fting of our natural vices, and softened the ferocity of the human race. The attachment to their friends is another ftriking trait in the character of thefe favages. For with them, as with the Greeks of old,

A generous friendship no cold medium knows;
But with one love, with one refentment, glows.
POPE'S HOMER.

And they think that thofe in their alliance muft not only adopt their enmities, but have their refentment wound up to the fame pitch with themfelves. As almoft the only method on which they depend for acquiring the neceffaries of life, is by hunting the wild animals which their mountains and forefts fupply, they are, as might be expected, very expert in the ufe of miffile weapons. Dr. Robertfon informs us, that fome Caribbees used their bows with great dexterity while fwimming in the water; and that there are tribes of Indians who can fend their arrows to the distance of 100 paces without the aid of a bow. See our Art. Sagitta, (p. 175). It is, therefore, with great propriety that INDUS appears on the globe with an arrow in his hand, and in a state of nudity; fince it is faid that even the utmoft rigours of the winter feafon do not prevent him from following the chace almost naked *. Next to hunting, a

tafte

The learned author of EUDOSIA, however, calls Indus the "regal Indian," and adds,

Sure that form is thine,

O GUATAMOZIN! whom the Mexique realms
Admir'd, the affertor of their liberties,
And freedom bore thy standard, though in vain
Against injuftice glorioutly oppos'd.

This

tafte for war forms the chief ingredient in their character, and gives a ftrong bias to their religion. ARESKOUI, or the god of battle, is revered as the great god of the Indians. Him they invoke before they go into the field; and according as his dif pofition is more or lefs favourable to them, they conceive that they shall be more or lefs fuccefsful. Some worship the fun and moon; among others there are numbers of traditions, relative to the creation of the world and the hiftory of the gods:" traditions which refemble the Grecian fables, but which are ftill more abfurd and inconfiftent. ligion is not, however, the prevailing character of the Indians, fince, except when they have fome immediate occafion for the affiftance of their gods, they pay them no fort of worship. Like all rude nations, they are of courfe ftrongly addicted to fuperftition. They believe in the existence of a number of good and bad genii or fpirits, who interfere in the affairs of mortals, and produce all our happiness or mifery: but, according to a great poet, they are cheered by the hope of " life to

come :"

a

Lo, the poor INDIAN! whofe untutor'd mind
Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind;
His foul proud Science never taught to stray
Far as the folar walk, or milky way;
Yet fimple Nature to his hope has giv'n,
Behind the cloud-topt hill, an humbler heav'n;

Re

This heroic prince was the nephew, fon-in-law, and fucceffor of MONTEZUMA, the most powerful monarch in the new world. Being, after a brave refiftance, entirely routed and made prifoner by the infamous Cortez, he was bafely fubjected to the torture, and afterwards hanged by order of that execrable conqueror of Mexico.

R 2

Some

Some fafer world in depth of woods embrac'd,
Some happier island in the watʼry waste,
Where flaves once more their native land behold,
No fiends torment, no Chriftians thirst for gold *.
To be, contents his natural defire,

He afks no angel's wing, no feraph's fire;
But thinks, admitted to that equal sky,
His faithful dogt shall bear him company.

POPE,

CAMELEON. This little animal, which is a fpecies of lizard, is famous among the ancient and modern writers in natural history for a faculty that it is fuppofed to have of changing its colour, and affuming thofe of the objects near it:

-The cameleon, which is known
To have no colours of his own,
But borrows from his neighbour's hue
His white or black, his green or blue.

PRIOR.

This remark alludes to the horrid cruelties committed by the Spaniards, who tortured and put to death multitudes of the innocent natives of America, to obtain poffeffion of their wealth. Thefe whole fale butchers of mankind had, nevertheless, the audacity to style themselves Chriftians!! Exceptionable as is the character of the Indians for cruelty and revenge, it may, fay the learned Editors of the Ency. Brit, be fairly queftioned, whether the inftances of these, either in refpect of their caufe or their atrocity, be at all comparable to thofe exhibited in European hiftory, and ftaining the annals of Christendom :-to thofe, for instance, of the Spaniards themselves, at their first discovery of America; to thofe indicated by the engines found on board their mighty Armada; to thofe which, in cold blood, were perpetrated by the Dutch at Amboyna; to the dragoonings of the French; to their religious maffacres; or even to the tender mercies of the Inquifition! Ency. Brit. Art, America.

+ How well this creature is entitled to the epithet "faithful," may be seen in our article "Canis Major," (p. 200).

Naturalifts

Naturalifts are very little agreed as to the reafon or manner of its change of colour. Some maintain that it is done by fuffufion; others by reflection; others, as the Cartefians, by the different difpofition of the parts that compofe the skin, which give a different modification to the rays of light. Some afcribe the change of colour in the cameleon to the power of imagination in the animal, becaufe it lofes it when dead; others, again, impute the metamorphofis to the grains of the skin, which in feveral poftures, they contend, may fhew feveral colours; and, when the creature is in full vigour, may have the effect of mirrors, and reflect the colours of adjacent bodies. The animal, having it in its power to fill the fkin more or lefs, has the ability not only to alter the tone and texture of the fibres, upon which their reflexive quality, in a great meafure, depends; but also to bring parts into fight, which before lay concealed, or to conceal fuch as before lay open; and it is more than probable, that the parts which are ordinarily covered, are of a fomewhat different colour from thofe conftantly exposed to the air.

On these principles, perhaps, all the phenomena in the cameleon's colour may be folved. The animal, it is evident, has a power to reflect dif. ferently-coloured rays from the fame parts; alfo to make certain parts reflect, and to prevent others from reflecting; and hence that variety, that medley of colours.

This is not the only animal poffeffed of the property of changing its colour; another fort of lizard, when he fwells with anger, is faid to change his colour from green to a kind of ruffet. The like is afferted of an infect in the isle of Nevis, one of the Caribbee-Iflands, in the Weft-Indies.

Some have afferted that the cameleon lives only upon air;

The thin cameleon fed with air.

DRYDEN.

but it has been obferved to feed on flies caught with its tongue, which is about ten inches in length.

PISCIS VOLANS, the Flying fish. This is a name given by the English writers to feveral kinds of fish, which, by means of their long fins, have a method of keeping themselves out of water for fome time. One particular fort of this fpecies is able to rife out of the fea, and to fly to a confiderable diftance in the air; but when its wings are dry, is obliged to plunge again into the water to moiften them. It does this often when purfued by an enemy; and whole fhoals have been feen thus flying together. It is common in the Mediterranean, and fome other feas; but is feldom known in ours, or in any of the colder climates.

XIPHIAS, the Sword-fifh. This conftellation is fometimes called Dorado.

The fword-fish, in ichthyology, is fo remark. able for the fhape of its fnout, which is extended in the form of a fword, that it has been called by all nations by a name expreffive of that character. Its common name, Xiphias, is from a Greek word fignifying Sword, and it is called Gladius in Latin, and in English the Sword-Fish. It grows to a confiderable fize, fo as fometimes to weigh an hundred pounds. It is common in the Mediterranean, and some other feas, and is esteemed by many a very delicate fifh for the table, particularly