their houses as ornamental furniture; they are made of a compound metal, and used only at their toilets. Notwithstanding the feverity of their winters, which oblige them to warm their houfes from November to March, they have neither fire-places nor ftoves : inftead of these they use large copper-pots ftanding upon legs; thefe are lined on the infide with loam, on which ofhes are laid to fome depth, and charcoal lighted upon them, which feems to be prepared in fome manner which renders the fumes of it not at all dangerous. The Portuguese, in all probability, first introduced the ufe of tobacco into Japan: however, be that as it may, they use it now with great frugality, though both sexes, old and young, continually fimoke it, blowing out the smoke through their noltrils. The first compliment offered to a franger in their houfes is a difh of tea and a pipe of tobacco. Their pipes have mouth pieces and bowls of brafs or white copper. The hollow of the bowl is fo fmall as fcarce to contain an ordinary pea. The tobacco is cut as fine as a hair about a finger's length, and is rolled up in fmall balls like pills, to fit the fmall hollow in the bowl of the pipe; which pills, as they can last but for a few whiffs, must be very frequently renewed. Fans are used by both fexes equally, and are, within or without doors, their infeparable companions. The whole nation are naturally cleanly; every houfe, whether public or private, has a bath, of which conftant and daily afe is made by the whole family. You feldom ineet a man who has not his mark imprinted on the fleeves and back of his cloaths, in the fame colour in which the pattern is printed: white spots are left in manufacturing them, for the purpose of inferting thefe marks. Obedience to parents and refpect to fuperiors is the characteristic of this nation. It is pleafing to fee the refpect with which inferiors treat thofe of high rank; if they meet them abroad, they ftop till they have paffed by; if in a house, they keep at a diftance, bowing their heads to the ground. Their falutations and converfations between equals abound alfo with civility and politeness; to this children are early accustomed by the example of their pa rents. Their penal laws are very fevere; but punishments are feldom inflicted. Perhaps there is no country where fewer crimes against fociety are committed. Their ufage of names differs from that of all other nations. The family.name is never made use of but in figning folemn contracts, and the particular name by which individuals are diftinguished in converfation varies according to the age or fituation of the perfon who makes ufe of it; fo that fometimes the fame person is, in his life-time, known by five or fix different names. They reckon their age by even years, not regarding whether they were born að the beginning or the end of a year, so that a child is faid to be a year old on the newyear's day next after his birth, even tho he has not been born many days. Commerce and manufactures flourish here, though, as thefe people have fewe wants, they are not carried to the extent which we fee in Europe. Agriculture is fo well understood, that the whole country, even to the tops of the hills, is cultivated. They trade with no foreigners. but the Dutch and Chinese, and in both cafes with companies of privileged merchants. The Dutch export copper and raw camphire, for which they give in return fugar, ripe cloves, fappan wood, ivory, tin, lead, tortoife-fhell, chintzs, and a few trifles more. As the Dutch Company do not pay duty in Japan, either on their exports or imports, they fend an annual prefent to the Court, confifting of cloth, chintzs, fuccotas, cottons, fluffs, and trinkets. I had the fatisfaction to attend the Ambaffador, who was intrufled with thefe prefents, on his journey to Jeddo, the capital of this vaft empire, fituated at an immenfe distance from Nagafacci, a journey on which three Europeans only are permitted to go, attended by two hundred Japanefe at least. We left our little island of Dezima, and the town of Nagafacci, on the 4th of March, 1776, aud travelled through Cocora to Simonofeki, where we arrived on the 12th, and found a vellel prepared for us; we embarked on board her, and coafted along to Fiogo. From thence we travelled by land to Öfacca, one of the principal commercial towns in the empire. At this place we remained the 8th and 9th of April and on the 10th arrived at Miaco, the refidence of the Dairi, or Ecclefiaitical Emperor. Here we allo ftayed two days; but after that made the belt of our way to Jeddo, were we arrived on the first of May. We were carried