from you. It is said, his piteous moans make the tiger relent, and turn
out of the way. Do not then level your gun at him, or pierce him with a
poisoned arrow; he has never hurt one living creature. A few leaves, and
those of the commonest and coarsest kind, are all he asks for his
support. On comparing him with other animals, you would say that you
could perceive deficiency, deformity, and superabundance in his
composition. He has no cutting teeth, and though four stomachs, he still
wants the long intestines of ruminating animals. He has only one
inferior aperture, as in birds. He has no soles to his feet, nor has he
the power of moving his toes separately. His hair is flat, and puts you
in mind of grass withered by the wintry blast. His legs are too short;
they appear deformed by the manner in which they are joined to the body;
and when he is on the ground, they seem as if only calculated to be of
use in climbing trees. He has forty-six ribs, while the elephant has
only forty; and his claws are disproportionably long. Were you to mark
down, upon a graduated scale, the different claims to superiority amongst
the four-footed animals, this poor ill-formed creature's claim would be
the last upon the lowest degree.

Demerara yields to no country in the world in her wonderful and beautiful
productions of the feathered race. Here the finest precious stones are
far surpassed by the vivid tints which adorn the birds. The naturalist
may exclaim, that nature has not known where to stop in forming new
species, and painting her requisite shades. Almost every one of those
singular and elegant birds described by Buffon as belonging to Cayenne
are to be met with in Demerara; but it is only by an indefatigable
naturalist that they are to be found.

The scarlet curlew breeds in innumerable quantities in the muddy islands
on the coasts of Pomauron; the egrets and crabiers in the same place.
They resort to the mud-flats at ebbing water, while thousands of
sandpipers and plovers, with here and there a spoonbill and flamingo, are
seen amongst them. The pelicans go farther out to sea, but return at
sundown to the courada trees. The humming-birds are chiefly to be found
near the flowers at which each of the species of the genus is wont to
feed. The pie, the gallinaceous, the columbine, and passerine tribes,
resort to the fruit-bearing trees.

You never fail to see the common vulture where there is carrion. In
passing up