ART. IV. Voyage aux Antilles, &c. ; i... A Voyage to the Antilles, or Windward Islands, and South America, begun in 1767, and finished in 1802; containing Historical Notices of the Revolts, Wars, and memorable Exploits witnessed by the Author; new Details of the Manners of the different Nations which he visited; an Account of the Diseases occurring in each Climate; statistical Notices; Observations on the Influence of Climate on Men, Plants, and Animals; Geological Researches on the Primitive State of the Globe, and the Changes which it continues to undergo; and Remarks on the Effects of the general Current of the Ocean, Tides, Winds, Monsoons, &c. By J. B. LE BLOND, Physician and Natural Historian, Correspondent of the Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society of Medicine, the Imperial Institute, &c. Vol. I. 8vo. pp.474. Paris. 1813. Imported by De Boffe. Price izs.

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N reading this long title, the attention is naturally caught by the extraordinary time which was occupied in M. LEBLOND'S peregrinations. He went abroad, in the true spirit of adventure, at an early age; and, having passed thirty-five years under a vertical sun, he has had the singular good fortune to preserve a stock of health sufficient to enable him to communicate, in his declining years, a full account of his multifarious remarks. The present being only the first volume, much of the promise made in the title-page yet remains to be fulfilled: but enough is now exhibited to satisfy the public of the probability that the succeeding volumes will not be devoid of attraction. M. LE BLOND, however, has not studied the art of composition, and relates the substance of his observations without much attention to method: but he is an interesting writer, both for the variety and the general accuracy of his statements. He cone fines himself, in the present portion of his details, to the Antilles, or Windward Islands, and leaves the continent of Spanish America for his next volume. He begins by describing the sensations produced on perusing the labours of a celebrated Naturalist, and the hopes which they inspired in a young and enterprizing mind:

The works of Buffon,' he says, had impressed me with a strong desire to study that part of geology which exhibits the na tural history of the world in its primitive state, and its subsequent changes; and I had hopes of succeeding in discovering the origin of the primary and secondary mountains, as well as of the vallies and plains in which the regularity of the strata shewed that they were formerly a part of the expanse of the ocean. Hence my attention was directed to the physical causes of the winds, the tides, and the chief phænomena resulting from their operation. The decomposi tion and consumption of the salt and the waters of the ocean by the first and second kingdoms of nature were the continual object of my meditations; and I was thence led to examine the influence of APP. REV. VOL. LXXÍV.

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different degrees of temperature on plants, animals, and the human complexion.'

Animated by these projects, he set sail from Bourdeaux in 1766, and arrived at Martinique soon after the dreadful hurricane of that year. Here he had the good fortune to fall under the care of a planter who inhabited a healthy spot in the country, and enabled the youthful traveller to become seasoned to the climate with less than ordinary danger. M. LI B. relates that, on surveying the garden and other grounds around his friend's house, he gazed with delight on the variety of beautiful plants and fruits which were scattered before his eyes, and could not help imagining that he had reached one of the most favoured regions in the universe. He was particularly struck with the discovery that this rich scenery underwent little alteration at any time of the year. On breaking forth, however, into effusions of transport at this magnificent sight, his experienced friend corrected his ideas by an explanation nearly in the following terms:

That non-interruption of our vegetation which delights you forms, in fact, a great deduction from the value of our gardens. If your fine parterres in Europe were to preserve their flowers throughout all the year, and if the severity of your winter were not to withdraw their beauty during several months, the charm of novelty would be lost, and your passion for these pretty play-things, would be succeeded by complete indifference. In this country, I candidly confess, we have no taste for such gratification; our plantations furnishing our only object, and our sole view being to produce as large a crop, and to make as much money, as we can. See these coffee-trees in flower, and observe the scent with which they perfume the air; examine that dazzling whiteness, so admirably con trasted with the dark green of their foliage, and say whether any thing in Europe be equal to this charming prospect?" Still so little importance do we attach to all this, that sugar-canes take, in our estimate, the lead of these beautiful coffee-trees; and the ambition of the planter is to exchange the culture of the latter for that of the former. Now let us speak of more serious evils; you see before you the marks of hurricanes, the devastations of which are such as must put all prudent men on their guard; because, on the occurrence of such a calamity, the articles which we have to purchase rise in general to a very exorbitant price. Our rule consequently is to mind only that which is urgent, and to overlook matters of mere taste or elegant enjoyment. As we cannot possess the variety of amusements afforded by a town-life in Europe, we acquire an habitual indiffe rence, in consequence of our uniform way of passing our time on a plantation. Even here, however, people insist on having pleasure of some kind; and the consequence is a shameful libertinism, or the habit of gambling, which leads both to extravagant expence and to the neglect of steady industry. Add to this the occasional losses of our slaves, and the reduction of the value of colonial produce, which is frequent

