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COMPAPvATIYE ZOOLOGY,

AT HARVARD COllECE, CAIBRIDCE, MASS.
jFountrrti bj) prfbatc subscrfptfon, fn 1861.

The gift of LOUIS AGASSIZ.

^^^hL^^ ^r<>^ ^' /^7P.

T

THE

JOURNAL OF TRAVEL

AND

NATURAL HISTORY

Edited by ANDREW MURRAY, F.L.S.

AUTHOK OF THE "GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF MAMMALS," " PINES AND FIRS OF JAPAN,
" COLEOPTERA OF OLD CALABAR," ETC.

VOL. I.

LONDON

WILLIAMS & NORGATE; and EDWARD STANFORD

EDINBURGH : EDWARD RAVENSCROFT

CONTENTS.

ORIGINAL PAPERS.

PAGE

Geological Origin of the Present Scenery of Scotland, by A. Geekie,

Director-General of the Geological Survey of Scotland . i
Iras Negra, in Angola, by Dr Welwitsch . . .22

ilance at the Present Position and Prospects of Geographical Science 106

Theory of Birds Nests, by Alfred Wallace ... ^3

^eply to Mr Wallace's Theory of Birds' Nests (Editor) . . 137

"^n Mr Wallace's Theory of Birds' Nests, by the DuKE of Argyll . 276

itate of Science on N. W. Slopes of the Rocky Mountains, by R. Brown i 73

lie Jararaca (Editor) ...... 260

V Nine-Tusked Elephant (Editor) ..... 265

)n the Vegetable Productions of Abyssinia, by W. B. Hemsley . 309

excursions in the South of China, by Lieut. Oliver, R.A. . . 346

"ortnight's Stay on Los Farallones, by W. Murr.\y . . 379

REVIEWS.

rofessor Agassiz in Brazil (S. Scudder) • ■ • • 37

ufton's Journey through Abyssinia in 1862-63 ... 41

.ooker and Bentham's Genera Plantarum (Prof. De Candolle) . 50

-aker's Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia (Editor) ... 90

Vyman on the Symmetry and Homology of Limbs (S. Scudder) . 1X2

iaird's Review of American Birds (Ph. L. Sclater) . . 116

■oissier's Flora Orientalis (J. G. Baker) . . . .118

leuglin's Reise nach Abyssinien (Editor) .... 146

riamlet Clark's Letters Home (Editor) .... 163

Delpino on Apparatus for Fecundating Phanerogamous Plants (Editor) 181

Pollen and Vandane's Fauna of Madagascar (Editor) . . 186

Chapman's Travels in South Africa (Editor) .... 200

Falconer's Palseontological Memoirs ..... 206

Layard's Birds of SouA Africa (E. Blyth) .... 238

Vlilde's Ferns of Europe and the Atlantic Islands (J. G. Baker) . 256

sproat's Scenes and Studies of Savage Life, (R. Brown). . . 288

Adam's Naturalist in India (Editor) ..... 295

Kiihn's Filices Deckeniange (Editor) ..... 319

Falconer and his Labours in India (W. Boyd Dawkins) . . 329

CollingAvood's Rambles in the China Seas (Editor) . . . 363

CORRESPONDENCE.

Straits of Magellan — Letters from Captain Mayne, . . 62, 196

Letters from Dr Cuninghame, Naturalist . . . .64, 323

Norfolk Island — Letter from Rev. J. Atkins . . . 123

>foRTH Coast of Australia — Letter from Captain Howard, . 192

Iawaii — Letter from Dr Hildebrande, Sandwich Islands . . 360

JciENTiFic Intelligence — Letter from Prof. Van der Hoeven, Leyden 127

Letter from Dr Candeze, Liege . . . • .129

Letter from Ed. Blyth, Esq., on Rhinoceros Shedding their Horns 130

MISCELLANEA,

laps of Abyssinia ....... 69

Ihinoceros Shedding their Ploms . . • • 7°

CONTENTS.

Greenland ....

New Vermifuge

French Expedition to the North Pole

The American Naturalist

Pink Topazes .

New Dinosaur

British Museum Entomological Collcclions

Animals and Plants found in Hot Springs of Soda Creek, New

Eruption of Mount Vesuvius

South American Pith Hats

Geographical relations of the Reptilia and Batrachia of Sonora

Notes from Honolulu .....

Pill-rolling Beetles .....

Black Siberian Wolf shot in Thibet

Age of Kitchen Middens of Cape Henlopen, U. S.

Steatornis Caripensis .....

Death of Professor Van der Hceven of Leyden

Birds bred last Year in Zoological Gai'dens, Regent's Pari

First Discovery of Trichina in Pork

Predaceous Habits of Indian Frogs

What do Fleas live on ?

Capybara Trap

Insect Migrations in South America

Geology of Central North America

Mode of Capturing Kjemonia Equiseti

White Mammals

ILLUSTRATIONS.
Sketch Section of the Geological Stracture of Scotland
View of Loch Leven and the Lomonds of Fife
Section across the Valley of the Firth of Tay
View of the Cliffs of Curved vSilurian Strata at Abbey Head
View of the Scuir of Eigg, from the East
View of Ben More, Mull, from the South
View of Ben Chro, Loch Slapin, Skye

Pedras Negras of Pungo Andongo before the Rainy Season
Pedras Negras of Pungo Andongo after the Rainy Season
Scytonema chorographicum (2 engravings)
Whirlpool at the Royan Junction
Elephant Hunting by Hamran Swordhunters
Seroot Fly ....

Eruption of Mount Vesuvius
Sketch of Abyssinian .Scenery .
The Jibara (Rhynchopetalum monlanum)
Encounter with an Elephant
Victoria Falls of the Zambesi .
Crossing the Zambesi River above the Falls
Chapman's New Quagga (Equus Chapmanni Lay.)
Nine-Tuskcd Elephant 3 engravings
Under Jaw of Dinosaur
Under Jaw of Mastodon Ohiolicus
Under Jaw of Mastodon Assgustidens .
Under Jaw of Mastodon Longerostris .
Crocodile Pond at Mugger-Peer
Entrance to Antelope I'ass
Marble Mountain
Nudibranchs of China Seas
Sandstone Rocks in Kclung IlaiLour .
Dyak Houses at Sarawak
Waterspout in China Seas

Mexico

JOURNAL OF TRAVEL

AND

NATURAL HISTORY.

THE GEOLOGICAL ORIGIN OF THE PRESENT
SCENERY OF SCOTLAND.

By Archibald Geikie, F.R.S.

T is a common belief that geology as a science deals wholly,
or almost wholly, with a time earher than the advent of
man upon the earth, and that its proper subject of research

ends where human history begins. As Sanscrit, though indis-
pensable in the philosophical study of living tongues, is itself
a dead language, so geology, though it may be admitted to
give the key to much that would otherwise be hard to understand
in the present economy of things, is, nevertheless, frequently looked
upon as essentially the investigation of an extinct past. But this
estimate, true so far as it goes, is a signally defective one. Its
prevalence, by fostering the love of the marvellous, has probably
increased the general interest in geological questions ; yet there
can be Httle doubt that, at the same time, it has tended to hinder
the progress of sound geology. The great truth cannot be too
often or too strongly reiterated, that geology is still, to continue
the figure, a living language. Not only does it record the history
of the earth and its inhabitants during bygone periods, but it
chronicles the life and motions of the world around us now.
It is, if one may so speak, the physiology of the earth. The
physiologist inquires into the structure and functions of the body :
the geologist, in like manner, studies the nature and functions of
the different forces that affect the surface or the interior of the
crust of the earth. He watches their modes of working, and notes
especially the results which they achieve. Winds, rains, rivers,
Travel. a

2 Journal of TiiWcl atiJ Natural ffistory

s^jrings, frosts, ice, waves, tides, currents, earthquakes, volcanoes
— every agency, in short, which in any way can be recognised as
modifying tlie outside or the inside of our globe, comes within the
scope of It is research. And in proportion to the thoroughness
with which he comprehends these operations of Hving nature
largely depends the measure of his success in realizing the changes
which have formerly passed over the earth.

No line can be drawn between the social or political history of
the present day and that of former times. We are living and acting
liistory now as truly as men did in the days of Miltiades or Julius
CiBsar. Nor can any boundary be traced between the operations
of nature in our own age and those in what are called the geological
periods. The world is working out geological history now as surely
as it did in the times of the trilobite or the pterodactyle. It may
be that all the forces which have at different times affected the
earth's crust are not acting now, or may possibly have lost some of
their first vigour. But the great leading princi])le of change, so far
as we yet know, remain tlie same in kind, if not al)solutely the
same in degree.

To the wide i)revalence of the feeling that geological research
must deal rather with the jiast than with the present as])ect of
nature, we may with i)rol)al)ility attribute the indifference which
has long existed as to the study of the existing form of the surface
of the country. If one considers the matter, it cannot but seem
strange that so much should be known, and so much more conjec-
tured, as to the outline of lands and seas in former geological times,
and yet that so little concern should have been shewn to ascertain
how the present contour of our lands came into existence. That
contour has usually been quietly overlooked, or but vaguely
accounted for. Though the broad outlines of the subject were
long ago traced by Hutton and Playfair, it is only within the last
few years that geologists have begun generally to acknowledge that
the surface of the country has a history of its own, independent of
any geological formation, and that its metliodical study may throw
new light on many ])arts of these formations.

Referring for further details to the writings of Ramsa)', Jukes,
and others wlio have recently treated of the subject, 1 do not pro-
pose in the present pajK-r to bring forward new facts or conclusions,
but ratlier to shew liow the study may be prosecuted; and to select
lor that end the scenery of Scotland, as an illustration at once
familiar and easily accessible. But the reader will bear in mind

k.^^'2

Geological Origin of the Present Sce)iery of Scotland 3

that the prhiciplcs applicable to the history of the
shaping of the Scottish hills and valleys are of
wider significance, and that what is true of Scot-
land is, with the necessary local modifications, true
also of other countries.

First of all, let us lay aside the vague popular
belief that all mountains are directly due to great
upheavals, and all valleys to depressions or rents
of the earth's surface. Without lingering at pre-
sent to enquire whether or how far this belief
is founded on reality, let us proceed to note the
simpler elements of the geological structure of the
country. For it is evident that we must know
something of the varying nature and arrangement
of the rocks before we can place ourselves in a
position to understand how the hills and valleys
have been formed out of them.

The accompanying section represents in a gene-
ralized form the main geological features of the
country. It shews the existence of three great
divisions, each characterized by a distinct group
of rocks, and, consequently, as we shall afterwards
see, by a distinct type of scenery. These divisions
are, u/, the Highlands, ranging from the extreme
north-west to the lowland border that stretches
from the Clyde to the coast of Kincardine; zd,
the Southern Uplands, extending from sea to sea,
between a line drawn from St Abb's Head to Gir-
van, and another more sinuous line from the
Solway to near Berwick-on-Tweed ; and 3^, the
Midland Valley — a low, broad, undulating, and
often hilly tract, lying between the other two dis-
tricts, and embracing the Firths of Tay, Forth, and
Clyde.

Beginning at the north-west end of the section,
we find rising from the Atlantic sea-board, a group
of hard, gnarled, crystalline rocks ia)^ to which the
name of Laurentian is now applied. They are
overlaid with a thick mass of dull red sandstone
{h), called Cambrian, which rises into those won-
derfully picturesque mountains stretching from

(3 bi)

4 Journal of Travel and Natural History

Applecross, by Lochs Torridon, Maree, and Broom, through
Assynt to Cape Wrath. These sandstones pass underneath a
series of quartz-rocks and limestones, and these again dip
under a vast mass of overlying crystalline gneissose rocks
{c). It is this upper series which, as Sir Roderick Murchison
first pointed out, spreads out over all the rest of the Highlands
to the east and south. Its component strata, as roughly indicated
in the diagram, are crumpled and contorted, and come to the
surface again and again, being folded back upon each other, or
undulated into waves, so to speak, which rise and fall south-east-
ward to the Highland border. The reader will remember, how-
ever, that it is the convolutions in the strata themselves, which are
referred to, not the contour of the rocks upon the surface. Here
and there the place of the contorted masses is taken by granite,
porphyry, or other unstratified rock, but these interruptions may,
for our present purpose, be passed over.

Along the southern edge of the Highland border, these hard
crystalline contorted strata sink under the softer rocks {d) of the
midland valley, on the further side of which there rises up into
the southern uplands another series {c) of hard contorted strata.
These are shewn by their fossils to belong to the same great
geological period as those of the Highlands (r). Indeed they
seem to be a prolongation of the same rocks, coming up again
from under the later formations of the Lowlands ; but in a less
crystalline or metamorphised form. They consist of bands of
various hard grits and shales which are thrown into endless
plications, the direction of the folds being, as in the Highlands,
from south-west to north-east. Occasional masses of granite,
porphyry, felstone, &c., occur among this group of rocks, and its
continuity is further interrupted by portions of the less antient
strata that creep up from the lower grounds on either side. But
the great bulk of these southern uplands consists of hard con-
voluted lower Silurian rocks.

The midland valley is more complex in geological structure,
but our present object will be gained, if we bear in mind that
between the Highlands and the uplands of the south, the wide
intervening valley lies for the most part on comparatively soft sand-
tones, marls, shales, and other strata {d), belonging to the old red
sandstone and carboniferous formations, through which are distri-
buted masses of hard trap-rocks (/) that rise into more or less
conspicuous hills.

Geological Origin of the Present Scenery of Scotland 5

Such, in baldest outline, is the general grouping of the rocks of
the country. From their original horizontal or gently inclined
position, the strata have been bent, broken, hardened, and for
thousands of square miles together, corrugated and contorted.
They have been cracked and displaced so generally, that probably
not a single square mile is free from some such " fault" or displace-
ment. And, lastly, they have, in many places, been traversed by
masses of melted rock, which either reached the antient surface
and flowed out as lava, or cooled and solidified under ground.

But if we admit that the rocks have been so twisted and frac-
tured, it may seem, perhaps, that there ought to be no great
difficulty in assigning a cause to the present external contour of
the country. That contour, it may be asserted, must be due to
the inequalities produced by the subterranean movements which
folded and dislocated the rocks. This is, doubtless, a natural
inference, and it is at this moment still the current belief upon the
subject. But what seems the shortest and easiest explanation, is
not always the true one. And that this is the case in the present
instance, it is my object now to try to shew.

In order as far as may be to gain clearness, I shall arrange my
argument under four propositions.

/. — The hills and high grounds consist for the most part of hard
rocks ; the broad valleys lie for the most part on soft rocks.

The simplicity of this proposition is apt to conceal its full
significance. Yet, if well weighed, it will be found to deal a heavy
blow to the interpretation which ascribes our present scenery to
the direct influence of subterranean movements. As illustrations
of its truth, reference may be made to the characteristic hardness
and toughness of the rocks of the Highlands, considered as a
whole, and to the uniformity of texture that runs through the hard
compact strata of the southern uplands. But nowhere is it more
strikingly exemplified than throughout the wide midland valley.
The prevailing rocks of that district are sandstones, and other
comparatively unresisting stratified deposits. But among these
there occur masses of very hard trap-rocks. Now, it is a familiar
fact, that while the low grounds lie upon the soft stratified rocks,
the crags and hills, almost without exception, are chiefly or wholly
formed of the hard trap. So invariably is this the case, that a
geologist who ascends some prominent hill, can, if he chooses.

6 Journal of Travel and Natural History

roughly map in from its summit, the general disposition of the
sedimentary and the trappean masses of the district around him.

The tourist who enters Scotland by the eastern route, finds on
every side of him conspicuous illustrations of this feature. First,
come the Bass Rock and North Berwick Law, (see fig. 2) that
guard the entrance to the Forth. Journeying westwards, he passes
the group of the Garlton Hills, and after crossing the low grounds
of the Midlothian coalfield, finds himself among the basaltic crags

Fig. 2. — View of Loch Levcii and the Lonioiuls of Fife, with Nortli-Herwick Law and Bass
Rock in the distance. — To illustrate the part played by Trap-rocks in the landscapes of
tlie Midland Valley. The upper part of Lomond Hill consists of .sheets of hard Trap-
rocks, lying upon soft Sandstone and .Shale.

and hills of Edinburgh. Northwards lie the broken heights of
Fife ; and as he continues his way westwards, he skirts the chain of
the Pentlands, and the endless crags and knolls of Linlithgowshire.
The detached and prominent hills around Stirling arrest his notice,
and beyond them, the terraced "fells" of Campsie to the west,
with the green chain of the Ochils in front. He proceeds north-
ward by Perth, and there still he finds ro\igh masses of rock,

Geological Origin of the Present Scenery of Scotland 7

rising into bold crags, or sweeping in far vistas eastward along
the edge of the Carse of Gowrie. In all these examples, he is
looking upon hard trappean rocks, which project boldly from the
softer sedimentary strata among which they lie.

Thus, over the whole country, no matter what may be the varia-
tions in geological structure, wheresoever the observer notes some
more conspicuous mass of rock, he may, with tolerable certainty,
assume its greater prominence to be an accompaniment of superior
hardness. But how can this fact be explained by the common
hypothesis? If the present inequaHties of surface have been pro^
duced by subterranean agencies, how is it that, as a rule, the up-
heaved masses should have been hard, and the depressed portions
soft ? Surely the varying texture of the rocks now at the surface
could have had no influence on the antient underground movements.
Is it not, on the contrary, evident that, whatever may have been
the original influence of these movements, the existing outlines of
the country must be in great measure dependent upon some cause
where the relative hardness or softness of the rocks comes into
play ?

II. — The vwuntains and hills are not mere cnunplings or foldings
of the earth's crust, nor are they due to the form assumed by melted
rock when forced from beneath to the surface.

This statement requires for its full comprehension a little more
geological knowledge than the last, but, with the aid of the
foregoing section, the reader will have no difficulty in follow-
ing the line of reasoning. On reference to fig. i. he will notice
that several of the mountains there sketched are formed of strata
which dip inwards both from the north-west and south-east.
Many Highland mountains exhibit this structure, one of the most
striking examples being Ben Lawers ( x in fig. i). That huge
hill consists of gnarled schists, which are grouped in the form of a
basin. They dip under the hill from Glen Lyon, and rise up again
on the other side above Loch Tay. Now, it is plain that, if the
broad foldings of the strata had given rise to the outlines of the
country, Ben Lawers, instead of being a mountain, ought to have
been a valley. Again, along the depression of Loch Tay the
strata arch over, as shewn in the section to the right of the asterisk.
Consequently, the fold at Loch Tay, instead of a valley, ought to
have given rise to a mountain. No structure is of more frequent

8 Journal of Travel a7id Natural History

occurrence in nature than this. What in a geological sense is an
upward fold or arch, instead of rising as such above the surface, and
forming a hill or ridge, is very often a valley; while, on the other
hand, a downward fold or basin of the rocks, which it might have
been conjectured would have produced a valley, rises even into a
bulky mountain. The examples where a hill has its form determined
by a dome-shaped fold of the strata, or where a valley has been
formed by a trough-shaped depression of the strata, are of much less
common occurrence, and when they do occur, there is usually some
other circumstance which has come in to aid the guiding influence
of geological structure, such, for instance, as the greater hardness
of the rocks that form the dome, or the greater softness of those
that have been bent into the trough. And thus the seeming para-
dox remains true, that what should be, by geological structure,
mountains, have been turned into valleys, while what ought to have
been valleys, rise up into mountains. The attempt, therefore, to ex-
plain the present outlines of the ground by reference mainly to
former crumplings of the rocky crust of the earth must be aban-
doned.

Nor can we more successfully appeal to the many masses of
igneous rock which traverse the stratified formations, as causes of
our existing hills. These rocks have, indeed, been forced up-
wards from a heated region within the earth's crust. But it can
be shewn that many of them never reached the surface at all at
the time of their ejection, that those which did flow out as melted
rock at the surface were subsequently deeply buried under later
formations, and that the actual appearance of igneous rocks above
ground is due, as will be pointed out a little further on, to the
removal of these later formations, and the consequent exposure of
the trappean masses that lay beneath. Take, as illustrations, the hills
which rise from the north side of the Firth of Tay and stretch
north-eastwards through the chain of the Sidlaws ; and also the hills
on the opposite side of the Firth, which range through Fife and
the line of the Ochils to Stirling. These heights consist mainly
of different beds of trap-rock — old lavas which were poured over
the surface from a succession of volcanic vents. They are inter-
stratified with beds of sandstone and other sedimentary deposits
by which they are shewn to have been erupted at intervals, and
more or less horizontally during the time of the lower old red
sandstone. From the subjoined section it will be seen that their
former level position has been thrown into an inclined one. The

Geological Origin of the Presejit Scetiery of Scotland 9

Firth, in fact, runs along an axis of upheaval, from each side of
which the rocks dip away in opposite directions, like the two sides
of a roof Now, the old volcanic rocks, as the reader will per-

FlG. 3. — Section across the valley of the Firth of Tay.
s. Lower old red sandstone ; i. Trap-rocks.

ceive, have been bent over just as the sandstones and conglo-
merates have been. They do not come bursting up irregularly
and give rise to hills in consequence. On the contrary, they
have suffered from all the subterranean and superficial movements
which have affected the stratified rocks among which they occur.
They have been wholly removed from the valley of the Firth ; for
it is plain that the beds of trap on the one side are only the con-
tinuation of those on the other. Their truncated edges look
across at each other, and rise into those groups of terraces
so well marked along both sides of the Firth of Tay. Nor
must we fail to observe that here again there is a valley where
there ought, according to geological structure, to have been a Avide
hill. If the lower edge of the trap beds is prolonged upward at
the same angle as the sandstones below, it will rise into a high
dome. And had the shaping of our hills and valleys depended
chiefly upon the way in which the rocks had been folded by sub-
terranean operations, what is now the Firth of Tay must have been
a long swelling ridge, much higher than the existing hills on either
side of it.

III.— The valleys are i?i the great majority of cases independent of
any faults or fractures of the crust of the earth.

We have already seen that the whole of this country is more or
less cracked by faults ; and as it is everywhere crossed by valleys,
the case could hardly have been otherwise than that the valleys
should sometimes correspond with the line of the faults. But no
geologist can carefully map a large area of this country without
becoming convinced, even it may be in spite of a previous belief
to the contrary, that such examples of coincidence are quite excep-

1 o foiirnal of Travel and Natural History

tional. Those who have not the leisure or the faculty for such a
kind of investigation will find the results of it in such detailed
maps as those of the Geological Survey. They will there observe
that the valleys much oftener cross faults than run along them;
and that while some lines of valley seem to have had their trend
determined by the direction of a powerful dislocation, many of the
largest faults are not marked at the surface by any line of depres-
sion, while most of the valleys cross and re-cross faults in all direc-
tions, and with such complete indifference, as to shew that their
courses have not been prescribed for them by lines of fissure in
the solid framework of the country.

Between those valleys which have been determined by lines of
fault and those where this guiding influence has been wanting,
there are some strong points of difference. The former are, as a
rule, narrow in proportion to their length, deep, with a marked
monotony of breadth, and, instead of winding about, pursue a
straight line. The latter, on the other hand, wind along in wide
curves or short loops, now narrow with steep sides, now expand-
ing into a broad plain, and receiving sinuous tributaries like them-
selves. The second class will at once be recognised as the pre-
vailing type of valley in this country.

But, apart from geological evidence altogether, the thought-
ful contemplation of a good map of the country seems to me
enough to suggest that the grouping of the valleys can hardly
be due to any cause acting from below. The endless branch-
ings and windings of the valleys, their herring-bone arrange-
ment, or, in other words, the way in which the runnels are
directed downwards into the streamlet, the streamlets into
the brook, the brooks into the river-course, the river-courses
into the wider valley that carries the water finally to the sea;
and then the wonderful harmony between the trend of the
valleys and their great function of carrying off the drainage of
the land are surely inexplicable on the supposition that these
features have been determined by systems of fractures in the
crust of the earth. Tl\e valleys have been specially adjusted for
carrying off the surplus water to the sea, and this accurate and
special adjustment could only have been the work of some force
acting on the surface, and necessitating the formation of the valley
systems in accordance with the drainage of the country. But the
only force which could do this is the flow of the drainage
itself, with all its attendant jihenomena of waste and removal.

Geological Origin of the Present Scenery of Scotland i i

In short, the valleys must be the work of the rains and streams
which flow in them. " If, indeed," says the profound and elegant
Playfair, " a river consisted of a single stream without branches
running in a straight valley, it might be supposed that some great
concussion or some powerful torrent had opened at once the
channel by which its waters are conducted to the ocean ; but,
when the usual form of a river is considered, the trunk divided
into many branches, which rise at a great distance from one
another, and these again subdivided into an infinity of smaller
ramifications, it becomes strongly impressed upon the mind, that
all these channels have been cut by the waters themselves ; that
they have been slowly dug out by the washing and erosion of the
land ; and that it is by the repeated touches of the same instru-
ment that this curious assemblage of lines has been engraved so
deeply on the surface of the globe."

But it may be objected, that surely the deep ravines and gorges
of the country are proofs of great yawning gaps having been opened
by rendings of the solid ground. Such defiles, for instance, as
those of the Clyde below the Falls, or of the Ayr at Barskimming,
it may be contended, must plainly be due to subterranean move-
ments. Now, paradoxical again as the statement may seem, it is
precisely in such narrow gorges that the reality and potency of the
action of water in scooping out hard rock is most strikingly seen.
How much soever these narrow, dark, chasm-like ravines may
recall the effects of earthquake shocks, they can be easily shewn to
have been excavated entirely by the streams which flow in them.
A mere tyro in geology who has learned to trace out the line of a
single stratum, can follow the beds of rock from side to side of a
ravine, and across the bottom, and satisfy himself that no fault or
yawning earthquake-rent had anything to do with the formation of
the ravine, but that the process has been entirely one of excava-
tion. I am tempted here to make one other quotation from
Playfair, who, in reference to the gorges of large rivers in moun-
tainous regions, remarks : — " There is no man, however little
addicted to geological speculation, who does not immediately
acknowledge that the mountain was once continued quite across
the space in which the river now flows ; and if he ventures to
reason concerning the cause of so wonderful a change, he ascribes
it to some great convulsion of nature which has torn the mountain
asunder, and opened a passage for the waters. It is only the
philosopher who has deeply meditated on the effects which action

1 2 Journal of Travel and Natural History

long continued is able to produce, and on the simplicity of the
means which nature employs in all her operations, who sees in
this nothing but the gradual working of a stream that once flowed
as high as the top of the ridge which it now so deeply intersects,
and has cut its course through the rock, in the same way, and
almost with the same instrument, by which the lapidarj^ divides a
block of marble or granite."

IV. From the surface of the whole country there has been removed
a vast amotmt of solid rock, under which the present hills and valleys
were once deeply buried.

In this proposition lies the key to the whole question ; but some
little attention is required before its full significance is understood.
It will, therefore, be of advantage first to bring forward a few
forcible illustrations of its truth, and then to pass on to the infer-
ences which necessarily flow from it.

If the reader will turn back to the long section (fig. i) giving a
generalised sketch of the geological structure of Scotland, he will
not fail to notice that the curves of the strata there represented are
cut off by the surface of the ground. The strata, once approxi-
mately horizontal, have been thrown into folds, and a great portion
of the upper ends of these folds has been removed. In the case
of such a valley as that of Loch Tay, for instance, the dome of
arched rock has been worn down into a long and deep hollow, but
the upward-pointing edges of the strata on each side of the valley
shew how the rocks once extended upward, and how, in imagina-
tion, we must prolong them into the air in order to realize the size
of the mass that has disappeared. This removal of rock from the
surface, and the consequent exposure of portions which once lay
buried under overlying masses, is called by geologists the process
of denudatioji. Now, the whole surface of the country has largely
suftered in this way ; over the whole Highlands the highly inclined
or vertical edges of the strata come up along the sides of the glens
and mountains. Every such exposed edge is the remnant of a bed
which once rose hundreds or thousands of feet above the point to
which it has now been worn down : and hence it follows, that from
the surface of the Highlands a thickness of hundreds, or rather
thousands, of feet of solid rock has been worn away.

Nor is this lesson of vast waste less impressively taught us by
tlie southern uplands of the country. There, too, a series of con-

Geological Origin of the Present Scenery of Scotland. 1 3

voluted and highly incUned strata has been planed down into a
long table-land. The arches have been so smoothly cut away as
to give no indication of their existence by any rise in the outline
of the ground. We walk over the edges of the rocks for miles,
and, so far as the surface of the ground indicates, we might suppose
ourselves to be upon a series of horizontal or gently inclined strata.
It is along some of the striking coast sections that these features
are most convincingly brought before the observer. The range of
precipice to the north-west of St Abb's Head, for example, shews
a series of highly-tilted strata, often indeed placed on end. (Fig.
4.) There, in a distance of five or six miles, sixteen or eighteen
distinct arches and troughs of the strata can be counted. Now, it
is plain that but for denudation there would have been along this
coast some eight or nine huge conical or dome-shaped mountains,
separated from each other by v-shaped depressions of correspond-
ing magnitude. But what do we find instead? The rocks are
planed off along the top of the cliff, and all traces of arches or
troughs is effaced from the contour of the surface.

Again, throughout the midland valley, on every side we meet
with monuments of denudation. Every hill of trap in that wide
region, is a memorial of the destruction of softer rocks that once
surrounded and overlaid it. The trap stands out in relief, because
it is harder, and has thus been more able to resist the force ot
abrasion which has wrought such havoc among the less obdurate
stratified masses. It can be demonstrated, that these trap-hills
were once buried under several thousand feet of sandstone, shale,
limestone, coal, and other strata, and this deep overlying mass
has been, as it were, peeled off from districts of many hundreds
of square miles in extent (see view of Lomonds, &c., page 6).

So much for the general denudation of the country. Let me,
however, point for a moment to one or two examples of the pro-
cess, as developed in the history of a single hill or mountain.

Along the north-western sea-board of the Highlands, there rises
a chain of lofty and more or less isolated mountains of singularly
pyramidal form, and a somewhat sombre red tint, barred along
their sides with nearly horizontal lines and ledges, which look like
huge courses of masonry, and scarred with deep clefts and rifts,
where often the winter snow lingers far into the summer. These
striking eminences are formed of that red Cambrian sandstone
already referred to {b, in fig. i), and their horizontal bars mark
the edges of the flat strata. They are, in fact, built up of hori-

M

Journal of Travel and Natural Hislorv

zontal beds of red sandstone, as a pyramid is built ujj of le\L'l
tiers of hewn-work. The strata of one mountain can Ije carried
with the eye through the intervening air, across deep and wide
valleys, till they join the corresponding strata along the side of the
mountain beyond. Nor does it require more than a cursory in-
spection, to be convinced that the strata which may thus be
connected by the eye, were of old in reality prolonged so as to
form one mass. In short, these great hills are but fragments of a

Vie. 4. — View of the cliffs of curved Silurian strata to the uorlh-wost of St Abb's Head. — See p. 13.

covering of red sandstone, at least 7000 feet thick, which once
spread over the north-west Highlands, but which has been worn
away till it exists only in scattered hills, though these, by their
grandeur, remain as suggestive memorials at once of the magnitude
of the old Cambrian formation in that region, and of the ]iotency
of those agencies of destruction by which so enormous an amount
of solid rock has been removed from the surface.

Another illustration of the same great truths is furnished to us
by that singular rock, the Scuir of Kigg, which rises into such a
conspicuous landmark among the western islands. I have else-
where described tlie geological history of this hill, but it furnishes

Geological Origin of the Present Scenery of Scotland

'5

so apt an instance of the meaning and results of the process of
denudation, that I have taken the subjoined drawing out of my
note-book and will briefly describe it. The Scuir of Eigg rises to
a height of nearly 1300 feet above the sea, and consists of two dis-
tinct portions. Of these, the lower is a mere swelling or ridge of the
general surface of the island, and, like die rest of that surface, is
composed of nearly horizontal sheets of dolerite, basalt, and other
varieties of the trap-rocks. Each of these sheets was originally a

'5*^

l''u;. 5. — View of the Scuir of Eigg, from the east. — The lower part of the hill shews an older
series of gently inclined lava-beds, which had been hollowed out into a valley, wherein the
currents of pitchstone flowed that now form the vertical upper part of the hill.

flow of lava, poured one over the other during a long course of
volcanic eruptions. At last this state of things ceased, and the
lava-flows began to be acted upon by the different forces concerned
in the process of denudation. The rock was gradually worn away,
layer after layer was laid bare, until at last a valley several hundred
feet deep was cut out of these old lava-streams. Its bottom was
occupied by a river which brought down rubbish from distant

1 6 Jourjial of Travel and Nat lira/ History

mountains of red Cambrian sandstone as well as from the surround-
ing slopes of volcanic rock. Not only so, but large pieces of
coniferous trees were likewise swept down and buried in the gravel
of the river-course. At last, however, the volcanic forces, which
seem to have been quiescent at this locality for a long period,
broke out anew. Successive streams of a black glassy lava, called
pitchstone-porphyry, were erupted. These found their way into
the river-bed and flowed along it, solidifying, of course, as they
went, until the old river-channel was filled up and buried under at
least three or four hundred feet of solid rock. Then the work of
denudation went on as before. The sides of the old valley, formed
of the earlier series of volcanic rocks, continued to be worn away,
but the very compact flinty pitchstone, though it too had to yield
to the attacks of time, did so at a much slower rate. Hence, by
degrees, the former hills and valleys crumbled away, while the
pitchstone that had solidified, like so much cast iron, in the bed
of the antient river, retained its place. But it no longer winds
along a valley. The higher grounds and slopes that once bounded
it have disappeared, and it now runs as a huge wall of rock along
the crest of the highest ridge of the island. And, at the foot of
the precipice, you may dig out from underneatli this great mass of
once melted rock the gravel and drift-wood which had gathered in
the old water-course before it was sealed up under the river of lava.
Here again we see how by denudation hills have been worn down
into slopes and valleys, while valleys have been changed into hills.
Not less marvellous are the transformations whicli the same pro-
cess of erosion has eftected among the other volcanic islands of the
inner Hebrides. In Mull, for example, the nearly horizontal sheets
of dolerite, basalt, and other hard crystalline varieties of old lavas,
rise above each other, terrace over terrace, to a height of some-
times more than 3000 feet above the sea. Yet these extremely
tough and compact masses have been scooped out into wide, long,
and deep valleys, now occupied in part by the sea as sea-lochs or
fjords (fig. 6). The edges of the horizontal beds on one side of
a valley can readily be connected by the eye with their continua-
tion on the other side, and the observer sees before him a proof
that these valleys, though sometimes several miles broad, and
measured from the crest of the ridges on either side, 1500 or 2000
feet deep, can have been produced by no mere convulsion or fracture,
but must have been dug out by the powers of denudation acting
on the surface. And he learns, moreover, that the mass of rock

Geological Origin of the Fresait Scenery of Scotland i 7

which now rises above the sea-level is only a small fragment of
what it originally was, and that more of the rock has been worn
away than has been left behind, for the valleys are longer, wider,
and deeper than the mountains.

