its malarious shores. Dr. Dalton does not deny to it some pre-eminence in these respects; but he argues at length, that the temperature is very equable, and even advantageous for a certain class of complaints, and the greater amount of fatality is induced by the recklessness of the colonists. In fact, if the natural law is carefully observed, a person may live as long in Guiana, with very little more sickness, than elsewhere.

In a country constituted as Guiana is, animal life naturally abounds. Noxious insects intrude into dwelling-houses, the rivers teem with fish, birds and reptiles people the savannahs, wild beasts roam undisturbed in the forest-receding, however, before the advancing step of civilisation. The monkeys are lords of the forests-the snake alone disputing with them the dominion of the wooded world. They live on high branches of lofty trees, where they consider themselves to be tolerably safe, except from the hunter's gun or Indian's arrow, and the ever-dreaded wiles and stratagems of their greatest enemy, the snake. There are howling monkeys, weeping monkeys, and preaching monkeys, spider monkeys, fox-tailed monkeys, squirrel monkeys, and monkeys with all kinds of faces and beards. The forest in some respects resembles a large community of men. There are vampire bats that suck the blood of persons asleep. There are wild dogs that live on crabs (Procyon Cancrivorus), in reality a small description of bear. There are skunks, which bid defiance to all enemies, driving back dogs and men by their intolerably foetid odour.

Domestic cats and dogs removed to Guiana do not thrive; they have fits and die; but wild dogs and cats abound, and commit great depredations. Tiger-cats may be seen climbing the trees in the suburbs of the cities, and the favourite food of the jaguar are the pigs and cows of the colonist. The most impudent thieves are the opossums. They require sometimes to be beaten and kicked out of the houses, and considering that they are very offensive, as well as predatory, their presence must be anything but desirable. The sportsman's great resources are the labba or paca, the water-hog, and the acourys-the American hare. There are also deer, wild boar, tapirs, sloths, armadillos, ant-eaters, and a variety of other strange creatures. Nature in such regions appears positively to luxuriate in the most fanciful and curious creations. That great unwieldy-looking animal, the sea-cow, is met with at the outlet of the larger streams.

The variety and number of birds found in Guiana, the richness and beauty of their plumage, the surprising, and in many cases melodious, tones of their voices, and the curious and singular habits of most of them, offer a large field of inquiry. Large collections are made annually by naturalists, bird-stuffers, and travellers, and the specimens are distributed among museums in Europe and America. Possibly there are few persons who have not at times felt the wish to have their curiosity satisfied regarding the habits of those humming-birds, parrots, macaws, shrikes, tanagers, manakins, troupiales, jacamars, and other birds of brilliant plumage, which attract the eye in almost every collection. Guiana has also its useful birds-its turkeys, pheasants, partridges, pigeons, plovers, snipe, ducks, &c. Dr. Dalton tells us, however, that the European gets little sport in the forests, although game birds abound there. The crash of dried branches warn the bird, he flies away, and the density of the forest prevents his getting a shot. The stealthy Indian alone can get a shot on a branch or on the ground.

Needless to say that tortoises, crocodiles, snakes, and other reptiles abound in a country so favourable to the development of animal life. There are many kinds of turtle and tortoises, from the edible to the ferocious, and which themselves prey on other reptiles. Alligators are even to be seen in the canals and trenches about Georgetown. The largest species is the black alligator of the Essequebo, the same that Waterton encountered in so courageous and entertaining a manner. Among snakes, there are the boas, the largest of which, the boa-constrictor, is called the bushmaster. They have sometimes terrible conflicts with the alligators. There are great numbers of venomous snakes, and others that are not so, and which latter are chiefly arboreal or water snakes. Frogs are among the most noisy denizens of the colony. The number of fishes in the waters of the coasts and the rivers and canals is described as being truly astonishing. How favourable the climate is for ichthyological growth and development may be judged of from the fact that one fresh-water fish-the sudis gigas attains a length of from eight to fourteen feet, and weighs from 200 to 300 lbs., and is excellent food. A species of silunis, called lau-lau, is also often captured ten or twelve feet long, and weighing 200 lbs. Common eels are three or four feet in length.

