M o n k e y .
placed a machine like the body o f a coach; reckoning the outfide
as well as infide they convey thirteen or fourteen paffengers;
when they arrive at a river, they take the water very readily,
and will even carry their fare in perfedt fafety over an arm of
the fea a mile wide.
A great monkey called here the Douc, by me the Cochin-
China, Hift. Quad. ii. N° 125, is found o f the length of four feet
exclufive o f the tail. The tail and lower parts o f the arms are
pure white; the crown, upper parts of the arms and thighs
black, buttocks clothed with hair, round the neck a i collar o f
purpliib brown; the Face bordered up to the eyes with a.great
yellowifh beard. It is alfo'found in Madagafcar, where it is
called Sifac; it walks‘ often eredt; its food beans.
I beg not to be underftood to favor the doiStrine o f fome fyftem-
makers, by connedting the defcription of the monkey oi Cochin-
China with that o f the man. I readily allow changelings, or artificial
monkies among our ipecies, but none that:are naturals
we have alfo our bears. As to the men of this.country, they
greatly reietnble the Chinefe, from whom they are diftantly.
fprung; they , are featured exactly like them, but are lefs in
body, more adtive and more valiant; the complexion ofthofe on
the coaft is olive, that of the inland or alpine inhabitants is fairer,
and not inferior to that of Europeans.
It is this country that produces in fuch quantities the edible
birds nefts, held by the epicure of the Eaft to be the firft o f delicacies.
It is chiefly made ufe of in foups and ragouts o f
chickens ; the nefts are firft foftened in water, pulled to pieces,
and mixed with ginfeng, put into the body of the fowl. The
above
above is then to be ftewed in a pot with a fuflicient quantity of
water, and left on the coals the whole night. The beft kinds
which are white, and quite pure from dirt, are diffolved in broths
in order to thicken them, and to give them that flavor the
Orientalifts fo much admire. Of the.black and foul nefts is made
glue.
Mr. Latham * gives the following, account: “ It weighs about
“ half an ounce, and is in fhape like half a lemon, or, as fome
“ compare it, to that of a faucer, with one fide flatted where it
<e adheres to the rock, i The texture o f it is fomewhat like Ifinx
“ glafs, or rather more like fine Gum-dragon, .and the ieveral
“ layers of the matter it is compofed of very apparent; being
« fabricated from repeated parcels o f a foft llinty fubitance, in
“ the fame manner as the martins form theirs o f mud,: Authors
“ differ much as to the materials o f which it is compofed ; fome
“ fuppofe it to confift offea-zvotms o f the Mollufca clafs; others
« o f the fea-qualm (a kind o f cuttle fifh) or a glutinous fea-plant
“ called AgaCAgal. It has alfo been fuppofed that they rob
« other birds o f their eggs, and, after breaking the ihells, apply
1 the white o f them for that purpofe.
■ T hese nefts are found in vaft numbers in certain caverns in
“ various ifles in the Soolo Archipelago, fituated between Longi-
“ tude 117° and 120', Lat. 5 and 7 ; particularly in three
“ fmall ifles or rather rocks, in the caverns o f which the nefts
“ are found fixed to the fides in aftoniihing numbers. They
“ are alfo found in amazing quantities on a fmall ifland called