by men in a kind of palankins, called Norimons, covered, and provided with windows. The prefents alfo НА and and our provifions were carried on men's fhoulders, except a few articles, which were loaded on pack-horfes. The Japanefe Officers who attended us provided us with every thing, fo that our journey was by no means troublesome. On the 18th we had an audience of the Cubo, or Temporal Emperor, of the heirapparent, and of the twelve Senators; the day following, of the Ecclefiaftical Governors, the Governors of the town, and other high Officers. On the 23d we had our audience of leave. We left Jeddo on the 26th of May, and arrived at Miaco on the 7th of June. Here we had an audience of the Emperor's Viceroy, to whom we alfo made prefents, as we were not allowed to fee the Dairi, or Ecclefiaftical Emperor. On the 11th we procured leave to walk about the town, and vift the Temples and principal buildings. In the evening we fet out for Ofacca, which town we were alfo permitted to view, which we did on the 13th. We faw Temples, Theatres, and many curious buildings; but, above all, the manufactory of copper, which is melted here, and no-where else in the empire. On the 14th we had an audience of the Governors of this town; after which we refumed our journey to Fiogo, where we again imbarked on the 18th, and proceeded by fea to Simonoseki, from whence we arrived on the 23d at Cocota, and from thence were carried in Norimons to Nagafacci, and arrived at our little island Dezima on the last day of June, after an absence of one hundred and eighteen days. Natural HISTORY af the BAT, particularly of the Great Madagascar BAT and the American VAMPYRE: From Linnæus, Dr. Goldsmith, &c. SOME nanked OME Naturalifts have doubted whe a-glades, and flady walks; and frequently principally frequents the fides of woods, mong beafts or birds. They are now, however, univerfally made to take their place among the former. Pliny, Gefner, and Aldrovandus, who placed them among birds, did not confider that they wanted every character of that order of animals, but the power of flying. The Bat beings forth its young alive; it fuckles them, it has teeth; its lungs are formed like thofe of quadrupedes; and its intestines and its fkeleton have a complete refemblance. The Bat most common in England is about the fize of a moufe. The wings are, properly fpeaking, an extenfion of the fkin all round the body, except the head, which, when the animal flies, is kept ftretched on every fide, by the four interior toes of the fore-feet, which are very long, and ferve like malls that keep the canvas of a fail fpread, and regulate its motions. The first toe is quite loofe, and ferves as a heel when the Bat walks, or as a hook, when it would adhere to any thing. The hind feet are ditengaged from the furrounding skin, and divided into five toes, fomewhat refembling thofe of a moufe. The fkin by which it flies is of a dufky colour. The body is covered with a fhort fur, of a moule colour, tinged with red. The eyes are very small; the ears like thofe of a moufe. This fpecies of the Bat makes its first appearance early in fummer, and begins its fight in the dulk of the evening. It fkims along the furface of pieces of water. It pursues gnats, and nocturnal infects of every kind. It feeds upon thefe; but will not refufe meat. Its flight is a laborious, irregular movement; and if it happen to be interrupted, it cannot readily prepare for a fecond elevation; so that if it trike against any object, and fall to the ground, it is ufually taken. It appears only in the most pleasant evenings, when its prey is abroad, and flies in pursuit of it with its mouth open. At other times it continues in the chink of a ruined building, or the hollow of a tree. Thus, even in fummer, it fleeps the greatest part of its time, never venturing out by day light, nor in rainy weather; and never hunting for prey, but for a fmall part of the night. Its fhort life is still more abridged by its continuing in a torpid ftate during the winter, at the approach of which it seems rather to chufe a place where it may be fafe from interruption, than where it may be warmly lodged. It is then ufually seen hanging by its hooked claws to the roofs of caves, regardless of the continual damps, and it continues in a torpid state, unaffected by any change of the weather, Such as are not provident enough to procure a deep retreat, where the cold and heat feldom vary, are fometimes expofeď to great inconveniencies, for the weather often becomes fo mild in the midst of winter as to warm them prematurely into life, and and to allure them from their