frequent in a state of war; together with the unfortunate coincidence of an enhancement of the provisions which we are obliged to buy. The Creoles who succeed to property are in general improvident, and fall into embarrassed circumstances; while planters of European birth are too apt, after having acquired opulence by long exertion, to make a pompous display in England, and to commit their plantations to hired managers, whose misconduct frequently obliges the proprietor to come out again to the colony at an advanced period of life. From all these considerations, you will perceive that West India property is very precarious, and that you would form a very wrong opinion of it were you to judge from appearances."

Though not regularly educated as a physician, M. LE BLOND was soon induced to assume that character by the persuasion of his friend, who assured him that he would acquit himself better than most of the profession in the French colonies. The adoption of this advice flattered likewise the inquisitive tendency of the traveller, as it gave him an ostensible character under which he might visit a variety of places, and obtain access to the intimacy of the persons most likely to supply him with useful information. As his years and experience increased, the profession also afforded him the means of decent support, and enabled him to make the tour of most of the West India islands. We shall see presently the success with which he practised medicine at St. Lucia and Grenada : but the following narrative, connected with his early residence in Martinique, must not be passed over, since it places in a striking point of view the fatigue which he was ready to encounter in pursuit of knowlege :

I was accustomed to see a Creole come from time to time to the house in which I lived, whose appearance indicated great poverty, as he walked bare-footed, and had his body covered with only a miserable shirt. His subsistence was earned by selling large frogs, which were in regular demand in the market of St. Pierre, and which he caught in the neighbouring woods by torch-light. To hunt for frogs in woods that had neither lakes nor rivers was a strange mode of life; especially in the case of a person whose friends were respectable, and had made several attempts to put him in a better situ ation. However, although he had lost half of one foot in the pursuit of these reptiles by the bite of a snake, he could not settle himself in any other line, being addicted to drinking, and incapable of submitting to the least restraint. His plan was to provide himself with several torches of a very light kind of wood; and, between two and three o'clock in the morning, after the rain or fog had disappeared, to make his way into the forests, which were then in a moist state, in quest of the frogs that were scattered up and down. The appearance of the light made them leap or run towards it, on which the Creole seized the opportunity of striking them on the head with the flat side of his sabre, and threw them immediately into his sack. This sport is not a matter of great difficulty, but it is Ii2

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very dangerous, because snakes also are accustomed to run towards the light, and the adventurer is in great risk of being bitten, unless he succeeds in killing them by a lucky blow with the edge of his sabre. The Creole had killed several in this manner, for, though they do not abound in forests so cold and damp as those in question, they are likely to be found with frogs, which they devour with great avidity.

