disturbing the female, particularly during the process of incubation. They succeeded, to the joy of every one, and particularly myself, in bringing forth a young family; but with the ill fortune of many pets of this description, that have sought the protection of man, they did not escape the prying eyes of a large Persian cat, which belonged to some old bachelor near. One morning a terrible chirping and fluttering was heard, and my friend suspecting the cause, ran into the garden. Alas! she was too late! Puss had scampered off across the grounds with one of the young birds in her mouth; the leaf was broken, and the remaining birds dead from the fall. The nest and leaf were dried, and carefully preserved, as furnishing a curiosity for friends at home.

Colabah has been selected as the site for a lunatic asylum, and for barracks for the accommodation of troops landing from England; chiefly, because the soldiers are here a good deal temptation, as drinking cannot be

out of the way of followed up in this

small island, with the facilities which are afforded them in the Fort and new town. spirits are so cheap in India, that

Arrack and other a man who has a

fancy for drinking, upon coming out to this country is pretty certain to fall a victim to cholera, or to some of the other diseases peculiar to the East; and in fact the number of deaths that, resulting from this vice alone, thin our European regiments, is very great, I am tempted here to make an extract from a report on this subject, addressed by Alexander Thom, Esq.,

surgeon in her Majesty's 86th regiment, to the Army Medical Board in London.

:

After tracing some of the predisposing causes to the fearful mortality that attended this regiment, which landed in Bombay during the wet season, July, 1842, and showing that forced marches, harassing duty, encamping in tents, and vicissitudes of temperature, had, all and each, their share in the work of death, Mr. Thom proceeds as follows:- "There is another undeniable, and almost incalculable predisposing cause of disease, alike common in the 86th and other European corps, in this and in other garrisons in India; viz., the use of raw and ardent spirits. While I admit the extent of this evil, I do not mean to say that it was greater in the 86th than in any other corps. I have taken the trouble to possess myself of information in figures on this subject, which satisfies me, that what I state is exactly correct. The soldiers were allowed to obtain four drams or 'tots' of arrack, daily, the amount of which, when put together, is about half a common bottle. If a man does not exceed this, he thinks himself temperate, and is considered so in his regiment. Many, of course, do not avail themselves of this indulgence, but there are few who do not take two drams daily. Day by day this practice is followed by too many men, and permitted."

These men, as we find from the Report from which I have made an extract, were the greatest sufferers from cholera, in this and other regiments, to

which Mr. Thom alludes; though he says, that he does not mean to infer that inebriety was in every case visited by this scourge of the East. The soldiers suffered most; their wives next; the children and officers still less; while ladies had a total exemption from this fearful malady. Had it been, as he observes, contagious, all were equally liable to its attacks; in fact, scarcely an officer's compound entirely escaped it; yet, out of forty-two ladies living in the cantonment at Kurrachee, only one had a slight and doubtful attack of cholera, and not one died. This he attributes to temperance; to the absence of fatigue and night marches; and to living in cool and well-ventilated bungalows; seeing that these ladies were subject, in common with the soldiers, to the same atmospheric changes; and that it was certainly not their sex which protected them, as the soldiers' wives suffered severely.

The East India Company have erected, on Colabah, comfortable buildings, for the benefit of invalid officers who may require sea air or sea bathing. These buildings are called the "sick bungalows," and are enclosed in a spacious compound. Close to the principal entrance is a jack-tree, much decayed, and supposed to be one of the oldest trees now standing on any of these islands. About half a mile to the south of the sick bungalow, and adjoining the paradeground, is a neat little thatched chapel, where the English service is performed; but all who wish to avail themselves of it must bring their own chairs, as

it does not contain any seats. I went two or three times, and heard pleasing discourses from the Rev. Mr. Pigot, the gentleman who usually officiates there. A few old Mohammedan tombs still rear their domed roofs among the cocoa-nut trees; and some very ancient Portuguese houses, crumbling into ruins, recall to memory the wealthy merchants who once occupied these islands, and the heavily-laden Spanish galleons that were wont to sail from these shores, to enrich the nobles of Spain, or to gild the palaces of the Venetians. The sea-shore here was a favourite morning ramble of mine; and the collecting of the variety of beautiful shells, which here abound, afforded me amusement and instruction. The shells are literally thrown up in heaps by the tide; though the large leopard-cowry was the only one of any size which I met here. There were numbers of the acorn, spine, variegated cockle, spiral, snail, and bivalve shells; madripores, scipia or cuttle-fish bones, pumice-stone, and many interesting marine productions, that enabled me to fill a good-sized box in a few days. The small cowries are sought after here by the natives; for in many parts of India they still pass current for money; and to say a thing is not worth a cowrie, is a common bazaar expression. Cowries vary in value in different places. At Calcutta

A curious species of land-crab infested the shores of Colabah. I fancy these crabs must have been the occypodes, or swift-footed crab, of the naturalist; if not, they well deserved the name. Hundreds might be seen at a time, in the morning and evening, hunting about for any stray food that the sea or the fishermen might have left. When disturbed, they ran with incredible swiftness, holding high above their bodies two extended claws, which they would knock together with a singular sound, as if to intimidate their enemies. As they ran into holes which they had formed in the bank, that gently shelved down to the shore, I used sometimes to perplex them, by placing a stone over the entrance of their holes, and giving chace to the excluded owner. Upon finding that his own door was closed against him, he would remain stationary for a second or two, as if determining what to do next; then he would start off, and bolt down the first hole in his road. If it chanced to be already occupied, the lawful tenant and the intruder soon re-appeared upon the surface, and a fierce fight ensued. The body of these curious and amusing crabs, which are of a light brown colour, and much about the same size, is about an inch long, and almost spherical in shape. They have, beside their claws, four delicate long legs on each side, each armed with a sort of hook. The claws are small and long, and capable of grasping and carrying firmly a very large substance. The eyes are protuberant and horny, like those of the common salt water crab. I