It would be tedious to multiply illustrations of the great fact, so
manifest on all sides, that from every part of the surface of the
country, a mass of solid rock has been removed by denudation.
If now we put together the different propositions discussed in the

Fig. 6. — View of Ben More, Mull, from the south.
A pyramidal mountain of horizontal trapbeds, nearly 3200 feet high.

previous pages, we are led to see that the reason why hard rocks
form hills, is that they are better able to resist those processes of
decay which out of the softer rocks form valleys ; that the moun-
tains and hills are not due to mere upheavings, nor the valleys to
mere depressions of the strata below ; that the ravines and river-
gorges are not simply open fissures or rents ; that in every case
hill, valley, and ravine bear witness to the removal of solid materials
from their site; that the whole surface of the country has been de-
nuded; and that in fine it is to the variations in the nature and pro-

TRAVEL. B

1 8 Journal of Travel and Natural History

gress of this work of denudation that the present contour of the
country is mainly to be traced. The process of excavation must
doubtless have been often and materially modified by underground
movements, the land sometimes rising or sinking and altering the
flow of water, one portion being removed under the protection of the
sea, and another part projected to be attacked by the waves and
weather. Moreover, earthquakes must have opened fissures, and
these may sometimes have altered the form of valleys, or deter-
mined the course of new ones. And even when the levelling
action of the waves and currents of the sea had smoothed off the
asperities due to such fractures of the solid crust, there may still
have been left inequahty of surface sufficient to guide the flow of
water and the progress of atmospheric waste along the line of the
fracture underneath. We may readily grant all this, yet, after all,
the influence of such underground movements, as it seems to me,
sinks out of sight when we come face to face with the great facts of
denudation. We are shut up to the conclusion first propounded by
the immortal Hutton : '' the mountains have been formed by the
hoUoAving out of the valleys, and the valleys have been hollowed
out by the attrition of hard materials coming from the mountains."
I have merely alluded to the forces of denudation. It would
be beyond the scope of the present brief sketch to do more.
Rain, springs, streams, rivers, frost, ice, waves, marine currents —
these are the agents ceaselessly at work in altering the face of the
country, and it is by their agency at diff'erent times and in different
degrees that, as I believe, the existing outlines of the country have
been mainly produced. By the action of the sea, a part of the
earth's crust which is upraised into land, is planed down, as the
Highlands and southern uplands must have been. As the land
thus levelled rises above the reach of the waves, it comes within
the sphere of the atmospheric agencies of waste. Rain falls upon
it and flows off along the inequaUties of the sea-worn surface. In
thus moving seawards, the rivulets necessarily deepen their
channels, and when these are fixed they continue to be chiselled
out deeper and wider. The merest accidents, and the slightest
impediments, may deteniiine at first the direction of the water-
courses ; but once determined they remain. As the land by up-
heaval gains in elevation and extent, the channels of its rivers
lengthen. Rain, springs, frosts, aid the action of the streams to
enlarge the hollows, and thus the runnels widen out by degrees
into valleys. By and bye, perhaps, sheets of snow and ice, such as

Geological Origin of the Present Scenery of Scotland 1 9

once covered this country, lend their help to wear down the surface,
especially in valleys and hollows where, as Professor Ramsay has
pointed out, the erosive action of glacier-ice tends to scoop out
cavities, which afterwards become the basins of lakes. And thus,
by a system of slow excavation, the outlines of the country are
gradually carved out.

In this prolonged process of denudation, many incidental features
conspire to modify the final results. I have alluded to the in-
fluence of underground movements; but more universal, and
perhaps even more important than these, are the eftects of the
varying texture and geological arrangement of the rocks. It is to
this latter cause that we owe those local modifications in the
scenery of the country, which form, indeed, its distinctive fea-
tures. Each well-marked variety of rock has usually a peculiar
mode of yielding to the forces of denudation, and this peculiarity,
gives rise to a special variety of outline in the landscape. This is
one of the most tempting parts of the subject ; but I must merely
refer to it, and urge the reader who wishes a new pleasure added
to his autumn tour, to take a geological map with him, and mark
as he goes along, how the character of the scenery varies with the
changes in the nature of the rocks underneath. The regions of
granite, gneiss, sandstone, limestone, trap-rocks, will each be
found to present certain specialities of outUne ; and by watching
this relationship between the external form and the internal texture
and structure of the rocks, he will become more and more con-
vinced, that it is mainly denudation which has brought about the
present relief of the country.

In arguing against the common belief that the inequalities of
surface are chiefly the result of irregular upheavals and depressions,
or of fractures and open rents, I have tried to shew that these
inequalities are of such a kind, that no mere subterranean move-
ment could account for them, that they have been produced in the
main by the removal of solid material, and that this removal, so
far as known, could only have been the work of those denuding
agents which are still engaged in the task. It does not affect the
argument, whether we hold that the different powers of renovation
and decay were more vigorous in former times, or have always
been the same, on the whole, as they are now. The idea that
underground commotions, even of the most catclysmal kind,
could have opened our valleys and glens, seems to me excluded
by the facts of denudation. But though we are shut up, I beUeve,

20 journal of Travel and Natural History

to the conclusion, that these hollows have been eroded by forces
acting on the surface, it by no means necessarily follows, that the
forces so engaged have always been working at the same rate as
now. We know of no other agencies in nature capable of per-
forming the task, yet they may have done the work sometimes
more slowly, sometimes more rapidly, than they do it at the present
time. The action may have been the same in kind, without
necessarily being always the same in degree. If, indeed, our

:i-

Vw,. 7. — N'icw (if l!eM Cliro, I.och Slapiii, Skyc.

To shew the conical outhne which is apt to be taken by a mass of homogeneous decomposing
rock, such as the syenite of Ben Chro.

planet, and the solar system of which it is a part, \\-x\c been
slowly parting with heat, and if heat be the ultimate source from
wliich the energy of all natural forces is derived, the present
vigour of these forces is perhaps much less than it used to
be. In especial, the rate of denudation may have varied, and
might have been formerly more rapid than it has now become.
This is a question which may be decided either way, without
affecting tlic argument of those who, like myself, believe that.

Geological Origin of the Present Scenery of Scotland 2 1

whether more quickly or not, it was by the same superficial agencies
of waste as are still wearing down the surface of the earth, that
this country had its valley-systems determined. We see certain
results which could only be achieved by the denudation or erosion
of the country, and it is of no consequence to the reasoning, what
the rate of this erosion may have been. It must have been per-
formed by some agencies working on the surface, and the only
agencies of which we have any knowledge or conception, are the
rains, frosts, streams, waves, and other forces, that are playing the
same part still.

In fine, when for the vague popular notion that primeval earth-
quakes tossed up our hills, and rent open our valleys, we adopt
the Huttonian explanation, which I have tried to lay before the
reader in the foregoing pages, we are led to perceive that the shap-
ing of the land has been accomplished by no random method, but
after that calm orderly pattern so characteristic of nature's opera-
tions. Mountain and glen become eloquent not of terrestrial con-
vulsion, but of the slow silent progress of the same powers of
waste, by which from year to year their outlines are still changed.
And if in this long and stately march of events our finite faculties
can descry " no sign of a beginning, no prospect of an end," it is
because man has taken his place upon a scene, wherein cycle after
cycle, decay and renovation succeed each other — not less markedly
upon the solid framework of the land than among the tribes of
plants and animals by which the land is inhabited.

Journal of Traz'el and Natural History

THE PEDRAS NEGRAS OF PUNGO ANDONGO
IN ANGOLA.

By Dr Friederich Welwitsch.

'T^HE "Black Rocks of Pungo Andongo," designated in
''■ most of the antient writings as " the Presidium of the
Pedras negras" are situated in the interior of Angola, about
1 80 geographical miles eastward from the Atlantic coast.
They are mentioned in the books of missionaries and other
travellers, upwards of two centuries ago, as a great wonder of
nature, and have claimed the attention of all travellers who have
since visited them. Of these observers none, not even the sagacious
Livingstone, has paid any attention to the surprising change of
colour to which the above named rock-mountains are subject every
year, and which led to the denomination of the place, and even of
the whole district. A prolonged residence in Pungo Andongo,
where I passed several months, commissioned by the Portuguese
Government to study the vegetation and capabilities of the soil for
future agricultural purposes, gave me a favourable opportunity of
observing the entire progress of their coloration, convincing me
that the intense blackness of the rocks, conspicuously seen at
certain periods of the year, is not produced, as supposed, by their
disintegration nor by the refraction of light, but by the growth
and wonderfully quick propagation of a small cryptogamous
plant during the annual rainy season, which at first marks wth
dark stripes the rocks in various places, then gradually entirely
overgrows them, and gives them the appearance of being covered
by a black mantle.

As every phenomenon in nature is more easily understood if
compared with similar, or, at least, analagous, appearances already
known elsewhere, I shall ask the reader to allow me to draw his
attention for a few minutes away from the interior of Africa to
other parts of the world, where we shall find that the variegated
colouring of larger tracts of land and water frequently arises from
the wide spread growth of excessively small cryptogamic plants,
often only to be observed with the aid of a microscope.

This is not a rare occurrence in nature. Even in the streets of
our European towns we see, during rainy springs, the more shaded

The Pcdras Ncgras of Piingo Andongo in Angola 23

bare walls of our houses marked by broad stripes or spots of
a yellomsh or dark green colour. These are due to the presence
of oscillatoraae, or other microscopic algae.* In many stagnant
waters and slow-running streamlets, even in the reservoirs of the
ornamental waters of our gardens, we see appear, in the course of
a few days, a velvet-like covering of greyish green, or yellow
colour, which, on minute examination, is found to consist of an
accumulation of algae, so small that one drop of water not seldom
contains several thousand individuals.t

In still more conspicuous and varied phases does this pheno-
menon force itself on the attention of the wanderer in the damp
ravines of Highland valleys and the Alps, where huge rock walls
are coloured sometimes sulphur-yellow by the mysterious Leprarise,
or again are tinted in blood-red circles by the Haematococcus ;
and it is seen in its grandest scale in the so-called red and green
snow, which, particularly in polar countries, and in the regions of
the Alps, occasionally cover miles with a rose-red or emerald-green
hue, an appearance due, as is well known, to the multiplication of
a few species of Protococcus. J

Not only the mainland and its fresh water shew us such pheno-
mena, produced by algoid vegetation, but also salt waters, nay,
even the wide ocean itself becomes often their birthplace ; and in
such instances we see with amazement the otherwise dark blue
waves glistening with a purple hue, or tinted as with a crimson dye.
It is generally understood that the Red Sea owes its name partially
to the occasional appearance of immense quantities of a species of
Trichodesmium, a microscopic alga which in the early state of its
existence is of a deep red colour. §

* In some of the quieter, less-populated streets of London, we observe even
larger filamentous alg^ like Lyngbya and others, covering the basements of
walls with a delicate green.

•f Among the number of species of algse which produce such phenomena, it
will be sufficient to mention Anabcena flos-aquK, Kiitz ; A. chalybea, KUtz ;
Limnochlide flos-aqu?e, Kiitz ; Sphoerozyga floccos Agaand Sph. insigiiis, Kiitz ;
and various species of Desmidiacse which cover stagnant waters with a green
scum.

X Protococcus nivalis, Ag. (Conf. Saussure Voyages dans lesAlpes, tomeii.,
p. 44 ; Wrangel Acta Holm. 1823 ; Schuttleworth, in Biblioth. Univer. de
Geneve, Feb. 1840.

§ Conf. Trichodesmium erythrinum Ehrenberg, in Poggendorf s Annal. 1830,
p. 506 ; and Montagne Memoire sur le Phenomene de la Coloris. de la Mer Rouge,
Comptes Rend. Acad. Sc, 15 Juillet 1844 ; also in Ann. des Sc, 3, ii., p. 332,
tab. 10.

24 Journal of Travel and Natural History

I was not a little suri3rised in May 1852, whilst crossing the
salt waters of the Tagus, from Lisbon to Lavradio, to observe, in
approaching the opposite shore, that the ordinarily bluish-green
waters of that majestic river, had suddenly become of a violet
purple colour. A closer examination, however, of the colouring
substance soon taught me that this unusual hue had been caused
by the presence of a species of Protococcus, which is generated in
vast quantities in the extensive neighbouring Salinas.

Several years previously, Messrs Turrel and Freycinet, whilst
sailing round Cabo d'Espichel, on the Portuguese coast, observed
the Atlantic ocean glittering with a blood-red colour to the extent
of many miles; and the subsequent investigation of this coloured
sea water by Montagne, proved that myriads and myriads of a red
Protococcus * had imparted this tint to the ocean.

It would be an easy task to cite many more examples of this
great phenomenon in temperate regions; but I have said enough
to prepare the reader for its occurrence on the African continent,
in equally rich variety. I saw it immediately on first setting foot
on the west coast of Africa, in September 1853. I landed at
Freetown, Sierra Leone, and I there found the walls of the houses
facing the north jminted like maps, with black, bronze, green,
and violet spots, reaching from the basement up the gable. On
closer investigation, these proved to consist of a felt-like accumu-
lation of several small species of algae, which could be taken
off the walls almost like paper-hangings. Even in Loanda, the
stately capital of Angola, I observed that, although surrounded
on its land side by burning sand deserts, the damper places,
especially the yards of the houses, were covered during April
1854, within a few days, with a gray-green velvety coating, spread
like a crust almost uninterruptedly over the level portions of
the soil. I looked upon this at first as a vegetation arising
from the neighbouring sea-shore, until a subsequent microscopic
examination proved, to my great astonishment, that the entire
green covering was composed of an immense accumulation of
Botrydium,t one of the prettiest little terrestrial algce, which occurs

* Protococcus atlanticus, Montagne (Note sur un nouveau fait de colorisa-
tion des eaux de la mer. Comptes Rend, de I'Acadcmic Sc, 16 Nov. 1846.

+ This species, occii iring in Loanda, resembles very much in its habitus the
Botr. argillaceum, Wall., from which it is distinguished by its brighter colour
and closer juxtaposition of the separate vcsicuhv, which are also much smaller
than those of the European species.

The Pedras Negras of Pungo Aiidongo in Angola 25

also often in Europe under similar cirumstances. However, all
these hues observed on land and in water, though the product
of true algoid vegetation, are mostly of short existence, and not
limited to definite periods ; they rarely, sometimes never, reappear
on the same spot, and, therefore, they must be looked upon as
ephemeral ajDpearances, which thus escape general observation,
and disappear without trace.

Quite different is it with the colouring of the mountain rocks of
Pungo Andongo, because there this phenomenon has not only been
observed for centuries, recurring annually with a certain regu-
larity, but also with such intensity, extending on a large scale
over so wide a district, that it gives a definite character to the
physiognomy of the landscape, in which the fantastically shaped
huge mountain rocks, which project high above the level of the
green forest and fields, appear sometimes in their natural grey-red-
dish, or greyish-white aspect, at other times clothed in deep black,
rising towards the blue sky Hke the gigantic ruins of a bygone
Cyclopean town.

At first glance it is evident that such colouring of rocks
caused by the smallest plants, and extending in a short time over
an immense district, cannot be the result of climatic influences
alone, but must also be dependent on the co-effect of other,
especially of topographical circumstances ; hence a short sketch of
the situation, the environs and the climate of Pungo Andongo,
with a few remarks on its vegetation, may here not be out of place.
Pungo Andongo, the chief place in the district of the same name,
includes a large portion of the upper river country of the great
River Cuanza, is situated in 90° 42' 14'' south lat., at a distance of
about 180 geographical miles from the Atlantic coast, and rises,
inclusive of the height of the surrounding mountains, to about
3800 feet above the level of the sea, picturesquely over-
towering the fertile pastures in the valley of the Cuanza * which
limits the district on the south, and which is 5 miles distant.
Opposite, on the left bank of the Cuanza, rise the mountain chains
of Libollo Alto, further east those of Hako and of other negro
countries, converging or diverging more or less with the river-bed.
Pungo Andongo, as well as the subordinate district belonging to

• I write Cuanza not Quanza, the former being more in accordance with the
pronunciation and genius of the Bunda language, also because this mode of
writing has been adopted by the better Bunda grammarians. — Conf. Cannecatim.
Observ. grammat. sobre a liiigiia Bunda, p. 9.

26 Journal of Travel and Natural History

it, formerly formed part of the wide-spread and powerful negro
empire of Ginga (pronounced Shinga) of which at present a
few tribes still exist as free negro states, north-east of the capital.
Pungo Andongo by its commanding situation, and still more
by the rapacious habits of the Gingas, opposed for a length
of time an annoying non plus ultra to the gradual progress of
the Portuguese into the interior. Constant strifes arose until the
rock castle, one of the fortified seats of the Ginga kings, after
several hard struggles, was taken by storm by the Portuguese,
under their valiant leader Lopez de Sequeira; and, shortly after, the
place was incorporated with the Portuguese possessions, under the
name of Presidio das Pedras Negras, and was raised into a tenable
fortified outpost for the protection of Portuguese trading caravans,
and serves, at the same time, as an entrepot for the reception of
goods coming from the interior of the continent along the eastern
boundary-line of Angola, and for a trading post for the dissemina-
tion of Portuguese or other European goods in the interior.

The Presidium proper, the town of Pungo Andongo counts at
present with its adjoining farms nearly 1300 inhabitants,* and lies
in a hollow, in the midst of mighty gneiss rocks, which extend over
an area of more than 10 miles in circumference, and of which some
rise like gigantic pillars, and others like successive mountain
masses, forming all around, chiefly on the west and south-west,
precipices of from 300 to 600 feet in height. Three steep ravines
allow a tolerably easy entrance to the Presidium, besides a few
others more diflicult of access.

Evergreen forests, chiefly of leguminous trees, abound on all
sides of these picturesque rock groups, except on the west and
south-west, where the mountain's ridge falls off almost perpendi-
cularly, displaying at its foot the charming Cuanza valley, com-
mencing with shrubs and pasture lands, followed up by smaller
groups of trees, or in marshy soil adorned by the Cyperus Papyrus,
until we observe on the immediate banks of the Cuanza river itself,
luxuriant meadows wth clusters of trees closer and closer grouped
together, their dark green masses over-topped by the stately feather
crown of the thorny Date palm.

* In the last official statistical report, published at Loanda in 1862, the
population of the entire district of Pungo Andongo is given at 26,815 inhabi-
tants, most of whom are stock-breeders, farmers, and merchants, chiefly trading
in wax and ivory. In the census of the population, mostly negroes and mulattoes,
arc included 55 white colonists, nearly all Portuguese.

77?^ Pedras Negras of Pungo Andongo in Angola 2 7

At a certain distance the rocks of Pungo Andongo appear poor
in vegetation, only a few of the higher mountain peaks shewing
small clusters of trees or shrubs, here and there mingled with a few
single tall trees.

However, the nearer we approach the rocky mountains the
richer and more varied becomes the vegetation, the more luxuriant
and greener the forests, the more flowery the open fields, the more
numerous the crystal brooks. These, surrounded by succulent
meadows, pour forth from zig-zag ravines or cross valleys, or fall in
cascades from the walls of the higher rocks, down to the feet of the
traveller, spreading freshness through the stifling atmosphere all
around. The winding way, edged in on both sides by grotesque-
looking rocks, leads us on a gradually steeper incline at last through
one of the narrow clefts into the charming oblong valley, where
the Presidium itself is situated. The little town itself consists of
modest, neat dwelHngs grouped around the little church, and the
more stately residence of the governor, and other buildings abutting
against the elevated rocks. Many houses of a newer style, several
stories high, in the midst of orchards and kitchen gardens, are
scattered about in the adjoining valley inlets, adding materially to
the idyUic charm of this beautiful secluded Eldorado. In the
centre of the place stands a splendid Adansonia, marking the spot
where the Portuguese concluded their peace, in far past ages, with
the Amazon queen of the Gingas, Single groups of trees hide the
huts of the poorer black or mulatto population. A dense
dark-green primeval forest, the so-called Mata do Pungo, occupies
the side valley on the N.W., and forms a marked contrast with the
neighbouring, partly denuded, rock walls. Wells and brooks, with
the freshest water, in every direction ; luxuriant bushes overshadow-
ing all ravines ; exposed rock-blocks clothed with elegant creepers,
or fiery-flowered aloes and sweet-scented orchids ; the mountain
slopes, with their succulent meadows, enlivened by pasturing herds ;
and still higher the gigantic gray or dark black massive rocks,
projecting high into the air, and crowned with the fascinating azure
of the tropical sky — this is the justly praised, romantic Presidium
of the Pedras Negras.

If Pungo Andongo commands the full attention of every traveller
by its picturesque situation and its exceptionally healthy climate in
a tropical region, it deserves in a still higher degree the interest of
natuialists, and especially that of botanists. Excepting the high
table-lands of Huilla, further south, there is hardly another place

28 Journal of Travel and Natural History

in tropical South Africa, where, in so small a circuit, we find the
vegetation so varied, peculiar, and at the same time, so nearly
related to that of countries far distant from it and far distant from
each other ; nay, I should call Pungo Andongo a botanical garden,
in form of an extensive grand park, in which are found the most
interesting treasures of vegetation, from the various districts of tro-
pical and sub-tropical Africa, judiciously grouped together, with a
considerable number of forms of vegetation quite peculiar to itself.
It would by far surpass the space allowed me to give here a
detailed account of the highly interesting flora of the rock-district,
I shall, therefore, only point out a few of those genera which, in a
prominent degree, characterise the vegetation of Pungo Andongo.
Amongst these the numerous succulent plants take the foremost
rank, mostly of the order of Aloes, Orchids, Euphorbias, Asclepiads,
and even of Labiates, associated with Rhipsalis Cassytha, Gart.,
the only cactaceous plant hitherto found really wild out of the
American continent. These overgrow the rock walls in every
direction, often up to their summits, in the most variegated form,
and generally associated with Cissoideae and fragrant VerbenaceK.
The prettiest ferns, some with gold-coloured fronds, grow abun-
dantly over the crevices, whilst the gorgeous Musa ensete, and the
beautiful tree-fern, Cynthia Angolensis, Welw.,* embellish the margins
of the numerous streamlets. The meadows on the mountain slopes
make a richly variegated display, with the blue and red flowers
of different Commelynacese and Indigoferas, profusely inter-
spersed with many white or orange blooming Cyperace?s,t whilst
the cliffs are adorned with various species of Gladiolus, curious
Hgemodoraceae, resembling Vellosias, and the superb Gloriosa
Abyssinica, with its profuse and gorgeous blossoms. In the
wide woody ravines, the entrances of which are decorated with
chmbing Hugoniae grow the peculiar Monodora Angolensis, the
mimosa-leaved Parkia, in company with other strange tree forms
of Violaceae, Sterculiaceaj, and Apocynacere. In narrow ravines,
the botanist is surprised by pretty Begonias, strangely shaped
Dorstenias, and several elegant pygmy Piperacea:. But the
greatest variety is offered by the shrubs of the underwood in
which Leguminous, Acanthaceous, Vcrbenaceous, and immense

* Hooker, Synopsis Filicum, p. 22.

t Tlicre arc four or five species of Asclepias, all having more 01 loss tlic
appearance of white or yellow-headed composite flowers.

The Fed r as JVegras of Pimgo Aiuhmgo in Angola 29

numbers of Rubiaceous plants, with the very pretty Ancylanthus
ferrugineus, are often half smothered by climbing Asclepiadns.
An incredible number of slender soft grasses, thrive luxuriantly in
the meadows in the side valleys, which is the immediate induce-
ment to cattle-breeding in this part of the country, excelling therein
all other districts of Angola. Along with these occur several
larger Graminese, near the brooks in .the neighbouring forests,
where a species of bamboo occurs 30 to 40 feet high, with such
thick stalks, that the natives manufacture out of them drinking
vessels and snuff boxes Among a great number of interesting
Cryptogamic plants, I shall only mention a gigantic Agaric which
I found growing in the neighbouring Panda woods, distinguished
by the immense size of its head, which sometimes measures more
than 3 feet in circumference, as well as by the delicate flavour of
its flesh. Even the beds of the brooks glitter with a dark green
turfy cover, formed by a few species of Podostemaceje, those inter-
esting Phanerogams which some liverworts so closely resemble.

After this rapid glance over the indigenous vegetation of this
rock-encircled botanical Paradise, we must add, that the different
groups of cultivated plants are not less remarkable for their variety
and number. In and near Pungo Andongo, most of the tropical
cultivated plants are found, together with vegetables of southern
Europe, the latter thriving, without exception, so well, that one
would hardly expect to see them so developed in the interior of
equinoctial Africa, especially after making allowance for the inferior
abilities of the agriculturists.

Immediately on entering the Presidium, the traveller's eye is
attracted by luxuriant bushes of fennel and parsley, reminding
liim of his European home, but growing here like weeds in
the streets ; most of the European vegetables, too, are seen in
thriving condition in the gardens surrounding the habitations,
often hedged in by a kind of Dracaena, or by the Curcas purgans.
In a still higher decree the wanderer's amazement is excited by
cultivated orchards, wherein ananas and bananas grow together
with the European peach and apple trees, Spanish fig trees, with
guava and Indian mango trees, the West Indian caju, associated
with the coffee tree and the South European orange and lemon
trees. High above their dark-green foliage rise here and there single
oil-palm trees Avith their stately feathered crowns, which, however, in
this more elevated country bring forth less developed fruits than in
the neighbouring lower districts. This slight disadvantage is amply

30 Journal of Travel and Natural History

repaid in the vine, which finds in Pungo Andongo a most pro-
pitious cUmate. It has been cultivated by some Portuguese
colonists for a long time with such success, that annually a quantity
of wine is produced, which, to my own mind, is not inferior to the
Constantia wines. In more favourable spots the sugar-cane and
the palmy Papaya are planted, whilst the Jambos tree, the cherry-
yielding Eugenia pedunculata and very fine varieties of the Spondias
tree thrive in the more stony soil.

An equally varied productiveness is to be seen in the tillage
grounds. Fields of wheat, ground nuts (Arachis hypogsea), maize,
Sesamum indicum (the Gingilie oil-plants), Voandzeia (Voandzeia
subterranea), another kind of ground nut, potatoes and mandioca
or Cassava adjoin, according as the soil suits them, fields of rice
and Sorghum, beans aud sweet potatoes, whilst the Cafoto* and
Ginsonge,t two pretty leguminous shrubs, are planted as hedges
between them.

Here and there are plantations of Luco J (Eleusine coracana var.),
and Muxiri,§ the former serving, like the barley in Europe, for
making beer and also yielding mealy corn, and furnishing groats and
flour, the latter supplying sweet roots of which the negroes brew
their beer. Water-cresses overgrow the brooks, sometimes lined
with clumps of Canna indica, or Avith thick bushes of Mirabilis
Jalapa. Both these plants and the Coix lacryma were introduced
in olden times by Catholic missionaries, their fruits or seeds
furnishing a suitable and cheap material for the manufacture of the
indispensable rosary. The soil is everywhere favourable to the
growth of tobacco ; the various Cucurbitaceous fruits thrive ex-
cellently, and the leaves of a wild Sinapis give a palatable vegetable,
whilst its seed embodies all the ingredients for mustard.

The nutritious Hibiscus esculentus, the oily Ricinus, several
species of Capsicum, the cotton plant, growing in equal luxuriance

* Cafoto is a shrub 4 to 6 feet high, a species of Tephrosia, a very ornamental
plant, related to the Tephrosia Vogelii of the Niger flora. Its leaves and tender
branches, when fresh gathered, squashed and thro^vn into rivers, stupify the
fishes, by which means the latter are caught.

"I" Ginsonge is the Cajanus indicus, the beans of wliich are very palatable and
nutritious, either cooked entire or ground into meal.

% Luco is a grass of the beautiful genus Eleusine, largely cultivated for its
mealy corn by the Caffers, and in Abyssinia, and likewise in tropical India.

§ Muxiri, a leginninous shrub, with trifoliate leaves and blue flowers, and long
cylindrical roots, often as thick as a man's finger, nearly approaching in taste
the Spanish liquorice.

The Pedras Negras of Fungo Andongo iti Angola 3 1

with the (in tropical Africa) ubiquitous tomato, appear like
weeds in the cultivated plantations. Neither must we overlook the
Zingiber and Bixa Orellana, cultivated for their dye, used by the
negroes for colouring the straw of an Eleusine,* out of which they
manufacture their celebrated artistic and tasteful basket work
known under the name of "Balaios de Pungo Andongo," and
which are so much in demand even in Portugal, that they give
rise to distinct branches of industry in this district.

Pungo Andongo is also justly praised for its good hunting,
excelling, in numbers of large and small game, every other district
of Angola. Without speaking of the numerous kinds of antelopes
or the abundance of fowl, I cannot leave unnoticed the Hyrax
(perhaps an undescribed species), not unlike a rabbit in appearance
and habits, which peoples the rock crevices in great numbers,
and furnishes meat of excellent taste. Unfortunately, the surround-
ing often inaccessible cliffs are also the abode of a kind of dog-
like monkey (a species of Cynocephalus), which surpass by far in
boldness and cunning all other animals. They make nightly
rapacious inroads even into the fields near the habitations ; and it
often happens that they destroy in a single night entire plantations
of maize or mandioca. These equally cunning and voracious
animals make their invasions in immense troups. For their
security and the success of their enterprise some of the older
individuals are posted as guards round about on projecting rocks.
These, on the approach of danger, give the alarm by loud barking,
when the whole troup takes to instantaneous flight. With the
velocity of lightning, carrying their prey under the fore-arms, they
run to the first rock-wall, however perpendicular or apparently
inaccessible, and scale it with amazing ease and rapidity. On
reaching the top, they immediately form a regimental line on the
extreme edge of the precipice, scoffing at the powerless pursuer
below by a loud, hideous barking, or, if attacked vnth. gun-shots,
throwing or pushing down stones.

Before leaving the animal kingdom I must remark that all kinds
of birds, reptiles, fresh-water and land shells, fishes, and insects,
are represented in as great abundance as the various forms of
vegetation. Future naturalists visiting this country can reckon

* Most probably this Eleusine is a distinct species, or, at least, a prominent
variety of the E. indica, It is characterised by its straight erect tender culms,
I to 2 feet high ; when ripe, of a golden yellow colour, and might be fitly
designated as Eleusine textilis.

32 JoiirJial of Travel and Natural History

with certainty on a ricli harvest of new species, or important
varieties in any of the above-named classes.

Having already stated that the climate of Pungo Andongo, con-
sidering its situation in equinoctial Africa, is healthy and congenial
to Europeans, it is right that I should point out to the newly-arrived
that the frequent and severe atmospheric changes, occurring often
in the space of a few hours, require particular precaution. Owing
to its elevated position, the rock circle, and also the Presidium
itself, are covered with fog from dawn till 9 or lo o'clock a.m.;
consequently during these hours it is damp and cold (in the spring
62° to 63°,'^ in the summer, 66° to 69° Fahrenheit). As soon as
the foggy clouds disappear, the temperature rises quickly, reach-
ing its maximum height about 2 o'clock p.m. (in the spring, 1857,
73° to 75°; in the summer, 75° to 79°). From thence it gradually
falls again until it reaches its minimum, about two hours before
sunrise. This course in the temperature is subject to exceptions
and irregularities, because on calm days, or when the horizon
is cloudless early in the morning, the perpendicular sunbeams
falling then sooner into the rock hollow, thereby altering and con-
siderably increasing the day's atmospheric temperature within a
very short time. This, however, occurs exceptionally, for I
observed, on a few rare occasions, the thermometer shewing in
Pungo Andongo, that is, in the Presidium itself, more than 80°
Fahrenheit.

The countries surrounding the rock circle, more especially the
Cuanza valley, extending on the west and south-west, have, as
may be supposed, a much higher temperature. One of the
highest temperatures which I observed during my residence in
Angola, occurred on the banks of the Cuanza River, 5 miles
distant from the Presidium. There, in March 1857, the sand-
slates, close to the river, were glowing with heat, at noon, so
intensely, that they scalded the feet of my negro attendants, and
penetrated even the strong soles of my boots in a most sensible
manner.

The reader having been made acquainted in the foregoing
sketch with the topograpical and general botanical relations of the

* All my observations in temperature were made with one Parisian and two
English thermometers, which, previous to my journey, had been carefully
tested and compared with standard instniments, I have, therefore, reason to
believe that the results, and my data of temperature, as well as my hypso-
mctrical measurements with the same instruments, are entitled to confidence.

