T urbo Sc a l a -
ris .
BAR B IER S ) a
D i s e a s e .
F i s h e s f a l l i n g
o n L a n d .
A mong the variety o f beautiful ihells found on the coaft, is
the noted Turbo Scalaris, or Wentle-trap, a fhell feldom an inch
and a quarter long, o f a pearly color, and with about feven
fpires, each having feveral elegant ridges, crofling them from
the firft fpire to the la ft; a fine reprefentation o f the winding
ftaircafe. A painter I knew, filled with the Concba-mania,
once gave fifty-fix guineas for three o f them, one alone he
valued at twenty-five.
S o m e few other things, refpedting the natural hiftory of
Bombay and its neighborhood, may be here taken notice of.
The difeafes of India begin to fhew themfelves in this place,
but I ihall only attend to the Barbiers, which is more prevalent
on this fide of the peninfula o f India than the other. It is a
paify, which takes its name from Beriberii, or the iheep, as the
afflidted totter in their gait like that animal when feized with a
giddinefs. Its fymptoms are both a numbnefs, a privation of the
rife of the limbs, a tremor, and an attendant titillation ufually
not fatal, but extremely difficult o f cure. It comes on ilowly,
and ufually in the rainy feafon; but i f a perfon drinks haftily,
when heated, a large draught of Toddy, or the liquor of the coco
nut, the attack o f the difeafe is very fudden. Bontius, (Englijb
edition, p. i’), treats largely o f the cure. He recommends
ftrongly baths or fomentations o f the Nochile of the Malabars,
or Lagandi o f the Malap, or the Jafminum Indicum.
T h e phoenomenon o f fmall fiih appearing in the rainy feafon,
in places before dry, is as true as it is furprifing. The
natives begin to fiih for them the tenth day after the firft rains,
and
and they make a common difh at the tables. Many are the
modes o f accounting for this annual appearance. It has been
fuggefted that the fpawn may have been brought by the'water
fowl, or may have been caught up by the Typhons, which rage
at the commencement of the wet feafon, and be conveyed in the
torrents of rain. I can only give an explanation much lefs
violent: That thefe fifties never had been any where but near
the places where they are found. That they have had a pre-
exiftent ftate, and began life in form of frogs; that it had
been the Rana paradoxa of Gm. Lin. iii. p. 10. 55. Their tranf-
formation is certainly wonderful. I refer the reader to Seba, i.
p. 125, tab. 78; and to Merian's Surinam, p. 7r, tab. 71, in
which are full accounts of the wonderful phoenomenon o f thefe
tranfmuted reptiles, which complete their laft transformation in
the firft rains.
A l l kinds o f reptiles appear about that feafon, among others, T o ad s , v a s t .
toads o f moft enormous fizes. Mr. Ives mentions one that he
fuppoied weighed between four and five pounds; and meafured,
from the toe o f the fore to that o f the hind leg, twenty-two
inches.
I n o w leave thebav,. after faying that the tides here, and at Cambay,
rife to an amazing height ■» this muft be underftood, when
they are pent up in bays orgulphs, for on the open ihore they do
not rife above a foot and a half. Into the eaftern fide flows the
river Pen, with; ftoney and fteep. banks. Immediately beyond
the mouth, the land refumes its courfe. The ifles of Kanara I sles of K a -
andi Hunary, appear at no great diftance from ihore, fmall and H u n a r y .
lofty. Sevatjee feized on; the firft, in defiance of every effort
of