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proved to this country uncommonly pernicious; I mean the horse, not in himfelf, had he been bred in moderation; but from the extravagant numbers now in the land, and the doubly extravagant manner in which they are kept.

In the first place, the high price of horfes of late years, has encouraged the monopolizers of many of our fuperior lands to occupy them in breeding and rearing thefe animals, which, in the early stage of life, can be looked after without much trouble. It appears by the minifter's report, there are near one million and an half of horfes in this kingdom; thofe who know the great expenfe of keeping one only of thefe beafts in good order, on grafs, hay, and grain, will furely agree with me, that five human beings could live in great plenty on the produce of the fame quantity of land needful to fupport one horse. It is therefore evident, the horfes in England devour not only a very large proportion of the grain raised in it, but also occupy the beft pastures in the kingdom; paftures which ought to be employed for the fupport of much more ufeful animals.

As every poffible proof on fo weighty a fubject ought to be brought forward to fupport bare affertion,

"I fhall adjoin the actual ftate of the conftant tillage-land in England, as taken from an account published by authority. It confits of ten mil. lions and one half of acres (Wales excluded,) of which there are only yearly in wheat 2,100,000 acres : there confequently remain 8,400,000 acres employed in raifing barley, oats, rye, beans, peas, &c. or fallow: admitting that 3,400,000 are fown with barley and rye, there yet remain 5,000,000 unaccounted for; and it is but fair to affirm that 2,500,000 acres are fown with oats, beans, and peas, the remaining two millions and a half being fallow; and

for argument fake we will allow that the produce of 250,000 acres fown with oats is eaten by the people, and 150,000 acres ufed for fattening fwine. It appears clear, if this statement is correct, that as much land at leaft is fown for the fupport of horfes as is for the people: a very melancholy reflection, when the poor have fo feverely fuffered.

In times of peace let any perfon look over the bills of entry of London only, and he cannot but notice the many hundred thoufand quarters of oats imported from Holland and Flanders, and be fenfibly ftruck with the heavy expenee horfes are to this country.

I fhall be afked, on the other hand, how is the ploughing, the drawing, and all kinds of team-work, to be performed without horfes? I answer, By oxen, bulls, or mules. The preference is due to the firft animal, on account of his increafing fize; and alfo for the value and quality of his carcafe.

That the ox or bull is capable of performing all the bufinefs of heavy draft, not only as well as the horfe, but even better, is proved beyond contradiction by the ufe of them in Flanders, Germany, Spain, Turkey, and all the East, where they plough, &c. with no other animals; they are alfo generally employed in the northern ftates of America, and even in fome few places in England. In the five New England ftates, all farming bufinefs, fuch as ploughing, harrowing, weeding among corn, &c.; alfo all the waggons, carts, fledges, dragging timber of the largeft fize, clearing land, &c. all is done by oxen; and they not only execute the work I have fpecified, but go very long journies of many hundred miles, in as fhort a time as can commonly be done by horfes: as one ftriking inftance, a gentleman with whom I was well acquainted, removed his family from the eaftern part of Maffa

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chufetts to Kentucky, a distance of or even the eighth of an inch, but

upwards of one thousand miles, which journey he performed in forty-three days, with only two yoke of large oxen, that drew the weight of two tons, the waggon included. I mention this circumftance, to contradict as much as poffible the mistaken prejudice which prevails in this country, that oxen cannot travel; and if they could, it is faid they are tediously flow: whereas it is a well known fact, that oxen will without difficulty, and with heavier loads than an equal number of horfes can draw, travel two miles and one half in the hour; a pace quite as quick as our heavy ftage waggons ufually go; and befides, this labour is executed with requiring little more than half the food neceffary for horfes. But if a creature with a quicker ftep is wanted, the breed of the buffalo might be introduced; this beaft will go fix or feven miles per hour, and the meat is very good. The ox and bull have alfo this great advantage over the horfe, that they eat their food much fafter, and are fooner refreshed.