The Pedras Negras of Pungo Andongo in Angola -^t^

Pedras Negras, I shall now proceed to the description of the
phenomenon which causes their black appearance at certain times
of the year. On my arrival at Pungo Andongo at the end of
October (the spring season in the southern hemisphere), the
colossal rocks, projecting high above their girth of vegetation had
a pretty equal aspect of grey or greyish yellow colour, shaded
darker in a few places near the top. From this I was inclined to
concur in the opinion that the black colouring, so much spoken
of, probably resulted from an optical delusion. This idea became
more confirmed after I had ascended the higher mountains several
times. On the flat part of their summits I noticed pools over-
grown with Nymphese and Aponogeton ; but neither in the ponds
(stagnant deep waters of small extent) nor on their borders could
I trace any kind of vegetation which might possibly account for
the colouring of the rocks. However, very soon afterwards, I was
convinced to the contrary. During the following month, several
successive thunder storms brought down heavy rains. In the
following December I observed in several places on the chfifs
facing the Presidium perfect black stripes pointing downwards,
their dark colour in conspicuous contrast with the general
aspect of the other stone masses. These stripes increased
considerably in breadth and length in the course of a few
days, and other new ones appeared on rocks previously of grey
yellow colour. Now was the time to investigate the extra-
ordinary phenomenon ; and with the view of tracing its origin,
I ascended on the next bright morning the Pedra Songue (pro-
nounced Songhe) known under this name among the natives
as one of the highest mountains in the Presidium. Arrived on its
plateau, I found that the continuous rain-fall had swelled all the
ponds to excess, and filled every hollow with water. On the brink
of these waters, mostly covered with sterile mosses, my attention
was immediately attracted by a shiny black substance which ex-
tended in all directions, with few interruptions, towards the descend-
ing edge of the cliffs. There I saw its further course along the
streamlets made by the overflowing of the ponds. Examining
this black substance with the aid of a strong pocket-lens, I saw
at once that it was a filamentous Alga ; and from that moment
the riddle of the Pedras Negras was solved. On the follow-
ing day I subjected specimens of the Alga to a minute careful
microscopical examination, and its characteristics proved it
to be probably a non-described species of the prolific genus

TRAVEL. c

34

liUinial of J'/aTi'/ and N'atiiral History

Scytonema, wliicli in that situation during the rainy season
generates and multiphes so rapidly, that the upper portions
of the mountains are covered with it in a very short time.* The
rains faUing in the early part of the year, especially those in
March and April, are accompanied by heavy thunderstorms and
frequently also by thick fogs. The latter envelope the rock sum-
mits from dawn till noon, creating a surrounding damp warm
atmosphere, which naturally favours the rapid growth and propaga-
tion of this Alga, which, besides, is otherwise known to be of a
prolific kind. Hence arises the phenomenon that in very wet

_^M^

!■ iG, I. — Ptdrns Negras before the rainy season.

years, most of the upper rock portions are covered with the
black Scytonema towards the end of April ; whilst in years
widi scanty rainfill, only single rock-clefts and a few of the
cliffs appear more or less with the algoid covering (see figs,
r and 2). Soon after the hot season has set in, at the end

* Supported by this observation, made in 1857, I stated already, in 1858, in
my printed Report to the Portuguese Government, that the black colouring of the
rocks in the Presidium, must be attributed to the massive gnnvth of a species
of Scvtonema.

The Pedras Nci:^ras of Pmiin^o Aiidoiigo in A/ii:;o/a

35

of May, when the horizon above the Presidium is generally
clear and bright, the black plantlets begin to discolour with the
intense heat. They gradually become dry and brittle until they
peel off altogether by and bye, after which the rocks lose their
sombre black aspect, and reappear in their natural grey, or
grey-brownish colour before the succeeding spring.

In conclusion, I have to observe that the wonderful growth of
Scytonemas in such immense quantities, is not confined to the
mountain ridge of the Presidium. It also extends eastwards, with
more or less interruption, effecting a most important and bene-

F"iG. 2. — Pedras Ncgras after the rainy season.

ficial influence on the maintenance and existence of many other
small herbs. In proof of this fact, I may refer to the damp sandy
upper valley of the Cuanza River, where a species of Scytonema is
abundant, frequently extending across the wide meadows, closely
spread, like a net over the soil, intergrown with other herbs and
smaller shrubs. Through its hygroscopic nature, it eagerly absorbs
the atmospheric moisture during the dewy nights, affording by this
means a refreshing protection to the roots of many other and

36

Journal of Travel and Natural History

Fig. 3. — Shews the
Scytonema of its
natural size.

larger plants, during the glowing heat of the following day. (The

growth and thriving of numerous small Phanerogamous plants, from
the orders of Eriocaulonese, Cyperace^e, Cam-
panulacese, Scrophularinse, and Droseracese, nay,
even the existence of a few Isoeteae, in these
places, is conditional on the co-presence of the
prolific Scytonema. If they were to lose the
important hygroscopic protection of the latter,
they might be unable to thrive under the scourge

of the tropical sun.) But these species, although all belonging to

the genus Scytonema, are specifically quite distinct from those

growing on the mountains of

Pungo Andongo ; they are of

brighter colour, and are spread

like velvet, in a horizontal layer,

over the soil. An exquisite

species, bright red, I encoun-
tered abundantly, eastward of

Pungo Andongo, between Condo

and Quisonde, where it covered

tracts of 20 to 30 paces, like a

carpet, harbouring numerous

small phanerogamic plants. Also

on my later journeys to the

Highlands of Benguella, and

principally on the high plateau

of Huilla, I often met with

other species of Scytonema

growing over the sandy soil of

the pastures and open forests ;

but nowhere did I observe these

small cryptogamic plants in such

abundance, nor their effect on the physiognomy of the country so

striking, as at the Pedras Negras of Pungo Andongo.

Fig. 4. — A branchlet magnified. It will be
described under the n.ame of Scytonema
chorographicum.

Journal of Travel and Natural History ^"j

PROFESSOR AGASSIZ IN BRAZIL.

OEFORE this meets the eye of the reader, Messrs Ticknor and
^~^ Field, of Boston, will have published a " Journey in Brazil,''
by Professor and Mrs Louis Agassiz — an illustrated book of over
500 8vo pages. We have been favoured with advance sheets, from
which we are enabled to give the following preliminary notice.

The narrative is interwoven with some of the more general
results of Professor Agassiz' scientific observations, especially his
inquiries into the distribution of the fishes in the greatest hydro-
graphic basin in the world, and the proof of the former existence
of glaciers throughout its extent. The vegetation of the tropics,
seen by Professor Agassiz from a palseontological point of view, is
drawn in charming pictures by Mrs Agassiz' pen.

The first chapter embraces the journey from New York to Rio.
Mr Agassiz' instructions to his corps of assistants, given in a series
of lectures on shipboard, exhibit the systematic plan upon which
the scientific survey was conducted.

Subsequent chapters follow the course of the party along the
coast to the Amazons, in the ascent of the river to Tabatinga on
the Peruvian frontier, including short residences at Manaos,
Mauhes, and Teffe. At Teffe, frequent mention was made of Mr
Bates, "Senhor Henrico," whose narrative Mrs Agassiz often
recalls with interest. Nearly six months were spent on the
Amazons.

Besides a special chapter on the physical history of the
Amazons, several appendices on scientific subjects are added by
Mr Agassiz. Comparisons are drawn between the Indian and
Negro — a subject which is occasionally discussed in the text. Mr
Agassiz expresses his conviction that the relation of human races
to each other is the same in kind as that which species bear to
each other, and that hybrids of the human races are always a mix-
ture of two primitive types, and never, as among domesticated
animals, the simple reproduction of the characters of one pro-
genitor alone.

The itinerary of the assistants is also traced in an appendix.
These gentlemen explored most of the country between Rio and
Bahia, from the coast range of mountains to the sea ; the whole

38 Journal of Travel and Natural History

course of the rivers San Francisco, Paranaliyba, and Tocantins,
besides making shorter excursions up the affluents of the Amazons.

The principal scientific topics discussed in the book, relate to
the distribution of the Amazonian fishes, the discovery of immense
deposits, believed to be drift, and the physical history of the Great
River.

Mr Agassiz believes that several well-characterized ichthyological
faunae can be distinguished in the Amazons. " The species," he
says, " inhabiting the river of Para, from the border of the sea to
the mouth of the Tocantins, differ from those which are met in the
network of anastomosis which unite the river of Para with the
Amazons proper. The species of the Amazons below the Xingu
differ from those which occur higher up ; those of the lower course
of the Xingu differ from those of the lower course of the Tapajos.
Those of the numerous igarapes and lakes of Manhaes differ as
much from those of the principal course of the Great River and of
its great affluents." Even shores, which, from a geographical point
of view, must be considered as opposite banks of the same stream,
were found to be the abodes each of an essentially different
ichthyological population. A few. fish, such as the Pirarucu, were
found throughout the whole extent of the river, although their
migrations were evidently limited to movements from shallow to
deeper waters, and back again to shoals.

Even bearing in mind the large number of distinct faunae, we
are astounded to hear of the multitude of species inhabiting the
river : at the close of his explorations. Professor Agassiz writes to
the Emperor of Brazil, " it is very difficult for me to familiarise
myself with the idea that the Amazons nourishes nearly twice as
many species as the Mediterranean, and a more considerable
number than the Atlantic, taken from one pole to the other."
And again, " All the rivers of Europe united, from the Tagus to
the Volga, do not furnish one hundred and fifty species of fresh-
water fishes ; and yet, in a little lake near Manaos, called Lago
Hyanuary, the surface of which covers hardly four or five hundred
square yards, we have discovered more than two hundred distinct
species, the greater part of which have not been observed else-
where." He estimates the total number as not less than eighteen
hundred or two thousand species. His artist made eight hundred
drawings of fish.

Professor Agassiz' attention was early arrested by a very pecu-
liar formation near Rin, whirli he at onrc suspected to be drift ;

Professor Agassiz in Brazil 39

it was not long before he found, at Tijuca, "a drift-hill with in-
numerable erratic boulders, as characteristic as any he had seen in
New England." The sandy clay of the vicinity which rested
immediately upon the partially stratified metamorphic rock fre-
quently contained these boulders. The extensive decomposition
of the rock, which often made it very difficult to determine the line
of demarcation between the rocks and the drift, had, of course,
obliterated every trace of rock-polishing or grooving which might
once have been present ; yet, even where the disintegration was
extensive, it had not destroyed the undulating lines of the rochcs
nioutouiih upon which the drift rested. Aided by frequent examina-
tions of the geology in the vicinity of Rio, Mr Agassiz and his
assistants were able to trace the same formation throughout every
part of Brazil which they explored. Whatever the nature of the
underlying rock, they always found at the surface the same homo-
geneous clayey reddish paste containing quartz pebbles. In the
Amazons valley, however, the relations of this sandy clay to the
underlying deposits were of a different nature, and have furnished
the basis of a remarkable hypothesis presented pretty fully in this
work. Throughout the valley, three distinct deposits occur :

\st. Finely laminated clays, resting upon a well-stratified sand-
stone, and overtopped by a crust almost resembling a ferruginous
quartzite.

2d. A cross-stratified, highly ferruginous sandstone, with occa-
sional quartz pebbles.

3^/. The ochraceous, unstratified sandy clay already mentioned,
spreading over the undulating surface of the sandstone, and filling
all its depressions and cracks.

We are not told the extent of the first series of beds ; the second
sometimes attains a thickness of more than 800 feet, and the third
ordinarily varies from 20 to 50 feet.

Notwithstanding the thickness of these deposits, their compact
structure, and the fact that the first and second are conformable
to each other, while the third lies uncomformably above them, Mr
Agassiz believes that they all belong to the glacial epoch. He
attributes their position and variable character to the conditions
under which they were deposited, and the hardness and compact-
ness of many in the series, to the heat of a tropical sun. This
conviction is founded on the correspondence of their materials to
those accumulated in glacier bottoms ; on the resemblance of the
uppermost layer to the Rio drift (the glacial origin of the latter he

40 Journal of Travel and Natural History

believes to be unquestionable) and on his views of the physical
history of the valley in general. These require the explanation of
two phenomena : the filling of the basin of the Amazons with
clays and sandstone to the height of more than 800 feet above
the sea, with no seaward barrier of rock ; and the subsequent
denudation of the country to its present level. Mr Agassiz thought
the valley of the Amazons was an immense cretaceous basin filled
with recent deposits, and that the history of its formation was
briefly this :

isf. The filling of the whole valley with a glacier, which extended
from the high lands of Guiana to those of central Brazil. 2d. The
formation of a vast terminal moraine, which, upon the retreat of
the glacier, shut out the sea and eventually left an immense fresh-
water lake. 3</. The partial melting of the glacier, during which
time the lower stratified layers were deposited, the coarse materials
falling to the bottom, ^th. The disintegration of the whole body
of ice, at which period more or less regular beds of sand were
deposited to the depth of 800 feet. 5M. The breaking through of
the morainal barrier and the extensive denudation of the whole
country ; which was followed by, 6th, a period of quiet accumula-
tion of ochraceous sandy clay with boulders brought by floating
ice at the close of the ice period. 7///. A second drainage, caused
by the total destruction of the seaward barrier and a reduction of
the waters to their present level, ^th. The gradual encroachment
of the sea upon the river-bed, destroying all traces of a delta, and
causing the former affluents near its mouth to flow into the sea.

This volume, from portions of which we have given this brief
preliminary notice, consists almost entirely of Mrs Agassiz' diary,
written from day to day, in the hope that, "some use might be
made of the thread of the narrative in knitting together the scientific
reports of the journey." The work is appropriately inscribed to
Mr Nathaniel Thayer, who, with unusual munificence, bore the
entire expense of six regular assistants.

Mr Vogeli, Professor in the Military Institute at Rio, and sent
to Boston by the Emperor of Brazil, is translating the work into
Portuguese and French. It will appear at an early day in Rio and
Paris.

S. ScuDDER, Boston.

Journal of Travel and Natural History 41

D UPTON'S ABYSSINIA*

TN the last century, Bruce, who will always be recognised as
"*■ one of the most accomplished of modern travellers, was
subjected to much illiberality, and bore with calm endurance
the unprovoked taunts and coarse ridicule of the shallow critics
of the day, who more than questioned the veracity of his account
respecting some of the manners and customs of Abyssinia.
Since his death, however, his reputation has been cleared from the
aspersions of his detractors, for many subsequent travellers through
the same region have borne testimony to the general truthfulness
of his statements.

But this desirable termination can scarcely be expected by all
the writers of the present day ; for whilst some declare the attempt
to invade the country an impossibility, and paint the most alarming
pictures of arid plains, mountain torrents, malaria-laden valleys,
and frightful precipices ; whilst they almost threaten the expedi-
tionary force with all that is loathsome and dangerous in natural
history, from guinea-worms and poisonous flies to gliding reptiles
and men-devouring lions — the obverse side glows with vivid descrip-
tions of the salubrity of the climate and beauty of the country, with
its undulations of hill and dale, and either ignore the bugbears of
the pessimists, or leave them in doubtful obscurity.

The work before us can scarcely be dignified into a book of
travel. Exploration, for its own sake, was not the cause of the
journey ; and although the author affords a few brief glimpses of
the country, and touches slightly on the most prominent customs,
it vAW, we think, be desirable to give a brief resume of the little we
know of these equatorial highlands, more especially as the author
candidly admits that, in the compilation of his narrative, he has
drawn largely on his memory.

In many modern maps, Abyssinia is depicted as extending to
the coast of the Red Sea, whereas, in fact, it is a mountainous
inland country, whose actual boundaries nowhere reach the coast,
and which, indeed, it would be difficult to define at all, for the
warlike races of the various provinces bordering on Abyssinia

* Narrative of a Journey through Abyssinia in 1862-3 ; witli an Appendix on
the Abyssinian Captive Question, by Henry Dufton. London : Chapman &
Hall. 1867.

42 Journal of Travel and Natural History

proper are engaged in almost constant conflict, either to preserve
or regain their own independence, against the grasping ambition of
King Theodorus.

Until lately the whole sea coast on both sides of the Red Sea
was under the actual dominion of Turkey, and the kaimakans, or
governors, were appointed from Constantinople ; but now, though
the Turkish flag is retained as a symbol of power, the sovereignty
of the Sultan is only nominal, for the whole of the western or
African side of the Red Sea, from Suez to Massowah, has recently
been ceded to the Egyptian Government, and the Viceroy's juris-
diction remains unquestioned, whilst his troops garrison the various
towns bordering on the sea.

Between the sea coast and the mountainous region of Abyssinia
is an extensive tract of low-lying and waterless country, ranging in
breadth from 30 to 300 miles ; and, although discrepancies exist
respecting the nature of the level, there seems little doubt that the
scrubby wilderness will cause considerable difficulty to any large
body of troops, whose camp equipage and commissariat are
dependent on such primitive means of conveyance as camels and
mules.

The spurs of the uplands or mountain ranges approach Massowah
much nearer than any other parts of the coast, for Dr Beke, writing
in 1842, states that he descended from Kiaquor to Massowah —
about 30 miles — by a gradual and easy road, well watered, and
occupying only two days and a-half of very gentle travelling \
whilst, according to the same authority, Halai, on the eastern spur
of the table-land, 8400 feet, or upwards of a mile and a-half in
height, is yet nearer the coast, being only about 20 miles from
Anesley Bay. Dr Beke, however, strongly recommended the
route through the Haddas Valley as the best ai)proach to the
highlands, and pointed to Senafe as the most eligible ])osition to
select as the base of inland operations ; and the valuable advice of
the experienced traveller appears to have been strictly followed by
Colonel Merewether. From the other two well-known points of
communication, viz., Amphilla Bay and the Gulf of Tajurrah, the
distance across the arid plain varies from 200 to 300 miles ; there
is, therefore, little doubt that a wise selection has been made in
fixing on Massowah, or Anesley Bay, in its immediate neighbour-
hood, as the sea base of operations for the expeditionary force
alwut to invade the dominions of the self-styled descendant of the
Queen of Sheba.

DiiftoiCs Abyssinia 43

Massowah is, moreover, the chief place of shipment for the ex-
ports from Abyssinia, and Theodorous is well known to entertain
the hope that it will eventually become the seaport of his empire.
It lies about 300 miles from the Straits of Bab el Mandeb (Gate of
Tears), at the entrance of the Red Sea ; and about 400 miles from
Aden, our Eastern Gibraltar, at the southern extremity of Arabia.

The small island on which Massowah stands is nearly covered
with buildings, the only respectable house in size or build being
the official residence of the Kaimakan ; the remainder are miser-
able hovels, not excepting those occupied by the English and
French Consuls. In 1866 the garrison numbered about 1000
Egyptian troops, and the artillery defences consisted of twelve
guns ; but, in consequence of the contemplated invasion of
Abyssinia, the force has lately been increased to 10,000 men.

The climate of Massowah, between March and November, is said
to be pleasant enough, but the remaining months of the year are
very trying to European constitutions, for the harbour being land-
locked is beyond the influence of the prevailing breezes outside,
and a damp, dead stagnation of atmosphere often takes place, with
not a breath of air to remove the oppressive feeling.

The Christianity of the country is rather of a mixed character.
It enforces the observances of fasts and other ceremonials, the
adoration of the Virgin, the invocation of saints, the doctrine of the
real presence, and in many other respects bears a strong resem-
blance to the Romish Church ; whilst, on the other hand, it retains
many of the rites of Mosaic dispensation, such as circumcision, the
observance of the Jewish Sabbath, the veiling off a holy place in
their churches, and all the restrictions respecting clean and unclean
animals.

The object of primary importance to be attained by the expedi-
tionary force, was to select a suitable base of operations on the sea
coast, and thence by as short and easy a route as the nature of the
country permits, to establish a second inland base on the edge of
the upland plateau facing the sea. The road or route connecting
the two stations must necessarily be kept open, and, if possible,
communication should be effected by means of telegraph, for which
arrangements have been made. As we have before inferred,
Senafe has now been reached by our advanced brigade, who must
be rejoiced to find a temperature resembling that of an English
autumn. The troops appear to be in the best possible spirits, the
people are friendly, and the advance into the interior is looked

44 Journal of Travel and Natural History

forward to with eagerness. Mr Dufton is oi)posed to the opinions
of those who, knowing the country Avell, are not disposed to
imagine that anything in the shape of a flank movement would
be attempted by the enemy, who, even if desirous of undertaking
such a hazardous proceeding, would probably have to pass through
hostile territories.

The foregoing sketch will serve as a brief introduction to Mr
Dufton's narrative, the latest original- work, so far as we are aware,
on a country with which our troops have by this time begun to
make a practical acquaintance. It is unnecessary to dwell in
detail on the cause of the author's traversing the country, and we
therefore content ourselves by observing that his object in visiting
Equatorial Africa, as stated in his preface, was of a philanthropic
character, with a view to the future extension of Christianity and
colonization, a sufficiently wide field, it must be confessed, for any
one man to undertake.

Like Bruce, our author entered the "Switzerland of Africa"
from the banks of the Nile, and starting from Khartoum, at the
confluence of the White and Blue rivers, he proceeded along the
banks of the latter to Meselemich and Wad Medineh, and thence
by way of Matammah to Debra Tabor, in the heart of Abyssinia,
where he became personally acquainted with Theodorus, and had
an opportunity of forming his own estimate of the character of the
chieftain who now enjoys rather a questionable sort of celebrity.

Mr Dufton appears to have been troubled with only a small
amount of impedimenta in the shape of baggage, but was much
embarrassed in having for his only companion on leaving Khar-
toum, " a donkey wot would'nt go." Frequent reference is made
to the intractable spirit of this animal, which, being probably of a
philosophic turn, was evidently not so enthusiastic on the subject
of exploration as his owner. At the village of Tyibeh Mr Dufton
experienced much kindness from the natives, which culminated in
their offering, for his acceptance, a damsel of seventeen. " I de-
clined," he observes "with thanks, alleging as my reason that
Christians did not allow what Mahommedans permitted. They
(the would-be donors) marvelled at the reply, and the maid
likewise."

In November 1862, Mr Dufton, then accompanied by Mr Lejean,
the French Consul, left Matammah, a place of considerable im-
portance, in consequence of its close proximity to the Abyssinian
frontier, which is described as being indefinitely marked. On

Dtiftfl/i's Abyssinia 45

entering the territoiy of Theodorus, " the road was very uneven,
now ascending a steep mountain side, now descending into a deep
valley. The country was magnificent, far surpassing anything I
had previously seen. The high mountains of the Scotch High-
lands, covered with the fertility of the Rhine land would best
represent it ; but the vegetation was of a nature quite different from
that of the Rhine, characterized as it was by the luxuriance of the
tropics. Once the road skirted the side of a mountain, the summit
of which, raised 1000 feet above our heads, looked down into a
deep valley another 1000 below our feet."

The foregoing description will serve to remind those of our
readers who have travelled from Colombo to Kandy, in Ceylon,
of the Kadaganava Pass. " On the opposite side of the valley,
the land rose to a similar steep eminence, which, in one part,
was connected with that on which we stood by a low chain
of undulating ground, so that a pretty little stream at the
bottom, like a silver thread in the dark shadow of the moun-.
tains, wound about, searching for a channel. Fruitful fields hung
over it, thick at every curve. The hills, of secondary formation,
were broken here and there into rocky chasms, through which
eaped innumerable falls of water, in their downward course to
join the stream ; and here I saw for the first time, the beautiful
Euphorbia, called the Kolquol, whose dark candelabra-shaped
branches, tipped with bright yellow flowers, stood out in deep
relief from the lighter green around. Bright flowers, of every
variety, most of which were unknown to me, but amongst others,
the familiar wild-rose, the honeysuckle, and jessamine, lent their
beauty and fragrance to the scene. The whole was a perfect gem
of nature."

From the summit of the Wekhni Mountain, the travellers were
rejoiced by having a prospective view of no less than 30 miles,
which is thus described, : "This part of the country consists of
vast table-lands of transition rock, intercepted by deep valleys of
undulating ground, partly covered with wood. The flat summits
of the higher lands are entirely bare. We saw here, for the first
time, the grain called ieff^ consisting of what at first would be
aken for long grass run to seed. It stands about a foot high,
and yields a small round grain, not larger than a pin's head. It
makes good sweet bread, however, which is much preferred by the
natives to that of the mashila (doura, or maize), or even to
wheaten bread.

46 Journal of Trai'i'l and Natural History

During the author's visit to Tchelga, a market was held, the
principal articles for sale being, "raw cotton and coarse cloth,
tanned hides, honey, grain, milk, butter, red pepper, coffee, tchat
(a sort of tea), kosso^ and sweet potatoes."

The Maria Theresa dollar is the only coin used, and necessarily
limited to large purchases ; smaller transactions are made with
pieces of salt, called tsho^ cut into small blocks, which form the
principal circulating medium throughout the greater part of
Abyssinia.

On the margins of several streams traversing the undulating
plains of Tchelga, the presence of iron was evidenced, by the
effect produced on a compass of delicate construction, whose
needle, when placed on the ground, was deflected as much as 90°;
and a further proof, was the yellow deposits of oxide left by
mountain rivulets. Beds of inferior coal were also found in the
plain of Tchelga, and Mr Dufton expatiates on the advantages
possessed by the country, but which would require an enlightened
government to develope.

Here, also, on the summit of a hill, traces of the remains of a
stone building — supposed to be those of a Portuguese Church —
were discovered. " As usual in buildings of such a description,
this is situated in the midst of a beautiful grove of trees, amongst
which the Kolquol, by its beauty, claims an undisputed preference.
It here attains a height of 40 feet, and the cactus-like branches,
springing from the parent stem, about 10 feet from the ground, are
some six inches in thickness, and yield on contusion a bitter milky
fluid, which is said to be poisonous. The wild aloe, about two
feet high, adorned with a beautiful red flower, is also very common
in this neighbourhood."

On his way to Debra 'I'abor, Mr Dufton skirted the northern
shores of Lake Tsana, about 70 miles long, by 40 broad, and 6000
feet above the sea level. Several islands, covered with rich tropical
foliage, appear to float on the surface of its smooth waters ; yet,
notwithstanding all its attractions, the Abyssinians have never had
on it a boat worthy of the name. Here, in addition to teff, doura,
wheat, barley, and other cereals, its shores produce cotton, the
grape vine, and a few fruit trees, whilst to the south-west tiie coffee
plant is said to flourish.

In the comparison between the Christians of .\byssinia and the
Mahommedans and Jews, the contrast is unfavourable to the
former, whom he cliaracterizes as being not only proud and

Duf toil's Ahyssiiiiix 47

inhospitable, but deceitful, lying, and insincere, a character which
unfortunately, seems only too well deserved.

At Debra Tabor, Mr Dufton had an opportunity of forming a
personal opinion of the appearance and character of Theodorus,
King of the Kings of Ethiopia ; and his description would tend to
imply that his sable Majesty is not so black as he is painted. For
the following portrait the author is responsible : " His appearance
was that of a man of about forty-five, of middling stature, and
possessed of a well-knit but not over-powerful frame, conveying
more the idea of being tough and wiry than of strong physical
development. His complexion is dark, approaching to black, but
he has nothing of the negro about him. His features are altogether
those of a European. His head is well formed, and his hair is
arranged in large plaits, extending back from the forehead. The
forehead is high, and tends to be prominent. His eye is black,
full of fire, quick, and piercing. His nose has a little of the Roman
about it, being slightly arched and pointed. His mouth is perfect,
and the smile which, during the conversation, continually played
upon it was exceedingly agreeable, I may say fascinating. He has
very little moustache or beard. His manner was peculiarly pleasant,
gracious, and even polite, and his general expression, even when
his features were at rest, was one of intelligence and benevolence.
On the whole, the physiognomist would find no trace of fierce
passion, save in the lightning-glance of his eyes. I watched for the
keen shot of light coming from them at times, and reflected on
what he could be capable of, but they did not strike me as
treacherous eyes."

If the above description be not overdrawn, it tends to confirm
the truth of the old adage respecting appearances, for it would
almost appear as if Mr Dufton had drawn his pen at a venture, and
produced a characteristic sketch of a Howard, a Wilberforce, or a
Peabody. The fact is — at least, we strongly suspect — that the
author was not a little thankful to have escaped the delicate atten-
tion of the amiable despot, and unintentionally (for throughout
the whole book there is a manifest impress of sincerity) he had
drawn too largely on a grateful memory in depicting the cold-
blooded tyrant who was capable of avenging the death of his
favourite, the Englishman Bell, on the field of battle, by the
mutilation of 1700 prisoners, whose hands and feet were chopped
off", and their bodies laid in a heap for wild beasts to devour. On
another occasion, we are told, after the suppression of a revolt in

48 Joiir7ial of Travel and Natural History

the Province of Tigre, the rebel leader, Agow Negusie, and his
brother had their right hands and left feet cut off, and were
exposed in the market-place of Adowa, with strict injunctions from
Theodorus that not even a cup of water should be given them.
Breaking on the wheel, or being torn asunder by horses, are
merciful deaths compared with such diabolical atrocities.

After obtaining his congt from the gentle Prince of Ethiopia, Mr
Dufton started for Massowah, via Adowa, the capital town of the
Province of Tigre, and second city in the empire. Though in a
valley, it is yet 4000 feet above the sea, and excites interest on
account of its being the centre of a chronic state of rebellion, and
the many eventful scenes enacted there. In Adowa, M. Schimper,
the German botanist, whom Mr Dufton describes as the best
informed of all Europeans who have visited the country, has
resided for a period of twenty-six years ; and we echo the regret
expressed in the work before us that he has not yet published
anything on the subject, although he is stated to have constructed
a map of the mountains of Adowa, with all their heights estimated,
not from thermometric observations of boiling point, but according
to the known habitat of various plants.

The celebrated Taranta Pass is described as being almost per-
pendicular for 8000 feet, and the descent, hemmed in as the
traveller was on all sides by mountains, as "going down into the
very bowels of the earth." Here, at a place called Tubbo, a native
Albino was encountered, "with white hair and pink flesh, looking
just like a boiled European," possibly a coiTect description, but
one, which we suspect, few of our readers will be able to verify.

The foregoing extracts, convey only a small idea of the interesting
matter the book contains. The Appendix, of no less than 94
pages, consists of a resume of the main incidents of the Abyssinian
question, but sufficiently voluminous to put the reader in posses-
sion of all that is necessary to understand the cause of our present
complications with Theodorus. But, whatever may have been the
cause, or whatever may be the result of our forcible interference,
one thing is certain, that by it we possess an unrivalled opportuni-
ty of adding to our scientific knowledge of equatorial Africa ; and
we are glad to perceive, that the Government, in making several
late appointments, not only share in this feeling, but have taken
prompt action in carrying out the desirable object. Geography
will be represented by Mr Clements Markham, senior secretary of
the Royal Geographical Society; Zoology by Lieutenant R. C.

Diiftoiis Abyssinia 49

Beaven of the Bengal Staff Corps, who has already distinguished
himself b}^ his collections of natural history in various parts of
India and Burmah ; Geology by Mr W. Blandford, the deputy-
superintendent of the Geological Survey of India ; and Botany, it
is expected, by Dr Birdwood, curator of the Victoria Museum,
Bombay. Other nations are availing themselves of the same
opportunity. The King of Prussia has despatched the African
traveller Gerard Rohlfs, to join the expedition as a scientific ob-
server ; and the King of Italy has sent two staff officers of eminence
to profit by observation of the military operations.

D. M'G.

TRAVEL.

50 Journal of Travel and Natural History

BENTHAM AND HOOKER S GENERA PLANTARUM^

Note by Editor. — When the last part of this work appeared
we immediately saw the difficulty of getting it satisfactorily
reviewed in Britain ; for however eminent the critic might be
who should undertake the task, it was not to be expected
that the public would put much faith in his qualifications
to sit in judgment upon Mr Bentham and Dr Hooker. We felt
that we must look beyond our own island for some one whose
qualifications and position would be sufficient weight to allow his
verdict to be accepted as a guide, and we naturally turned to the
first botanist on the other side of the channel as best qualified to
give an opinion upon the scientific work of the first botanists on
this side. Professor De CandoUe has kindly complied with our
request, as the reader will see from the following note and ac-
companying review : —

" Genh'e, i6th Dccembre 1867.

" Monsieur, — Vous m'avez temoigiie le desir de recevoir pour votre Rnnie un
article sur le Genera Flantariim de MM. Bentham et Hooker. Un ouvrage
de cette importance, dont le merite est pour beaucoup dans les details, a besoin
d'etre consulte pendant plusieurs annees pour etre bien apprecie. Cependant
il y a quelques reflexions generates qu'on pent enoncer des a present, et je
m'empresse de vous envoyer les miennes. EUes sont ecrites en francais et vous
paraitre dans la Bihliotheqiie Universe/le de Geneve, cahier de Decembre 1867,
mais puisque vous etes le cause de ce travail, je vous en envoie une epreuve que
vous pouvez traduire en anglais, si cela vous convient, et publier dans votre
journal. Agreez, monsieur I'assurance de ma consideration distingue.

Alph. de Candolle."

AT OT a year passes without the publication of a multitude
-^ ^ of floras, monographs, and memoirs of all sorts, but the
appearance of a Genera Plantarum has always been a rare
event in science. The work of Messrs. Bentham and Hooker,
of which we jjropose to speak, is, in truth, only the sixth
of that nature since the regular establishment of genera
at the commencement of last century. In fact, if we put
aside the enumerations of new genera, and of genera of
particular countries, a small number of incomplete or insignifi-

* Genera Plantarum ad Exemplaria imprimis in Herbariis Kewcnsibus ser-
vata definata ; Auctoribus — G. Bentham et J. D. Hooker. Vol. I. sistens
Dicotyledonum Polypetalarum Ordines Ixxxiii. (Kanunculacca: — Cornacea;).
Londini : Lovcll Reeve. 1862-67, PP- 1040.

Benthani and Hooker'' s Genera PI ant arum 51

cant compilations, and the tables of Adanson specially rela-
ting to families, we must regard the " Institutiones " of Tournefort,
published in 1709, as the oldest work upon genera. It is there
that botanical genera are for the first time clearly distinguished,
defined by character, and even represented by analytical figures.
The species are there merely enumerated, and are also strangely
mixed up with varieties or monstrosities, so that the merit of the
work lies essentially in the definition of the genera. The Genera
of Linnseus appeared in 1737. The classical work of Antoine
Laurent de Jussieu is of 1789. Almost simultaneously (1790), de
Necker brought out under the title of " Elementa " an enumeration,
much less remarkable, of the genera then known, with an indica-
tion of their characters. A considerable time then elapses, and in
1836 two learned botanists, Endlicher and Meissner, separately
and simultaneously set about publishing Genera Plantarum,
Finally in 1862 Messrs Bentham and Hooker undertake anew
that always great and difficult task.

Was this, then, a work imperatively demanded by the state of
the science ? or, in reality, have not the zealous English botanists
chiefly consulted their powers, their classical knowledge of classifi-
cation, and the extraordinary riches of the materials at their dis-
posal ? We rather incline to believe the latter alternative. The
Prodromus with its slow but regular step was passing gradually
over the large class of Dicotyledons, creating or destroying many
genera ; and putting them, one after another, to the proof by a
complete revision of species.

