as the rocks themfelves; they prove that this tract had once
been well wooded, and that by fome mighty convulfion they
were totally reverfed, their bowels cail up into the face of the
day, the powers of vegetation denied, and the trees left to
receive the petrific juices, prefervative to the end of time, memorial
of the mighty phoenomenon : For thefe and many other
notices we are obliged to M. Sonnerat, who pafled over India
with the fpirit o f a true: philofopher.
On the mountains of Palliacat, the neareft to Madras, .are
found my Indian Badger, Hiß. Quad. i. N° 180, and the Twotoed
Sloth, N° 360. Among the quadrupeds of the forefts of
the Carnatic is the following mimic of the human form : I
ill all take the account o f it from that given by Mr. Grofe, brother
to my lamented friend Francis Grofe, of worthy and facetious
memory, who gave to. the public an entertaining voyage
to the Faß Indies. ■
“ Vencajee,” fays Mr. Grofe, (in vol. L p. 232.) fgj a merchant
“ of the Carnatic Rajab's dominions, and an inhabitant on the
u fea coaft, fent up to Bombay,, to the then governor of if,
“ Mr. Horne, a couple of thole lingular creatures* as a
u prefent, by a coafting veflel, and the make of which,
“ according to his defcription, and that of others, was as fob-
“ lows :
“ T h e y , were fCarcely two feet high, walked' ere£t, and had
“ perfectly an human form ; they were o f a fallow white,,
H without any hair, except in thofe parts that it is cuftomary
u for mankind to have it. By their melancholy they feemed
“ to have a rational fenfe of their captivity, and had many of
“ the:
« the human aCtions ; they made their bed very orderly in the
“ cage in which they were fent up, and on being viewed would
« endeavour to conceal with their hands thofe parts that mo-
“ defty forbids manifefting. The joints o f their knees were
“ not re-entering like thofe o f monkies, but falient like thofe
“ o f men, a circumftance they have (if I miftake not) in com-
“ mon with the Ourang Outangs in Sumatra, Java, and the
“ Spice Illands, o f which thefe feem to be the diminutive,
“ though with nearer approaches of refemblance to the human
“ fpecies. But though the navigation from the Carnatic coaft
“ to Bombay is a very ftiort run, of not above lix or feven de-
“ grees, whether the fea air did riot agree with them, or that
“ they could not brook their confinement, the female ficken-
ing firft, died, and the male, giving all the demonftrations of
“ grief, feemed to take it to heart, fo that he refufed to eat,
“ and in two days followed her. Upon this the governor wrote
« afreih to Vencajee, and defired him to procure another couple
u at any rate,, as he ihould grudge no expence.to be matter o f
** fuch a curiofity. Vencajee'?, anfwer was, he would very wil-
“ lingly oblige him, but that he was afraid it would not be in
“ his power ; that the creatures came from a foreft about fe-
“ venty leagues up the country, where the inhabitants would.
“ fometimes catch them on the ikirts of it, but that they were
“ fo exquifitely cunning and lhy,. that this, fcarcely happened
“ once in a century.”
H e r e may be mentioned the large black cattle of this coaft,,
with fmooth hair and even backs; thofe with lumps on their
hacks being rather uncommon..