It is a well-known fact, that all fish of tranfit, fuch as the falmon, return yearly to the fame river they were spawned in; and it is generally allowed the increafe of fize of this fish, when it returns from the fea, is thirteen inches and upwards; indeed many actual experiments have proved he fact. If, therefore, at one or two periods of the year the river fisheries were forbid altogether, or at mot allowed to be fithed two days in the week, we should have all our falmon rivers in less than five years full of that delicious animal. And the river Severn alone, which breeds the very beft quality, and is now almoft empty, would produce not only fufficient for the towns on its banks, but amply fupply the London market. It would be well alfo to enlarge the mesh of the nets by an act of Parliament, if only one quarter of an inch,

enforce the law with the utmost rigour. From the fize of fome falmon brought to London and openly fold, it is evident the acts are grofsly evaded, and therefore every fishmonger who bought a falmon under a certain weight fhould be liable to a heavy fine, and the fisherman a fevere punifhment; for the cupidity and obftinacy of the fisherman not only materially injures the country, but his own permanent intereft; for he might, with a little patience, get ten times the weight he now does. When the prefent price of two fhillings per pound is now paid in London for falmon, and not likely to be plentiful and cheap again, without parliamentary interference, no doubt it will fhortly be attended to with zeal and complete effect.

But is it not a shame to the internal regulation of the metropolis of the empire, that Paris, diftant one hundred and forty miles from the fea, and no tide navigation, fhould be, not only more plentifully fupplied with fea-fifh, than London, but commonly at half the price? As to fresh-water fish, there is no comparifon in the supply of the two cities, Paris having conftantly abundance, and London next to none. There is also a glaring abfurdity and mifmanagement to be noticed at Billingfgate, where we obferve conftantly in time of peace a number of Dutch boats, loaded with turbot, plaice, flounders, eels, &c.; but what increases the furprife is, the Dutch fishermen buy the lamprey fish, the beft bait for the turbot, in our own rivers. Surely this matter merits the attention of the lord mayor and aldermen, that fome effective plan may be adopted to fupply London ourfelves, without being obliged to pay a tribute in cafh of 60,000l. and upwards yearly, to our more industrious neighbours and rivals, and for what may be faid to belong to us.

ACCOUNT

ACCOUNT OF THE QUADELIM AND LABDESSEBA ARABS CHARACTER OF

BRISSON.

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From a Historical and Philofophical Sketch of the Discoveries and Settlements of the Europeans in Northern and Western Africa, &c.

M. DE BRISSON, after having made

feveral voyages to Africa, was wrecked a little to the north of Cape Blanc, and fell into the hands of the Labdeffeba Arabs. After efcaping the fhoals, his companions and he af cended the rocks on the thore, from the fummits of which they faw the country expand in an immenfe plain, covered with white fand, over which were thinly scattered a few creeping plants refembling branches of coral. The feed of these plants was fimilar in form to that of muftard but ex

tremely fall. The Arabs, who collect it to form an edible pafte, term it avezoud. The diftent hills, covered with wild fern, prefented the appearance of an extenfive foreft Proceeding towards fome camels which they obferved, they were dif covered by fome children tending the goats, and the alarm was foon fpread to the tents of the Arabs, who quickly advanced to meet them with fright ful thrieks and gefticulations. Terror feized the companions of M. de Brif fon as the Arabs advanced; and the polished steel of their weapons reflected the fun beams; they difperfed themselves in confufion; and were quickly overpowered, tripped, and plundered. Briffon and eleven others furrendered themselves to the Talbe, or priest, who was unarmed, and were conducted to a wretched hut, covered with mofs, at the diftance of a league from the fhore. Here, during the abfence of Sidi Mahomet, the priest, who was of the tribe of Labdeffeba, they were attacked and maltreated by a party of the Ouadelims, and, during the bulle which enfued, Brif. fon had almoft loft his life. Inftead of compaffionating his forlorn fitua tion, the women threw fand into his eyes, as they faid to dry his eye-lids. Ed, Mag. Jan. 1800,,