This man being perfectly acquainted with the Pitons or conical elevation of the Carbet, (in Martinique,) I proposed that he should serve me as a guide on an excursion thither. "With all my heart," said he, "provided that you lay in a good stock of taffia (liquor): we will set off to morrow morning, at day-break, for the distance is considerable; and, although I am lame, I assure you that you will hardly be able to keep up with me." My landlord, smiling at the fatigue which I was about to undergo in order to satisfy what appeared to him an idle curiosity, kindly prepared the necessary provisions, and gave me a negro to carry them. We started, at the call of the frog-hunter, at break of day; and by seven o'clock we reached a part of the mountain which was extremely steep and slippery, so that I could not keep myself from falling without leaning on the branches. The Creole, with a cutlass, cutting down right and left the shrubs and branches which were in the way, still kept moving on" at a pace which I could scarcely sustain. The negro, who followed with a large basket on his head, was necessarily slower, and excited the abuse of the impatient Creole; who, however, soon held his tongue when apprized that, if we hurried, the negro might perhaps break the bottles. On my remarking that the trees at this elevation had not suffered from the late hurricane, my guide informed me that the whirlwinds did not extend their rage so high. Our farther progress led to tracts in which the mud was half way up the leg; we were now three thousand feet above the level of the sea, and the surrounding soil was a mere marsh. The Creole, however, was indefatigable, and kept on his way singing, and taking from time to time a draught of his favourite liquor; an example which the negro and I were at last obliged to follow, in consequence of the cold and fatigue. We stopped to breakfast at a spot on which the Creole was in the habit of keeping a small stock of wood for fuel, and here he now cooked five or six frogs that were caught in the course of our morning's walk. Having roasted them in due form on the embers, and seeing that I discovered no relish for them, he ate with great composure the hind legs, and gave the rest to the negro.

After we had been some time on the mountain, the sky became obscured, the east wind arose, and the clouds were collected over, our heads. The Creole therefore advised me to proceed to a plantation three miles off, where he was known, and where we should arrive without any injury; while to return home would expose us to be drenched with rain, and immersed in clouds to such a degree that we could not distinguish each other at the distance of a few yards. This, however, was exactly the kind of spectacle which I wished to behold, and we commenced our route homewards: but I soon felt myself fatigued, and sought a further supply of vigour in the taffia, which was poured out to the great satisfaction of the frog

hunter,

hunter, who repeatedly declared that this was one of the pleasantest days of his life. We resumed our course through a thick mist, which soon turned to rain, and wetted us to the skin. It was almost as dark as night, so that I met with many unlucky thumps against the trunks of trees; and, in descending the steep part of the mountain, we were obliged to walk backwards, as on a ladder, the Creole going first, the negro last, and I in the middle. At length, on getting to the level ground, we had the satisfaction of being enabled to stand upright: the rain and the east wind had now ceased, but the heat was very oppressive after the coldness of the region in which we had been. Towards sun-set, we reached home, covered with mud, and in a miserable condition; "exactly," said my landlord, "as I told you, when I warned you of the inconveniences of this strange excursion."

A considerable part of the volume is occupied by medical observations and directions. Like other experienced practitioners, M. LE B. advises Europeans and North Americans, on arriving for the first time in the West Indies or any climates in the torrid zone, to avoid, with the greatest care, an exposure to the sun, especially when the head is uncovered; the inflammation in the blood from this exposure being always pernicious and often mortal. They are subject in any situation to an illness, which proves more or less dangerous according to the condition and residence of the patients. Even when they disembark at a town which is free from the influence of marshes, they are exposed to a stagnant atmosphere and to oppressive heats; after which, a relaxation of nerves and a fermentation of the blood are announced by itchings and slight eruptions on the skin like flea-bites. With the exception of this inconvenience, the health may be in a tolerably good state, since the humours may thus undergo the requisite alteration by degrees, and the individual become seasoned; which is marked by a certain paleness of the skin, succeeding to the lively tint of a cool climate. If no eruption takes place, or if it be suddenly suppressed; if a person has the misfortune to receive a stroke of the sun, or is so imprudent as to sleep in hot and ill-aired situations; the consequence is an acute fever, preceded by giddiness and violent head-ache, pain in the loins, an inclination to vomit, hæmorrhage, &c. These unpleasant symptoms may be mitigated by letting blood speedily: but this course, when too often repeated, as was formerly the case among the French settlers, incurs the danger of producing a fatal decay of strength.

Laxatives, such as a strong decoction of tamarinds, or lemonade mixed with a few grains of tartar-emetic, succeeded best when the cases were bilious: but, if a delirium existed in addition to the loss of strength, the rule was to employ blisters, cordials, camphor, an infusion of cinnamon in wine, with

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