The Genera of Endlicher, a work of remarkable perfection, and
of a convenient size, was still in all hands. The division of Ciyp-
togams is undergoing profound transformations, which it will be
difficult for many years to condense into truly stable genera, or
sub-genera, analogous to those of the Phanarogams. Besides, the
history of botany shews that more than a quarter of a century has
commonly elapsed between the publications of " Genera." On the
other hand, few botanists are so well situated as Messrs Bentham
and Hooker, for undertaking a work of this nature. Each of them
has already published floras of different countries, and monographs,
two kinds of works which develope the tact and the judgment in
matters of natural classification. They have the necessary coup
d'oeil and experience. The disposition of their minds is not to
absorb themselves in details. They delight to group facts, and as
they have at their hand immense herbaria, with a rich library, it is

D 2

52 Journal of Travel a7id Natural History

easy to understand the seductions which the work of a "Genera" has
for them. It happens often enough to naturahsts, and to all
learned men, to allow themselves to be led by their individual ap-
titudes, or by private circumstances, more than by considerations
of the general state of science. When De Candolle commenced
the Systema and the Prodromus, the time was badly chosen.
Travellers were every year bringing back between one and two
thousand new species. It was like a submergence of genera : and
families in proportion as the revision operated ; and, nevertheless,
is it not better that the work has been courageously ventured on and
continued ? In future, the authors of new " Genera " will have to
traverse in the series of families entire regions, in which they will find
little or nothing to correct or modify. Nevertheless, since that enter-
prise has smiled upon them, let us not blame them. One only
does that well which they like ; and a serious employment of the
time of capable botanists always produces good results. The first
volume of the new " Genera," which is just finished, is a proof of it.
The next in which the immense family of Composites will be com-
prised, will probably be of still greater importance, on account of
the numerous retouches and additions made by divers authors
since the Prodromus.

At the first glance, the work has not that regular, we would say
even magisterial disposition which one admires in Endlicher's book.
The great divisions of the kingdom are not there exposed from
the beginning and co-ordinated with the rest. They are expressly
reserved. That is a consequence of a profound diff'erence in the
manner of proceeding. Endlicher had constructed his Genera
chiefly from books. Our authors draw up theirs chiefly from
plants. Endlicher, in spite of all his capacity, could never have
executed his work in four years, if he had attempted to verify all
the characters, and to innovate, by referring back to the direct
examination of species. Without doubt he had examined many
plants, or rather he had seen, and he has profited by his notes to
amend here and there ; but he has not indicated what he had him-
self verified, and, in general, one has the feeling in consulting him
that he has verified little, and that he shines chiefly by an exposition
as complete as lucid of the labours of his predecessors. Messrs
Bentham and Hooker, on the contrary, work upon the plants them-
selves. Their title bears : — " Genera Plantarum ad exemplaria
imprimis in Herbariis Kcwensibus servata definita." It is clear and
it is true. We know, thanks to the friendly relations by which we

Bcniham and Hooker's Genera Plantar uni 53

are united to the two authors, that they analyse for their work
minions of specimens. In consulting their work, one can start
from the basis that they have verified the characters, except in the
rare cases, where they tell us that they have been unable to do so.
This is a capital point. Since Jussieu, no "Genera" has been drawn
up so completely after nature.

Hence some slowness is the necessary result. The publication of
the first volume of the two writers has required five years, as much
as the entire work of Endlicher. Another consequence has been
to drive off to the end, after a complete review of the families, the
consideration of the great divisions and great classes. For the
present, our authors limit themselves to indicating a first category
of Dicotyledons, the Polypetala, which are subdivided into Thalami-
florse, Disciflor^e, and Calyciflorae. These latter comprehend co-
horts and families assuredly more evident than the new group of
Disciflorse. One does not yet see what will be done with the
Gymnosperms, nor how certain families of Monochlamydese, per-
haps Apetala, which touch on several Polypetala, will be finally
arranged. For the rest, Messrs Bentham and Hooker have adopted
in the series of families, the order of the Prodromus, without doubt,
not that they regard it as perfect — there is no perfect linear
order, nor can any linear order be perfect — but because it is a
well-known and convenient order. It is that of a quantity of floras
and many herbaria. It is also a logical order, under the point of
view that it makes the enumeration commence by families which
are easy of comprehension, in which no difficult question of organ-
ography comes to stop us. Thus in the Ranunculaceae all the
organs of the flower repose upon one extremity of the axis, and
shew their intimate analogy with the leaf The ovaries are superior.
Their soldering present steps which facilitate the understanding of
the phenomenon. The ovules take their rise clearly from the side
of each carpellary leaf (Delphinium.) To place the Ranunculaceaa
at the head of the vegetable kingdom, certainly does not respond
to the idea of selecting a perfect form in the sense of very compli-
cated ; but it does respond to the need our minds require of
proceeding from the known to the unknown. Many other arrange-
ments in the series of the Prodromus are less easy to justify ; only
it must be admitted, that the other dispositions proposed by
Lindley, Endlicher, Brongniart, Agardh the son, &c., are also open
to objections ; and it is an established rule, that in cases of doubt
we should give the preference to the most considerable work, to

54 Jour)ial of Travel and Natural History

the only "Species" of the current epoch. That .si)ares readers
trouble in turning over works, and searching continually in tables.
The true and very complicated relations of groups, the one with
the other, are, we have said reserved ; and the conclusion of the
work may place them better in evidence, than transpositions made
by degrees in the series of families.

As regards the manner in which the Genera are grouped in
tribes and families, we prefer the new Genera to that of Endlicher.
The exposition is clearer and more convenient in certain
respects. For example, Messrs Bentham and Hooker do not
admit groups annexed in a vague way to families, with a tribal
termination without being tribes. When one hesitates as to the
place or nature of a group, the simplest mode of indicating it is to
mark it with a point of interrogation. Neither embarassment nor
equivocation result from that ; while, for instance, the Coriarise of
Endlicher, annexed to the Malpighiaceae, without number of family
or tribe; the Grubbiacese, Nyssacese, Antholobeae, &c., annexed
in the same manner to the Santalaceas, and many others, are
not easy to comprehend and cite. Some authors mention them
as families of Endlicher, others as tribes. The synonymy be-
comes complicated by these middle terms ; and one no longer
recognises in this case the usually clear treatment of the learned
German.

The synoptic tables of Messrs Bentham and Hooker are nume-
rous and ably done. One finds them at each step of the classifica-
tion, for the divisions of classes, cohorts, and families. They take
up little space, and, moreover, appear in perfect conformity with the
text, which is not the case in all books. These resumes will be
found very convenient. The rather original innovation by our
authors of indicating, separately and distinctly, the exceptions and
anomalies which present themselves in the Genera, whether in the
families or cohorts, -will be appreciated. The botanist who seeks
to determine a plant, and who, perhaps, holds in his hand an
exceptional form, is put on his guard; at the same time, the
characters of tlie groups are abridged. They are less encumbered
with these vel which commonly lengthen and confuse them. It is
practical ; only the reader must not forget that the exceptions fall
within the group, and that in reality a character is composed of the
rule with the exceptions ; whence it results that one ought not, for
example, to transcribe the character without the exceptions, in the
same way as he must not transcribe a specific phrase of the Prodro-

Bentham and Hooker's Gc/icra Plantaniin 5 5

mus without keeping count of the words placed outside of it and
in evidence to constitute the association of species.

As one might expect in a " Genera," the characters of the genera
and famihes are the parts of the work most cared for. The syno-
nymy, that of the famihes especially, is rather abridged. We may,
perhaps, be permitted to regret the absence of the usual citation
of the author who has first given each name of a family or tribe,
and the indication of what was a family in the most important
antient Avorks. One likes to be advertised by the name of an
author that a group is not new as family or tribe ; neither is it any
more a matter of indifference to know, without seeking elsewhere,
that such a tribe was regarded as a family, or such a family -regarded
as a tribe, by such or such a botanist of a certain merit. Never-
theless, we beheve that Messrs Bentham and Hooker have
done well not to repeat all the synonyms of families, tribes,
genera, sub-genera, and sections, which exist already in the
Prodromus, in Endlicher, Meissner, &c. They do not mention
those synonyms already proved, unless they have something to
say about them ; and, so far as regards sub-genera or sections, they
scarcely speak of any but those on which they have a remark to
make, or a new observation to publish. That abbreviation is
almost a necessity, for the number of synonyms has augmented
enormously. I possess a manuscript dictionary in which, for sixty-
eight years past, my father and I have introduced all the names of
classes, families, genera, and sections,^ — in one word, all the general
names superior to species. It is a repository more complete than
the tables of any work, and by so much the more precious that it
gives for each name the indication of its date of publication, of the
author who proposed it, of the place which he gave it in the
classification, and of that which has been given to it in the
Prodromus, when that work has spoken of it. Whenever a
book, a pamphlet, or a journal is entered in our library, it is
analyzed, to excerpt from it those indications on the new names.
Consequendy, our dictionary now contains from 43 to 44,000
names. It would, obviously, be absurd to intercalate all these
names in a " Genera." That would be to double its size without real
advantage. It would be better for science that our manuscript
were pubHshed, such as it is, under the same form as dictionaries
of languages. Every author would consult it before proposing a
new name, which would prevent double employment of the same
name. It would be consulted, also, for questions of priority. In

56 Journal of Travel and Natural History

short, I do not doubt that the work would be very useful (and I
can speak from experience), but its place cannot be supplied by a
" Genera." Its extent justifies Messrs Bentham and Hooker for the
greater part of the retrenchments which they have imposed upon
themselves in the citation of their synonyms.

They rectify in passing many citations badly made, which lead
into error. No one would believe, for instance, how much the
opinions of De Candolle, given out in the Systema and the Pro-
dromus, are erroneously represented by many subsequent botanists.
M. Schnizlein (Iconogr. Famil. Nat.) mentions the Gompheaceoe,
D.C., Andromadacese, D.C., and other names which do not
exist in the works of De Candolle at least under that form, and as
names of families. Ecklon and Zeyher (Enum. Plant. Afr. Austr.,
p. 8) attribute to my father genera named Carponema, Leptormus,
Ormiscus, which he has not made, and which he did not want to
make, for he had proposed these groups as sections of the genus
Heliophila (Syst. ii., p. 679). Messrs Bentham and Hooker, who
of new consider them as sections, re-establish the truth in citing
these names as the names of sections of De Candolle, and of
genera of Ecklon and Zeyher. Carried on over the whole extent
of the vegetable kingdom, such rectifications are not without
importance.

Messrs Bentham and Hooker do not take up everything ab ovo.
They suppose botanists to be provided with the most important
works which have preceded them. They refer back to several of
these works, and even to monographs of families. What they give
is a resume', or a complement, of previous labours. The newest
part of their work is disclosed by the use that is made of it. It
consists in an infinity of information upon genera badly known or
badly described, of which the Herbaria of Kew contain authentic
specimens, or on which our authors have been able to obtain
information Avhich was not to be found elsewhere. These details
are extremely scattered, but each is put in its place, and the tables
refer to them.

Messrs Bentham and Hooker propose few new genera. They
destroy many old ones. That last tendency is made a matter of
reproach to them, but it appears to us to flow naturally from the
present state of things, and from the quantity of publications lightly
made since the time of Linnaeus, and even within the last few years.
How many genera have there not been proposed on insignificant
characters, or on characters common to a whole family, or on some

Bentham and Hooker'' s Genera Plantaruni 57

species slightly exceptional, without paying regard to the fact, that
if we separate their species, we must make not one, but four, five,
perhaps fifty analogous genera. In the works of floras, of gardens,
of descriptions of plants, of travellers, one does not see certain
transactions nor certain similarities. Monographers are after-
wards obliged to make a hecatomb of new genera as of new species.
Without doubt, there are great botanists endowed with much tact,
who divine the genera at the sight of a species, of a character, of a
particular habit; but these are exceptions. The rule is, that it is
necessary to have seen all the units, and to have studied them
well, in order to be able to group them suitably, and the merit of
the "Genera" of Messrs Bentham and Hooker, is that theyrest them-
selves on a review of species, not, it is true, so deep as those of
monographs, but nevertheless on a review, accompanied by analysis
and the comparison of numerous specimens. Let us ask from them
only that the reductions of genera be always well explained, and
the grounds fully exposed, so as to permit every one to make the
necessary verifications for himself.

In this respect, Messrs Bentham and Hooker have taken pains.
Nevertheless, they might do still more, and in future inspire still
greater confidence. Let them not fear, with that object, to add a
few words from time to time. Let us cite an example : the
generic division of the Begoniaceee is almost the same as that
which we have admitted in the Prodromus. The fifty and odd
groups distinguished by Klotzsch on the old genus Begonia, and
of which he had made genera, are brought back with the title of
sections under the common name of Begonia, as we have ourselves
done. But Messrs Bentham and Hooker go a little further. They
abandon the genus Casparya, of Klotzsch, which we have cha-
racterized principally by a dehiscence of the capsule by means of a
longitudinal fissure of the angles or wings. Messrs Bentham and
Hooker say, in speaking of the whole family, " Capsulas dehis-
centiam in una eademque specie invenimus, nunc secus angulos
loculorum ut in Casparya, nunc secus faciem ut in Begonia."
If they had mentioned the species which presented that double
dehiscence, we might perhaps have been able to verify it, and on
a view of the facts, have ranked ourselves as of the opinion of our
friends. In doubt on the point, we have run over the whole genus
Begonia in our herbarium, without discovering a single example of
dehiscence anyAvhere but on the sides, to right and left of the
wings ; and it even appears to us impossible to have t\vo dehis-

5 8 Journal of Travel and Natural History.

cences more different than those of Begonia and Casparya, since
the wings of the Begonias have no disposition to divide themselves,
while, in the true Casparyas, the wing or angle of each loculus
divides itself. There are, according to the " Genera," species of
Casparya non-dehiscent; but then either a genus should be made
of them, or rather we should regard them as forming a section, for
between a dehiscent fruit and an indehiscent fruit, there is some-
times less difference than between a loculicide capsule* and a
septicide capsule, the absence of dehiscence being perhaps due to
something else than a difference of nervation, or the position of
the loculi. One may see by this example, that the citation of the
names of species in the "Genera" is sometimes desirable. This
would make it a little longer ; but to inspire more confidence is an
object worth the additional length. Besides, when one goes
through the labour of analyzing so many species, it is a matter of
regret that the public should not profit more by it.

The tendency of Messrs. Bentham and Hooker to unite, whether
it be species, or genera, or families — a tendency habitual
with them, and which to some appears exaggerated — appears
to us to flow almost per force from the successive discoveries
which are taking place. The more the cases are filled, the more
intermediate forms multiply. Varieties formerly neglected or
unknown come to unite species ; new species make the transition
between genera ; new genera between families. One is obliged
to multiply the steps of classification and to round in each of them.
To thoroughly understand that march, and at the same time several
of the questions relating to the natural method, it is well to employ
a mode of representation very graphic and sufficiently simple.

Let us suppose a botanist, very exact, a very good observer, and
very judicious in the appreciation of relations. If he has devoted a
sufficient time to the study of a, family, if he has seen all its forms,
from the smallest variations of species up to genera, tribes, and
even neighbouring families, he would represent to himself the
beings which compose that region of the vegetable kingdom as a
vast archipelago. The distribution of forms on a plane surface
will be, I admit, often insufficient ; he would require to employ
the three dimensions ; and still the supposed botanist would have
difficulty in exhibiting the extreme complication of facts by the
means of such material procedure. Nevertheless, there are cases
where the affinities may be represented by means of a sort of geo-
graphical map ; and to simplify the argument we shall suppose one

Bentliam and Hooker's Genera Plantar laii 5 9

of these cases. Our learned and profound botanist has then
grouped the varieties and the races in species, and he has suc-
ceeded in placing the species upon a map dispersed according to
their degrees of resemblance and dissimilarity, On designing them
by the first letter of their names they are found to be placed thus: —

;/ k g m

I d z X i j p y e

c a y p 7a

u t V

o

c s

There are here evidently six groups : n k I c; 0 c s; d z x; a;
g down to v; and 70. The most numerous in species is subdi-
vided naturally into two, ior y and tv are more or less distinct from
the rest.

The value of the characters common to species of each group
will decide whether we must make of these groups six distinct
genera or six sections of a large genus ; or again, perhaps, three
genera, that of the left divided into three sections ; a a monotypic
genus; and a genus on the right divided into two sub-genera, of
which w is monotypic, and the remainder of the sub-genus into
two sections. The sound judgment of the supposed botanist will
direct him in the appreciation of the characters. He will desire to
be consistent with himself in the same family and in the group of
families in question. He will name the genera from associations
of an importance analogous to that of the genera admitted by
means of authors, and of very apparent genera consecrated by the
language of all people. If he hesitates to make of a group a genus
or a sub-genus, he will prefer this latter course, which dispenses
with a new generic name and relieves the memory ; the large
genera being after all sufficiently convenient. But whatever course
he resolves on, it is clear that the discovery of a species between
c and 0, between x and a, between a and y, between w and the
nearest species, will change his combinations completely. A better
knowledge of species would have the same effect if our supposed
botanist was not a veritable monographer ; but we have supposed
him such. It is plain that the march of science ought to bring
about fusions, and rather fusions than divisions. In former times
in entering on the flora of very distant countries, species were dis-
covered which have appeared very distinct, and which afterwards
have been united by others from these or neighbouring countries.

6o Journal of Travel and Natural History

Draw by lot a thousand species of all islands and all continents,
study them thoroughly : they will appear to you to constitute 500
genera of which several are monotypes. Add 20,000 species of all
countries: immediately several intermediate species will appear, the
proportion of monotypical genera will diminish, and that of species
per genus will augment. In fact, science has not progressed in
any other way.

The same graphic construction, and the same reasonings, may
be applied to all the steps of natural classification. Thus a species
thoroughly studied in all the extent of its habits, and all its forms,
compared afterwards with neighbouring species, may equally give
place to figures where letters would represent varieties. The
question would then be, to know if the groups of neighbouring
letters deserve to be called sub-species (races), or species with the
chance that on a new form being discovered (or one of the old
ones actually disappearing from the world, which is possible) one
may have to modify their ideas. Letters disposed in a certain
way, would equally represent genera, and groups of genera form-
ing tribes or families. The same for letters which should represent
families. Only the probability that the combinations might be
destroyed, by the discovery of new units, diminishes the higher
groups we deal with. It is impossible to believe in the discovery
of a higher class in the vegetable kingdom. One does not dis-
cover, so to speak, any more families. In that category, there can
scarcely be any more changes, except by a better appreciation of
the distance which separates the tribes belonging to families
formerly admitted. I have shewn elsewhere* by figures, that the
definite constitution of new genera, truly admissible, becomes
rarer and rarer, and that by the end of the century it will probably
have ceased; while, for along time to come, the question of species,
races, and varieties will be agitated.

According to these facts, based alike on the history of the science
and on the principles of the Natural method, it is more and more
hazardous to propose a new genus. The probability that such or
such a genus is bad increases, we shall not absolutely say each
year, but certainly each decennial period. Except in the case of
a form completely original, found in some distant little explored
region, or of a complete work on a family, it is very rash, now-a-

* Laws of Bulanical Nomcnclalurc, &c. Lovell Reeve. London, 1S68.
See Introduction.

Bentham and Hooker's Genera Plantaruni 6 1

days, to propose a new genus. On the other hand, as there are,
and always will be, plenty of rash botanists, it belongs to mono-
graphers and the authors of " Genera," to revise their pretended
discoveries. Thus, the tomb has just closed upon a Russian
botanist, assuredly most estimable and zealous, who knew the
plants of his own country well, but who made the mistake of
establishing a genus every time he could not detemiine clearly a
plant from South America and the Philippine Islands. Many of
these genera of M. Turczaninow are based upon a single species,
in groups of which he did not see the whole. One nearly always
destroys them at the first regular examination ; and it is fortunate
in such cases that Messrs Bentham and Hooker have set them-
selves to make a "Genera." Isolated monographs are rare; those of
the Prodromus march slowly, and do not return upon what is past.
It is for our two botanists, who pass in review all families, to pro-
ceed more completely and more rapidly. Special works explore
to the bottom a small space in the field of science. The "Genera"
run over the whole and clear, in some sort, the whole extent of the
ground. The service which they render is by so much the more
real, that it does not require us to wait. After a volume of the
Prodromus, or a monograph of a family, the genera proposed on
light grounds may remain for ten or twenty years in the books,
if there were not some rapid revision elsewhere. This is one
advantage of the "Genera" of Messrs Bentham and Hooker,
and we ought to keep it in mind, even when we are not of their
opinion on the union of some old genera up to this time regarded
as valid.

On the subject of that fusion of antient genera, we are very
little disposed to cite examples, and to weigh them. That would
be a perfect bore to the reader, and, at the same time, contrary to
our principles. If we have criticised the suppression of a genus
of Begoniaceae, it is that we have made that family a special object
of study. Let others in similar circumstances, but then only,
examine and discuss them. Probably many botanists will do as
we do. They will judge it right to consult the work, to profit by
the numerous renseignments that are to be found in it, and they
will suspend their opinion on many points. The new "Genera" will
advance. It will have its defects, like all works ; but definitely, it
has already cleared up many things, and it will continue to render
positive service to all those who are working in the field of de-
scriptive botany. Alph. de Candolle.

62 Jownal of Travel and N'atural History

CotHsponlicnce.

THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN.

Thanks to the kindness of Captain Ricliards, Hydrographcr to the Ad-
miralty, and Dr Hooker of Kew, both of whom, with their well-known
zeal for the diffusion of science, have readily acceded to our request for
information regarding the Government Scientific Expeditions now in progress,
we are enabled to lay before the reader, extracts from the correspondence of
Captain Mayne, the Commanding Officer, and of Dr Cunningham, the Naturalist
of the Surveying Expedition, now employed on the survey of the Straits of
Magellan.

The eastern part of the Straits has now been nearly completed, and by last
accounts. Captain Mayne, after passing the winter (our summer) at Monte
Video, had returned to the Straits to resume his work, and the western
entrance about Cape Pillar, will probably be the point to which his attention
will first be directed.

The following are a few extracts from some of Captain Mayne's earlier letters
to Captain Richards, and one of Dr Cunningham's later letters to Dr Hooker :

Captain Mayne, R. N. , to Captain Richards, HyJrograpker to the Admiralty.

H.M. S. " Nassau," Sandy Point,*
Deconbcr 23, 1866.
" This place is greatly improved since we were here in the ' Plumper ;' the
present governor has only been here about two months, and was appointed, it
appears from what he says, on our account, as he speaks both English and
French, and has travelled a great deal in Europe. He seems very willing to
assist us, informing me the moment he came on board, that not only the orders
of his government, but also his own wish, made him desirous to help us.
Since that, he has promised to send out all his men to cut firewood for us
to-mon-ow, and has also engaged to get us 30 good poles for stations, as I see
we cannot get any wood eastward of Cape Negro. He has also promised us an
interpreter, to take back with us. He has here about looo hea(l of cattle, and
is endeavouring to rear stock of all kinds : he has some lOO or more wild geese,
from Elizabeth Island, 4 guanacoes, 2 ostriches (Rheas), and is getting his
garden into nice order. He is also building a pier. He will not sell the cattle,
but has told me I may have a bullock \\henever I please, if I will return it in
kind from the I'"alklanfl Islands or Monte Video. The officers are delighted
with the place, what with fish, abundance of wild fowl, deer, and an occasional
guanaco. Cunningham finds Scotland reproduced, he says, and has done
nothing but 'jiot' animals since we came in : between the dredge, towing net
and shore, he has been pretty well engaged, but he seems perfectly ready and
willing. Campl^ell assists ; he shot four parrots yesterday. Last, but I think
by no means least, I should add, that our friendly ' commandant' has promised
to build us a large beacon, on the high summit some few miles back from this,
and I think this will be of great use to us whene\er we triangulate this part.

* S.indy Point is a pKice on the north coast of the Straits of MaRcUan, about 50 miles
farther north than Purt Famine, where, it appears, the Monte Videan Government have
estabhshed a post, with a governor.

Correspondence — Straits of Magellan ^2>

Coal has been found nine miles from this : I am going to the mine on Christmas
day, and we are to have a sack or two sent off to try. I brought a specimen
off, and the engineer says it will do very well mixed with other coal.

" The governor says, they never experience the least trouble with the natives here.

" It is, perhaps, premature to say much of the surveying staff, until we send
you home some charts, but I may say, so far as I have yet seen, I am very
much pleased with them.

" The weather is still beautiful — the sun at this moment shining as brightly
as on an English summer's day."

"Jason, West Cay, — in 67° east, $6 miles. — February 18, 1867. — So far,
all the work of the survey has gone very well, and the only bad news I have to
give, is of Mr Connor having been wounded by some Fuegians, who attacked
a party that was detached under the command of Mr Gray. On the 29th
December, we left Sandy Point, and reached an old anchorage under Direction
Hill that evening. On Monday (31st) I steamed over to Cape Orange, and left
Messrs Gray and Connor, first whaler and cutter, to look for a base on Orange
Bank, while I took the ship into Possession Bay, and went with the galley and
steam cutter to look for one there. We were very fortunate in each getting a
good base, and I got three set of circums, and a three day rate, — while Mr
Hoskyn, in the steam cutter, sounded the narrow bank. I saw Mr Gray's
boats go on board on the 3rd, but merely assumed they had finished their work,
and was, therefore, much surprised to hear, when I went on board on the 5 th,
of the attack on their party. I enclose you the letter I have written about it,
which contains all I know ; at that time, I could not get an interpreter, although
I have since done so. I fear, however, we shall never be able to trust the
Fuegians. We had an interview with the Patagonians the other day, and they
sold us some guanaco and ostrich meat, and promised not to meddle with our
marks. Mr Connor has since quite recovered from his wound.

" To return to our work, — I measured a base of 7705 feet, and Mr Gray one
of 5204 feet. Mine being from the base of Direction Hill towards the Narrows,
and his along the Orange Bank, — and fixing Orange Peak independently, our
two bearings agreed exactly, so that we started with Orange to Direction —
nearly nine miles — as our base east and west. We had a week of beautiful
weather, and worked out to Cape Virgin and Cape Espiritu Santo, with cal-
culated triangles the whole way, fixing Mount Dinero from each base, and then
from the long base. I had marked out the triangulation on the passage out,
and have carried out the scheme then drawn, though I confess, when I drew it,
I thought it very improbable I should carry it out. We have been most
fortunate in our sights. Fitzroy says, it is ' fruitless waste of time' to attempt
rating the chronometers by equal altitudes, in other months than May, June,
and July, but we got excellent sights at Sandy Point on our arrival there, and
also on quitting it the other day ; besides which, we have rated at our Direction
Hill base, got circums two days running at Dunganness Spit, and any number
of true bearings at Cape Virgin, Direction Hill, and Cape Gregory. On the
whole, therefore, I think our astronomical observations very satisfactory, much
more so than I thought they would be.

" Messrs Hoskyn and Connor, I have left behind at Elizabeth Island, with
the steam cutter and one whaler, a month's provisions and coals ; I dropped
them on the way to Sandy Point last time, and then called there on my way up
to see if they were all right, and to leave them eight days' fresh beef They
were all volunteers. I hope they will be able to finish Royal Roads, and connect
with Cape Gregory before our return. All the staff are going on very well, and
I still consider myself very fortunate in them.

''''February 21. — Just before leaving Sandy Point, Cunningham and I
visited the coal seam near it, but it is not at all fit for working, and Cunningham
thinks would not be so without considerable boring.

" I wish to call your attention to our Rio longitude, and that of Mouchez.
No doubt you have seen his address to the Academic, in which he says, — that
after much trouble, &c., &c., he considers Rio in 3h. oim. 5 7s. 00 west of
Greenwich, — while our mean distance, which we have taken as our most
correct, is 3h. oim. 57s. 50. The agreement is curious at least."

64 Journal of Tnrod and Natural History

" Between Grkgory Bay and Vali.e Point, — April 13, 1867. — The ebb
tide ruslies out of Lee Bay at such a rate, tliat it was as much as we could do
to stem it at full speed the other day. The cutter got swept out into the
narrow stream, and I weighed and steamed after her ; by the time she was up,
we wore making stem way at half sjiecd ahead, and as 1 said, only just stem-
med it at full S])eed. . . . The governor at Sandy Point gave our steam
cutter some of the coal from the mine near, to try, and the engineer reported
very favourably on it. . . .

" Also I went to see the Chonos Archipelago ; it seems to me, that if there
is no passage through by the Gulf of St Estevan — and I suppose Fitzroy made
certain of this, there is no reason why a vessel should not go out at the Gulf of
Penas, and again enter tlie inner waters by Wickham Inlet, or Darwin Channel,
and so pass up inside Chiloe Island. This would give 260 or 270 miles more
of smooth water for a steamer. Inside Chiloe Island, the Spanish Admiral
Nunez Mundez took three ironclads, and he told me it was quite safe ; and in
Harper'' s Magazine ^ox h^xW 1865, there is an account of the ' Waterer,' an
American man-of-war steamer that went through part of the channel inside
the Chonos Islands. The account is not very precise, but they seeni to have
tried the entrance marked on the chart as the Triangular Channel, and found it
closed up, and that they then entered by a passage south of it, probably south-
ward of Bartholomesv Island ; after which they met with no difficulties.

"I propose to commence next year, by finding a harbour onthe south shore,
if possible a little west of Cape Froward, perhaps Hidden Harbour, or one
thereabouts, and them some western one, perhaps Port Tamar ; after that
setting to work at the Smyth's Channels."

"Sandy Point, May 15, 1867. — With my Rio letter, I send all our
magnetic observations for the voyage out, a specimen of the bottom obtained
on the Jaseur Bank, a tracing, and a report of Dr Cunningham's on said
bottom.

" The Chief of the Patagonians is a great friend of mine, and I am arranging
with him to meet us at the Gallegos next month ; indeed I am not quite sure
that a party will not go up with him and bring the fossils* down on horseback.

Rich. C. Mayne."

Letter fro»i Dr Ciiiniiiigham, iXatiira/ist on Board JI. M.S. "Nassau^'' (Captain
Mayne, Commander), to Dr /looker, Keu<.

H.M.S. "Nassau," Gregory Bay,
April 12, 1867.

"As we shall have an opportunity of despatching a mail in the course of
two or three weeks by tlie ' Spiteful,' which meets us with coals and
provisions, I write to you again to inform you of our proceedings since my
last, which was penned in St lago Bay, nearly two months ago, and sent
off from the Falkland Islands shortly thereafter. We left the Straits late
on the afternoon of the l6th of February, passed the Jason Islands on the
evening of the i8tli, and reached Stanley Harbour about 6 I'.M. on the 19th.
It was a wretched cold, rainy afternoon, and I thought Stanley one of the most
miserable-looking places I had ever seen, with its houses irregularly scattered
up and down the side of a bare, bleak hill. I cannot say that a further acquaint-
ance with Stanley and its neighbourhood prepossessed me in its favour, although I
saw much that interested me in the course of various walks that we took while
we were there. Owing to the season being far advanced, the greater number of
the plants were out of flower, but I got specimens of several that were new to
mc, though well known to the scientific world. The day after we arrived, I had
a walk up one of the low hills in the environs of Stanley, and saw, for the first
time, specimens of the famous ' Balsam Bog ' i)lant, as well as the beautiful
little Callixene marginata, which the colonists call the almond flower, from its
sweet smell. I was told that the Tussock grass is in a fair way of being extir-

*Some large fossil bones alluded to in a former letter, but which have not yet arrived.

Correspondence — Straits of Magellan 65

pated, it having been destroyed in most parts of the island by the cattle, which
eat it and trample it down in order to get at the sweet succulent base of the
stem ; and that it is now limited almost entirely to small islands and low rocky
points close to the sea. The Veronica elliptica, which was cultivated in abund-
ance in the gardens at Stanley, was, I was told, not uncommon in the neigh-
bourhood, but I did not obtain any wild specimens of it. Round about the
settlement, a variety of naturalized plants were to be met with, e. g., Veronica
serpylifolia, Senecio vulgaris, Stellaria media. Among the few plants that were
still in flower were the Senecio Falklandicus, abundantly, and the Myrtus
nummularia and Oxalis enneaphylla, sparingly. I was not veiy fortunate,
either, as regards marine zoology or botany. I did not meet with almost any
Algce that we had not previously obtained in the Straits, and there was a great
similarity in the marine animals to those of the Straits. Thus I picked up
specimens of Trophon Magellanicus and Mytilus Magellanicus, two of the most
characteristic Strait shells. The dredge yielded nothing, so I was limited to
what I could procure on the beach. I found two or three sponges, and a variety
of animals in the roots of the kelp, such as a hermit crab I had not seen before,
some small Echini, a curious little papillose Ascidian, &c. One day I saw
great numbers of a small Medusa, of one of which I have a sketch. I was much
struck by the extraordinary tameness of the cormorants and steamer ducks in the
harbour, some of the latter positively landing apparently for the purpose of
scrutinizing one's appearance. I was very sorry I had no opportunity of visiting
any of the penguin rookeries. The weather was very broken, with much rain
and wind, and there were not facilities for taking long excursions on land that
I had hoped for. I saw one of the well-known streams of stones : it certainly
constituted a most remarkable phenomenon, and one which does not admit of
easy explanation. From the governor, Mr Robinson, I received specimens of
a carbonaceous mineral procured from various parts of the island. As I have
not the materials on board requisite for a careful analysis of it, I shall not venture
to pronounce a decided opinion as to its nature, which, however, appears to me
to partake more of that of anthracite than of coal proper. We left the island on
the evening of the 2d of March. On the forenoon of the 3d, Mr Sullivan, the
officer on watch, directed my attention to some brilliant scarlet-coloured patches
floating past the ship. These, on examination, proved to be composed of
multitudes of macrourous decapodous Crustacea, bearing a great general resem-
blance to Galathea. The body of the animals (a few of which I kept alive in
sea-water for some days) was about three-quarters of an inch long when the tail,
which in the ordinary state is curved under the cephalo-thorax, is stretched out,
while the claw-bearing limbs were nearly an inch long. The general colour of the
body was scarlet ; the eyes, a large patch on the cephalo-thorax, and a line
following the course of the alimentary canal, bluish black. The animals swam
rapidly backwards, by repeated flexions and extensions of the tail. On the 6th
we re-entered the Straits, and anchored off Cape Possession, where I obtained a
splendid haul of Terebratula;, as well as some fine Calyptreae, Polyzoa, &c. We
proceeded on to Sandy Point next day, in company with the flag-ship, ' Zealous '
which arrived at the Falklands while we were there, and which we again met off
Cape Possession.