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The Arabs, into whose hands he had fallen, had only come down to the fea coaft to gather wild grain, three days before the fhipwreck; and to preferve their booty, they immediately retreated to the interior part of the desert A guide preceded the horde, to place at intervals small pyramids of stone, to direct their courfe, at a distance from every hoftile. tribe. After paffing fome very high mountains, wholly covered with small greyish pebbles, as fharp as fints. they defcended into a fandy plain overfpread with thorns and thistles. When Briffon was unable to walk, on account of the bleeding of his feet, he was mounted on a camel, the briftly hair and hard trot of which foon excoriated him fo much, that the blood run copioufly down its flanks. By throwing beated ftones into a wooden vessel, filled with barley meal, diluted with water procured on the fea-fhore, preferved in a goatfkin, and mixed with pitch to prevent putrefaction, the Arabs prepared a kind of foup, which, they kneaded with their hands, and ate unchewed. They roafted a goat in heated fand, ate its fat raw, and, after having devoured the flesh, gnawed the bones, and scraped them with their nails, threw them to Briffon and his companions, defiring them to eat quickly, and load the camels, that the journey might not be impeded Proceeding eastward, they croffed a vaft plain, covered with small stones, white as fnow, round and flat as a lentil, where not a fingle plant was produced. The earth beneath their feet refounded dull and hollow, and the fmall ftones pricked them like fparks of fire, The reflection of the rays of the fun from the fand was fcorching; the atmos phere was loaded with a red. vapour,

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and the country appeared as if filled with flaming volcanos. Neither birds nor infects could be seen in the air. The profound filence was frightful. If a gentle breeze ever arofe it produced extreme languor, chopping of the lips, burning heat of the fkin, with mall smarting pimples. This plain was even hunned by wild beafts. After traverfing this plain, they entered another, where the wind had thrown up in furrows the fand, which was of a reddish colour. On the tops of the furrows grew a few fweetfcented plants, which were devoured by the camels. On quitting this fandy plain, they entered a valley furrounded by mountains, where the foil was white and flimy, and where they found water of a noxious fmell, covered with green mofs, and foon after difcovered horde of the friendly cribe Rouffye. Sidi Sellem. one of the chiefs of this horde, and brother-in-law to idi Mahomet, propofed to Briffon to put himself under his protection, and offered to purchase him; to which Briffon, who expected foon to reach either Senegal or Morocco, gave a firm refusal. After another journey of fixteen days, they arrived at the tents of the Labdeff.ba horde, to which Sidi Mahomet be. longed. The tents pitched among thick bushy trees, and the numerous flocks feeding along the fides of the hills, prefented at a diftance an afpect of happiness and paftoral fimplicity. On approaching near, the trees of beautiful green foliage proved to be only old gummy ftumps, almoft void of branches, fo encircled with thorns, that their fhade was inaccef fible. The women approached with loud cries and the molt fawning ter vility to welcome their tyrants, to throw ftones at the Chriftians and fpit in their faces, while the children imitated the example of their mothers. Briffon, who endeavoured to ingra tiate himself with his matter's fa vourite, not only failed in this, but

incurred her implacable refentment, through his irritability, which to the Arab women feemed extremely to refemble etulance. During his refidence with Sidi Mahomet, the hardhips he endured were almost incredible. With the excffive heat, the milk of the fheep, goats, and camels diminished, and then the dogs fared better than the Chriftians, who were forced to fubfift on wild herbs and raw fnails. When the rains fell, and the lealt pressure made the water to fpring up through the fandy foil, the Chriftians flept behind a bush, unfheltered, c on the bare ground. Briffon and his mafter fometimes reafoned about religion, when the latter always anfwered the harangues of the former by declaring, that he preferred a bowl of churned milk to fuch abfurdities. Several of his companions perifhed, and were left by the Arabs to be devoured by the ravens, while in the ftru gles of death. One of them was fuppofed to be murdered by his mafter for milking his camels clandeftinely. An application made by Briffon to the conful at Mogador, by a letter entrusted to a Jewish merchant, was frustrated through the negligence of the vice-conful; and the Labdeffeba Arabs thought the journey too dangerous to be encountered for the ranfoin of their flaves. The drought became fo exceffive, that no pafturage could be found for the flocks; upon which the tribes of Ouadelim and Labdeffeba, after holding a confultation, determined to go in fearch of new habitations. The horde, to which Briffon's mafter belonged, was one of thofe that re mained behind, while the Oudelims extended their ravages to Guadnum, at the diftance of 300 leagues froma their former refidence. Those who remained behind, fubfifted for a short period, but were foon reduced to the utmolt extremities, by the failure of pallurage and water. They were forced to kill their camels and goats,

