Observations Upon the Windward Coast of Africa: The religion, character, customs, &c. of the natives; with a system upon which they may be civilized, and a knowledge attained of the interior of this extraordinary quarter of the globe; and upon the natural and commercial resources of the country; made in the years 1805 and 1806; with an appendix, containing a letter to Lord Howick, on the most simple and effectual means of abolishing the slave tradeCorry, Joseph
History
Observations Upon the Windward Coast of Africa: The religion, character, customs, &c. of the natives; with a system upon which they may be civilized, and a knowledge attained of the interior of this extraordinary quarter of the globe; and upon the natural and commercial resources of the country; made in the years 1805 and 1806; with an appendix, containing a letter to Lord Howick, on the most simple and effectual means of abolishing the slave trade
Corry, Joseph
Africa, West -- Description and travel; Slave trade -- Africa
To convince myself how far the assertion might be admitted, that the
cameleon can exist upon air, I have placed them in a cage, so constructed,
as to exclude any thing else, even the minutest insect; when I have visited
my captives, they have opened their mouths and expelled the air towards me
so as to be felt and heard. In the first stage of their privation and
imprisonment, which has continued for more than a month, I have found them
in continual motion around their prison, but afterwards their excursions
became more circumscribed, and they have sunk to the bottom, when their
powers of distension and contraction became languid and decreased, and were
never again capable of performing their accustomed transformation. The one
which I brought to England preserved in spirits, after undergoing upwards
of two months of famine, when I carried it among the grass, or placed it in
the thick foliage of a tree, in little more than a week regained its green
colour, and power of expansion; but not contented with my experiment, and
determined to ascertain it to the utmost, I redoubled my precautions to
exclude every thing but air, and my devoted victim was doomed to another
series of trial, and continued to exist upwards of a month, when it fell a
sacrifice to my curiosity.
The eyes of the cameleon may also be considered a remarkable singularity;
they are covered with a thin membrane, which nature has given it to supply
the want of eye-lids, and this membrane is sunk in the centre by a
lengthened hole, which forms an orifice, bordered by a shining circle. This
covering follows all the motions of the eye so perfectly, that they appear
to be one and the same; and the aperture, or lengthened hole, is always
central to the pupil, the eyes moving in every direction, independant of
each other; one eye will be in motion while the other is fixed, one looking
behind while the other is looking before, and another directed above while
its companion is fixed on the earth, so that its eyes move in every
possible direction, independant of each other, without moving the head,
which is closely compacted with the shoulders.
By these quick evolutions its personal safety is guarded, and it perceives
with quickness the insects and flies, which it is always entrapping by its
glutinous tongue.
Without doubt, this species of lizard possesses peculiarities well worthy
the attention of naturalists, who only can define them; what I have said I
have observed in my leisure moments, and must be considered as a very
imperfect detail of its natural history.
SECTION IV.
_Of the Interment of the Dead._
The ceremony of burial upon the Windward Coast of Africa is conducted with
great singularity, solemnity, and extravagant circumstances of condolence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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