On the 8th, on the return of Captain Mayne from taking sights, he
brought on board some specimens of gold and copper ore, which the governor
of Sandy Point had given him, with the information that they had been pro-
cured not far from the settlement. 1 examined them, and feel no doubt as
to the genuineness of the gold, which is associated with quartz. The copper
ore is a very rich one, consisting of the sulphuret, together with a certain pro-
portion of the blue carbonate of copper. In the afternoon I went on shore,
spending some time. There I got several Fungi that I had not before seen ; a
most beautifully-coloured Polyporus on the deciduous beech ; Cyttaria Hookeri,
also on the deciduous beech (this Cyttaria I obtained growing on the same tree
with Cyttaria Darwinii, on a subsequent excursion to Sandy Point) ; an Exidia,
&c.

The day after, in accordance with the wish of Admiral Hastings that the
' Nassau ' should pilot him through the .Straits to the western entrance, we left
TRAVEL. E

66 JouDial of Travel and Natural History

Sandy Point and went on to Port l-'amine, wliere we anchored early in the after-
noon. A good many of us landed, and spent some time on shore. The day
was very stormy, and made us realize that we were entering the damp region of
the Strait. The woods were so thick that we only penetrated a short distance
into them, but I got some fine lichens on the trunks of the trees. On the bare
ground, Fcstuca Fuegiana was very jilentiful, and a few lingering specimens of
Sisyrinchium fi'ifolium were still in (lower. On the beach, a sand-inhabiting
bivalve, allied to Mactra, was abundant, and I picked up a portion of a
decapodous crustacean, apparently a Muneda. A small party of Fuegians
made their appearance on the opposite side of the river, at Port Famine, from
where we were — miserable-looking objects, whose only covering was a short
guanaco-skin cloak. They attempted to hold communication with us in their
language. A seining party was despatched from the ship, and a considerable
number of fish belonging to two species was obtained. A beautiful little
excessively spiny Lithodes was got in the seine, and brought to me. We
weighed on the morning of the lOth, and proceeded to Port Gallant, outside of
which we anchored in the afternoon, and next day several of us spent a consider-
able time on shore. We landed on a small, thickly-wooded island at the
entrance of the Port, which is united to the mainland at low water ; and here I
saw the Fuchsia coccinea for the first time, and I think I have seldom seen a
more beautiful sight than was presented by the ]ilants, which were from 8 to 12
feet high, and thick with flowers. It was interesting to observe that they did
not occur in any considerable number, save on the islet. I picked up one or
two large dead Fissurellne on the beach, and the dredge yielded quantities of
beautiful branching Nullipores, as well as a few minute Terebratulce, Ophiocomas,
Annelidiie, &c. I spent some hours most pleasantly wandering about in the
woods round the harbour. I was greatly delighted by finding the exquisite
Philesia buxifolia in ]irofusion almost everywhere, in some situations forming a
low under shrub, and in others climbing up the stems of the trees to a height of
8 or 9 feet, and letting its clusters of bright, rosy flowers hang down in the air.
The Empetrum occurred abundantly, both with bright red and purplish-black
berries, which I thought an interesting circumstance, as you remark in the ' Flora
Antarctica,' that the only marked distinction between the Empetrum rubrum and
the European Empetrum nigrum exists in the colour of the berries. Pernettya
mucronata attained a much larger size than I had before witnessed, and every
hollow in the ground (and the whole surface of the ground was a succession of
hollows, moss-covered tree-stumps, and prostrate tree-trunks) was lined in the
most beautiful manner with mosses, Jungermanniai, and ferns. Two species of
Hymenophyllum were very plentiful, as were also the Oleichcnia acutifolia, and
another fern that I have not as yet identified. I also obtained specimens of
Asplenium Magellanicum, as well as some fine lichens. The Berberis ilicifolia,
which was rather common in the woods, had its branches frecjuently covered by
a moss that I did not see occurring in any other situation. Altogether, it
appeared to be a very fine field for cryptogamic botany, to the working of which,
in a future season, it was very satisfactory to look forward.

"Thuja tetragona occurred rather sparingly, forming trees from 15 to 18 feet
high, and I noticed the Winter Park in flower. On a grass, growing close to
the water, a form of ergot occurred abundantly. A fine kingfisher was shot ;
I have not materials with me for the determination of the species ; but neither
King, Fitzroy, or Darwin mention a Strait kingfisher in their volumes. A large
dragon-fly was captured, and we saw several specimens of a fine large humble-
bee. The scenery around Port Gallant is remarkably fine. The mountains
appear to be composed chiefly of metamorphic rocks, which almost always give
a bold character to the landscape ; and on gazing gradually up the sides of the
hills, the eye first meets with thickly-wooded slojies of the verdant and ever-
green beeches, with an admixture of Winter I'ark, then with an infinite succes-
sion of grey precipices, then fields of snow, and finally shar[) black-jagged j^eaks,
which jiierce the cknuls. 1 felt that short stay at Port Gallant /t'r sc an abun-
dant reward for coming all the way to the Strait of Magellan.

" On the i8th, we pursued our westerly course. The day, tliough showery, was
not a bad one, and we had a constant succession of views of the most magnificent

Correspondence — Straits of Magellan 67

description, wliicli entirely surpassed my expectations of the grandeur of this por-
tion of the Strait. Sometimes the nearerheights would be bathed inbriglit sunlight,
while the more distant snowy ones lay in shadow ; and at others the sun shone
brightly on the snowy slopes and summits. Every now and then there were
splendid irises on the hills, in some instances nearly tlie whole rugged side being
rainbow tinted. We saw some ver)' fine glaciers, several of which were most
extensively crevassed, both longitudinally and transversely. I look forward with
much satisfaction to their exploration next year, or the year after. We anchored
in the afternoon in a beautiful little cove in Praya Parda. I had no opportunity of
landing, but two or three of the officers were on shore for a short time, and, as
usual, brought me off any specimens that they could lay their hands on. By
this means 1 got specimens of Dcsfontainesia spinosa, and the largest -berried
specimen of Pernettya mucronata that I have ever seen. The Dcsfontainesia
was new to me, and I felt considerably puzzled at first as to its nature, owing to
the combination of character which it presents. W^e parted from the ' Zealous '
next morning and retraced our course. We were, as before, struck with the
savage grandeur of much of the scenery, and I was rather amused to hear Mr
Darwin's remark that " the distant channels between the mountains appeared,
from their gloominess, to lead beyond the confines of this world," echoed by
one of our men. We saw several Fuegians' canoes, and lay to for a short time to
allow one of them to come alongside. There were three men in her who kept
shouting and screaming while they were coming towards us, reminding us of
sea-birds in the nature of their vociferations. On coming alongside they shouted
"rope, rope, yaummer schooner !" then kept up a perpetual demand for "ta-
baca," accompanied by a variety of gesticulations. As usual they were misera-
ble-looking objects, very slightly clothed with short guanaco-skin cloaks, which
left their long lanky legs bare, and only partially covered their bodies. Their
canoe, which was formed of five pieces of wood or bark sewn together with
narrow stripes of bark, had a fire in it made of damp boughs of evergreen
beech. They exchanged some arrows, a bow, and a quiver, for tobacco, and,
after having been presented with some ship-biscuit, shoved off apparently much
amazed at the revolutions of the screw as we went on our way. We anchored
in Port Gallant early in the afternoon so that I had another opportunity of
landing there. I found the woods extremely wet, and progression excessive-
ly fatiguing from the uneven nature of the ground. There was a death-like
stillness, only broken occasionally by the chirping of a little bluish-black wren.
I obtained a few additional lichens, and Jungermanniae ; and two specimens of
the humble-bee, which I have mentioned, were procured. A seining party
was despatched from the ship and got a very successful haul. Among those
obtained there was a fine specimen of, I believe, a Uranoscopus, which I have
preserved. It had a row of parasitic Lernaeans along each side, and so symmetri-
cally were they arranged, that, on a cursory view, I took them for integumen-
tary appendages.

"Next day we returned to Sandy Point, where we remained for a day
or two. I must not forget to mention that the two officers (Mr Heskyun,
and Mr Connor) who were left at Elizabeth Island during our absence, at
the Falkland Islands, and western portion of the Straits, procured some plants of
which I had not previously got specimens, such as Embothrium coccineum, Aspi-
dium metrioides, both of which were obtained in Laredo Bay. On the 20th we
left Sandy Point, and proceeded to Peckett Harbour, where we spent some little
time. I was on shore on two occasions with Captain Mayne, when he was en-
gaged in triangulating, and got a few specimens. I found Bolax glebaria abun-
dantly round about the harbour, as well as a low shrubby plant with fleshy leaves.
On the 27th we left Peckett Harbour. While the anchor was being got in,
some Siphunculi and a sea cucumber came up on the cable.

" We proceeded to Oazy Harbour, where we anchored early in the afternoon.
Shortly after our arrival, two of the officers who had preceded us, came on
board, bringing with them specimens of a small brown tern and a beautiful
brown-breasted goose. There seems to be at least three species of geese in the
Straits, i.e., the kelp or rock-goose (Anser antarcticus), the upland goose (Anser
Magellanicus), and this brown-breasted one, which is much smaller than the

68 Journal of Travel and Natural History

other two. I spent the greater part of the 29th on shore. In a little stream
running into the harbour, I obtained specimens of a small Lymncea, about the
size of our British L. peregra, and I found Hippuris vulgaris growing abun-
dantly. I observe you only give Port Famine as an attractive locality for this
familiar friend, so that the discovery of it in Oazy Harbour is interesting, inas-
much as it proves its occurrence in the bare as well as in the woody country.
In a flat space of ground close to the beach, I procured examples of an obscure
flowered composite plant, with a very pungent smell, and on some high ground
the foliage of Oxalis enneaphylla occurred plentifully, the flower being over. I
also observed some lingering specimens of Armeria maritima in flower, and the
Lycoperdon, which I saw first at Sandy Point, was very abundant in every stage
of growth and decay ; geese, ducks, and steamers were seen in considerable
numbers, as well as several barranchas (Polyborus Braziliensis).

" On the 1st of April I again landed, and walked about on the high ground out-
side the harbour. The Magellanic Ribes was common, and I got three specimens
of Botrychium lunaria. I was interested to find, on reference to the ' Flora
Antarctica,' that the only locality you give for this little fern is Good Success
Bay, in the extreme south of Fuegia, between two and three hundred miles from
Oazy Harbour. We left Oazy on the morning of the 2d, and spent a day or
two in the neighbourhood of Laredo Bay. On the 5th, we anchored off Cape
St Vincent, Fuegia, and I had an opportunity of paying a visit to Quarter-
master Island, at the entrance of Gente Grande Bay, with one of the officers.
On landing on this island, which is in some places bounded by high clay cliffs,
and in others slopes gradually down towards the sea, it was curious to obsei-ve
what great numbers of shells (principally Fissurellas) had been carried up to the
high ground by cormorants and other birds. At one place, at the top of some
high cliffs, there was the most extraordinary assemblage of cormorants that I
have ever seen. On a very moderate computation, they must have numbered
considerably upwards of a thousand. It was most amusing to notice the
difficulty which they experienced in taking wing on our approach, so closely
were they packed together. Rank after rank hustled foi-ward, and, breaking up,
flew over the cliffs out to sea.

' ' In walking over the island, I got two geraniums not procured previously, as
well as a Thlaspi (I suppose the T. Magellanicum), which was very abundant
in certain spots. We spent the 8th lying in Gregory Bay, and a number of us
spent the afternoon on shore. I was fortunate enough to find a good Pata-
gonian skull in a sand-bank. It was very perfect when first procured, all the
teeth being present, and ground down to a uniform level. I am sorry to say,
however, that one zygoma, and the turbinated bones, crumbled away, and one
incisor was lost. On the loth, I spent a day and night in Fuegia, in the neigh-
bourhood of Isidro Point, at the eastern entrance of the second Narrows. I
obtained three live specimens of a species of Lithodes on the beach. On land,
I found some specimens of Calceolaria nana, still in flower, one or two lichens
growing on the ground, &c. Our common mushroom appears to be widely
distributed over the Straits : thus we have procured it at Sandy Point, Elizabeth
Island, Oazy Harbour, and Gregory Bay on the Patagonian ; and on the coast
of Lee Bay, and at Isidro Point on the Fuegian side. Small lizards were rather
common. I believe they all belonged to one species, though the colouring
varies considerably. Mr Darwin does not appear to have met with reptiles of
any description south of Santa Ci'uz. This lizard, however, seems to be not
uncommon in tlie eastern part of tlic -Straits, for I have specimen.^ from Sandy
Point (wooded country), as well as from St lago Bay on the Patagonian side,
and from Lomas Bay and Point Isidro in Fuegia. I .saw considerable numbers
of a large yellowish-brown moth, and a single specimen of an apterous grass-
hopper was taken.

RoiiT. O. Cunningham."

Joiir)ial of Travel and Natural History 69

Maps of Abyssinia. — As the public will, to all appearance, have
occasion to refer to the Map of Abyssinia pretty frequently for some time to
come, we have made it our business to examine the different maps recently
published, with the view of giving our readers such information regarding them
as \vill assist them in selecting the map best suited to their requirements.
(l.) For a general coup d'oeil of Abyssinia, the eastern and western limits of
its mountainous plateau, its chief political divisions, principal places, most im-
portant tribes in the interior and on the frontiers, its great rivers, and their
relations to the Nile on the west, and the Red Sea on the east ; — we recommend
the Sketch Map prepared at Stanford's Geogi-aphical Establishment, and con-
tained in Dr Beke's instructive book on " The British Captives in Abyssinia."
8vo. Longmans. (2.) The most complete general map o the country is, doubt-
less, the Map of Nubia and Abyssinia, which forms a part of Keith Johnston's
Royal Atlas ; but is sold separately for 3s. in a sheet, and 5s. in a case. It
embraces the entire field of operations, from Aden and the Red Sea on the east,
to the plains on the west which are m possession of the Egyptians, and recom-
mended as the base of operations by Sir Samuel Baker. The scale is 45
miles to an inch. {3.) There is a smaller map by Johnston, price is. 6d. (4.) The
Route Map of Abyssinia, compiled by E. G. Ravenstein, and lithographed
at the Topographical Department of the War Office, under the superintend-
ence of Lieut. -Colonel A. C. Cooke, C.B., R.E., is on the scale of 10 miles to
an inch, and about 40 by 27 inches in size. It includes the north-eastern part
of Abyssinia, having Massowah on the north, Magdala (where the principal
Europeans are confined), on the south, and Gonda on the w^est. As far as it
extends, it has the advantage of greater detail than Johnston's map, in conse-
quence of its superior scale. It has been prepared for the use of H.M.
Government, and is not at present issued to the public. It is, however,
proposed to issue it as a Blue Book. (5.) Dr Petermann has prepared two
excellent maps for a supplement to his well-known German periodical
the " Geographische Mittheilungen." One is limited to the countiy which
forms the ascent to the Abyssinian Highlands on the west of Adulis Bay,
and includes Massowah on the north and Halar on the south. It is
the best map of this district, and its scale is 5 miles to an inch. But it
is probable that the principal track of the army will be through the passes south
of Halar ; and the limited knowledge which exists in that direction is contained
in the other of Petennann's maps. This map includes the north-east of Abys-
sinia, from the Bagos country on the north (the scene of Consul Cameron's
unfortunate visit), to the remains of the antient city of Axum and the present
town of Adowa on the south. Adowa is one of the largest towns in the countiy,
although nothing more than a village in a European point of view. This map
is about 16 miles to an inch. It has a veiy small general map of Abyssinia
in one corner. The maps are accompanied by a "Study of Abyssinia," by
Werner Munzingers, and foi-ms a 4to pamphlet, price 3s.

yo Journal of Travel and A^atural History

Rhinoceros Shedding their Horns. — At a recent meeting
of the Zoological Society, Mr Blyth stated that he had been informed that a
rhinoceros in the menagerie at Moscow had shed its horn. We know that the
horn of the rhinoceros is nothing more than an agglutinated mass of hairs ; and
there is nothing more extraordinary in an old rhinoceros shedding its horn than
an old man becoming bald. Mr. Blyth mentioned that in Tenasserim he had
seen old rhinoceroses with veiy small horns ; and it occurred to him as not im-
possible that those might have shed their old horns, and that the horns they
bore were young ones just gro^\•n.

Greenland. — Edward Whymper and Robert Brown have returned from
their expedition to that countr}', made during the summer of 1867, although,
from causes "beyond their own control" (such as the death of the dogs, sick-
ness of the natives, and lateness of the season — vide AthencEutti Dec. 7th) they
have not made such geographical discoveries as would otherwise have ensued,
yet they have added considerably to our knowledge of Greenland ; and the
scientific member of the party (Mr Brown) has made not a few observations in
all departments of science, and considerable collections of plants and animals.
The plants comprise some 5000 specimens of flowering plants, ferns, and fern
allies, musci, jungermannas, hepaticae, lichens, fungi, algae (fresh water and
marine), diatomaceas, desmidiese, &c. , containing a number of interesting and
new species. The zoological collections consist chiefly of a number of skeletons
and skulls of cetacea and seals of different species, birds, fishes (a few) Crustacea,
annelidse, echinodermata ; insects (consisting of a number of lepidoptera,
hymenoptera, coleoptera, arachnidse, neuroptera, diptera, and suctona) mollusca,
zoophytes, &c. In addition to these, both gentlemen have brought home a
good collection of the tertiary fossil plants of the Wargatz, of which region
Mr Brown has made a geological survey, and many astronomical observations
for positions, flint implements, &c., all of which we shall hear more about
in good time ; and, as both travellers propose giving an account of their
labours in an extended fonn, we shall reserve any further remarks. In Green-
land there are some officers of the Royal Greenland Company (a monopoly
of the government) who are interested in natural history ; and we may men-
tion, as residents at present in the countiy, Dr Rink (the eminent geologist),
and the inspector of South Greenland, Herr Districtlcege Pfaff, Jakobshavn,
Dr Rudolph, Upemavik, and Messrs Anderson, Bolbroe, Hansen, and Neilsen
(colonibestyners or governors of the districts of Ritenbenk, Egedesmende,
Godhavn, and Sakkertoppen, respectively) as collectors of zoological speci-
mens. Chevalier C. S. M, Olrik, Director of the Royal Company at Copen-
hagen (and so well known to the expeditions in search of Sir John Franklin,
as being for many years Royal Inspector of North Greenland), through whom all
communications ought to be addressed, is also an enthusiastic naturalist.

Ne"W Vermifuge. — It is well known that amongst the diseases to
which the natives of Abyssinia are especially subject, is that caused by the
troublesome Trenia solium. For the cure of this scourge the flowers of a plant
known as Kousso, the (Brayera Anthelmintica, Kth. ) are in great request.
These flowers have long been acknowledged, even by European practitioners,
as a most effectual remedy ; but another has lately come to our notice, speci-
mens of which have been received at the Kew Museum, from Mr Calvert the
Consul at Alexandria. This remedy has been used, it is said successfully, in

Miscellany 7 1

Abyssinia as a tcenifuge for some time, though perhaps but sparingly. We
are not aware, however, that it has ever been used by European practitioners,
or that any others but one or two continental %\Titers on tsenifuges have ever
noticed it. We speak of the bark of Albizzia Anthelmintica, Broug. Knowai
to the natives as Beseuna, Bessana or Moussina, &c., and for which plant
Richard, before having seen the flowers or fruit, constituted a new genus, under
the name of Besenna ; it has, however, since been proved to be the species of
Albizzia we have mentioned. It is a small tree with bipinnate leaves, com-
posed of one or two pinnae, upon each of which are four pairs of obovate leaflets.
The bark is from the eighth of an inch to a quarter of an inch thick, and is
composed of thin plates or layers on the inner side, which are easily separated,
lea-Nnng a mass on the outside, of full half the entire thickness, of cellular tissue,
in which is thickly dispersed masses af yellow resin — the whole bark itself
being of a lightish yellow colour. It has no smell, and when first put into the
mouth has scarcely any taste ; but after being chewed for some little time it has
a disagreeable rankness which clings to the palate, and is slightly astringent.
It is used, when powdered and mixed with honey or oil, in doses of from two to
four ounces of the powder as a specific against taenia, and is by some considered
more efficacious even than the flowers of Bra}-era Anthelmintica. — J. R. Jacksoti,
Kcu<.

French Expedition to the North Pole. — Subscriptions in
furtherance of the proposed French Expedition to the North Pole, have now
been collected for some time ; and we are sorry to see, from Petermann's
" Geographische Mittheilungen," that they have only reached the sum of 52,000
francs. As 50,000 francs of this have been subscribed by the French Emperor,
the total which had, at the time Mr Petermann wrote, been subscribed by the
French people, appears to have been 2000 francs, or about ^80 ; which for
an undertaking which is estimated to cost 60c, 000 francs, cannot be regarded
as very encouraging.

The "American Naturalist." — This is a new North American
illustrated magazine of Natural Histoiy, cheap in price, good in quality, at the
same time popular and scientific, supported and contributed to by many of the
best American Naturalists. It has already reached a circulation of 2000 in
its native country, and is now desirous of extending its roots into this countiy.
We gladly welcome it, and wish it all success.

Pink Topazes. — -These are usually supposed to be manufactured by
subjecting yellow or brown topazes to heat. Whether this is the universal
practice or not, we do not know ; one thing is certain, that the yellow topaz
does become pink under heat — experto crede. We have tried it ourselves ; but
recent discoveries in Australia have shewn that pink topazes have been found
in the mines of Victoria, and cut at Melbourne, while neither a yellow nor a
browm one has been yet discovered, those reported being all cairngorms. —
Tra)isactioiis of the Royal Society of Victoria, 1865-66, p. 79.

Ne'W Dinosaur — Laelaps aquilunguis. — Professor Cope exhibited the re-
mains of a gigantic Dinosaur from the cretaceous green sand of New Jersey.
The bones were portions of the under jaw with teeth, portions of the scapular
arch, including supposed clavicles, two humeri, left femur, and right tibia and
fibula, with numerous phalanges, lumbar, sacral, and caudal vertebrce, and
numerous other elements in a fragmentary condition. The animal was found

72 Journal of Travel and Natural History

by the workmen, under directions of J. C. Voorhees, about two miles south
of Bamesbro, Gloucester Co., New Jersey. The bones were taken from twenty
feet below the surface, in the top of the "chocolate" bed, which immediately
underlies the green stratum, which is of such value as a manure. The discovery
of this animal filled a hiatus in the cretaceous Fauna, revealing the carnivorous
enemy of the great herbivorous Hadrosaurus, as the Dinodon was related to the
Trachodon of the Nebraska beds, and the Megalosaurus to the Iguanodon
of the European Wealden and Oolite. In size this creature equalled the
Megalosaurus Bucklandii, and with it and the Dinodon constituted the most
formidable ty]Des of rapacious terrestrial Vertebrata of which we have any
knowledge. In its dentition and huge prehensile claws it resembled closely the
Megalosaurus, but the femur, resembling in its proximal regions more nearly
the Iguanodon, indicated the probable existence of other equally important
differences, and its pertinence to another genus. For this and the species
the name of Laelaps aquilunguis was proposed. The disproportion between
the fore and hind limbs of the Igiianodon, together with the compressed
form of the tail, suggested to Professor Owen an aquatic habit, a relation of
proportions of limbs to habit seen in the tailless Batrachia. The discovery
of the massive short-toed foot of the Iguanodon subsequently has lent little
countenance to the supposition of its entire adaptation to aquatic life. Dr
Leidy has regarded this disproportion in the case of the Hadrosaurus as an
index of a habit like that of the kangaroos (Macropus, &c. ), and that that
monster rested in an oblique position on the hind limbs and tail, and reached
upwards with its muzzle and short fore-limbs to the foliage on which it fed.
That such a habit characterized the Laelaps is very probable ; the tail was
nearly cylindric, and from the extent of the condyles of the femur the hind limb
must have been considerably flexed. The small size of the fore-limbs must have
rendered them far less efficient as weapons than the hind feet in an attack on
such a creature as the Hadrosaurus ; hence, perhaps, the latter were preferred in
inflicting fatal wounds. The exceedingly eagle-hke character of the digits and
claws and ornithic type of sacrum, elucidated by Professor Owen, suggest a re-
semblance in the use of the limb. The bulk of the species, as compared with
that of Hadrosaums, illustrates again the law observed in the relation between
Felis and Bos, Thylacoleo, and the herbivorous unplacentals of its time, and
the other raptorial and herbivorous Dinosauria, which might probably he
reduced to exact terms. The remains indicate an animal of near i8 feet in
length, which could probably raise itself to a height of 6 feet at the rump.
The genus (Laelaps) belongs to the family Dinodontidjc, which is characterized
by its contractile raptorial claws and slender digits and compressed sabre-shaped
teeth. It differs from Megalosaurus in its femur, and from Dinodon in that the
teeth of the latter have two posterior serrate edges separated by a posterior
plane. From supposed Dinosaurian genera of doubtful affinity it differs, e.g.^
from Regnosaurus (Mant. ) in the totally different humerus, and from Pelorosaurus
and Strejitospondylus in the vertebrae. Cetiosaurus and Cimoliasaunis were
perhaps mutilate like the Cetaceans, according to Owen and Leidy. — Proceedings
of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Piiiladelphia, 1866, p. 279.

Jotirnal of Travel mid Natural History 73

A THEORY OF BIRDS' NESTS:

SHEWING THE RELATION OF CERTAIN SEXUAL DIFFERENCES OF
COLOUR IN BIRDS TO THEIR MODE OF NIDIFICATION.

By Alfred R. Wallace, F.Z.S., &c.

ONE of the most remarkable and interesting characteristics of
birds, is the habit which the great majority of them possess
of forming a more or less elaborate structure for the reception of
their eggs and young. In other classes of vertebrate animals,
such structures are few and exceptional, and never attain to the
same degree of completeness and beauty. Birds' nests have,
accordingly, attracted much attention, and have furnished one of
the stock arguments to prove the existence of a blind but unerring
instinct in the lower animals. The very general belief that every
bird is enabled to build its nest, not by the ordinary faculties of
observation, memory, and imitation, but by means of some innate
and mysterious impulse, has had the bad effect of withdrawing
attention from the very evident relation that exists between the
structure, habits, and intelligence of birds, and the kind of nest
they construct. It will be necessary to point out a few of these
primary relations, since they have an important bearing on the
subject we are about to discuss.

A considerable number of birds form no nest whatever, but lay
their eggs and hatch their young upon the bare ground. Such are
a large portion of the wading and swimming birds, many of the
Gallinaceae, and, among perching birds, almost all the Capri-
mulgidae. These may be considered to form one extremity of the
scale, while such birds as the Icteridse, the weaver birds, and the
wren, which build elaborately woven, domed, or pensile nests, are
at the other. Now, the general structure and mode of life of the
birds in question, almost of itself explains this difference. The
large head and excessively small broad bill of the Caprimulgidre,
and their small weak feet, with scarcely any power of grasping,
render them physically unable to weave together grass, or moss, or
fibres, or wool, into a strong and well-constructed nest. The feet
of terns or of sandpipers are equally ill adapted to this purpose ;
and while engaged in seeking their food, they chiefly frequent
places where no materials for making a nest are to be found.
Those birds, on the other hand, which form the most elaborate

TRAVEL F

74 Journal of Travel and Natural History

and perfect nests, are the most highly organised of the class,
having powerful and yet delicate grasping feet, a well formed
pointed bill, and extreme rapidity of motion. The places where
they seek their daily food are those where all the materials used in
their nests are abundant ; and their intelligence is shewn by their
not unfrequently modifying the position, the form, or the materials
of their nests, to suit the changed conditions with which the pre-
sence of man surrounds them.

If we descend more into detail, we find the same principles
manifested ; and we are often able to understand the reason of the
particular position and material of a nest, by a consideration of
the mode of life of the bird that has made it. The kingfisher,
seeking his food in rivers and streams, makes his nest in their
banks. His strong and sharp-pointed bill, is a weapon which
readily pecks away sand or earth; and the disgorged bones of the
fishes he has devoured, form a rude nest at the bottom of the hole.
The woodpecker, who is daily engaged in boring holes in trees to
seek his food, enlarges one of these holes, and makes a cavity
within which he can bring up his young in safety. The toucan,
whose huge weak bill, imperfect feet, and clumsy motions incapa-
citate it from building a nest, makes use of the holes formed by
woodpeckers, squirrels, or other animals, which it finds in the trees
among which it seeks its daily food. The rook lines its nest with
roots and fibres, the crow with wool or rabbits' fur. It is no blind
instinct that leads birds so much alike to use such different
materials, but simple convenience. The rook hunts for grubs in
ploughed fields and pastures, and has continual experience of roots
and fibres. The crow frequenting moorlands and warrens, and
feeding on dead lambs and rabbits, finds wool and fur continually,
and uses them in its nest. The wren constructs its beautiful nest
almost entirely of moss, because while hunting about in hedgerows
for small insects and molluscs, moss is continually before its eyes.*

We see, then, that a consideration of the structure, the food,
and other specialities of a bird's existence, gives us a clue, and
sometimes a very complete one, to the reason why it builds its
nest of certain materials, in a definite situation, and in a more or
less elaborate manner. There are, however, two other flictors in
the problem, whose effect in any particular case we can only

* For other examples, see "The Philosophy of Birds' Nests;" Intellectual
Observer, July, 1867.

A Theory of Birds' Nests 75

vaguely guess at, but which must have had an important influence
in determining the existing details of nidification. These are —
changed conditions of existence, whether internal or external, and
the influence of hereditary habit ; the first inducing alterations in
accordance with changes of organic structure, of climate, or of the
surrounding fauna and flora ; the otlier preserving the peculiarities
so produced, even when changed conditions render them no longer
necessar}^ There are many facts which shew that Ijirds do adapt
their nests to the situations in which they place them. That of
the Orchard Oriole of the United States (Icterus spurius), when
built among the strong branches of a ft-uit tree, is a very shallow
cup, but when suspended from the slender boughs of a weeping
willow, it is mucli deeper, to prevent the young birds from being
thrown out during violent winds. The common house sparrow
buflds a far less careful nest when it is placed in a hole, than when
built in a tree ; and the adoption of eaves, chimneys, and boxes,
by swallows, wTens, and many other birds, shews that they are
always ready to take advantage of changed conditions. It is
probable, therefore, that a permanent change of climate would
cause many birds to modify the form or materials of their abodes.
The introduction qf new enemies to eggs or young birds, might
induce many alterations tending to their better concealment. A
change in the vegetation of a country, would often necessitate the
use of new materials. So, also, we may be sure, that as a species
slowly became modified in structure, it would necessarily change
in some degree its mode of building. Its work would be more or
less delicate, and the materials used more or less fine, according
to the modifications its external organs underwent.

During all these changes however, certain specialities of nest-
structure would continue for a shorter or a longer time after the
causes which had necessitated them had passed away. Such records
of a vanished past meet us everywhere, even in man's works,
notwithstanding his boasted reason. All the main features of Greek
architecture, for example, are but reproductions in stone of what
were originally parts of a wooden building. Our copyists of Gothic
architecture often build solid buttresses, capped with weighty pin-
nacles, to support a wooden roof which has no outward thrust to
render them necessary ; and even think they ornament their build-
ings by adding sham spouts of carved stone, while modern water-
pipes, stuck on without any attempt at harmony, do the real duty.
So, when railways superseded coaches, it was thought necessary to

7 6 Journal of Travel and Natural History

build the first-class carriages so as to imitate a number of coach-bodies
joined together; and the arm-loops for each passenger to hold on
by, which were useful when bad roads made every journey a succes-
sion of jolts and lurches, were continued on our smooth macadam-
ised mail-routes, and, still more absurdly, remain to this day in our
railway carriages, the relic of a kind of locomotion we can now
hardly realize. With these and a hundred similar facts everywhere
around us, we may fairly impute much of what we cannot under-
stand in the details of Bird-Architecture to an analogous cause.
If we do not do so, we must assume either that birds are guided in
every action by pure reason to a far greater extent than men are,
or that an infallible instinct leads them to the same result by a
different road. So many and such well-known facts are opposed
to both these views, that I do not think it necessary here formally
to refute them.

The preceding observations are intended to shew that the exact
mode of nidification of each species of bird is probably the result
of a variety of causes, which have been continually inducing
modification in accordance with changed organic or physical condi-
tions. The most important of these causes seem to be, in the first
place, the structure of the species, and, in the second, its environ-
ment. If, therefore, we find less important and more easily
modified characters than these correlated with peculiarities of
nidification, we shall be justified in concluding that the former are
dependent on the latter, and not vice versa. Such a correlation I
am now about to point out.

Considering the main purpose of bird's nests to be the protec-
tion of the eggs and the security and comfort of the young birds,
we may group them under two primary divisions, according as they
more or less completely fulfil this important function. In the first,
we place all those in which the eggs and young are hidden from
sight, no matter whether this is effected by an elaborate covered
structure, or by depositing the eggs in some hollow tree or burrow
underground. In the second, we group all in which the eggs and
young and sitting bird are exposed to view, no matter whether
there is the most beautifully formed nest, or none at all. King-
fishers, which build almost invariably in holes in banks ; wood-
peckers and parrots, which build in hollow trees ; the Icterida; of
America, which all make beautiful covered and suspended nests, and
our own wren, which builds a domed nest, are examples of the former;
while our thrushes, warblers, and finches, as well as the crow-

A Theory of Birds' Nests 77

shrikes, chatterers, and tanagers of the tropics, together with all
raptorial birds and pigeons, and a vast number ot others, in every
part of the world, all adopt the latter mode of building.

It will be seen that this division of birds according to their
nidification, bears little relation to the character of the nest itself.
It is a functional not a structural classification. The most rude
and the most perfect specimens of bird-architecture are to be found
in both sections. It has, however, a certain relation to natural
affinities, for large groups of birds undoubtedly allied, fall into one
or the other division exclusively. The species of a genus or of a
family are rarely divided between the two primary classes, although
they are frequently divided between the two very distinct modes of
nidification that exist in the first of them.

