bace though the dromedary, which is a creature of the camel kind, and is much used, has but one. The camel is a native of Arabia, and will thrive so well no where else; it is in every respect surprisingly adapted by nature to live in deserts, as it is able to endure abstinence both from food and drink to a wonderful degree. Providence has given this animal two stomachs; one for the purpose of carrying a supply of water sufficient for several days. Its foot is soft and sure; formed for travelling in deep and burning sands, it never makes a false step, and never slips; but it cannot be made to travel a muddy road, unless driven by blows. It is capable of carrying a very heavy load, and lies down to be loaded, or mounted; rising at the word of command. When the Arabs are attacked, they mount their camels, and fly with the swiftness of the wind; travelling over deep and burning sands, more than a hundred miles in a single day. The milk of the camel is a great part of their nourishment; they feed on its flesh; they clothe themselves with its hair, which it sheds every year; sal-ammoniac is made of its urine; and its dung is dried, and used for fuel.... Grandpre, Goldsmith.

CAMELEON, a species of lizard, abounding in some parts of Egypt. This creature, with its tail extended, is about fifteen inches long. Its usual colour is of a light green, though it varies its dye according to that of whatever plant or flower the animal rests upon. The Cameleon devours prodigious quantities of flies; but being very slow and inactive, it would be impossible for him to take his prey, had not nature taken care to supply those defects, by a peculiar gift, which he improves with great success: for sitting as if he were inattentive to his prey, the unthinking flies use no caution in approaching him when of a sudden, he darts out a tongue about six inches long; the end of which is concave, and covered with a glutinous matter, so that it is impossible for the fly to escape destruction. The foregoing description is from Lord Sandwich's voyage. Sonini, on the other hand, says, that the changing of colour in cameleons, is not to be ascribed to the objects presented to them; and that their different affections increase or diminish the intensity of the tints, which cover, and, as it were, marble their very delicate skin.

60 CAMELEOPARD....CAMPHIRE TREE....C

En

thu

CAMELEOPARD, a large animal of Africk seen by Mr. Park, near the banks of the Niger, describes : "The neck and fore-legs were very long the head was farnished with two black horns turning backwards; the tail, which reached down to the ham joint, had a tuft of hair at the end. The animal was o a mouse colour, and it trotted away from us in a very sluggish manner, moving its head from side to side, to see if we were pursuing it."

CAMPHIRE TREE. The tree from which camphire is procured, is a production of China, and, it is said, that some of them are found more than a hundred and fifty feet in height, and vastly large in circumference. The trunks of these trees, when old, emit sparks of fire; but their flame is so subtile, that no danger is to be apprehended from it. The Chinese obtain camphire by taking the branches fresh from the tree, chopping them small, and laying them to soak in spring water, for three days and nights. Then they are put into a kettle where they are boiled for a certain time, during which they continually stir them with a stick of willow. This liquor is then gently strained off into an earthen vessel well varnished; after which they purify it with a certain kind of earth reduced to a very fine powder.... Winterbotham.

CANADA, two British provinces in North America. This large district of country (comprehending the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada) is situated between 42° 30' and 52° north latitude; extending in length about fourteen hundred miles, and in breadth five hundred, it is bounded, in part, by New-Britain and the Gulph of St. Lawrence, by the province of New-Brunswick and the district of Maine, and by New-Hampshire, Vermont, New-York, and the Lakes. The Canadians are in a large proportion French, or of French extraction it is said, that whether sitting or walking, or riding, they have a tobacco pipe in their mouth, and even use it to measure distances. In Weid's Tour through Canada, it is remarked, in substance, that when a traveller enquires the distance to an inn or to any particu lar town, the informant, instead of reckoning the dis

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CANADA INDIANS.

61

tance by miles, says, it is so many pipes: by which is meant that one might smoke the given number of pipes while the distance is travelling. A pipe, he observes, is reckoned for about three quarters of an English mile. This story is, however, to be received with considerable allowance.

