their apo pearance is not regular, varying from tws. to five, or more generally eleven yeare, None can vouch from whence they comed or whither they go. Two kinds, the rm. and the black, are recognized among thehe Their eggs are deposited just beneath tch surface of the ground, the average of ea er female being about sixty, adhering togeth e in an oval foam. Their disappearancalways takes place upon the first moonlight after their coming, and they leave no growing thing behind them, but all is a scene of wide-spread desolation.

Let us turn now to more agreeable and profitable topics, so far, at least, as commercial interests are concerned. The vegetable kingdom, in Paraguay, presents the richest attractions, not merely to the professional botanist, but to the important class who devote themselves to mercantile enterprise. We shall pass over the splen

15. LAUREL is used for charcoal, and YSY produces medicinal gum of great value.

16. The ALFAROBA is medicinal, being diuretic, and in some varieties sudorific. It also makes an agreeable alcoholic drink. 17. TAMARINDS and Cocoa are found all over the country. The MULBERRY TREE furnishes saffron dye. The SEIBO, when green, is and soft as cork, and can spongy be cut like an apple; but when dry it is so hard, that axes cannot hew it.

Again we have the PALO DE VIVORA, or snake tree, whose leaves are an infallible cure for the poisonous bites of serpents. The STERARO produces a cordage from the stringy portion of its bark, which is superior in strength and durability to the best hemp; in fact, it has supported with a single strand sixty pounds more than hemp! The PALO DE LECHE, or milk-tree, may be called a vegetable cow; and the PALO DE BORRACHO, the drunken tree, a vegetable distillery. The YCICA resin is found at the roots of trees under ground, and is a pitch ready prepared to pay the seams of vessels. The tree called ABATY TIMBABY is very large. In the heat of the sun it sheds a quantity of gum, of a golden color, and clear as the purest crystal. Of this gum, the lower orders of the Spaniards and the foresters make crosses, earrings, and other ornaments. Although as fragile as glass, the gum can be melted by no moisture. It might be found to contain valuable properties. Hitherto no one has made a trial of its virtues.

Some thirty different fruits, comprising all the known and some unknown tropical species, abound plentifully. Our apples, pears, peaches, et cetera, are grateful to the taste; but a rich luscious pine-apple, or orange, fresh plucked from the tree and eaten before breakfast, is much more so.

But we have probably said enough on

this part of our subject. Our object has been to exhibit, in a slight sketch, the great wealth of Paraguay, in the hope of enlightening, to some small extent, the great ignorance that everywhere prevails regarding it. To this end we have already mentioned roots, gums and resins enough. We have found the forests spontaneously producing everything necessary for the comfort and luxury of mankind, from the beautiful cotton tree that affords him clothing, to the colors which suit his fancy as a dye; and from the woods that furnish his ship and house, or ornament his escritoire, to the herb that cures his sickness, or the gum that delights his olfactories. It is only necessary to add, that the climate is favorable to all the useful grains and table vegetables, with delicious fruits to support and gratify.

Of the ANTHROPOLOGY of Paraguay, we Blumenbach himself have said nothing. would be puzzled to tell the original of some of the mongrel breeds to be found there. But the upper classes have ever been much more regardful of their blood, than in any other part of Spanish or Portuguese America; and they continue to this day pure and uncontaminated. They are brave, stout and healthy; hospitable and simplehearted, and true and faithful, to a degree that would be perfectly astonishing in this Perfect or any other civilized country. confidence in the government, and subordination to the laws, are two of their cardinal virtues, and security for life and property is the blessed consequence. They are an agricultural people, philosophically content with what they have, until they can get more; but they are determined, nevertheless, to gain the navigation of the river Paranà. Tyranny enough they have already suffered, to have learned how to escape its toils in future, and their chief desire is to learn those arts which may conduce to their comfort and happiness, and elevate their country to its proper position among the nations of the world. In return for that knowledge, their commerce will bring to us much that we have never seen, and will cheapen for our manufacturers what we already import from other parts of South America, while to the naturalist and the historian, the most extensive fields of undeveloped richness and inexpressible beauty will open at command.