All the Scansorial, and most of the Fissirostral birds, for example,
build concealed nests ; and, in the latter group, the two families
which build open nests, the swifts and the goat-suckers, are un-
doubtedly very widely separated from the other families with which
they are associated in our classifications. The tits, also, vary much
in their mode of nesting : some making open nests concealed in a
hole, while others build domed or even pendulous covered nests,
so that they all come under the same class. Starlings vary in a
similar way. The Mynahs, like our own starlings, build in holes,
the glossy starlings of the East (of the genus Calornis) form a
hanging covered nest, while the genus Sturnopastor builds in a
hollow tree. One of the most striking cases, in which one family
of birds is divided between the two classes, is that of the finches ;
for, while most of the European species build exposed nests, many
of the Australian finches make them dome-shaped.

Turning now from the nests to the creatures who make them,
let us consider birds themselves from a somewhat unusual point of
view, and form them into separate groups, according as both sexes,
or the males only, are adorned with conspicuous colours.

The sexual differences of colour and plumage in birds are very
remarkable and have attracted much attention ; and in the case of
polygamous birds have been well explained by Mr Darwin's princi-
ple of sexual selection. We can, to some extent, understand how
male pheasants and grouse have acquired their more brilliant
plumage and greater size, by the continual rivalry of the males, both
in strength and beauty ; but this theory does not throw any light
on the causes which have made the female toucan, bee-eater,
parroquet, macaw and tit, in almost every case as gay and brilliant

7 8 Jotirnal of Travel and Natural History

as the male, while the gorgeous chatterers, manakins, tanagers,
and birds of Paradise, as well as our own blackbird, have mates so
dull and inconspicuous that they can hardly be recognised as the
same species.

This anomaly can, however, now be explained by the influence
of the mode of nidification, since I find that, with but very few ex-
ceptions, it is the rule — tJiat when both sexes are of strikingly gay
and conspicuous colours, the nest is of the second class, or such as
to conceal the sitting bird; while, lohenever there is a strikittg con-
trast of colours, the male being gay and conspicuous, the female dull
ajid obscure, the 7test is open and the sitting bird exposed to view.
I will now proceed to indicate the cliief facts that support this
statement, and will aftenvards explain the manner in which I con-
ceive the relation has been brought about.

We will first consider those groups of birds in which the female
is gaily or at least conspicuously coloured, and is in most cases
exactly like the male.

I. Kingfishers (Alcedinidre). In some of the most brilliant

species of this family the female exactly resembles the male;
in others there is a sexual difference, but it rarely tends to
make the female less conspicuous. In some the female has
a band across the breast, which is wanting in the male, as
in Halcyon diops. In others the band is rufous in the
female, as in several of the American species ; while in
Dacelo gaudichaudii, the tail of the female is rufous instead
of blue. In most kingfishers the nest is in a deep hole in
the ground ; in Tanysiptera it is said to be in a hole in
the nests of termites, or sometimes in crevices under over-
hanging rocks.

II. Motmots (Momotidee). In these showy birds the sexes are

exactly alike, and the nest in a hole under ground.

III. Puff-birds (Bucconidoe). These birds are often gaily
coloured ; some have coral-red bills ; the sexes are exactly
alike, and the nest is in a hole in sloping ground.

IV. Trogons (Trogonidai). In these magnificent birds the
females are generally less brightly coloured than the males,
but are yet often gay and conspicuous. The nest is in a
hole of a tree.

V. Hoopoes (Upupidae). The barred plumage and long crests

of these birds render them conspicuous. The sexes are
exactly alike, and the nest is in a hollow tree.

A Theory of Birds' Nests 79

VI. Hombills (Bucerotidae). These large birds have enormous
coloured bills, which are generally quite as well coloured
and conspicuous in the females. Their nests are always
in hollow trees, where the female is entirely concealed.

VII. Barbets (Capitonidte). These birds are all very gaily
coloured, and, what is remarkable, the most brilliant patches
of colour are disposed about the head and neck, and are
very conspicuous. The sexes are exactly alike, and the
nest is in a hole of a tree.

VIII. Toucans (Rhamphastidae). These fine birds are coloured
in the most conspicuous parts of their body, especially on
the large bill, and on the upper and lower tail coverts, which
are crimson white or yellow. The sexes are exactly alike,
and they build always in a hollow tree.

IX. Plantain-eaters (Musophagidas). Here again the head and
bill are most brilliantly coloured in both sexes, and the nest
is in a hole of a tree.

X. Ground cuckoos (Centropus). These birds are often of

conspicuous colours, and are alike in both sexes. They
build a domed nest.

XI. Woodpeckers (Picidte). In this family the females often
differ from the males, in having a yellow or white, instead
of a crimson crest, but are almost as conspicuous. They
all nest in holes in trees.

XII. Parrots (Psittaci). In this great family, adorned with the
most brilliant and varied colours, the rule is, that the
sexes are precisely alike, and this is the case in the most
gorgeous families, the lories, the cockatoos, and the
macaws ; but in some there is a sexual difference of colour
to a slight extent. All build in holes, mostly in trees, but
sometimes in the ground, or in white ants' nests. In the
single case in which the nest is exposed, that of Pezoporus
formosus, the bird has lost the gay colouring of its allies,
and is clothed in sombre and completely protective tints
of dusky green and black.

XIII. Gapers (Eurj'lsemidse). In these beautiful Eastern birds,
somewhat allied to the American chatterers, the sexes are
exactly alike, and are adorned with the most gay and con-
spicuous markings. The nest is a woven structure, covered
over, and suspended from the extremities of branches over
water.

8o Journal of Travel and Natural History

XIV. Pardalotus (Ampelidae). In these Australian birds the
females are often very conspicuous, having brightly-spotted
heads. Their nests are sometimes dome-shaped, sometimes
in holes of trees.

XV. Tits (Paridae). These little birds are always pretty, and
many (especially among the Indian species) are very con-
spicuous. They always have the sexes alike, a circumstance
very unusual among the smaller gaily-coloured birds of our
own country. The nest is always covered over or con-
cealed in a hole.

XVI. Nuthatches (Sitta). Often very pretty birds, the sexes
alike, and the nest in a hole.

XVII. (Sittella). The female of these birds is often the

most conspicuous, being white- and black-marked. The
nest is, according to Gould, " completely concealed among
upright twigs connected together."

XVIIL Creepers (Climacteris). In 'these the sexes are alike,
or the female most conspicuous, and the nest is in a hole
of a tree.

XIX. Estrelda, Amadina. In these genera of finches the
females, although more or less different from the males, are
still very conspicuous, having a red rump, or being white
spotted. They differ from most others of the family in
building domed nests.

XX. Certhiola. In these pretty little American creepers the sexes
are alike, and they build a domed nest

XXI. Mynahs (Eulabes, Sturnidae). These showy birds have
the sexes exactly alike. They build in holes of trees.

XXII. Calornis {Sturnidae). These brilliant metallic starlings
have no sexual differences. They build a pensile covered
nest.

XXIII. Hangnests (Icteridse). The red or yellow and black
plumage of most of these birds is very conspicuous, and is
exactly alike in both sexes. They are celebrated for their
fine purse-shaped pensile nests.

It will be seen that this list comprehends six important families
of Fissirostres, four of Scansores, the Psittaci, and several genera,
with three entire families of Passeres.

. The cases in which whenever the male is gaily coloured, the
female is much less gay or quite inconspicuous, are exceedingly

A Theory of Birds' Nests 81

numerous, comprising, in fact, almost all the bright coloured Passeres,
except those enumerated in the preceding class, and far exceeding
them in number. The following are the most remarkable : —

I. Chatterers (Cotingidae.) These comprise some of the most

gorgeous birds in the world, vivid blues, rich purples, and
bright reds, being the most characteristic colours. The
females are always obscurely tinted, and are often of a
greenish hue, not easily visible among the foliage.

II. Manakins (Piprid^e.) These elegant birds, whose caps or

crests are of the most brilliant colours, are usually of a
sombre green in the female sex.

Hi. Tanagers (Tanagridse.) These rival the chatterers in the
brilliancy of their colours, and are even more varied. The
females are generally of plain and sombre hues, and always
less conspicuous than the males.

In the extensive families of the warblers (Sylviadse), thrushes
(Turdidae), flycatchers (Muscicapidse), and shrikes (Laniadae), a
considerable proportion of the species is beautifully marked with
gay and conspicuous tints ; but in every case the females are less
gay, and are very often of the very plainest and least conspicuous hues.
Now, throughout the whole of these families the nest is open, and
I am not aware of a single instance in which any one of these birds
builds a domed nest, or places it in a hole of a tree, or under-
ground, or in any place where it is effectually concealed.

In considering the question we are now investigating, it is not
necessaiy to take into account the larger and more powerful birds,
because these seldom depend much on concealment to secure their
safety. In the raptorial birds bright colours are as a rule absent ;
and their structure and habits are such as not to require much pro-
tection. The larger waders are sometimes very brightly coloured
in both sexes ; but they are probably little subject to the attacks
of enemies since the scarlet ibis, the most conspicuous of birds,
exists in immense quantities in South America. In game birds and
water-fowl, however, the females are often very plainly coloured,
when the males are adorned with brilliant hues ; and the abnormal
family of the Megapodidae offers us the interesting fact of an
identity in the colours of the sexes (which in Megacephalon and
Talegalla are somewhat conspicuous), in conjunction with the
habit of not sitting on the eggs at all.

Taking the whole body of evidence here brought forward, em-«
bracing as it does almost every group of bright-coloured birds, it

82 Journal of Travel and Natural History

will, I think, be admitted that the relation bet^veen the two series
of facts in the colouring and nidification of birds has been suffi-
ciently established. There are, it is true, a few apparent and some
real exceptions, which I shall consider presently ; but they are too
few and unimportant to weigh much against the mass of evidence
on the other side, and may for the present be neglected. Let us
then, consider what we are to do with this unexpected set of
correspondences between gi-oups of phenomena which, at first
sight, appear so disconnected. Do they fall in with any other
groups of natural plienomena? Do they teach us anything of the
way in which nature works, and give us any insight into the
causes Avliich have brought about the marvellous variety, and
beauty, and harmony of living things ? I believe we can answer
these questions in the affirmative ; and I may mention, as a suffi-
cient proof, that these are not isolated facts, that I was first led to
see their relation to each other by the study of an analogous
though distinct set of phenomena among insects, that of protective
resemblance and " mimicry."

On considering this remarkable series of facts, the first thing we
are taught by them seems to be, that there is no incapacity in the
female sex among birds, to receive the same bright hues and
strongly contrasted tints with which their partners are so often
decorated, since whenever they are protected and concealed dur-
ing the period of incubation tlicy are similarly adorned. The fair
inference is, that it is chiefly due to the absence of protection or
concealment during this important epoch, that gay and conspicu-
ous tints are withheld or left undeveloped. The mode in which
this has been effected is very intelligible, if we admit the action of
natural and sexual selection. It would appear from the numerous
cases in which both sexes are adorned with equally brilliant colours
(Avhile both sexes are rarely armed] Avith equally developed offen-
sive and defensive weapons when not required for individual
safety), that the normal action of " sexual selection" is to develop
colour and beauty in both sexes, by the preservation and multipli-
cation of all varieties of colour in either sex which are pleasing to
the other. The female bird, however, while sitting on her eggs in
an uncovered nest, is especially open to the attacks of enemies,
and any modification of colour which rendered her more conspicu-
ous would lead to her destruction and that of her offspring. All
•variations of colour in this direction in the female, would therefore
sooner or later be exterminated, while such modifications as

A Theory of Birds' Nests 83

rendered her inconspicuous, by assimilating her to surrounding
objects, as the earth or the foliage, would, on the whole, be pre-
served the longest ; and thus lead to the attainment of those brown
or gi-een and inconspicuous tints, which form the colouring (of the
upper surface at least,) of the vast majority of female birds which
sit upon open nests.

At the commencement of this article I have endeavoured to
prove that the characteristic differences and the essential features
of birds' nests are dependent on the structure of the species, and
upon the present and past conditions of their existence. Both these
factors are more important and less variable than colour ; and we
must therefore conclude that in most cases the mode of nidification
(dependent on structure and environment) has been the cause and
not the effect of the similarity or differences of the sexes as regards
colour. When the confirmed habit of a group of birds was to
build their nests in holes of trees, like the toucans, or in holes in
the ground, like the kingfisliers, the protection the female thus ob-
tained, during the important and dangerous time of incubation,
placed the two sexes on an equality as regards exposure to attack,
and allowed " sexual selection " to act unchecked in the develop-
ment of gay colours and conspicuous markings in both sexes.

When, on the other hand, (as in the tanagers and flycatchers)
the habit of the whole group was to build open cup-shaped nests,
in more or less exposed situations, the production of colour and
marking in the female was continually checked by its rendering her
too conspicuous, while in the male it had free play, and developed
in him the most gorgeous hues. In cases, however, where there
was more than usual intelligence and capacity for change of habits,
the danger the female was exposed to by a partial brightness of
colour or marking, might lead to the construction of a concealed or
covered nest, as in the case of the tits and hangnests ; so that the
acquisition of colour and the modification of the nest might in
some cases act and react on each other, and attain their full de-
velopment together.

There exist a few very curious and anomalous facts in the
natural history of birds which fortunately serve as a crucial test of
the truth of this mode of explaining the inequalities of sexual
colouration. It has been long known that in some species the
males either assisted in or wholly performed the act of incubation.
It has also been often noticed that in certain birds the usual sexual
differences were reversed, the male being the more plainly coloured,

84 Journal of Travel and Natural History

the female more gay and often larger. I am not, however, aware
that these two anomalies had ever been supposed to stand to each
other in the relation of cause and effect, till I adduced them in
support of my views of the general theory of " Mimicry." * Yet it
is undoubtedly the fact, that in the best known cases in which the
female bird is more conspicuously coloured than the male, it is
either positively ascertained that the latter performs the duties of
incubation, or there are good reasons for believing such to be the
case. The most satisfactory example is that of the gray phalarope
(Phalaropus fulicarius, Linn.), the sexes of which are alike in winter,
while in summer the female instead of the male takes on a gay and
conspicuous nuptial plumage ; but the male performs the duties of
incubation, sitting upon the eggs, which are laid upon the bare
ground.

In the dotterell (Eudromias morinellus) the female is larger and
more brightly coloured than the male, and here, also, it is almost
certain that the latter sits upon the eggs. The Turnices of India
also have the female larger and often more brightly coloured ; and
Mr Jerdon states, in his " Birds of India," that the natives report
that during the breeding season the females desert their eggs and
associate in flocks, while the males are employed in hatching the
eggs. In the few other cases in which the females are more
brightly coloured the habits are not accurately known. The case
of the ostriches and emeus will occur to many as a difficulty, for
here the male incubates, but is not less conspicuous than the
female ; but there are two reasons why the case does not apply, —
the birds are too large to derive any safety from concealment, and
from enemies which would devour the eggs they can defend them-
selves by force, while to escape from their personal foes they trust
to speed.

We find, therefore, that a very large mass of facts relating to the
sexual colouration and the mode of nidification of birds, including
some of the most extraordinary anomalies to be found in their
natural history, can be shewn to have an interdependent relation
to each other on the simple princijjle of the need of greater pro-
tection to that parent which performs the duties of incubation. t

* "Mimicry and other Protective Resemblances among Animals." — IVcst-
rn'mster Rcvinv, July 1867.

+ In his " Origin of Species," fourth edition, p. 241, Mr. Darvvin recognises
the necessity for protection as sometimes being a cause of the obscure colours of
female birds ; but he does not seem to consider it so very important an agent in

A Theory of Birds' Nests 85

Considering the very imi)erfect knowledge we possess of the habits
of most extra-European birds, the exceptions to the prevalent rule
are few, and generally occur in isolated species or in small groujjs.
The only marked exceptions I have been able to discover are the
following : —

I. King crows (Dicrourus). These birds are of a glossy black

colour with long forked tails. The sexes present no differ-
ence, and they build open nests. This apparent exception
may probably be accounted for by the fact that these birds
do not need the protection of a less conspicuous colour.
They are very pugnacious, and often attack and drive away
crows, hawks, and kites ; and as they are semi-gregarious in
their habits, the females are not likely to be attacked while
incubating.

II. Orioles (Oriolidai). The true orioles are very gay birds ;

the sexes are in many Eastern species either nearly or quite
alike, and the nests are open. This is one of the most
serious exceptions, but it is one that to some extent proves
the rule ; for in this case it has been noticed that the parent
birds display excessive care and solicitude in concealing
the nest among thick foliage, and in protecting their off-
spring by incessant and anxious watching. This indicates
that the want of protection consequent on the bright colour
of the female makes itself felt, and is obviated by an in-
creased development of the mental faculties.

III. Ground thrushes (Pittidae). These elegant and brilliantly-
coloured birds are generally alike in both sexes, and build
an open nest. It is curious, however, that this is only an
apparent exception, for almost all the bright colours are on
the under surface, the back being usually olive green or
brown, and the head black, with brown or whitish stripes,
all which colours would harmonise with the foliage, sticks,
and roots about the nest, and thus serve as a protection to
the female bird.

modifying colour as I am disposed to do. In the same paragraph (p. 240) he
alludes to the fact of female liirds and butterflies being sometimes very plain,
sometimes as gay as the males, Ijut apparently considers this mainly due to
peculiar laws of inheritance, which sometimes continue acquired colour in the
line of one sex only, sometimes in both. Without denying the action of such
a law (which Mr. Darwin informs me he has facts to support), I impute the
difference, in the great majority of cases, to the greater or less need of protection
in the female sex in these groups of animals.

86 Journal of Travel and Natural History

IV. GralHna Australis. This Australian bird is of strongly con-
trasted black and white colours. The sexes are exactly
alike, and it builds an open clay nest in an exposed situ-
ation on a tree. This appears to be a most striking excep-
tion, but I am by no means sure that it is so. We require to
know what tree it usually builds on, the colour of the bark
or of the lichens that grow upon it, the tints of the ground,
or of other surrounding objects, before we can say that the
bird, when sitting on its nest, is really conspicuous. It has
been remarked that small patches of white and black blend
at a short distance to form grey, one of the commonest
tints of natural objects.

V. Sunbirds (Nectarineidte). In these beautiful little birds the

males only are adorned with brilliant colours, the females
being quite plain, yet they build covered nests in the few
cases in whicli the nidification is known. This is a negative
rather than a positive exception to the rule, since there may
be other causes besides the need for protection which pre-
vents the female acquiring the gay colours of her mate.
In this case, too, the facts are very imperfectly known, and
there is one curious circumstance which tends to elucidate
it. The male of Leptocoma zeylanica is said to assist in in-
cubation. It is possible, therefore, that the group may ori-
ginally have used open nests (which, for all we know, may
still be the case in many species), and some change of con-
ditions, leading the male bird to sit, may have been followed
by the adoption of a domed nest.

VI. Superb warblers (Maluridre). The males of these little
birds are adorned with the most gorgeous colours, while the
females are very plain, yet they make domed nests. It is
to be observed, however, that the male plumage is nuptial
merely, and is retained for a very short time ; the rest of the
year both sexes are plain a1 ike. It is probable, therefore, that
the domed nest is for the protection of these delicate little
Ijirds against the rain, and that there is some unknown cause
which has led to the development of colour in the males only.

I think I have now noticed all exceptions of any importance to
the law of dependence of sexual colour on nidification. It will be
seen that they are very few in number, compared with those which
support the generalization ; and in several cases there are cir-

A Theory of Birds' Nests 87

cumstances in the habits or structure of the species that suffici-
ently explain them. If the views here advocated are correct
as to the various influences that have determined the special-
ities of every bird's nest, and the general colouration of female
birds, with their action and reaction on each other, we can hardly
expect to find evidence more complete than that here set forth.
Nature is such a tangled web of complex relations, that a series
of correspondences running through hundreds of species, genera,
and families in every part of the system, can hardly fail to indi-
cate a true causal connexion ; and when, of the two factors in
the problem, one can be shewn to be dependent on the most
deeply seated and the most stable facts of structure and con-
ditions of life, while the other is a character universally admitted
to be superficial and easily modified, there can be little doubt
as to which is cause and which effect.

But the explanation of the phenomenon here attempted does
not rest alone on the facts I have been able now to adduce. In
the article on " Mimicry " already referred to, it is shewn how im-
portant a part the necessity for protection has played in determin-
ing the external form and colouration, and sometimes even the in-
ternal structure of animals.

As illustrating this latter point, I may refer to the remarkable
hooked, branched, or star-like spiculse in many sponges, which are
believed to have the function chiefly of rendering them unpalatable
to other creatures. The Holothuridse or sea-cucumbers possess a si-
milar protection, many of them having anchor-shaped spicules em-
bedded in their skin, as the Synapta ; while others (Cuviera squam-
ata) are covered with a hard calcareous pavement. Many of these
are of a bright red or purple colour, and are very conspicuous,
while the allied Trepang, or Beche-de-mer (Holothuria edulis),
which is not armed with any such defensive weapons, is of a dull
sand- or mud-colour, so as hardly to be distinguished from the sea
bed on which it reposes. Many of the smaller marine animals are
protected by their almost invisible transparency, while those that
are most brightly coloured will be often found to have some pro-
tection either in stinging tentacles like Physalia, or in a hard cal-
careous crust, as in the star fishes.

In the struggle for existence incessantly going on, protection or
concealment is one of the most general and most effectual means
of maintaining life, and it is by modifications of colour that this
protection can be most readily obtained, since no other character

88 Journal of Travel and Natural History

is subject to such numerous and rapid variations. The case I have
now endeavoured to illustrate is exactly analogous to what occurs
among butterflies. As a general rule, the female butterfly is of
dull and inconspicuous colours, even when the male is most
gorgeously arrayed ; but when the species is protected from attack
by a disagreeable odour, as in the Heliconidas, Danaidse and
Acroeidse, both sexes display the same or equally brilliant hues.
Any general theory of the phenomenon of colour in animals must
deal with both these cases, as well as with the whole series of facts
presented by every degree and kind of protective and imitative
tinting.

To some persons it will perhaps appear that the causes to which
I impute so much of the external aspect of nature are too simple,
too insignificant, and too unimportant for such a mighty work.
But I would ask them to consider that the great object of all the
peculiarities of animal structure is to preserve the life of the indi-
vidual, and maintain the existence of the species. Colour has
hitherto been too often looked upon as something adventitious and
superficial, something given to an animal not to be useful to itself,
but solely to gratify man or even superior beings — to add to the
beauty and ideal harmony of nature. If this were the case, then,
it is evident that the colours of organized beings would be an ex-
ception to most other natural phenomena. They would not be
the product of general laws, or determined by ever-changing exter-
nal conditions ; and we must give up all inquiry into their origin
and causes, since (by the hypothesis) they are dependent on a
Will whose motives must ever be unknown to us. But, strange to
say, no sooner do we begin to examine and classify the colours of
natural objects, than we find that they are intimately related to a
variety of other phenomena, and are like them strictly subordin-
ated to general laws. I have here attempted to elucidate some of
these laws in the case of birds, and have shewn how the mode of
nidification has affected the colouring of the female sex in this
group. I have before shewn (in the article on " Mimicry " already
alluded to) to how great an extent, and in how many ways, the
need of protection has determined the colours of insects, and of
some groups of reptiles and mammalia. Lastly, I would call
particular attention to the fact that the gay tints of flowers, so long
supposed to be a convincing proof that colour has been bestowed
for other purposes than the good of its possessor, have been shewn
by Mr Darwin to follow the same great law of utility. Flowers do

Theory of Bird s^ A^csts 89

not often need protection, but very often re^iuire the aid of insects
to fertilize them, and maintain their reproductive powers in the
greatest vigour. Their gay colours attract insects, as do also their
sweet odours and honeyed secretions ; and that this is the main
function of colour in flowers is shewn by the striking fact, that those
flowers which can be perfectly fertilized by the wind, and do not
need the aid of insects, rarely or never have gaily coloured flowers.

This wide extension of the general principle of utility to the
colours of such varied groups, both in the animal and vegetable
kingdoms, compels us to acknowledge that the "reign of law" has
been fairly traced into this stronghold of the advocates of special
creation. And to those who oppose the explanation I have given
of the facts adduced in this paper, I would again respectfully urge
that they must grapple with the w'hole of the facts, not one or two
of them only. It will be admitted that, on the theory of evolution,
as worked out in detail by Mr Darwin, a wide range of facts with
regard to colour in nature have been co-ordinated and explained.
Until at least an equally wide range of facts can be shewn to be
in harmony with any other theory, we can hardly be expected to
abandon that which has already done such good service, and
which has led us to the discovery of so many interesting and
unexpected harmonies among the most common (but hitherto most
neglected and least understood), of the phenomena presented by
organised beings.

TRAVEL.

go Journal of 7 ravel and Natural History

THE NILE TRIBUTARIES OF ABYSSINIA, AND

THE SWORD HUNTERS OF THE H AMR AN

ARABS:---

THE " Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia," means the Abyssinian
Tributaries of the Nile ; and the " Sword Hunterst of the
Hamran," means the sword-armed hunters of the Haroran. It is
not swords that they hunt, but elephants, and other wild animals ;
and it is not the Nile that pays tribute to Abyssinia, but Abyssinia
that sends, anil has sent for thousands upon thousands of years,
tribute to Egypt. The inverted title is a sacrifice to rhythm, which
we may pass the more easily that it is the only piece of feather
in the book.

In other respects the title is happy, and well expresses the con-
tents of the book. It is divided into two well-marked streams, which,
although they flow contiguously through the volume, never mix.
The one is the exploration of the Al)yssinian water sources of the
Nile, the other the sporting adventures of the author, in which
latter the so-called " sword-hunters" bore a share.

It is the complement of the author's previous work, "The
Albert Nyanza Great Basin of the Nile." That work laid bare the
sources which supplied the constant flow of the great river, but
did not sufficiently explain the cause of the annual inundations.
That is done in the present volume.

The Lake sources of Central Africa, as Sir Samuel says, and
has proved, support the life of Egypt, by supplying a stream
throughout all seasons, that has sufficient volume to bear the
exhaustion of evaporation and absorption, for nearly 1200 mile.s,
from the junction of the Atbara to the Mediterranean, although
not one streamlet joins the mysterious river, nor one drop of rain
ruffles its surface ; but this stream, if unaided, could never over-

• The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia, and tlie Sword Hunters of the Ilamran
Arabs. By Sir Samuel W. Hakcr, M.A.,&c. I vol. London: M'Millan
& Co. 1867.

f Sir Samuel may plead the word swordsmen, as an authority for the use of
the word sword-huntcr, but swordsmen is used in a figurative sense — men belong-
ing to the sword — while the words " fox-hunter, hare-hunter, lion-hunter, cle-
]5hant-hunter, sufficiently shew that the prefix properly relates to the thing
liuiile(l.

The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia 9 t

flow its banks ; and Egypt thus deprived of the annual inundation,
would simply exist, and cultivation would be confined to the close
vicinity of the river.

The inundation which, by its annual deposit of mud, has actually
created the Delta of lower Egypt, has its origin entirely separate
from the lake sources of Central Africa ; and the supply of water
has been now proved by Baker to be derived exclusively from
Abyssinia.

The two grand affluents of Abyssinia, are the Blue Nile and the
Atbara, which join the main stream respectively, in north latitude
15° 30' and 17° 37'. These rivers, although streams of extreme
grandeur during the period of the Abyssinian rains, from the
middle of June until September, are reduced during the dry
months to utter insignificance : the Blue Nile becoming so shallow
as to be unnavigable, and the Atbara perfectly dry, except a few
isolated pools, like the water holes of the Australians, crowded
with all the life of land, air, and water, gathered for scores of miles
around ; and some of the rivers, like the Gash, never reaching the
Nile at all, but losing themselves in numberless ramifications in the
thirsty sands, facts which in themselves are conclusive against the
existence of glaciers or snowy mountains in any part of Abyssinia,
which would otherwise have furnished a more permanent supply.
In the dry months, the water supply of Abyssinia ceasing, Egypt
depends solely upon the equatorial lakes, and the affluents of the
White Nile, until the rainy season shall again have flooded the two
great Abyssinian arteries. That flood occurs suddenly about the
20th June; and the great rush of water pouring down the Blue Nile
and the Atbara into the parent channel, inundates Lower Egypt,
and is the cause of its extreme fertility.

Sir Samuel was a witness, not only to the dried-up channels of
these Abyssinian rivers during the dry season, but also to their
flooding, having been encamped in the very bed of the Atbara,
when, like a thief in the night, it burst upon them.

After a graphic description of the night's turmoil, and the change
wrought by the flood in a few hours, he says : — " Although this
was actually the beginning of my work, I felt that by the experi-
ence of this night, I had obtained a clue to one portion of the
Nile mystery ; and that, as ' coming events cast their shadows
before them,' this sudden creation of a river was but the shadow
of the great cause. The rains were pouring in Abyssinia ! these

ivere sources of the Nile."

G 2

92

Journal of Travel ami Natural History

|Yi|i':|',MlJ|iii";;ii.' i'^;

L.-j-.L">i'i.iiHiiiiHii'»iilllii,ii

The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia 93

The scenery of these rivers, would appear to be often magnificent
in the extreme. The junction of the Royan with the Settite, is
described as a curious and frightful spot in the rainy season. The
entire course of the Royan is extremely rapid, but at its lower
extremity, it enters a rocky pass between two hills, and leaps, in
a succession of grand falls, into a circular basin of about four
hundred yards diameter. This peculiar basin is surrounded by
high cliffs, covered with trees : to the left, is an island formed by
a rock about sixty feet high ; at the foot a deep and narrow
gorge, through which the Settite River makes its exit from the
circle. This large river enters the basin through a rocky gap,
at right angles Avith the rush of water from the great falls of the
Royan ; and as both streams issue from gorges which accelerate
their velocity to the highest degree, their junction forms a tre-
mendous whirlpool, and in the rainy season is a most frightful
scene of giddy waters. The accompanying plate, kindly lent us
by Sir Samuel's publishers, will give the reader some idea of it.

Of course actual travelling, during such rains as those which
supply these torrents, is impracticable. Baker encamped at a
village favourably situated on the banks of the Atbara, and re
mained for three months, until the rainy season passed. Althougli
violent storms were of daily occun-ence, opportunities of hunting
were not unfrequent, especially at the latter part of the rainy season.
The game, however, was all on the other side of the rapid river,
and the modes of crossing, by extemporised apparatus, might be
instructive to our troops now entering Abyssinia.

When the dry season came, Baker resumed his journey, and as
he journeyed from district to district, and from river to river, found
full scope for his hunting fervour. At an early period, he heard of
and came in contact with the Hamran hunters ; and the most ex-
citing adventures in his book, were performed in company with
these swordsmen. The following is his account of them :

" licfore my arrival at Sofi, I had heard of a particular tribe of Arabs that
inhabited the Base country ; these were the Hamrans, who were described as the
most extraordinary Nimrods, who hunted and killed all wild animals, fi-om the
antelope to the elephant, with no other weapon than the sword ; the lion and
the rhinoceros fell alike before the invincible sabres of these mighty hunters.

" In a long conversation with these men, I found a corroboration of all that
I had previously lieard of their exploits, and they described the various modes
of killing the elephant with the sword. Those hunters who could not afford to
purchase hoi'ses hunted on foot, in parties not exceeding two persons. Their
method was to follow the tracks of an elephant so as to arrive at their game
lietween the hours of 10 a.m., and noon, at which time the animal is cither

94 Journal of Travel and A^afiiral History

asleep or extremely listless and easy to approach. Should they discover the
animal asleep, one of the hunters would creep stealthily towards the head, and,
with one blow, sever the trunk which stretched upon the ground ; in which
case the elephant would start upon his feet, while the hunters escaped in the
confusion of the moment. The trunk severed would ciuise a haemorrhage suffi-
cient to insure the death of the elephant within about an hour. On the other
hand, should the animal be awake upon their arrival, it would be impossible to
approach the trunk, and in such a case they would creep up from behind, and give
a tremendous cut at the back sinew of the hind leg, about a foot above the
heel. Such a blow would disable the elephant at once, and would render
comparatively easy a second cut to the remaining leg : the arteries being divided
the animal would quickly bleed to death." — (p. 172.)

These are the methods adopted by the poor hunters. When
provided with horses their proceedings are modified acccordingly ;
they are changed from a stalk into a chase ; but this hunt on horse-
back will be best appreciated by the account of a characteristic
one given by Sir Samuel Baker, at which he was himself present.
For want of space we must pass over the spirited account of the
" find," and first " burst." The elephant had entered a stronghold,
composed of rocky and uneven ground, in the clefts of which grew
thinly a few leafless trees, the thickness of a man's leg. It then
turned boldly and stood determinedly at bay :

"The elephant stood facing us like a statue ; it did not move a muscle, be-
yond -a quick and restless action of the eyes that were watching all sides.
Taher Sherif and his youngest brother Ibrahim now separated, and each took
opposite sides of the elephant, and then joined each other about twenty yards
behind it ; I accompanied them, until Taher advised me to keep about the
same distance on the left flank. My tokrooris kept apart from the scene, as
they were not required. In front of the elephant were two agageers, one of
whom was the renowned Rodur Sherif, with the withered arm. All being
ready for action, Rodur now rode slowly towards the head of the cunning old
bull, who was quietly awaiting an opportunity to make certain of some one
who might give him a good chance.

' ' Rodur Sherif rode a bay mare, that, having been thoroughly trained to
these encounters, was perfect at her work. Slowly and coolly she advanced to-
wards her wary antagonist, until within about eight or nine yards of the
elephant's head. The creature never moved, and the niise en scene was beauti-
ful. Not a word was spoken, and we kept our places amidst utter stillness,
which was at length broken by a snort from the mare, who gazed intently at
the elephant, as though watching for the moment of attack.

"One more pace forward, and Rodur sat coolly upon his mare with his eyes
fixed upon those of the elephant. For an instant I saw the white of the eye
nearest to me. 'Look out, Rodur, he's coming !" I exclaimed : with a shrill
scream the elephant dashed upon him like an avalanche.

"Round about went the marc, as though upon a pivot, and away over rocks

The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia 95

and stones, flying like a gazelle, with the monkey-like form of little Rodur
Sherif leaning forward and looking over his left shoulder as the elephant rushed
after him.