The insect nuisances of the tropics are in force in Guiana. Every house has its centipedes; but fleas and mosquitoes are the great bane to comfort. Guiana is also much infested by the chigoe, or jigger, which burrows in the flesh, especially of the toe-nail. Dr. Dalton says he has seen them on the hands, body, face, and feet; and has known people unable to walk on account of the accumulation of them in the soles of the feet. They sometimes cause mortification. A Capuchin friar is related to have been anxious to carry home some specimens of these irritating insects to his friends, so he took away with him a complete colony, which he foolishly permitted to inhabit one of his feet; but, unfortunately for himself and for science, the foot entrusted with the precious cargo mortified, was obliged to be amputated, and, with all its inhabitants and his blighted hopes, committed to the waves. Scarcely does the sun go down than thousands of beetles crowd into the drawing rooms of the dwelling-houses. Others of the insect tribe get into all descriptions of food. The common black beetle here, as in China, nibbles the toes of persons. In rainy weather large crickets alight on the head or hands, irritating the skin with their rough legs. Ants not only abound, but are also venomous. The sand-fly pesters human beings, as well as the mosquito, and is so small as to defy detection. Common flies also, by their numbers, add to the insect nuisances.

In a land of unsurpassed vigour in the production of both animal and vegetable life, where the air, the ground, and the waters alike teem with living things, it is naturally to be expected that magnificent and curious flowers should also abound, ornamenting the plains, decorating the woods, and enlivening the dark expanse of waters. On the lofty mountains and in the quiet valleys, in the fertile plains and grassy marshes, an immense garden, stored with infinite variety, is presented to the observer. Raised and cultivated alone by Nature, thousands of plants, the most rich and rare, spring up, blossom, and die. Many of them, however, have been reclaimed by enterprising naturalists, and have been transplanted to delight the senses of a refined community. The time may yet come when

220 On Some of the Inconveniences of Paying One's Debts.

the foot of civilisation shall tread a path to these gorgeous regions, and the hand of man shall pluck these lovely plants from the obscurity in which they are now buried.

From these outlines some estimate may be formed of the natural wonders of Guiana. The little that has been seen has struck all beholders with astonishment and admiration. There may be monotony and sameness in the wonderful extent of its perpetual forests, where the jaguar, the deer, and troops of monkeys dwell; but to the lover of nature and of science there is rich reward. There may be difficulty and danger to encounter in its far-stretching savannahs and granite mountains, but to an enterprising spirit there are both interest and honour to be derived by gathering and recording his triumph over the cayman and the serpent. Patience and endurance may be required to trace its numerous streams, and their verdant banks hung with garlands of flowers to the water's edge, but to the poet and the naturalist they are inspiring themes. Industry and perseverance are, no doubt, required by the man who desires to avail himself of the singularly fertile tract of alluvial land which has passed through so varied a course of agriculture and cultivation, but ample treasures await the individual who possesses such qualities.

ON SOME OF THE INCONVENIENCES OF PAYING ONE'S DEBTS.

This is a serious business.

All's Well that Ends Well.

It is much to be regretted that virtue should have its penalties as well as its pleasures. I have myself been a martyr to one of its lowest forms; a martyr without any of the honours of martyrdom. Paul Pry's exclamation that "he would never do a good-natured thing again as long as he lived," was an expressive phrase of unrequited kindness; but mine were not even acts of good-nature.

As long as I moved ambiguously upon the surface of society I was comparatively happy. It was only when I had taken a good house and adopted the habit of regularly paying my debts that I began to be

miserable.

In no other way could I have been reputed wealthy. No one knew my income. Secretiveness was one of my largest phrenological developments, and my affairs had always been studiously kept to myself. It was solely, therefore, because I was in the habit of paying my debts that I brought upon myself all the penalties of reputed wealth.

The "world" argued that any one might take a good house; but that to live in it, and continue to pay one's debts, was proof that there must be what is called a handsome property.

Of this one of the first painful consequences was an universal desire to make my acquaintance. I became suddenly appreciated:

Others could see, although myself could not,

I was indeed " a marvellous proper man.

On Some of the Inconveniences of Paying One's Debts. 221

:

But all this was incompatible with my habits. I preferred making my own selection and dire was the offence. Mothers had sought me for their daughters' sakes. In vain I honourably refused attentions for which I could not make the expected return. In vain I assured them that I was really not a marrying man. Every one whose overture was rejected became an enemy. "That so wealthy a man should remain unmarried-it was a shame! Depend upon it there must be something wrong." Fortunately there was no tangible spot upon my character; but the usual machinery of " we would an if we could," and "such ambiguous givings out" were put into requisition; and although nothing was said, it was taken for granted that a great deal might have been said, "or Mr. Blank would not have looked so serious, or have avoided the subject so pointedly as he had done." I had formed an innumerable speaking acquaintance at clubs, and libraries, and public places; and one of the great pleasures of my morning walk was to have a talk with them all; but now I was either coldly bowed to, or passed without notice. I was also designated as a shabby fellow, who had the means but not the inclination to be hospitable; and this was assumed merely because I had adopted the practice of paying my debts.