in order to obtain the water in their moil and furrowed, as if it had been

ftomachs, which was of a greenith colour, and extremely difagreeable. In this dreadful fituation he was pur chafed by Sidi e lem, the brother in-law of his maller, with whom he immediately departed for Morocco. On their journey, the appearance which the country prefented was uni form and wild. Wide fandy plains, terminated by a bare horizon of bleak rocky hills, filled up this blank in nature. The plains were covered frequently with calcined flints refem. bling a fmith's charcoal. In one place, they obferved fome whitith earth, ove which the trunks of trees were heaped in confufion, with their roots torn off Their bark was entirely peeled, and their brances, brittle as glafs, were twifled like cords. Their wood was yellowish, like the wod of liquorice, and the heart of the trees was filled with a powder very hard to the touch Neither the wood, nor the enclosed duit, nor the calcined tones, had either talte or fmell. At fome diftance, the moun tains, which were extremely high, feemed to be piled above each other in immense ranges, from whence enormous blocks appeared to have tal len, and to have been thattered to pieces before reaching the ground. Thele detached maffes, over which other rocks hung fuipended, formed immenfe caverus, and covered the vallies From another quarter, two fountains iffued, one of which drew along in its course a black flimy mat-pended in the air. Briffon remarks, ter of a fulphureous imell. The other, feparated from the first by a fmall ifth us of fand, of the breadth of 12 or 15 paces, was clearer than chryital. In a valley, which appear ed at firft tight extremely circum fcribed by the furrounding mountains, and the detached rocks which were heaped up in promifcuous confufion, Briffon discovered an aftonish ing variety of scenery. At the entrance of the valley, the ground was

formerly watered by winding rivulets. The borders of thefe furrows were covered with beds of pebbles, and crufted over with a nitrous kind of ice. The rocks which enclofed the furrows were covered with the fame, and refembled cafcades. I hick reddith roots and branches, covered with leaves, like thofe of the laurel, crept across the different crevices As he advanced, pyramids of great ftones, white as alabafter, appeared towering above each other, and feemed to mark the border of a bank. Lofty date trees, whofe trunks were warped even to the top, rofe behind the pyramids. with palm trees, the height and colour of which exhibited proofs of their high antiquity. Others of the e were thrown down, and lay-ftripped › of the bark ; they crumbled to pieces upon being touched; and the filaments under the bark were covered with a faltish powder, clear as cry{tal. The roots which hung down the rocks were glutinous, and the bark broke off at the flighteft touch. Advancing nearer. Morocco, they found lofty mountains covered with ftones of rofe, violet, citron, and green. colours; and obferved forests at a dil

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tance.

On their approach they were astonished to fee the trunks of trees defcending from the centres of rocks, and apparently hanging down like fruits, while the roebucks coursed, oue after another, over the banging rocks, and the trees that hung fuf

that no trees in thefe forefts are injured by lightening except one, the leaf of which refembles that of the gum-tree or common parfley. Be fore reaching Guadnum, they arrived at the habitations of the tribe Telkoennes, who refide among moun tains of fand, as if they endeavoured. to hide themfelves from the light of the fan. It is almost impoffible to penetrate their retreats, unlets a perion be acquainted with the paffes of

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