" For a moment I thought he must be caught. Had the mare stumbled, all
were lost, but she gained in the race after a few quick, bounding strides, and
Rodur still looking behind him kept his distance so close to the elephant that
its outstretched trunk was within a few feet of the mare's tail.

' ' Taher Sherif and his brother Ibrahim swept down like falcons in the rear.
In full speed they dexterously avoided the trees, until they arrived upon open
ground, when they dashed up close to the hind quarters of the furious elephant,
who, maddened with the excitement, heeded nothing but Rodur and his mare,
that were almost within its grasp. When close to the tail of the elephant, Taher
Sherif s sword flashed from its sheath, as, grasping his trusty blade, he leapt
nimbly to the ground, while Ibrahim caught the reins of his horse. Two or
three bounds on foot, with the sword clutched in both hands, and he was close
behind the elephant. A bright glance shone like lightning as the sun struck
upon the descending steel. This was followed by a dull crack, as the sword cut
through skin and sinews, and settled deep in the bone, about 12 inches above
the foot. At the next stride the elephant halted dead short in its tremendous
charge. Taher had jumped quickly on one side, and had vaulted into the
saddle with his naked sword in hand. At the same moment Rodur, who had
led the chase, turned sharp round, and again faced the elephant as before.
Stooping quickly from the saddle, he picked up from the ground a handful of
dirt which he threw into the face of the vicious-looking animal, that once more
attempted to rush upon him. It was impossible ! the foot was dislocated, and
turned up in front like an old shoe. In an instant Taher was once more on
foot, and again the sharp sword slashed the remaining leg. The great bull
elephant could not move ! the first cut with the sword had utterly disabled it ;
the second was its death blow ; the arteries of the leg were divided, and the
blood spouted in jets from the wounds. I wished to terminate its misery by
a bullet behind the ear, but Taher Sherif begged me not to fire, as the elephant
would quickly bleed to death without pain, and an unnecessary shot might
attract the Base, who would steal the flesh and ivory during our absence."
-(p. 438.)

Aud so they left the poor beast ! and really we were not sorry
to learn that the Base did steal the flesh and ivory before their
return, the whereabouts of the quarry having been betrayed by the
vultures before they got back with the necessary conveyance for
carrying off" the spoil.

Such an exploit beats bull fighting. There is only one trifling
criticism which we would venture to make on the exciting narra-
tive, and that is, that Taher Sherif must have been well up and
abreast with the elephant when he jumped down to deliver the
hamstringing blow, for he must have been parallel with it, and also
standing still when he delivered it. It is plain that he could not
have delivered a two-handed blow when running : let anyone try

^6 Jounial of Travel and Natural History

The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia 97

it and he will see it is impossible. He must have had a stable
fulcrum for his smng. He is figured as standing still in Sir
Samuel's own sketch of the occurrence (which we have borrowed
to illustrate our quotation), and unless he had got a little in ad-
vance of the hind leg when he did poise himself for the blow, the
animal would have been out of reach before it descended. The
elephant may, indeed, before he jumped down, have been slacken-
ing his pace sufficiently to allow him to run forward along its side,
as far as was necessary, to give him time to stand and deUver his
blow in passing, as it were.

It is in passing that the blow is delivered by hunters in other
parts of Africa, who adopt something of the same style of hunting
as that of the Hamrans. In fact, that of the latter is only a bolder,
more daring, and more hazardous exaggeration of a not unusual
mode of attacking the elephant practised in some parts of Inner
Africa. The elephant, as the reader knows, is an ease-loving
animal; he belongs to what in Scotland would be called the
"canna be fashed" order; consequently, when he has to pass
through a thick-grown forest, he does not usually, or unless when
excited, go crushing through the heart of it, regardless of ob-
stacles ; but if there are any paths through it (which there usually
are, made by the elephants themselves), he habitually takes them.
The natives know this, and take advantage of it. They select
a place for an ambush close to one of these paths, and having
one or t\vo requisites : it must be well clothed with foliage, to
conceal them from the eye of the elephant ; there must be room
for them to swing their weapon round, and it must be close to a
Baobab (Adansonia digitata), or other large tree, on which he can
take refuge after delivering his blow. (Sir Samuel alludes to the
natives climbing the Baobab for honey, by pegs stuck in the
soft bark.) They then lie in wait for the elephant. A herd
comes sauntering slowly and meditatively along, the hunter waits
until the last passes, and as soon as it does so, he strikes a ham-
stringing blow, as described by Sir Samuel ; and the moment it is
delivered, without waiting to see the result, he is up the tree like
lightning, or flying at full speed into the thickest of the jungle. If
the blow is successful, the animal is persecuted with spears and
arrows to death.

The Hamran practice is a bolder and nobler step in the art of
venery, but they are obviously both species of the same genus.

98 Journal of Travel and Natural History

With or without these swordsmen, alone or in company with
others of the natives, Sir Samuel waged for months an unrelenting
war upon the wild animals of these countries. No doubt we now
and then meet with an instance of occasional self-denial where he
refrains from slaughter, on the ground that he had plenty of food
in camp ; but we do not observe that these qualms of conscience
ever obtruded themselves when the temptation was great, as in the
case of an elephant or a rhinoceros, but were usually confined to
partridges or antelopes. Still, to find any qualms at all stopping
the forefinger of such an enthusiast, is something.

It is hopeless to attempt to do justice to the narrative of his
hair-breadth 'scapes in the short space that we can give for quota-
tion. It requires the adjuncts and accessories leading up to, and
accompanying them, to enable one fully to appreciate them. We
must refer the reader to his book itself for them, and shall now
turn and take a short look at its natural history.

Sir Samuel is not strong in natural history, in fact, he obviously
has no scientific knowledge of it at all, and has viewed everything
from the sporting stand-point; consequently, scarcely anything is
noticed that was not big enough to be shot or eaten. Generally
speaking, however, his descriptions of the animals he has met with
are sufficiently precise to enable a naturalist, without much diffi-
culty, to recognise the species he is speaking of Of mammals,
we find that he met with one species of monkey, which, from his
description, was probably Cercopithecus griseo-viridis ; also one
species of baboon, but which of the four or five reported Abyssinian
species, does not appear. It is probable that the present expedi-
tion may have the eff'ect of reducing the number of species, as it
certainly will the number of individuals. His observations confirm
those already made as to the intelligence of these animals, one
remarkable instance of which is their digging wells in the sand for
water. Sir Samuel gives the credit of this to " the monkeys," but
we have no doubt that he used the word in its largest sense, and
that, specifically, it was the baboons he meant, because we find
Mansfield Parkyns relating the same thing of them :

" They shew also the same sagacity in searching for water, discovering at
once the places where it is most readily found in the sand, and then digging for
it with their hands, just as men would, relieving one another in the work if the
quantity of sand to be removed be considerable." (Parkyns, p. 230.)

We would refer those who have not read Mansfield Parkyns's
"Life in Abyssinia," to that work for some credible instances of

TJie Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia 99

the intelligence of these animals, which he vouches for as true, and
for some incredible instances of their sagacity, which the Arabs
vouch for as true. The fact of their placing sentinels, and those
sentinels keeping their posts, and subduing their appetites, while
all the rest of their fellows are plundering and gorging, is one of
the most extraordinary approaches to human intellect that we
know of

Of carnivorous mammals, he met with the lion, which furnishes
some of the most sensational incidents in the book ; the leopard,
which he found devouring a snake that it had killed ; the hyjena
crocuta, which was abundant and generally unmolested, for sanitary
reasons.

Of herbivorous animals, he gives a long list of antelopes, which
is not limited to Abyssinia, but includes all the species met with
by him, and by Von Heuglin, or one or other of them, in any
part of East Africa. This was supplied to him by Heuglin, and
will more properly come under notice in our account of that
gentleman's travels, which we must shortly pass under review,
merely observing that there is amongst them a new Abyssinian
species, the " Maarif," named after Sir Samuel by Heuglin.

Besides antelopes, he encountered the Cape buffalo and the
Indian buffalo (naturally spoken of by Sir Samuel as a new species,
as he, doubtless, never expected to see his Ceylon and Hindostanee
acquaintance in the wilds of Abyssinia), the aboriginal wild ass, the
hippopotamus, the rhinoceros bicornis, the elephant, and the giraffe.
It would appear that many of these animals, although, perhaps, not
in the proper sense migratory, are so practically, being compelled
to shift their quarters regularly every year by flies, drought, &c.
The Seroot fly, which we shall have presently to mention, is one of
the chief agents in these migrations of the giraffe. Sir Samuel
mentions a circumstance of which we were not aware, viz., that the
long bones of the limbs of the giraffe are sohd, not hollow, as in
other ruminants :

" It would be natural to suppose that the long legs of this animal would
furnish the perfection of marrow-bones, but these are a disappointment, as the
bones of the giraffe are solid, like those of the elephant or hippopotamus."

It is rather curious to find the practical man pointing out, from
the experience of his desert dinner table, a fact like this, which has
escaped the attention of comparative anatomists. Professor Owen,
in his "Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of Vertebrates,"

loo foiinial of Travel ami Natural History

published in 1866, says (vol. i, p. 24), without any ([ualificatioii or
reservation, —

" In the active land quadrupeds the shaft of the long bones of the limbs is
hollow. The strenj^h and lightness of the limb bones are thus increased, after
the well-known principle of the hollow column, which Galileo, by means of a
straw picked up from his prison floor, exemplified as an evidence of design, in
refutation of the charge of Atheism brought against him by the Intiuisition."

But we see that, when the additional bulk requires it, the ordinary
type is departed from, and the hollow bones become solid.

The notices of the birds are very meagre — the only ones which
seem to have particularly struck him are the vultures and the
francolin partridge, any notices of others being too brief for recogni-
tion. Apropos to the vultures, he discusses the vexed question
whether these birds discover the carcases on which they prey by
sight or smell. This is now well settled, but his observations are
interesting, not only as regards it, but as pointing out that these
birds probably occupy different heights in the air — strata of
vultures, as it were — and that it is their distance which regulates
the comparative priority of arrival of the different species. The
order in which they come is — i, the black and white crow; 2,
the common buzzard \ 3, the red-faced small vulture ; 4, the large
bare-throated vulture ; and, lastly, the Marabou stork and adjutant,
which, although not vultures nominatim, are in reality the greatest
vultures of them all.

Of reptiles, the crocodile and tortoise (Trionyx ^gyptiacus),
which is so destructive to young crocodiles, are the only species he
mentions. Snakes must be very scarce, or we should have heard
of them. He gives some thrilling tales about the voracity and
boldness of the crocodile, which we are sorry that we have not
space to quote. His acquaintance with the Trionyx was made
through the medium of the fishing-rod, he having caught, but not
landed, a fellow 100 lb. in weight.

His angling with fish was more successful :

'* This afternoon, I took the rod, and having caught a beautiful silver-sided
fish, of about a pound weight,! placed it upon a large single hook fastened under the
back fin. In about an hour I had a run, but upon striking I pulled the bait out of the
fish's mouth, as the point of the hook had not touched the jaw. I had wound
up slowly for about thirty yards, hoping that the big fellow wouhl follow his
last prize, as I knew him to be a large fish by his attack iipon a bait of a pound
weight. I found my bait was killed, but having readjusted the hook 1 again
cast it in the same direction, and slowly played it towards nic. 1 had him!
lie look it immediately, and I detcrminctl to allow him to swallow it before I

The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia i o i

sliould strike. Williout a hall about a lumdrcil yards of line were taken at the
first rush towards the middle of the river ; he then stopped, and I waited for
about a minute and then fixed him with a jerk that bent my bamboo like a fly
rod. This he repelled by a splendid challenge; in one jump he flew about 9
feet above the water, and shewed himself to be one of the most beautifid fish
I had ever seen; not one of those nondescript antediluvian brutes that you
expect to catch in these extraordinary rivers, but in colour he appeared like a
clear run salmon. He gave tremendous play, several times leaping out of the
water, and shaking his head furiously to free himself from the hook, then dart-
ing away with So or 100 yards of fresh line, until he at last was forced to yield
to the strong and elastic bamboo, and his deep body stranded upon the fatal
shallows."

This he names the " Baggar," i.c.^ the cow. From the figtire he
gives of it, it was undoubtedly the Lates Niloticus of Cuvier — the
latos of the Greeks, after which the town called Latopolis is sup-
posed to have been named — a perch, the largest and most esteemed
fish of the Nile. Sir Samuel naturally thinks he had caught a
stunner, a giant of the pools, a centenarian \ but it was only a
puny youngster after all. If he thinks so much of a 30 or 40
pounder, Avhat would he have said to one of 10 feet in length,
which is the size that St Hilaire mentions that they reach to.
Fancy playing a fish like a salmon, i o feet in length ; that would have
been a foeman worthy of Sir Samuel's bamboo.

Another fish, described by Sir Samuel under the Arab name of the
Coor, is an ugly monster, of about 5oib weight, a species of Silurus ;
differing from the Silurus of Europe, by having a dorsal fin, like a
fringe, that extends along the back to the tail. This fish had
lungs resembling delicate branches of red coral, and if kept moist,
it would exist upon the land for many hours, like an eel. It smells
strongly of musk. This is, no doubt, the Heterobranchus bi-dor-
salis of St Hilaire. He says it is as rare in Egypt as the other
species of Heterobranchus is common. This species belongs
essentially to the Upper Nile, and it is only, therefore, as it were,
accidentally that they are met with in Egypt, where, for a reason
easy enough to comprehend, only very large individuals arrive.
These drawn from their true country by their extreme voracity,
engage in the pursuit of troops of travelling fishes which descend
the river, and come with them into the Egyptian Nile. He gives
its length as 2 feet 4^ inches.

Another species, figured under the name of Bayard, is appar-
ently the Bagrus bajad, Val.

All the species mentioned are already well known as inhabi-
tants of the Nile.

1 02 Join- mil of Travel and Natural History

Of invertebrate animals, the only one mentioned by Sir Samuel,
besides the usual insect annoyances common to all hot countries,
is the Seroot fly, a scourge which, although not so fatal in its re-

sults as the attacks of the Tsetse fly, is infinitely more annoying
and distressing. It worries the wild animals almost to death,
and, during its prevalence, drives them from the country. From
Sir Samuel's account, it appears that this peculiar fly is about the
size of a wasp, Avith an orange coloured body, with black and
white wings ; the proboscis is terrific ; it is double, and aj)pears to
be disproportioned, being two thirds the length of the entire
insect. When this insect attacks an animal or man, it pierces the
skin instantaneously, like the prick of a red hot needle driven
deep into the flesh; at the same time, the insect exerts every
muscle of its body, by buzzing with its wings, as it buries the

The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia 1 03

instrument to its greatest depth. The blood starts from the wound
immediately, and continues to flow for a considerable time : this is
an attraction to other flies, in great numbers, many of which lay
their eggs upon the wound.

From the figure and description, it is unquestionably a Pangonia,
a genus largely represented in South Africa, and is not very far
from P. barbata, Wied., a Cape species. It is not in the British
Museum, and Mr Frederick Smith seems to think it is probably
new. It has nothing to do with the Tsetse (the Glossina morsitans),
which belongs to a totally different section of flies, and does its
mischief in a totally different fashion. The pain caused by the
bite of the latter is trifling, not more than the slight itching
irritation caused by the bite of a mosquito. That of the fomier
puts every one to flight. Here is Baker's account of his personal
experience :

" My giraffe was not quite dead, and the throat having been cut by the Arabs
and Richard, we attempted to flay our game : this was simply impossible.
The Seroot fly was in swarms about the carcase, thousands were buzzing about
our ears, and biting like bull-dogs : the blood was streaming from our necks,
and as I wore no sleeves, my naked arms suffered terribly. I never saw such
an extraordinary sight ; although we had killed our giraffe, we could not take
possession ; it is no wonder that camels and all domestic animals were killed by
this horrible plague, the only wonder was the possibility of wild animals resist-
ing the attack. The long tails of the giraffes, are admirable fly-whippers, but
they would be of little service against such a determined and blood-thirsty
enemy as the Seroot. They were now like a swarm of bees, and we immedi-
ately made war upon the scourge, by lighting several fires within a few feet to
windward of the giraffe ; when the sticks blazed briskly, we piled green grass
upon the tops, and quickly produced a smoke that vanquished the enemy." —
(p. 196.)

It appears that this peculiar fly, which tortures all domestic
animals, invades the country shortly after the commencement of
the rains, when the grass is about two feet high ; and more parti-
cularly infests the flat and rich table-lands, where the quality of
the grass is totally different to that produced upon the pebbly and
denuded soil of the higher sandstone slopes. So long as moisture
continues it prevails, but as soon as drought returns its reign is
over. No sooner does the grass turn yellow than it disappears,
and its presence may thus be dated from about loth July to loth
October.

Of plants we do not learn anything that is new. The prospects
of the introduction of valuable new fruits and vegetables from
Abyssinia are not bright. Sir Samuel speaks of the hegleek

1 04 Journal of Travel and Ahxtural History

(Balanites y-Egyptiaca) favourably, as a fruit. The account we
have heard of it is, that it is only a little more unpalatable
than an acorn ; but Sir Samuel seems not to have disliked
it ; Lady Baker made preserves of it, with honey ; and one
of their servants sacrificed her life to her predilection for it —
continuing to eat it, although warned against its noxious or
indigestible properties. Sir Samuel also speaks of the valuable
qualities of the cultivated onion as food, he having lived for days
on nothing but rusks and them ; of the uneatable properties of a
wild onion (may we be pardoned for suggesting that the bulb was
possibly a lily) ; of several varieties of wild spinach ; and a plant
called regly, that makes a good salad. He also tells of the
Adansonia, its spongy wood being not much firmer in substance
than cork, and as succulent as a carrot — the refreshing sub-acid
flavour of its seeds, and its immense girth (the largest he measured
being 51^ feet in circumference) ; of the poisonous and irritant
Asclepias gigantea; the thorny mimosas; and, generally, the thorny
vegetation usually confined to dry and desert districts ; the quanti-
ties of gum-arabic to be had for the picking up, &c. ; but, so
far as the kitchen or dessert table is concerned, there does not
appear to be much scope for the exertions of the Horticultural
Society in the districts he visited. Mansfield Parkyns told us long
ago that a man who cares a straw about what he eats should never
attempt to travel in Africa : his life would be anything but one of
pleasure. It would, indeed, be a matter of hardship ; but then, he
says, the semi-starvation to which one is now and then reduced, so
far from being a hardship in travelling, as it is often represented
by tourists, is, if not continued to extremity, one of the greatest
possible blessings. Senna is another unpalatable blessing which
this land possesses in abundance ; curiously enough, the camels
are very fond of it.

Of the geology and mineralogy of the country we learn little.
Limestone, sandstone, with fossilized wood and basalt, are spoken
of, also gold in small quantities ; copper, in some places so abun-
dant as to poison the water of the river-pools on whose bed it
occurs ; agates ; cornelian ; masses of exquisite bloodstone, the
size of a man's head, &c.

Of the climate — healthy and delightful where high and dry,
villanous in low and damp localities — we need not speak. Neither
is there much to say of the natives. Not that we mean that the
subject is a barren one, Init that Sir Samuel has not looked at it

The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia 105

from the point of view which would have most interest to our
readers. Abyssinia is, undoubtedly, the bridge by which a certain
interchange of Europeo-Asiatic with true African species of animals
{i.e., species belonging to Africa south of the Sahara) has taken
place ; and it would be interesting to know how far the facts indi-
cative of this in other animals and in plants were confirmed or not
by the present distribution of the peoples of that country. We
glean little of this directly from Sir Samuel Baker's book, but have a
good deal of amusing information about their habits and manners,
which want of space compels us to pass over. We would only
say that so far as these furnish any indication of affinity they rather
seem to point to a considerable share of the Negro element in the
natives of Abyssinia. Lastly, for the same reason, we must treat
with a neglect in very unsatisfactory contrast to the attention
bestowed upon it by Sir Samuel — the whole subject of his artillery,
from his " dear little Fletcher 24," to the " Baby," a terrific
blunderbuss that fired explosive shells of half-a-pound weight. It
is most ungrateful on our part, for we have derived no little
amusement and interest from the battery. Our excuse is that it is
a fault unwilling. Editor.

TRAVEL.

io6 Journal of Travel and Natural History

A GLANCE AT THE PRESENT POSITION AND
PROSPECTS OF GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE.

'T^HE progress of geographical science has of late years been
*- very rapid ; the increased facilities for travel, and the con-
tinued craving for knowledge, induce those fond of enterprise to
go forth in quest of new discoveries, so that we may be said to
be daily adding to them ; while the ever recurring changes, not so
much affecting the form as the territorial divisions of countries, ne-
cessitate continual attention to geography in all its bearings, which,
being so inseparably connected with the subjects to be treated of
in this Journal — Travel and Natural History — a review of these
changes from time to time in its pages cannot be otherwise than
appropriate.

The annexation of Savoy and Nice to France ; the forcible
exclusion of Naples from the list of independent kingdoms ;
the absorption of duchies in the new kingdom of Italy; and, more
recently, Austria deprived of her Italian dominions to increase the
same kingdom ; the annihilation of the individuality of Hanover and
Saxony as separate kingdoms, and the incorporation of Schleswig-
Holstein and other states, now forming the confederated kingdom
of Prussia, have so changed the map of Europe as to cause
geographers and staticians no little trouble to keep pace with the
changes.

Not only in Europe are these changes taking place, but in Asia
also. Russia, after many years of persevering struggle, attended
with great expense and loss of life, having conquered the hardy
mountaineers of the Caucasus, has firmly established her boundary
in that direction, and is now, slowly but surely, making her
way through the vast steppes of hitherto independent Tartary,
Mongolia, and Manchuria, towards the British possessions in
India, the Chinese Empire, and Japan, absorbing in her giant
grasp, countries until now considered integral portions of indepen-
dent states, so that it would be simply impossible to define
correctly the boundary of the Russian Empire in Asia ; all we
know being, that it is somewhere between the 50th and the 40th
degrees of latitude.

The recent extension of our empire in the East, by the acquisi-

Present Position and Prospects of Geographical Science 107

tion of Scinde and the Punjaub, the gradual opening up of China
and that terra incognita Japan, furnish to the traveller and natu-
ralist a boundless field for research ; and the still little known
though lesser regions of the Corea and Formosa, must in the course
of time succumb to the advance of civilization and science, and
unfold their natural treasures to the philosopher.

The establishment of railways, now pushing their way through
the very heart of our Indian possessions, will be the means of
adding greatly to our knowledge of countries and peoples hitherto
comparatively unknown, although under our rule.

The colonization of Cambodia and Cochin China by the French,
offers a wide field for instructive research.

The great islands of the Asiatic group forming the two chains
from Sumatra to Timor, and from Borneo to New Guinea, with
whose outlines we are so familiar, are far from being exhausted
with respect to their interiors ; and much yet remains to be done
in all, both by the naturalist and the geographer.

Turn we to Africa — that land of mystery and death. To Egypt
and the Nile is now but a holiday trip, and the veil has been par-
tially withdrawn from the fatal regions beyond by the exertions of
heroic men, who, at the expense of their health, property, and life,
have devoted themselves to dispel the mystery which had pre-
viously entirely surrounded them.

Much remains to be known of Madagascar and all beyond the
seaboard fringe of the African continent, from Zanzibar to the
Red Sea.

With Abyssinia, too, we are already becoming better acquainted,
and ere long we shall know it as thoroughly as we do Egypt or
Algeria.

In the great continent of America changes equally startling, but
not so rapid in succession as those in Europe, have taken place.
Commencing north, that large and apparently unprofitable country,
heretofore known as Russian America, having been ceded to the
United States, there can be little doubt but that the enterprising
spirit of its new owners will soon reveal sources of wealth hitherto
unsuspected ; the exploration of the country, already deter-
mined on by the United States' Government, will shortly ascertain
its capabilities. *

Our own possessions in North America of British Columbia and
Vancouver Island in the west (but a few years since merely a source
of profit to a private company), and in the east of Canada, New

io8 /oiir/iai of Travel ami Natural History

foundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick,
with the land stretching northward towards the Pole, connected by
that vast tract of unknown land between, and thus reaching from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, when formed (as is intended) into one great
British North American Confederacy, dwarfing in superficial extent
the united kingdoms of Europe, will be our great principality of
the western hemisphere as India is of the eastern.

Great geographical changes have taken place in the United
States, adding to their national flag year by year a star (indicative
of a State), as civilization travels west and those new States are
formed. By this advance, the geography of the country becomes
more known, and the contemplated railroads, to connect the
Atlantic with the Pacific, in these States, as well as also in our own
possessions, will, if constructed, also add much to that geographical
knowledge. Agitated as this colossal nation has lately been by
internal war, and even now in the throes consequent on exhausted
energies, the spirit and enterprise of its people in matters of science
have never flagged, but conjointly with ourselves they despatch mis-
sionaries and travellers through all the countries of the known
world, and strive, with honourable emulation, to excel in useful-
ness the mother country.

In the unfortunate empire, or territory, of Mexico, and the
scarcely less unfortunate countries skirting the western shores of
South America, the proverb that " Where God does most, man
does least," may be said to be exemplified : with the greatest
opportunities that nature could bestow on them, it would be
difficult to point to a single item which they have contributed to
the general store of learning or science.

Brazil, on the contrary, though still possessing her antient
boundary, and although in arts and sciences still behind the
nations of Europe, has made much progress of late years. The
liberal spirit of the Emperor, the establishment of railways, and
consequent development of her internal resources, the opening her
giant river Amazon to trade and commerce, and, not least, the
abolition of slavery, have greatly advanced her status as a nation,
as well as in science and art.

Of those wonderful countries, not inaptly termed the fifth division
of the globe — Australia and Ne^ Zealand — could we, like Rip Van
Winkle, have had a geographical nap of but fifty years, what
marvellous changes would meet our view on waking ! Australia,
from being a country suited only to send our convicts to — what has

Present Position and Prospects of Geographical Science 109

it become ? States have been created, with cities, springing, Hke
Aladdin's fairy palace, into existence in a night, rivalling in
■wealth, by the discovery of gold, the nations of Europe, and
inhabited by a race of Englishmen and their descendants, posses-
sing all the spirit and energy of the mother country.

Of these exalted quahties the map of their country is a noble
monument, on which long lines of detailed information mark the
course of men who struggled, even to the death, in the cause of
geographical discovery; still leaving, however, vast tracts of
country to test the spirit of enterprise in those willing to follow
their example.

Little Tasmania, although nearly the size of Ireland, hanging
like a small pendant to Australia, is yet destined to occupy a posi-
tion of greater importance than the world at present is willing to
accord; separated from Australia by a narrow strait of about 120
miles, its features are essentially different from those of the gold-
strewn plains of Victoria ; and its fertile soil and temperate climate
will ensure a steady, though slow progress.

Proud may we be of botli, for the pursuit of wealth has not
caused them to neglect the gentler calls of that purer wealth —
science — which, like the widow's cruse of oil, seems inexhaustible,
and yields the more the more that is drawn from it ; and great and
rich promise to be the contributions to science and natural history,
to be poured into the common lap by our brethren at the Anti-
podes.

New Zealand would equally astonish our Rip. From being a
country at which our ships touched occasionally, and brought
home, as curiosities, a few rudely designed, but elaborately carved
implements, or a scarcely less elaborately tatooed head of a chief,
it has in a few years sprung into an important colony.

The legend of the New Zealanders, that their islands would
never be conquered until a woman fought against them, may,
in the person of our Queen, be said to have been fulfilled ; and
although, like a brave people as they are, they struggle in their
bonds, it is but a last effort. With whatever show of reason we
may satisfy ourselves of our wan-anty in taking possession of this
large group of islands, it is to be hoped that the apparently inevi-
table fate of the aborigines, in all countries where the white man's
foot rests, will not be the fate of this fine race, who, even as savages,
won the admiration of our forefathers, and who, in their struggle to
retain New Zealand for the New Zealanders, have not been with-

no Journal of Travel and Natural History

out their " gold side to the shield," although we may have doubted
and disputed it.

So sudden have been the changes in these islands that a few
months only seems to have converted a wilderness into a habitable
region. The west coast of the middle island, to which but a few
months back only one or two individuals had travelled from the
east, and the ship sent to survey the coast passed at such a dis-
tance from its unpromising and forbidding shores, as scarcely to do
more than trace its principal and most prominent features, now
teems with a population estimated at fifty or sixty thousand
Europeans.

This sudden change is to be attributed to the discovery of gold,
which, while it enriches those who labour to attain it, is not of less
importance to the geographer and naturalist, as opening up a mine
of wealth for them.

If we have dwelt longer in considering this portion of the habita-
ble globe, it is because the greatest physical and moral changes
have taken place, and are still taking place in it ; and from which
we hope to have to record, from time to time, important discoveries
in the branches of science of which we treat.

Polar discovery is still a temptation to our nautical and Arctic
heroes; and the recent discussions in the Royal Geographical
Society, proves that we have still many, who, undeterred by
the fate of the gallant Franklin and his companions, are ready as
ever to spring forth and stem the dangers and hardships of the icy
North : and the hope is entertained that expeditions, Avhich add so
much to our knowledge of geography and natural history, have not
been given up, but may, for the time, be considered only dormant ;
and that opportunities may yet be offered for the daring enterprise
of our younger officers and men, before the old school of Arctic
men die out.

The French, who have ever had an honourably jealous feeling
at our appropriation of all the honours to be reaped by Arctic
discovery, are even now, while we are writing, organizing an ex-
pedition to endeavour to attain that coveted goal of all Arctic
travellers — the Pole itself; and without one feeling of jealousy in
the cause of science, we wish them success.

Nor are the South Polar regions free from a threatened invasion ;
and, doubtless, the Astronomer-Royal meditates much on the
probability and possibility of observing the transit of Venus across
the Sun's disc in 1882 : the only places from which it can be ob-

Presait Position and Prospects of Geographical Science 1 1 1

served, being in those far regions of the South, where, at the season
of the year in which it will occur, man has never reached ; but no
doubt we have many ready to try, and who would not feel dis-
honoured at failure.

In writing of the present position and prospects of geographical
science, it would be ungrateful to ignore a source of our own,
from which so much has been drawn, and without which our
status in regard to it would not have attained its present promin-
ence. To the Royal Geographical Society, in its corporate
capacity, we owe much by bringing its influence to bear on the
government of the country, for the advancement of its objects,
or by helping, rewarding, or despatching at its own expense,
travellers in search of geographical and kindred knowledge, whilst
individually its members are ever contributing to the treasury of
knowledge; and although it was our intention to have avoided
names, we cannot refrain from alluding to one to whom this pro-
gressive state of the science is greatly due, and stating, as geo-
graphers, how much we are indebted to Sir Roderick Murchison.

Want of space compels us to avoid dwelling on the advantages
geographical science will derive from the extension of railways,
steam communication, and the telegraph, bringing us, as they do,
by the ties of commerce and science, nearer to our fellow men,
and more closely uniting the great scattered family of mankind :
rendering, it is to be hoped, war more difficult, and thus advancing
that great consummation of the best human efforts — "on earth,
peace." J. E. D.

112 Journal of Travel and Natural History

SYMMETRY AND HOMOLOGY IN LIMBS.*

■pvR. JEFFRIES WYMAN is publishing, in the " Proceedings "
-'-^ of the Boston Society of Natural History, the results of
many years' studies upon the Symmetries of the Body and the
Homologies of the Limbs in Vertebrates. "The fundamental idea
of the organs of organic life," he says, " involves the condition of
symmetry " — a symmetry which, however distorted, is apparent on
either side of every plane (not diagonal) dividing the body into
equal halves. At the outset he urgently insists upon the necessity
of examining this subject by the light which embryology affords ;
this will furnish ample proof of the complete symmetry of plan in
the extremes of vertebrates.

In the early stages of development, symmetry is maintained at
the two ends as well as at the two sides of the body ; but, subse-
quently, it is more or less modified as the animal is adapted to its
special conditions of life. This symmetry of fore and hind parts
— a most important guide in determining homologies — results quite
naturally from the mode of growth of an embryo and of its organs.
The growth of the embryo is from a central point forward and
backward ; the nervous axis, in its earliest stage, is a groove which
is symmetrically enlarged at either end, and gradually closes from
the centre outward ; the lung and allantois — in air-breathing
animals — arise as simple sacs at opposite ends of the straight sym-
metrical intestine. But it is in the limbs that the most striking
feature of this kind of symmetry can be traced. Placing the body
of an embryo in an horizontal position, the limb buds in their
earliest stage are simply tegumentary outgrowths, projecting at
right angles from the body ; when these limbs subsequently bend
at a point near the trunk, their ends are directed downward ; the
hands and feet become vertical, facing inward ; and the upper arms
and thighs project at right angles from the body. At a later period,
the elbow swings backward and the knee forward against the body,
while the fore-arm slowly rotates inward, until the palm, like the
foot, faces almost backward.

Bearing these embryonic changes in mind, the homotypes in

* "On Symmetry and Homology in Limbs." By JcfTrics Wyman, M. D.
8vo. pamphlet, 45 pages. Boston, 1868.

Syimnetry and Homology in Limbs 113

the two limbs may be readily determined, for, normally, they will
have the same relative position in both limbs, and be symmetri-
cally opposed to each other. Thus, the humerus and femur are
considered homotypes, and symmetrical rather than parallel bones,
because their normal will then be their natural position, the axis
of the humerus inclining backward, and that of the femur forward ;
all the corresponding parts facing in opposite directions. Dr
Wyman combats, at length, the views of Owen and Humphrey
upon the homologies of the bones of the fore-arm and leg, trusting
to the relative position of the two as the safest means of deter-
mining homologies. " If," writes Dr Wyman, " the two bones of
the fore-arm and of the leg are placed in planes at right angles to
the axis of the body, those bones must be considered homotypes
which occupy corresponding positions. The bone on the outside
of the fore-arm — viz., the radius — can only be the homotype of that
on the outside of the leg — viz., the fibula. But few anatomists
have made any allowance for the pronation of the fore-arm, and
most of them overlook the fact, that the proper position of the
bones of this segment, for comparison with those of the leg, is
supination. If the position of pronation is to be retained for the
fore-arm, the leg should go through a corresponding rotation in
the opposite direction. Viewed in connexion with the idea of
symmetry, the homotypes are determined without difficulty." The
patella is considered a sesamoid bone.

