The following singular, though effectual mode of hatching chickens,
prevails in the interior of Sumatra; and is vouched for by Major Clayton
of the Bencoolen council:--
The hens, whether from being frightened off their nests by the rats,
which are very numerous and destructive, or from some other cause
hitherto prevalent in Sumatra, do not hatch their chickens in the
ordinary way, as is seen in almost all other climates. The natives have
for this purpose, in each village, several square rooms, the walls of
which are made of a kind of brick, dried in the sun. In the middle of
these rooms they make a large fire, round which they place their eggs at
regular distances. In this manner they let them lie for fourteen days,
now and then turning them, that the warmth may be equal in all parts;
and on the fifteenth day, the chicken makes its appearance, and proves
in every respect as strong as those hatched according to the course of
nature.--_From a Correspondent._