CANADA INDIANS, tribes as fierce and warlike as any of the aborigenes of North America. During a great part of the time that Canada was a province of the French government, which was from its first settlement till its conquest by the British in 1759; the frontiers of the colonies of New-York, Massachusetts and NewHampshire, were frequently infested by those savages. In the depth of winter, 1689, a party of those Indians, together with a number of Frenchmen, surprized the town of Schenectady, in the night, while the inhabitants were unalarmed and in a profound sleep; and butchered them, with circumstances of most horrible barbarity. The whole village was instantly in a blaze; women with child were ripped open, and their infants cast into the flames. Sixty persons perished in the massacre, and twenty-seven were carried into captivity, the rest fled naked through the snow to Albany. Their wonted passage into the western parts of Massachusetts, was through Vermont (then a wilderness) along Onion river. In February, 1703, the Canada Indians burned Deerfield, on Connecticut river, massacreed part of the inhabitants, and carried the rest away as captives. During the war (that commenced 1756) between the French Canadians, aided by troops from France, and the Anglo-American colonies, assisted by Great Britain; the cruelties of those savages are thus represented by the celebrated Benjamin Franklin, in a newspaper printed by him in Philadelphia. Speaking of the capture, by the French, of fort William Henry, Franklin expressed himself as follows. "The French, immediately after "the capitulation, most perfidiously let their blood"hounds loose upon our people. Some got off; the rest were stripped stark naked. Many were killed. "and scalped, officers not excepted. The throats of "the women were cut, their bellies ripped open, their "bowels turned out, and thrown upon the faces of their G

62

CANAL....CANAL PROJECT.

<< yet palpitating bodies. Their children were taken by "the heels, and their brains beat out against the trees or stones, and not one of them saved." "This cru"elty of the French" (added Franklin) is nothing new, "for that they massacreed several hundreds of General "Braddock's wounded men-that they murdered their "prisoners near Ticonderoga, and all the sick and "wounded of Oswego, notwithstanding the previous "capitulation."

CANAL, an artificial river or rivulet, or any tract of water made by art. Canals answer the twofold purpose of inland navigation, and of enriching a country by floating it. Every copious stream abounds with manure of a most fertilizing quality; and its waters turned upon the land for a short time, (for they should not be continued on long) and then drained off, enrich it in a most astonishing manner. We learn from Herodotus, that ancient Assyria, in its most cultivated state, was greatly indebted for its extraordinary fertility, to artificial canals, which conveyed the waters of the Euphrates into the channel of the Tigris; and which, intersecting the plain of Mesopotamia, in various directions, by means of cross-cuts, afforded a constant supply of moisture to the fields, during the absence of rain. In a like manner, the prodigious fruitfulness of ancient Egypt was owing partly to its being inundated annually by the Nile, and partly to its being watered at other seasons of the year by canals which intersected the country in all directions. These canals were drawn principally from the lake, Moeris, an artificial lake that was made at immense expense, as a reservoir for the superfluous waters of the Nile, and for the purpose of spreading them, when necessary, over the country. It has been said that the Europeans got the idea of floating and enriching lands, by means of canals, during their frantic crusades in Asia. The first canal in Europe was cut in England, in the year 1130.

CANAL PROJECT. The waters in the Gulph of Mexico are considerably higher than the Pacific Ocean; owing to the trade winds, which blowing from the east, heap them up, and force them to escape through the

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CANARY BIRD....CANARY ISLANDS.

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straits of Florida, thereby occasioning what we call the gulph stream. By cutting a passage across the isthmus of Darien, or rather through a flat country at the head of the lake Nicaragua to a small river that falls into the great western ocean, in 12 degrees of north latitude, the waters of the gulph would rush through the opening, and by degrees wear a free and wide channel, till the two oceans would become nearly of the same level. The navigation to the East Indies would be shortened nearly ten thousand miles. The waters would recede from the coast all round the gulph; and increase the territories of the bordering countries. The West India islands would grow every day while the channel was wearing; and the gulph stream would cease....Am. Museum.

CANARY BIRD, a native of the Canary islands. They have a variety of colouring; some white, some mottled, some beautifully shaded with green; but they are more esteemed for their song than their beauty, having a high piercing pipe, continuing for some time in one breath without intermission, then raising it higher by degrees, with great variety. They are capable of surprizing improvement from imitation: the only art necessary with all those that have no very fine note, is to breed them up with one of a more melodious voice. A Canary bird, in London, was taught to pick up the letters of the alphabet at the word of command, so as to spell any person's name in company; and this the little animal did by motions from its master, which were imperceptible to every other spectator.... Goldsmith.

CANARY ISLANDS, called by the ancients the Fortunate Islands: of these there are seven, lying in the Atlantic Ocean, near the coast of Africa, in about 30 degrees north latitude. They belong to the crown of Spain; they are favored with the most delightful temperature of air, and abound with delicious fruits. The discovery of the Canary islands by the Carthagenians is a fact well attested. Pliny speaks of them as then destitute of inhabitants; but containing the remains of buildings. In Plutarch's time (about one hundred years after our Saviour's nativity) the Canary, or Fortunate Islands, were not only inhabited, but were so celebrated