yet to purge his blood from the bile with which it is corrupted; that however he struggles against tediousness, in hopes that Philofophy will triumph, and the Merchant yield to the Philofopher.

Arica, fays he, is an inconfiderable Town in it felf, but very famous for the trade of the Spaniards, who come from Potofi and from the mines of Peru. Though it ftands upon the feafhore, yet the air is very unwholfome, and it is commonly called the Grave of the French. The Inhabitants have a dying look, and are more like Ghofts than men. There is near the Town a mountain from which proceeds a very bad air, by reafon of the Cormorants that retire thither every night, and leave an ordure, which exhales a very infectious fmell; for they are fo numerous, that the air is fometimes darkened by them. Thofe birds chase the Fish in the following manner, as Mr. Le Gentil relates it. They form upon the water a great circle, which is fometimes half a league in circumference, and then make it fmaller. When they have gathered by that means a great quantity of fish, they dive, and pursue them under water, whilft another. company of birds, which have a very long and fharp bill, fly above that circle, throw them-felves into the fea, and come out immediately with their prey in their bills. The feamen catch thefe birds by fetting up at twenty paces from the fhore, a ftake, even with the water, and made like a fpear, at the end of which they faften a fmall fifh. Thofe birds fall upon that prey with fuch an impetuofity, that most of them are run through by that ftake. Our Author obferves that all thofe animals have a horrid tafte, and that none but feamen can bear their smell.

There

There is upon that coast a vast number of whales, fea-wolves, and other animals of various kinds : the whales come fo near the fhore, that fometimes they run a-ground. The Governor gets á large revenue from the ordure of the Cormorants just now mentioned: it ferves to fatten the ground, which is dry in it felf, and drier ftill by the heat of the fun. Some Ships come twice a year to buy that merchandize called Guana by the Inhabitants. The mountain out of which it is taken, is hollow; and 'tis faid without any good ground, that it was formerly a very plentiful filver-mine. The Natives have ftrange notions upon that fubject. They fay that the Devil refides in the hollow of that mountain, and in another Rock called Morno de los Diablos, standing at the mouth of the Rivers Ita and Sama, fifteen leagues from Arica. They pretend that the Indians being overcome by the Spaniards, concealed there a vast treasure, and that the Devil to prevent the Spaniards from poffeffing themfelves of it, killed many Indians who had a mind to discover it to them. They further fay, to confirm that opinion, that a strange noise is continually heard near thofe mountains; but our Author obferves that since they are fituated by the fea-fhore, that noife, if it be true, may be occafioned by the waters, which run violently into their cavities; fo that the Spaniards, who have a lively imagination, and find a wonder in every thing, afcribe to the power and malice of the Devil what is only a natural effect.

Some days after Mr. Le Gentil arrived at Arica, he was fenfible, as he fays, of the truth of this proverb, That the highest mountains may fall, and of the falfity of this common Saying, That mountains never meet one another. There happened

D 3

pened fuch an extraordinary Earthquake, that it was perceived two hundred leagues round. Arica, Gio, Tobija, Arrequipa, Tagna, Mochegoa, and other Towns and Boroughs were overthrown. The mountains fell, clofed together, and abforbed the Villages standing upon hills, or in valleys. That overthrowing lafted two whole months by intervals the shakings were fo violent that one could hardly stand: and yet few people perished under the ruins of houfes, because they are only built of reeds, covered with very light earth. The Inhabitants were obliged for the space of a month to live in the open fields, and encamp under tents.

"Tis a common opinion among Physicians, that there is no Superfetation, that is, that when a woman is once pregnant, fhe cannot be fo again, till fhe is delivered; but our Traveller relates a fact, which happened fome time after that earthquake, and feems to favour the contrary opinion. The wife of a Spaniard was delivered of a male child, who was white; and fix weeks after, fhe brought forth another, who was black, like the flaves of Guinea. She confeffed, without much ado, that as foon as fhe perceived that fhe was with child, fhe admitted the embraces of one of her black flaves. Mr. Le Gentil leaves it to Philofophers to enquire into the reasons of a fact which he maintains to be as true, as it appears to be extraordinary. That double pregnancy does not surprise him fo much, as the colour of the child, who, according to the ufual rules of Nature, fhould have partaken both of the colour of the mother, and of that of the father, and confequently fhould have been a Mulatto. After that digreffion, our Author defcribes the fituation of Arica, and fays that this Govern

ment

ment is one of the most confiderable in Peru by reafon of its great trade. There is at a league's distance from the Town a fine Valley full of olive and palm-trees, and other like trees, planted upon the banks of a Torrent, which runs between two mountains, and falls into the fea of Arica. No part of the world affords fo great a quantity of turtle-doves and woodpigeons: the fparrows are not more common in Europe. There is alfo commonly in that part of Peru an animal, called by the Indians Guanapo, and by the Spaniards Carnero de la tierra. Tis a very large Sheep, whofe head is much like that of a camel: its wool is finer than that of Europe. The Indians use those animals like beasts of burden, and make them carry two hundred pound weight: but when they are overloaded or very weary, they lye down and will not go on. If the leader beats them to make them rife, they fetch out of their throat a black liquor, and throw it in his face.

We cannot follow our Author in his other relations: the laft is that of China: it contains feveral facts and inquiries, which will be acceptable to the curious Readers.

[If this Book comes to my hands, I shall perhaps give an account of that part of it, which concerns China.]

ARTICLE X.

JOANNIS ALBERTI Obfervationes Philologicæ in facros Novi Fœderis Libros, Lugduni Batavorum, apud Joh. Arn, Langerak. 1725.

That is,

PHILOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS upon the Books of the New Teftament, by JOHN ALBERTI. Leyden. 1725. in 8o. pagg. 513, befides the Indexes,

I'

Tappears by the Approbation of the Faculty of Divinity at Leyden, that the Author of this Book is a Reformed Minifter of the Clafs of Horn in Weft-Frifeland. He begins his Preface with thefe words to be found in the Scaligerana. Utinam effem bonus Grammaticus! Sufficit enim ei qui Auctores omnes probe vult intelligere, effe bonum Grammaticum. Porro quicunque doctos Viros Grammaticos pour tout potage vocant, funt ipfi indoctiffimi; idque femper obfervabis, Non aliunde diffidia in Religione pendent, quam ab igno¬ ratione Grammaticæ. That is: I wish I was a good Grammarian; for 'tis fufficient for one, who defires to understand well all Authors, to be a good

Gram