holes in queft of food, when Nature has not provided a fupply. Thefe, therefore, have feldom length to return; but, having exhaufted themselves in a vain purfuit, are destroyed by the owl, or any other animal that follows fuch petty prey. The Bat brings forth in fummer, generally from two to five at a time. The female has but two nipples, and thofe forward on the breast, as in the human kind. This was a fufficient motive for Linnæus to give it the title of a Primas, and to puth this contemptible animal among the chiefs of the creation. Such arbitrary affociations produce rather ridicule than instruction, and render even method contemptible. The female makes no neft for her young, as most animals do. She is content with the first hole the meets, where flicking herfelf by her hooks against the fides of it, The permits her young to hang at the nipple, and to continue there for the first or second day. When the dam begins to grow hungry, he takes her little ones and fticks them to the wall; there they immoveably cling, till her return. As birds are furnished with trong pectoral muscles, to move the wings, and direct their flight, fo alfo is this animal; and as the former have their legs weak, and unfit for the purposes of motion, the Bat has its legs fashioned in the fame manner, and is never feen to walk, or, more properly fpeaking, to push itself forward with its hind legs, but in cafes of extreme neceffity. The toes of the fore-legs extend the web like a membrane that lies between them; and this which is extremely thin, ferves to lift the little body into the air. In this manner, by an unceasing percuffion, much fwifter than that of birds, the animal continues its flight. However, the great labour fatigues it in lefs than an hour, and it then returns to its hole, fatisfied with its fupply. This fpecies of the Bat is quite an inoffenfive creature. It is true that it now and then steals into a larder. But this happens feldom; its induftry is chiefly exerted after infects that are much more noxious than itself; while its evening fight and unsteady motion, amufe the imagination, and add one figure more to the pleafing group of animated Na ture. The varieties of this animal are but few, and fcarce worth enumeration. In our own country, they are all minute, contemptible, and harmlefs. But there is a Jarger race of bats in the Eaft and Weft Indies, that are truly formidable. Each of thefe is fingly a dangerous enemy; but when united in flocks, they become dreadful. Were the inhabitants of the A: frican coats,' fays Des Marchais, to eat animals of the Bat kind, as they do in the East Indies, they would never want provifions There, in their flight, they obfcure the fetting-fun. In the morning, they are feen flicking upon the tops of the trees, and clinging to each other, like bees when they fwaim. The Europeans often amufe themfelves with fhooting among this huge mafs of living creatures, and obferving their embarraffment when wounded. They fometimes enter the houses, and the Negroes are expert at killing them; but although thefe people feem for ever hungry, yet they regard the Bat with horror, and will not eat it though ready to ftarve. Of foreign Bats, the largest we have any certain accounts of is the Great Bat of Madagascar. This formidable creature is near four feet broad, when the wings are extended; and a foot long, from the tip of the nofe to the infertion of the tail. It differs from our Bat only in its enormous fize; in its colour which is red, like that of a fox; in its head and nofe alfo, which resemble thofe of that animal, (and which have induced fome to call it the flying fox) in the number of its teeth; and in having a claw on the fore foot. This formidable creature is found only in the ancient continent; particularly in Madagafcar, and along the coafts of Africa and Malabar, where it is about the fize of a large hen. When they repofe, they flick themselves to the tops of the tallest trees, and hang with their heads downward. But when they are in motion, nothing can be more formidable; being feen in clouds, darkening the air, as well by day as by night. They devour, indifcriminately, fruits, flesh, and infects, and drink the juice of the palm tree. They are heard at night in the forells at more than two miles distance, with a horrible din; but, at the approach of day, they retire. Nothing is fare from their depredations; they destroy fowls and domestic animals, unless preferved with the utmost care, and often faften upon the inhabitants themselves, attack them in the face, and infli& very terrible wounds. In short, the ancients feema to