noife I have often heard the jackal make with the lion, are the only circumstances I am acquainted with in favour of their fociability. The lion is believed to prefer the flesh of the wild boar; but that creature fometimes defends itself with fuch refolution, that the dead carcafes of both have been found lying together.

Barbary contains likewife bears, apes, hares, rabbits, ferrets, weefels, porcupines, foxes, camelions, and several species of lizards.

Of the ferpent kind, the moft remarkable is the thaibanne, fome of which are said to be three or four yards long; and I have seen purses made of their kins, which were four inches at least in diameter. The zurreike, which, as well as the former, is a native of the desert, is about fifteen inches long, very flender, and capable of darting along with great swiftness.

The moft malignant, however, of this tribe is the leffah, which anfwers the defcription of the burning dipfas of the ancients, and is feldom above a foot long.

Among the feathered tribe are eagles, hawks, the crow of the defert, and the fhagarag. The latter is of the fize and fhape of the jay; the body is brownith; the head, neck, and belly are of a light green; and the wings and tail are barred with deep blue.

The houbaara is as large as a capon; of a light dun colour, marked all over with little ftreaks of brown. The wings are black, with a white fpot in the middle; and the feathers of the neck are remarkably long, and capable of being erected, when the bird is irritated or attacked.

The rhaad is of two fpecies. The fmaller is of the fize of an ordinary pullet; but the larger

differs

differs not only in magnitude, but also in having a black head, with a tuft of dark blue feathers immediately below it. The belly of both is white; the back and wings of a buff colour, fpotted with brown; but the tail is lighter, and narked with black transverse streaks.

The kitawiah frequents the most steril spots, as the rhaad does the best cultivated. It refem-. bles a dove in shape and fize, and has fhort feathered feet. The body is of a livid hue, fpotted with black; and on the throat is the figure of a crefcent, of beautiful yellow. The tip of each tail feather is fpotted with white, and the middle one is long and pointed. The fleth, both of this bird and the rhaad, is agreeably flavoured, and eafy of digestion.

Partridges, quails, woodcocks, and feveral other kinds of wild fowl, fit for the table, are plentiful enough.

Among the moft fingular tenants of the groves is the green thrush, which, in vivid beauty of plumage, is not inferior to any. His head, neck, and back, are of a light green; the breaft white and fpotted; the wings of a lark colour; the rump of a bright yellow; and the extremity of the tail and wings are tipped with the fame colour. This bird is migratory, and only seen here in the fummer months.

The capfa fparrow is of a lark colour; but the breaft is fomewhat lighter, and fhines with a varying luftre. This bird, which is about the fize of the common house sparrow, is remarkable for the sweetness of its note, which infinitely exceeds that of the canary bird or the nightingale; but it is of fuch a delicate nature, that it cannot long exift in a different climate.

The infects are too numerous to particularize. One of the moft beautiful is a butterfly, the expanfion of whose wings is nearly four inches, and is all over elegantly streaked with murrey and yellow, except the edges of the lower wings, which being indented and ending in a narrow ftrip or lappet, of an inch long, are finely fringed with yellow, and near the tail is a carnation-coloured fpot.

Such is Dr. Shaw's account of Barbary; we fhall now attend him into the Holy Land.

TRAVELS

DR. THOMAS SHAW,

INTO

SYRIA AND THE HOLY LAND,

Interfperfed with the coincident Remarks of other diftine guifbed Trvellers in that Quarter.

To avoid unneceffary repetitions respecting a country fo often described as the Holy Land, and to embrace in a small compafs the moit valuable accounts of Jerufalem in particular, we have made use of Dr. Shaw's travels as the basis of this article; but, in trying to complete it, we have called in the affiftance of Maundrell, Wood, and others. It is probable, also, that in the progress of our work, we fhall have an opportunity of following more modern, though not fuperior authorities; and therefore, our present brevity will be excufed.

The Holy Land, as it is generally called by Chriftians, receives its appellation from being the spot where the ancient prophets difplayed their fupernatural powers, and where our Saviour himfelf was born, and where, after bringing life and immortality to light by the gofpel, he fuffered for the fins of men. It was anciently known by the name of Palestine, from the Philiftines, and of

03

Judea,

Judea, from the patriarch Judah. Its length is about one hundred and fifty miles, and its breadth eighty. On the north it is bounded by Mount Libanus, which separates it from that part of Syria called Phoenicia; on the eaft by Mount Hermon, which divides it from Arabia Deferta; on the fouth by Arabia Petræa, and on the weft by the Mediterranean. It is fituated in the fourth and fifth climate, between 31 and 33 deg. 30 min. north latitude.

Though the heat, from the fituation, might be fuppofed to be intenfe, at some seasons, yet Mount Libanus, during winter, is wholly covered with fnow, which affects the whole country, from Tripoly to Sidon, with a moft fubtile and piercing cold. The wefterly winds are ufually accompanied by rain, and those from the eaft with dry weather. In general, however, the air is mild, particularly at a diftauce from the mountains.

In travelling by night through the valleys of Mount Ephraim, Dr. Shaw fays, they were attend for more than an hour by an ignis fatuus, that affumed a variety of furprifing appearances. Sometimes it was globular; fometimes it refembled the flame of a candle; when inftantly it would fpread itself, and involve the whole company in its pale inoffenfive light. Then contracting itself, it would feem to vanish from the fight; but in a few moments would refume its luftre, or, moving from place to place, would expand at intervals, over two or three acres of land. It fhould be observed, that in the preceding evening the atmosphere had been uncommonly thick and hazy, and the dew remarkably unctuous.

The first rains generally fall in this country about the beginning of November; and the lat

ter,