The next evil consequence was, that I became the prey of every designing philanthropist. If I attended a religious or charitable gathering, to amuse myself by listening to some celebrated speaker, I was sure to be waited upon the next morning by one of the gentlemen who had done "the heavy business" of the previous day-usually a clerical young man in black, with a long neck carefully done up in hot-pressed whitewho, referring to "our very interesting meeting," had called for "the favour of a donation or subscription." Every Mrs. Jellaby who had concocted a pet scheme of piety or charity, after inflicting upon me the reading of a long prospectus and correspondence," had no doubt she should have my countenance and support." The common-places to which I was doomed to listen, while they were read to me with all the aggravations of exaggerated emphasis, would of themselves have been a grievous affliction. "It is our duty to do all in our power to promote the welfare of others ;"—and then the reader would fix a pair of fiery grey eyes upon me, and wait for my assent to this obvious truism. But the attempt was not only upon my patience, but my money. Excellent in themselves, but endless in their number-Baths, Washhouses, Ragged Schools, Mendicity Societies, Hospitals, Female Refuges, Reformatory Establishments, Sailors' Homes, Protestant Alliances, Irish Missions, Home Missions, the Conversion of the Jews, and a long et cætera-all had their claims upon one who was accounted wealthy, merely because he was in the habit of paying his debts.

The only thing to which I contributed with unmixed satisfaction was the poor-box of a police-office; for in that case I saw nothing of the recipients, and had not been asked to give.

What I had done, or what it was hoped I would do, led on to another infliction. My committee and board meetings were so numerous that I was induced to take into my service, as amanuensis, an ingenuous and sharp-witted juvenile delinquent, whose principal employment was to keep a record of my engagements and appointments. How that ended it would be premature to say.

Feb.-VOL. CIII. NO. CCCCX.

222

On Some of the Inconveniences of Paying One's Debts.

My servants complained that their time was wholly occupied in admitting applicants for my name-which they assured me would be of special service as a subscriber to Encyclopædias, Dictionaries, Gazetteers, Illustrated Scenery, Tables chronological, historical, biographical, or genealogical; Cathedral Antiquities, Lodge's Portraits, Casts from Shakspeare's Monument or the Elgin Marbles, and every form, in short, in which the ingenious make war upon the wealthy. The agents of every wine-merchant upon the Continent waited upon me for orders. Whenever any

real property, or an eligible investment was offered for sale, I was specially invited to be present; and estates were strongly recommended to me which would have been cheaply purchased at fifty thousand pounds. I felt that I was occupying a false position; but it was no fault of mine. I had never pretended to be wealthy. I had merely been in the habit of paying my debts.

The whole world seemed to have conspired against my peace. The exhibitors of circuses, plays, panoramas, dwarfs, wonders, objects of art, and assaults of arms, all came for my patronage and my money. If a musical professor had made his expenditure harmonise so badly with his means as to have incurred the threats of his creditors, he hoped I would lend him fifty pounds. If an actor had become "the unhappy victim of unforeseen circumstances," he threw himself upon what he was pleased to term 66 my well-known kindness and generosity." If a shopkeeper had eaten up his capital in the shape of hot suppers and champagne, he trusted that I would not refuse to assist him with a small sum to meet his Christmas engagements, which I might depend upon his repaying in three months: and in less than one he was in the Gazette. If some fellow, through illusage or neglect, had lost his horse or cow, he seemed to think it nothing more than reasonable that I should give him the means of replacing it. If a bankrupt porter-dealer had obtained the situation of tax-collector, I was asked to be his security for five hundred pounds; and in six months he had absconded. Useless wives who (muddling away their husbands' gains)

Spent little-yet had nothing left

-daughters, as they assured me, of parents who had been in affluent circumstances ;-the idle, the helpless, and the profligate, all found their way to the wretched being whose purse was believed to be the poor man's California, merely because he had been in the habit of paying his debts.

Shut, shut the door, good John!

was unavailing. It did not succeed even when Pope himself was the appellant.

Life became intolerable; and I could see no remedy for its evils but to break up my establishment, and fly for refuge to the Continent.

Furniture, wine, horses, pictures, articles of "bigotry and virtue," were all brought to the hammer, with an effect that was instantaneous. The opinion of the "world" was changed as by the pantomimic wand of a magician. It now held that I could never have had "much of an income," and must have been living upon my principal; but it admitted that, at any rate, I had been in the habit of paying my debts.

Of this, the last and most grievous consequence was a long and unwished-for exile.