have taken their idea of Harpies from thefe voracious creatures, as they both concur in many parts of the defcription, being equally deformed, greedy, uncleanly, and cruel. Hha An animal, ftill more mischievous than thefe, is the American Vampyre; lefs than the former, but more deformed, and more numerous. It has a horn like the rhinoceros, and its ears are very long. The other kinds generally refort to the most deferted places; but thefe come into towns, and, after fun-fet, cover the streets like a canopy. They are,' fays Ulloa, the moft expert blood-letters in the world. The inhabitants of thofe hot latitudes being obliged to leave open the doors and windows of the chambers where they fleep, the Vampyres enter, and if they find any part of the body expofed, never fail to faften upon it, and fuck the blood, often till the perfon dies under the operation. They infinuate their tooth into a vein, with all the art of the most experienced Surgeon, continuing to exhauft the body, until they they are fatiated. I have been af fured, continues he, by perfons of the triceft veracity, that fuch an accident has happened to them; and that, had they not awaked, their fleep would have been their laft, having fearce ftrength enough left to bind up the orifice. The reafon why the puncture is not felt is, befides the great precaution with which it is made, the gentle refreshing agitation of the Bat's wings, which contributes to encrease fleep, and is foften the pain.' The purport of this account has been confirmed by various other travellers; who all agree, that this Bat is poffeffed of a faculty of drawing the blood from perfons fleeping. But ftill, the manner in which they inflict the wound remains to be accounted for. We cannot admit Ulloa's fuppofition that it is done by a fingle tooth; fince the animal cannot infix one tooth without all the reft; the teeth of the Bat kind being pretty even, and the mouth but fmall. Mr. Buffon, therefore, fup- ! pofes the wound to be inflicted by the tongue; which, however, feems too large to inflict an unpainful wound. It is therefore likely, that the animal is endow, ed with a frong power of fuction; and that, without inflicting any wound what ever, by continuing to draw, it enlarges the pores of the skin in fuch a manner that the blood at length paffes, and that more freely the longer the operation is continued; fo that, at last, when the Bat goes off, the blood continues to flow. In confirmation of this opinion we are told, that where beafts have a thick fkin, this animal cannot injure them; whereas horfes, mules, and affes, are very liable to be thus destroyed. A DESCRIPTION of BERNE, in Switzerland, with an exact Reprefentation of the Employment of the MEN CRIMINALS in that City, engraved on Copper. in Switzerland, is a town of uncommon elegance and beauty. The houfes, particularly in the principal ftreet, are mostly uniform,and built of tone upon arcades,that are very convenient in wet weather. Thefe walks, which are well paved, are raised four feet above the level of the street. A rivulet, being a branch of the river Aar, flows rapidly through the middle of this street, in a channel formed for its reception, and is of great fervice in keeping it clean; befides this ftream, there are many fountains equally beneficial and ornamental. Another circumftance which contributes greatly to render Berne one of the most cleanly towns in Europe, is thus defcribed by Dr. Moore: Criminals are employed in removing rubbish from the streets and public walks. The more atrocious delinquents are chained to waggons, while thofe who are condemned for fmaller crimes, are employed in fweeping the light rubbish into the rivulet, and throwing the their more criminal companions are obliged to push or draw along. Thefe wretches have collars of iron fixed around their necks, with a projecting handle in the form of a hook to each, by which, on the flightest offence or mutiny, they may be feized, and are entirely at the command of the guard, whofe duty it is to see them perform their work. People of both fexes are condemned to this labour for months, years, or for life, according to the nature of their crimes. It is alledged, that over and above the deterring from crimes, which is effected by this, in common with the other me thods of punithing, there is the additional advantage of obliging the criminal to repair by his labour the injury which he has done to the community. I fufpect, however, that this advantage is counter-balanced by the bad effects of habituating people to behold the mifery of their fellow-creatures, which I imagine 3 gradually |