The Sun.
London, England, 1821-09-22 00:00:00

\. .'

~~

VitttO Jjl7(l

PRICE SEVENPE.NCE.

for his familiarity, We cannot but conclude)
from this fact, that the jaguar is a very gentle-
animal when he is not hungry. .
•
I do not mean to embark in the discusSion.
•
whether America arose. out of the bosom of the
waters later than the old continent; nor shall I
ask the meaning of those symbolical figures cut
out on rocks which belong to another race of
men, and prove a more advanced state of civili-
zation ; or why the antient vases which we find
in countries far distant from each other should
represent ornaments of the same kind, and in-
variably the same designs? You must ask
these questions of M. de Humboldt. He wilt
not answer the whole of them; but he will satis-
fy "you on several, and give respecting others very
ingenious probabilities.
Do you wish to be acquainted with the indi-
genous natives, a few hordes of whom are scat-
; tered over these vast-solitudes, those good sava-
ges whose virtu-es and happiness are trumpeted
forth by romancers ? The following anecdote will.
describe them better than a hundred fantastic
pictures : Indian Chief had a harem which
contained a great many women, and where he
amused himself with eating,in succession the most
beautiful and the fattest, A Missionary, a great
- apologist of the savages, to whom this well, esta-
blished fact was mentioned, replied with charm-
ing ingenuousness :—" It is a bad habit of these
people, in other respects so good and so amiable."
—lt is not the want of food) it is not only, the
hatred against a hostile tribe which pen:"
petuates anthropophagism among the Indians, so
amiable and so good, for M. de Humboldt has
discovered another cause which may have given
rise to this barbarous custom, or at least diminish
the horror of it. These Indians hunt moukeys,
the flesh of which is, in their opinion, excellent
eating,. and they roast them whole. Now, a
roasted monkey bears a perfect and hideous re-
semblance to a child : the habit of devouring
limbs which have the human form may, by a sad
analogy, have given birth to the taste of devour-
ing men ; and this conjecture seems very proba.
ble, since we observe that people in general, and
savages more particularly, are naturally prone to
regard other nations as •I}elonging to inferior
species, and approaching nearer to brutes.
Our litnits will not allow rno to bestow a few

lines on each of the objects, equally new as they
are interesting, contained in this fourth volumes
I shall therefore only notice the principal, such
as the curare, a mortal poison.of which there are
numerous manufactories in these countries, and
which is an article of the first necessity among,
these inhabitants; and also the notions generally
ent►er'tained by the American tribes, respecting a
great deluge which drowned the human race ex-
cepting one man and one woman, who re-peopled
the earth by throwing behind them the fruit of a
palm tree. How can we account for the fable of

'Deucalion being common on the banks of the
Oronoco I shall be equally laconic with the de-
scription of Angostura, which, since the visit- of
M. de Humboldt, has become the metropolis, or
at least the Emporium of the Bolivarian Empire
nor will I describe, with all its lamentable cir-
cumstances, the spectacle -of a crocodile that
seized an unfortunate Indian on the bank of the
river, plunged into the water to suffocate hint,
and afterwards devoured him at his ease on one
of the rocks of this river, in sight of a crowd of
spectators who had it not in their power to attack-
it, or rescue its victim. Scenes of this kind are
not uncommon in this land of liberty. Do what.
we will, we are never independent. We. retire
into a desert to escape from the authority of
men, and we are compelled to yield to the supre--
. macy of the jaguar and the crocodile. •
I will not afflict my readers by treating on the
cofiqu'ete des ames and the chasse aux hommes,
but refer them to the work for an explanation of
these sinister words. I point out to their hotiee
with more pleasure some curious details respect-
ing the famouS El Dorado, which has been so
long sought for, and which has. formed the sub.
ject of so many romantic relations.

On Monday last the annual election of Mayor
and Bailiffs of this city took place at the Town
Hall, when Alderman Sir EDWARD IIITeIIINGS,
was elected Mayor, and Mr. TnomAs JONES
and Mr. JOHN EVETTS, Bailiffs, for 'the year
ensuing, This IS the THIRD MAYORALTY of Sir
Edwar Ilitchings, to which office he was each
time chosen by the .voluntary voice of his fellow
citizens. The urbanity and benevolence of this
Gentleman have ever endeared him to all classes
of the Freemen, and from the commencement of
his civic career in 1780, when he was elected.
Common Councilman, to the present time, he
never was proposed as a candidate for an office
without being elected, and never elected Without
afterwards discharging the duties of the situation,
in a manner highly ,satisfactory to the Freemen
and the Inhabitants of Oxford. This short
ar-
title cannot be concluded in, more appropriate
words than those used by our late worthy, ye-t
eccentric, Lecturer Dr. Finch, in a sermon
fore the Corporation—" There may be as good a.
Mayor, but there cannot be a better."—(Oxford
University and City Herald.)
A new bridge is to be erected across the riby
Liffey, from the new road leading to the Royal
Hospital of Dublin to the opposite side, nearly
fronting to the entrance to the Phcenix Park,.
which is to be called the King's Bridge.
The new District Church at Kingswood, which
is the first erected under the provisions of the
58th and 50th of George the Third, was conse-
cratea a few days ago, by the Bishop of Glou-
cester. It is calculated to accommodate 2000
persons.