FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37  
38   39   40   41   42   >>  
y have it as soon made as a gill of wine can be drawn." G.K. * * * * * SIR WILLIAM JONES'S PLAN OF STUDY. Some idea of the acquirements of the resolute industry with which Jones pursued his studies may be formed from the following memorandum:-- "Resolved to learn no more _rudiments_ of any kind, but to perfect myself in--first, twelve languages, as the _means_ of acquiring accurate knowledge of I. History. 1. Man 2. Nature. II. Arts. 1. Rhetoric. 2. Poetry. 3. Painting. 4. Music. III. Sciences. 1. Law. 2. Mathematics. 3. Dialectics. "N.B. Every species of human knowledge may be reduced to one or other of these divisions. Even _law_ belongs partly to the history of man, partly as a science to dialectics. The twelve languages are Greek, Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, German, English.--1780." * * * * * SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY. * * * * * SAILING UP THE ESSEQUIBO. _By Captain J.E. Alexander, H.P., late 16th Lancers, M.R.G.S., &c._ My purpose was now to proceed up the noble Essequibo river towards the El Dorado of Sir Walter Raleigh, and view the mighty forests of the interior, and the varied and beautiful tribes by which they are inhabited. Our residence on the island of Wakenaam had been truly a tropical one. During the night, the tree frogs, crickets, razor-grinders, reptiles, and insects of every kind, kept up a continued concert. At sunrise, when the flowers unfolded themselves, the humming birds, with the metallic lustre glittering on their wings, passed rapidly from blossom to blossom. The bright yellow and black mocking-birds flew from their pendant nests, accompanied by their neighbours, the wild bees, which construct their earthen hives on the same tree. The continued rains had driven the snakes from their holes, and on the path were seen the bush-master (cona-couchi) unrivalled for its brilliant colours, and the deadly nature of its poison; and the labari equally poisonous, which erects its scales in a frightful manner when irritated. The rattlesnake was also to be met with, and harmless tree snakes of many species. Under the river's bank lay enormous caymen or alligators,--one lately killed measured twenty-two feet. Wild deer and the peccari hog were seen in the glades in the centre of the island; and the jaguar an
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37  
38   39   40   41   42   >>  



Top keywords:
languages
 
twelve
 
knowledge
 
continued
 

island

 

blossom

 

species

 

partly

 

snakes

 

passed


concert

 

sunrise

 

grinders

 

reptiles

 

insects

 

unfolded

 

glittering

 
measured
 
killed
 

lustre


metallic

 

crickets

 
humming
 

twenty

 

flowers

 

centre

 
jaguar
 

glades

 

inhabited

 
tribes

beautiful

 
mighty
 

forests

 

interior

 
varied
 

tropical

 

During

 

rapidly

 

residence

 

peccari


Wakenaam

 
bright
 
unrivalled
 

harmless

 

brilliant

 

couchi

 

master

 

colours

 

poisonous

 
equally