In the hands and feet the homologies are not so apparent ; there
can be no question of the correspondence of the wrist and ankle,
but the relation of their several parts present peculiar difficulties.
Leaving form out of question, and comparing those bones which
occupy symmetrical positions, we must consider the inner bone of
the wrist articulating with the ulna, the homotype of the inner
bone of the ankle articulating with the tibia. In this way Pro-
fessor Wyman homologizes the pyramidale with the scaphoid, the
lunare with the calcis, the scaphoid with the astragalus, the unci-
form with the first cuneiform, the magnum with the second cunei-
form, the trapezoid with the third cuneiform, and the trapezium
with the cuboid ; the pisiform he is inclined to place among sesa-
moid bones.

The homologies of the thumb and great toe are still obscure ;
the difficulties surrounding them cannot, in Dr Wyman's opinion,
be satisfactorily met. We notice, on the one hand, throughout
almost the whole series of vertebrates, the constancy with which

H4 Journal of Travel and Natural History

only two phalanges occur in these organs, whatever their variety in
other respects ; on the other, the fact, that when the limbs are
placed in truly symmetrical positions, the great toe is found on the
inside, the thumb on the outside of the limb. Other minor con-
siderations are discussed, shewing that our author inclines to view
the outer toe as the homotype of the thumb.

It is not, however, to these special parts alone that the principle
of reversed symmetry may be applied ; the scapular and pelvic
arches may be compared, and the scapula shewn to be homologous
with the ilium, the clavicle with the ischium, and the coracoid with
the pubes. Believing that the scapular arch cannot be considered
an appendage to either the cranial, cervical, or thoracic vertebrae,
Dr Wyman objects to the view of Owen and those of his prede-
cessors who have regarded both of these arches as ribs, and suggests
that we need to seek further evidence from embryology before
drawing any definite conclusions. From his own observations he
has furnished only negative evidence, shewing that the develop-
ment of the pelvis in frogs is dissimilar to that of the ribs.

Nor does he agree with most authors in considering the limbs
appendages of the vertebral column. Struck by the fact, that in
the embryo they bear so strong a resemblance to the median fins
of fishes or the flukes of cetaceans, he thinks " there is ground for
the hypothesis, that limbs belong to the category of tegumentary
organs, and that their connexion with the vertebral column through
the scapular and pelvic arches is only secondary." Like the
adipose fins of fishes, they are outgrowths of the tegumentary cells,
which, for a time, undergo no diff"erentiation into bones or other
tissues ; they are not forced outward by the protrusion of the bones,
but the bones are afterwards developed in the limbs and grow
pari passu with them. Moreover, the limbs have no connexion
at first with the scapular and pelvic arches, but become at a later
period attached to them as teeth become connected with the jaws.

In his discussion of the different kinds of symmetry, and
especially of that maintained at opposite ends of the body. Pro-
fessor Wyman has drawn a curious comparison between symmetry
and polarity, between the distribution of matter around the nervous
axis of an embryo, and the distribution of polarized matter around
a magnet. Just as in the latter case there are two neutral lines,
one extending along the middle of the magnet, and the other at
right angles to it — the particles divided by the second line forming
the north and south cur\'es — so we have a symmetrical arrange-

Symmetry and Homology in Limbs 115

ment of parts in an embryo not only as regards the sides, but in
the relation of fore and hind parts to each other. The analogy is
still more striking between the structure of double monsters and
the arrangement of polarized matter about two adjoining magnets.
Two parallel magnets brought near together, produce in the matter
around them a compound figure, the middle portion of which con-
sists of curves from the adjoining sides of the magnets; the
particles belonging to either series never pass the line of equili-
brium, but are deflected symmetrically upward or downward. The
symmetry of the whole figure is thus retained, although the right
and left curves of the same magnet have lost their balance. So,
in the abnormal development of embryos, where two nervous axis
occur side by side, a series of intermediate limbs or organs will be
formed where the respective influences of the two axis come into
contact, and the two bodies will be symmetrical with each other,
but not in themselves.

Again, if the magnets, touching at one end, are divergent at the
other, the isolated ends will have the usual symmetrical double
series of independent curves ; but, as the magnets approach each
other, these curves will become gradually modified or suppressed
until a single symmetrical figure is formed at the end where the
magnets unite. So, if the axis of double embryos are inclined,
the separated ends will have each a head, but as the two axis
converge, the intermediate organs will be altered or obsolete. The
body will be provided with two legs, one under the control of the
right axis, and the other under that of the left. Precisely such a
case occurred in the well-known instance of Ritta Christina. The
type of any double monster may be imitated, by the combined
action of two magnets.

Thus a vital force is displayed in the development of animals,
which, like a magnetic force on polarized matter, tends, when un-
disturbed by external agencies, to produce symmetrical figures.

Sam. H. Scudder.

1 1 6 Journal of Travel and Natural History

BAIRUS RE VIE W OF AMERICAN BIRDS. *

" I "HE standard works of Wilson, Audubon, and Nuttall, on the
-*- Ornithology of the United States, have of late years been
superseded by the " Birds of North America," of Messrs Baird,
Cassin, and Lawrence. This volume, as originally planned, was
one of the " Pacific Railway Reports," that is, a report upon the
collection of birds amassed by the numerous exploring parties sent
out some years ago to investigate the best route for the Great Trans-
Continental Railway. But under the able superintendence of its
general editor. Professor Baird, who was likewise author of the
greater portion of the work, it was expanded so as to embrace an
account of all the known species of North American birds, and
has become the most recent standard work on the subject.

Upon this foundation. Professor Baird has commenced the con-
struction of the new work, the title of which is above given. At
the same time he has rather enlarged its scope, including in his
" review " not only the birds of North America, but also all those
of the central portion of the New World down to the Isthmus of
Panama. Ample materials for this arduous undertaking are found
in the daily increasing collections of the Smithsonian Institution,
which are under Professor Baird's command, and which are pro-
bably unsurpassed for richness and variety as regards the subject
proposed to be treated of It should be mentioned that the
volume now before us, which contains an account of the first
families of the Oscines, does not appear to have been published,
but, as stated in the advertisement, has been " distributed by the
Smithsonian Institution, in advance of the completion of the whole
work, with a view of eliciting criticisms and suggestions."

As regards systematic characters, not only of the higher groups
but also of the genera and species, the present work of Professor
Baird goes into much greater detail than his " Birds of North
America." The most salient points of distinction of the closely
allied genera of Turdida;, and other families of American Oscines,
are contrasted in a series of Avell-arranged tables, and the more
noticeable parts of their structure fully discussed in the additional

* Review of American Birds in the Miiseum of the Smitlisonian Institution,
by S. F. Baird. Part I. North and Middle America. \'ol. i. Washington.

Bairds Review of American Birds 117

remarks. Great care is also bestowed upon the synonyms both of
genera and species. As regards the former, not only is an exact
reference given to where each generic name is founded, but the
species considered to be the type of the genus is named, and the
date of its formation accurately recorded. The synonymy of the
species is also very carefully attended to, and the different localities
in which it has been obtained are accurately recorded. There is
likewise appended to the description a complete list of specimens
of the species in the Smithsonian collection in a tabular form, so
that it appears at once what materials Professor Baird has had
before him to enable him to form an opinion as to the characters
and limit of the species.

In this laborious way Professor Baird has treated of the first
portion of the families of the American Oscines, commencing with
the Turdidae, and proceeding through the allied groups down to
the end of the Hirundinid^e. In the latter portion of the volume
woodcuts illustrating the structure of the beak, wings, and feet, are
introduced into the text, rendering the work of still greater value
to the student.

From the above particulars the great importance of Professor
Baird's work to those who are interested in the study of ornithology
will be at once apparent. It is important not only from the
abundance of materials under Professor Baird's command, but also
from the laborious and careful manner in which these materials
have been worked out. The task undertaken is truly an arduous
one, but has been well commenced, and when completed will form
one of the most valuable contributions to the ornithological litera-
ture of the present era. Ph. L. Sclater.

I T 8 Journal of Travel a?id Natural History

FLORA ORIENTALISE

'T^HIS is a work which has been expected from its author for
-*- many years, and which, now that it has made its appear-
ance, will be everywhere welcomed with satisfaction. It was in
the East that Botany first took its rise as a science. When at the
commencement of the eighteenth century it awoke into new life —
Tournefort, Sherard, Buxbaum, Hasselquist, and Forskahl traversed
Greece, Asia Minor, and Palestine, and obtained that knowledge
of their vegetation which we find marshalled in the writings of
Linnaeus and his cotemporary disciples. But though from genera-
tion to generation explorers have not been wanting, post-Linnaean
Floras for parts of the East are few and far between. The materials
for the magnificent " Flora Graeca" {a work originated and carried
out in this country), of which the drawings were executed by Bauer,
and the descriptions principally by Sir J. E. Smith, were amassed
by Sibthorp between 1786 and 1795 ; and Delile's " Botanique de
I'Expedition de 1' Egypte" carries us back to the beginning of the
century. The only recent Floras which contain descriptions are those
of the Russian provinces included in the general " Flora Rossica"
of Ledebour, and the Spicilegium Florae Rumeliae of Grisebach,
neither of them for tracts which fall within the bounds of the East
as the term is usually applied. During the last twenty years
especially, many of the European residents in the East, some of our
own consuls noteworthy amongst them, have collected plants, and
numerous expeditions have been undertaken for the purpose of
gathering specimens for distribution upon an extensive scale.
There is a large stock of Oriental plants in all the principal herbaria;
but no general Flora, and, as we have said, very few local ones have
been undertaken. We are helped, it is true, to some extent by
such works as Tchihatchefif's " Asia Minor," and Kotschy and
Unger's " Die Insul Cypern," both of which contain full catalogues
for the tracts to which they relate, with the descriptions of novel-
ties. Two extensive works have been devoted entirely to the

* Flora Orientalis sive enumeratio Plantarum in Oricnte a Graecia et
Egypto ad Indiie fines hucusque observatamm — Auctore E. Boissier. Vol. i.
Thalamiflonv. Geneva : H. Georg.

Flora Orieiitalis 119

novelties which have been amassed : the " lUustrationes Plantarum
Orientahum" of Count Jaubert and M. Spach, six volumes in
quarto, containing one hundred species, with beautiful full-page un-
coloured illustrations; and the "Diagnoses Plantarum Orientalium"
of M. Boissier, nineteen fasciculi in octavo, which bind up into
two stout volumes. But the descriptions of a large number of the
new species, and a great number of records respecting the affini-
ties and geographical range of those which have been incorporated
in the largeworks, are scattered about in small pamphlets, and in the
" Transactions " and " Journals " at home and upon the continent.
The consequence, of course, is, that a large number of species have
been described in various places under different names, and that,
even with a full command of the necessary books, and access to an
herbarium containing the authentically-named sets of specimens,
it has been a most intricate and time-consuming task to attempt to
name a packet of Oriental plants, and that in the largely-repre-
sented and more intricate genera — as, for instance, Ranunculus,
Delphinium, Dianthus, Silene, Campanula or Crocus — a work that
seemed utterly hopeless to separate the known from unknown.
M. Boissier is a Genevese gentleman of ample means and experi-
ence, who has himself travelled extensively in the East, and the
botanically-allied tracts of southern Europe, for the express purpose
of studying their botany ; and for the last twenty -five years or more
has devoted himself specially to the subject. He, as we have just
indicated, has named and described a large proportion of the
novelties which have been discovered during that period, and has
undertaken the management and classification of many of the sets
of specimens which have been so largely distributed. It has been
for many years a most necessary and desirable task, both in the
interests of descriptive and geographical botany, that a general
" Flora Orientalis " should be undertaken ; and it has been fully
understood by all those who know anything about the matter,
that M. Boissier was the man of all others best fitted for the
task.

The tract of country included in the work embraces — i. Greece,
including the islands of the Adriatic and Levant, and European
Turkey as far north as the Balkan ; 2. The Crimea, Georgia, and
both slopes of the Caucasus ; 3. Egypt up to the first cataracts of
the Nile, and Arabia north of the Tropic of Cancer; 4. Asia
Minor, Annenia, Syria, and Mesopotamia; 5. Persia, Affghanistan,
and Beloochistan ; and, 6. Tartary up to the 45th parallel of lati-

1 20 Journal of Travel atid Natural History

tude ; a region which measures some 3000 miles from east to west,
and 2000 from north to south, and includes, on a rough estimate,
an area of between 4,000,000 and 5,000,000 square miles of land,
and about a twelfth part of the surface of the globe. Taking the
most productive portions of this tract and comparing them with
our own country, the number of plants they yield within a given
area is very much greater. Palestine, which is not far different in
area to Wales, probably yields three times as many species ; and
the same will hold true of Asia Minor and Greece ; but from this
proportion there is a gradual decline in those tracts where the
range of altitude and situation is smaller, and there is a wide ex-
tent of surface included within the 4,000,000 miles of an entirely
desert character. The districts included in the area which are best
known botanically, are Greece, Roumelia, Egypt, the Russian pro-
vinces, and certain parts of Asia Minor, especially Armenia. M.
Boissier gives a detailed account of the explorers of all the different
tracts, and of the scattered writings that relate to them ; and this in
itself is a valuable document. Even for a country that has been
so much visited as Palestine, we believe that such a Flora as it
would be possible to compile from the books and herbaria in Lon-
don would not include more than two-thirds of the plants that are
to be found there ; so there is an ample margin left in which the
botanists of the Palestine Exploration Committee may work. Of
Arabia and Persia, of course, our knowledge is much less than of
Palestine. Tartary we know only through an excursion of Dr
Lehmann, who penetrated from the north to Bokhara and Samar-
cand, and gathered about 1500 species, which were published by
Professor Bunge of Dorpat. Affghanistan we know only through
the researches of Dr Griffith, who accompanied the English expe-
dition in 1839, and collected about 1000 species, the first set of
which is at Kew ; and Beloochistan only through two excursions
which Dr Stocks made from Scinde, at great risk, in 1850 and
1851.

This first instalment of the work carries us down through the
Thalamifloroe : at this rate we shall need at least four more volumes
of equal size to complete the Phanerogamia. Just as in the Euro-
pean Flora, more than half the species belong to three large orders ;
but, whilst in Europe Ranunculaceaj, CaryophyllaccK, and Cruci-
ferae bear to one another a proportion of about 3, 5, and 6, in the
East Caryophyllaceae increase and Cruciferce fiill, and the propor-
tion becomes about 3, 8, and 5. Of the other orders, omitting the

Flora OrientaUs 121

very small ones, GeraniaceEe, Malvaceae, and Violacese, are almost
on an equality in Europe and the East. Hypericacese are fewer
in the East than in Europe; Cistacese still more decidedly so.
The orders where the East has a decided advantage are Zygo-
phyllaceae, 42 species in the East against 5 in Europe ; Rutacese,
53 species against 16; Tamariscacese, 50 species against 8;
Capparides, 27 species against 8; Papaveraceae, 59 against 25. The
only orders added in the East are Sterculiaceae and Simarubaceae,
represented, the former by 4, and the latter by i species.

Of what M. Boissier says about the botanical regions in which
the East is divisible, we can give here only a very brief abstract,
and must refer our readers for fuller detail to the work itself. He
adopts four principal divisions, which are as follows : —

I. Region of Central Europe. — Characterized climatically by rain
spread throughout the year, summers of moderate heat, and winters
in which the thermometer sinks below freezing point ; the bulk of
the Flora composed of plants diffused throughout Central Europe,
and forests often occurring composed of deciduous-leaved trees
and Coniferae. To this belong the upper valleys and plateau of the
interior of European Turkey, the northern slope of the Caucasus,
and the northern shores of Asia Minor. In Armenia the winds
which sweep across the Black Sea encounter the high chain of
mountains which rises almost from the shore, and give out the
vapour they hold in suspension. Thus, in the lower levels the
summer is very wet, and in the middle region of the mountains
there is a perpetual fog, but upon the summits these have dis-
appeared completely, and on the southern slope we have a serene
sky and a continental climate. From this state of things we obtain
in the low ground near the shore a Flora where many of the plants
of temperate Europe mix with citron and orange trees, and higher
up amongst the hills an abundance of rhododendrons, azaleas,
vacciniums, and other plants which require a humid and temperate
climate. On the southern shores of the Caspian the state of things
is very similar, but here the winter is colder and the summer ex-
tremely warm and humid. In this tract most of our common fruit
trees grow wild, with several trees and shrubs which are peculiar to
it, and interlaced by ivy ; vine and smilax form almost impenetrable
forests. The common herbaceous plants are those of Central
Europe. A little higher, we meet with forests of oaks, elms, ma-
ples, ash, and lime trees ; and higher still, in a less humid zone, the
olive, myrtle, paliurus, and other bushes of the south of Europe.

TRAVFX. I

12 2 Jotiriial of Travel and Natural History

2. Mediterranean Region. — In this region the winters rarely sink
below freezing point ; the summers are warm and dry, and the
rains fall only in autumn and spring. Evergreen shmbs and trees
predominate, and a crowd of herbaceous plants occur, which are
found also upon the shores of the Mediterranean in Italy, France,
Barbary, or even Spain. In the East this Mediterranean region
includes the shore and lowlands of Greece and European Turkey,
the isles of the Mediterranean, and the western sides of the Crimea,
Asia Minor, and Palestine. In the western part of Asia Minor
this Mediterranean region is rather colder in winter and warmer in
summer than in corresponding latitudes in southern Europe, and
in Cilicia and Syria the difference between summer and winter is
still greater. The mean summer temperature of Tarsus equals that
of Bombay.

3. The Oriaital Region, properly so called. — This is much the
most important, both as regards the extent and peculiarity of its
vegetation. The climate is continental, the winters always cold in
proportion to latitude, and rigorous at the higher levels ; the sum-
mers almost without rain, and very warm, even at great altitudes ;
the sky almost always clear, the air very dry, and rain confined to
spring and autumn. This dry and extreme climate is detrimental
to the gi-owth of trees, and forests are quite absent. This region
includes the plateau of Asia Minor, Syria, Persia, Afifghanistan, and
Beloochistan, as well as the plains of Mesopotamia and Tartary,
and maybe subdivided into three sub-regions: i. Sub-region of the
plateaux ; great undulated spaces of a varied but mostly consider-
able altitude. In every part chains of mountains rise from the
plains which reach the regions of peq:)etual snow. There ai-e very
few trees, and, as already said, no forests ; but the Flora of these
plateaux is exceedingly rich in undershrubs and perennial plants,
which have often a very restricted area. Many of the genera are
represented by a large number of species. Of these we have ex-
amples in Erysimum, Dianthus, Gy]3sophila, Silene, Acanthophyl-
lum, Hyi^ericum, Astragalus, Onobiychis, Hedysarum, Centaurea,
Cousinia, F^chinops, Campanula, Convolvulus, Onosma, Alkanna,
Scrophularia, Verbascum, Nepeta, and Salvia. The higher the
mountains the more spiny plants predominate, Caiyophyllacea2,
Astragali, Thistles, and Acantholimons, of which a gi^eat number
fomi tufts or small hemispherical bushes. Here and there, at all
altitudes we encounter salt marshes covered with Statice, Lepidium,
and Salsolaceai. The Flora of these plateaux and mountains is

Flora O rial fa lis 123

much the richest and most varied in all the Orient. 2. Aralo-cas-
pian sub-region. Distinct from the last by its lower altitude and
less undulated surface. It includes the deserts of Tartary, the east
of Persia, and west of Afifghanistan. The winter is very cold in the
northern parts, the summer very dry, the rains of autumn and
spring fewer and more irregular than in the last sub-region. During .
the spring these solitudes are overspread by a number of small
plants, principally annuals, of very different families ; most of them
have an extensive area, and grow also on the Siberian steppes, of
which this region is the continuation. There are no trees except
in the cultivated oases, and a few poplars and willows along the
streams. The perennial plants which occur are usually more local
than the annual species, and there are a few shrubby genera not
met with elsewhere in the East or at all, of which Sophora, Ammoden-
dron, Eremosparton, Atraphaxis, Calligonum, Lycium, and Ephedra,
are examples. The salt plains occupy here a much greater space
than in the last sub-region, covered with Salsolacese and Zygo-
phyllese, and bushes of Tamarix, Haloxylon, and Nitraria.
3. Mesopotamian sub-region. Vast plains of alluvium, and the
deserts of the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates. As on the pre-
ceding sub-region, the altitude above sea level is small, the summers
burning and prolonged, but the rains are more abundant, and the
winter much less rigorous. In the west and north the Flora re-
sembles that of the plateaux, but southward there are immense
plains covered at the beginning of summer with great Cruciferge,
Umbelliferse, and Cynareas. All the fruit trees except the orange
are known only in a cultivated state in a few favoured oases ; and
for this the winter is a little too cold and the summer too warm
and too dry.

4. The Date Region. — This is characterised by irregular and
unfrequent rain in autumn and winter, which is quite absent from
the southern and lower parts of the region; the summer is burning,
the winter mild, but in the north, as at Bagdad for example, there
are occasional frosts. This includes Egypt, the north of Arabia,
and the shores of Persia and Beloochistan. The most remarkable
character of its Flora, consists in the presence of a number of
plants and shrubs of which we find the genera, and often the
species, to stretch through the desert tract from Scinde to
Senegambia. The date is a characteristic tree, spread through all
Egypt, mounting the valley of Euphrates to Bagdad, extending in
Persia to the thirty-third parallel of latitude, and in Beloochistan,

124 Journal of T^-avel and Natural History

to a height of 4000 feet. Other characteristic trees are the palm of
the Thebaic! (Cucifera Thebaica), the sycamore {Ficus sycomorus),
Tamarix articulata, Balanites segyptiaca, Salvadora persica, Zizyphus
spina-christi, Salix aegyptiaca, and many species of Acacia. The
herbaceous plants are usually spiny, or fleshy, or covered with a
thick down. The following are genera which may be mentioned
under this head : — Farsetia, Morettia, Anastatica, Schouwia, Zilla,
Cleome, Silene, Polycarp^ea, Astragalus (annual species), Neurada,
Aizoon, Fagonia, and Plantago. The Flora of the higher mountains
of this district resembles that of the plateau sub-region of the last.
If we were to separate the plants of the three great continents
of the old world into geographical types of primary value, it is
probable that six would be the best number to define for Europe
and Africa, as follows : —

1. Arctic-alpine European type of distribution.

2. Geraianic or Central European type.

3. Mediterranean type.

4. Arabo-Saharan or Desert type.

5. Tropical African type.

6. Cape type.

In which case the second, third, and sixth would include a very
much larger number of species than the three others. The cha-
racteristic plants of M. Boissier's first region would then belong to
our type No. 2, and of his fourth region to our type No. 4 ; and
in making divisions of primary value, it would probably be best to
unite those of his second and third region with type No. 3. But
our remarks have already extended so far that we must not enlarge
upon this head.

As the work is certain for a long time to come to be used as a
basis for all statements respecting Oriental plants whicli involve
figures, there is a matter which has important bearings in this
direction which we must explain. M. Boissier's theory, or what is
still more to the point, his practice as regards the limitation of
species, is very different to that of the English botanists who write
upon other than British plants. Many forms which they would
])ass over unnoticed, or class as varieties, he ranks and duly
describes as species. Connect this with what has been said about
the characteristics of the third botanical region just described,
and it will be seen that is a Flora where the consequences of this
dififerencc will affect any question of figures materially. It is
])robnbly ([uite tair to count numbers as between the '' Fhira

Flora Orien talis 125

Orientalis" and Nyman's "Sylloge Florae Europese," as we did a short
time ago ; but take the nearest adjacent tract on the other side,
and it would lead to a misapprehension to do so as between the
" Flora Orientahs" and Hooker and Thomson's "Flora Indica." But
on this head it is only right that we should allow our author to speak
for himself; and, be it remembered, we say this principally by way
of enforcing the practical caution which his remarks convey, that
these are the views founded upon a practical experience of plants,
both in a fresh and dried state, which falls below that of very few
living botanists :

" It is always difficult to recognise and to characterize species,
and for a country imperfectly known, the difficulty is aggravated
by want of material. Very often a botanist only knows a plant
through unique or incomplete fragments ; intermediate fornis which
may exist escape him, and he describes a specimen instead of a
species. To these ordinary causes of error, there is in the Orient
very frequently this also to contend with in addition — that in many
large genera there are no important and well marked characters
for the species. Of this in the present volume, Dianthus, Alyssum,
Tamarix, and Haplophyllum, furnish instances. We must not
hide from ourselves, that the limitation of species will remain
always a difficult problem to settle, and that unanimity is a thing
impossible. The modes of experiment are uncertain ; hybridiza-
tion gives results so much the less conclusive as the species with
which we work are near to one another ; and culture itself should
be interpreted with much prudence, because it brings the plants
out of their natural position, and creates influences of contact
between species which are not brought together in nature. Some-
times, besides, these experiences of culture are capricious; and,
somehow or other, those who make them find always results which
fit in with theoretic ideas. Thus experimentisers, whom I could
quote, say that they have obtained from the single sowing of a
species, one or many other species of which the specific value had
never before been called in question ; whilst, on the other hand,
botanists who attach importance to very minute differences, say
that they always find these forms immutable in their slightest
characters. For my own part, I have cultivated for twenty years
plants from all parts, and have seen nothing like this, neither
strange transformations nor absolute fixity. What I am struck
with most, is the facility with which hybrids form themselves in a
garden between species of the same genera of very distinct

126 Journal of Travel and Natural History

geographical areas. Thus it is ahnost impossible to cultivate
together, and to keep well marked, the species of Aquilegia,
Erodium, Antirrhinum, &c. This fact, joined to many others,
shews what minute precautions it is needful to take in making
experiments of this kind, to obtain truly incontrovertible results,
and how we must guard against concluding too hastily that we
know what passes in nature from that which we see in this way.
Not accepting, for my own part, the Darwinian hypothesis at all,
which is in disagreement with the intimate essence of organised
beings, and with the resistance we see them oppose to exterior
agents, I regard species, not as arbitrary conceptions of the
human mind, but as creations which have gone out at different
epochs under the powerful hand of God, which cannot change
one into the other, but which are often variable within limits
which are more or less extensive, which are sometimes difficult to
trace, but which exist always without possibility of being exceeded.
To seek those limits, I have proceeded by direct observation, by
studying species upon as many specimens as possible, by following
them in their different stations, and their geographical area, in
order to obtain a knowledge of the manner and degree of
variability, of the importance and the fixity of the characters in
each family or genus. When two or many forms have seemed to
me linked clearly by intermediates, I have regarded them as
forming part of the same species. Thus, in many places, plants
which I have proposed in my ' Diagnoses' as species, are described
here as varieties, because new material has shewn that there were
passages between them. On the other hand, I have not united,
and have described as distinct species the forms which up to the
present time have not shewn me any transitions, reserving myself
free to reduce if these are brought to light ; holding that it is less
harmful to eiT in separating than uniting ; the latter error being
less prominent, and, therefore, more difficult to correct, and pro-
ducing less harmful consecjuences, especially as regards geographical
botany."

A single suggestion on a point of typographical arrangement,
and we will conclude. It would make the book much more easy
to use, if the names of the genera were printed at the head of
each page. As it is, the species are preceded only by the initial
letter of the genus, and one often has to turn over several i)ages
to ascertain what the initial letter means. J. G. Baker.

Journal of Travel and Natural History 127

€cnti5poniitna.

I.— SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

Note by the Editor. — In deciding on the matter of which this Journal should
be composed, two very important subjects claimed attention, the one Reports of
the Proceedings of the Learned Societies at home, and the other those of the
Learned Societies abroad. At first we started with the intention to overtake
both, but we soon found that each of them would require the whole Journal to
itself, and still remain not half done. We, therefore, had no alternative but to
give up the attempt. We felt, however, that probably the more important
object of the two (at all events for our readers in this countiy) was to make
them acquainted with what was going on in Natural Science abroad, and we
propose to endeavour to supply the place of regular Summaries or Reports, by
obtaining from some of our foreign friends and coiTcspondents of eminence, who
have been kind enough to undertake the task, periodical letters, mentioning the
most important contributions to Natural History in their respective countries
during the previous six months — in fact, giving a colloquial reply to the question,
" What has been doing in your countiy in Natural History during the last six
months ? "

It appears to us that this will have many advantages over an attempt to com-
pile at home a summary of the publications of the different foreign societies. It
secures us from the risk of omitting important works which may not have come
under our notice. It conveys a knowledge of the estimate formed of the different
works, by those best able to judge — viz., a man's own fellows. It will, we hope,
often give us information in advance of the receipt of foreign Transactions, some
of these being long in finding their way into this country. By not attempting
too much, it will allow sufficient to be done to direct the attention of our readers
to the sources of further information if they desire it, and it will secure
a more comprehensive sifting and picking of materials than could be attained
at home ; for instead of a summary of all that has been written, both good and
bad, we shall only have a selected notice of the most important items.

We are happy in having the privilege of commencing with a letter from
Professor Van der Hoeven, of Leyden.

I. HOLLAND. — Letter from Professor Van der Hoeven.

"Leyden, wth February 1S68.
"As you have expressed your wish to receive some information concern-
ing the works and memoirs on Natural History published in my countiy
during the last six months, I have the pleasure to send you a short indication of
what has come under my eye ; I hope this will be sufficient. You will not
require an analysis and critical examination of those works ; that would claim
more time, and also the review would become too long ; and, as it is your
intention to complete those communications for nearly the whole civilized world,
I suppose you want no other information than such as can direct the attention
of fellow naturalists to the recent publications on subjects of their chief study.

128 Joitnial of Travel and Natural History

"MrFrancois Pollen, after his return from a voyage to Madagascar,* undertaken
with the intention to explore the Fauna of that great island, has begun the
publication of a great work, with illustrations, on the Lemurina, ' Contributions
a I'Histoire Naturelle des Lemuriens.' The plates, in large folio, will give
full size coloured representations of the species. It was only at the end of the
year 1867 that the first number appeared, with the figure of a species of Lemur
of the Mayotte Isle, one of the little group of the Comores, between the coast
of Mozambique and the northern part of Madagascar. This species was dis-
covered by our explorer in 1 864 ; it comes very near to the Lemur coUaris
(Lemur nigrifrons F. Cuvier nee Geoffrey) of Madagascar.

"Another publication was undertaken by Mr Pollen, in conjunction with Dr
Schlegel, under the title of ' Recherches sur la Fauna de Madagascar et de ses
Dependances.' It is, however, but a comparatively small part of the Fauna
that will be the subject of these Researches, viz., the Mammalia and the Aves.
The whole will be completed in four numbers, each number will contain ten
coloured plates, in 4to. The first contains four plates of the mammalia, and
a part of the birds. The figures in the three first plates are Lepilemur
mustelinus, Cheirogaleus furcifer, and Microcebus Coquereli. + The fourth
plate represents the skull of Cryptoprocta ferox. The authors believe that
this mammal has a great affinity to the feline genus, or is even no more than
a slight modification of that genus. This will not be, however, I suppose,
the opinion that even the mere inspection of the figure will give to other
zoologists, and it seems more fitting to place the genus in the family of the
Mustelidce ; J and it is difficult not to think immediately of the skulls of
Meles, for instance, on looking at that of Ciyptopi-octa.

" I published in Dutch a monograph of the genus Menobranchus, having re-
ceived specimens of this American Proteida from the Smithsonian Institution
instead of Menopoma I had asked for. ('Ontleed-en Dierkundige Bijdragen
tot de Kennis Van Menobranchus,' Leiden, 1867, 4to., met 3 platen. ) I de-
scribed chiefly the skeleton, the hyoid bone (or rather cartilage), a good deal of
the muscles, the lungs, the heart, the organs of generation, both in the male and
female. From all these investigations the result was that there is no other genus
nearer to Menobranchus than Proteus, the subterranean animal of Europe.
Even the blood discs confirm this affinity, having the same long and slender
form, and being hardly distinct in size. I formerly believed that there was a
much greater affinity between Menobranchus and Menopoma (or Crypto-
branchus) than between Menobranchus and Proteus. This result confirms me
in my opinion that even in the minor divisions of the animal kingdom compara-
tive anatomy is the only safe guide to a correct and natural arrangement.

' ' A large volume in 8vo. was published by P. C. T. Snellen on the Macro-
lepidoptera of the Netherlands. It is certainly the result of long researches, and
is one of the best contributions we have till now to the elucidation of our Fauna.
The author's list comprehends 686 species. Amongst the Nocturna he inscribes
as a new species discovered by him Caradrina sericea, but it is to be regretted
that he has seen, till now, only one specimen of this species. The diurnal
Lepidoptera are represented by 73 species, the Sphingidae 25 (or if we enumerate
here also the species of Zygaenidee and Syntomidre, 30) ; 580 species are re-
ferred to the Nocturna. (De Vlinders van Nederland Macrolepidoptera Sys-
tematisen beschreven door, P. C. T. Snellen, S. Gravenhage, 1867, 8vo. )

"The most considerable botanical work which is now in course of publication
in our country is intended to give a comprehensive knowledge of at least some
parts of the Herbarium of the State, under the title of ' Annales Musei Botanici

* This voyage was performed at M. Pollen's own expense; and after Mr P.'s return, his
companion, Mr Van Dam, remains at Madag.iscar, in order to collect new materials for the
knowledge of the animal creation, in that much promising field of inquiry.

t A Review nf the portion of this work already published is in type, and will appear in next
number of this Journal.

X In my " Handbook of Zoology" I placed Cryptoprocta according to the opinion of L. T.
Rennet in the group of the Vivcrnna (civets), but it was only with doubt. The genus Crypto-
procta was at that time only known by Rennett's description after a young specimen.

Correspondence — Belgium 129

Lugduno Batavi,' Ed. : F. A. G. Miquel. This Herbarium, or as Professor
Miquel calls it, Museum Botanicum Lugduno Batavorum, was formerly placed
at Brussels under the direction of Professor C. L. Blume, a name well known
over the whole world by the large collection of plants made in Java and other
parts of the Dutch Colonies in East India, by the edition of his 'Flora Javje' and
of the 'Splendid Rumphia,' etc. After the separation of Belgium from the king-
dom of the Netherlands the Herbarium was removed to Leyden, and Blume (not
attached to the Leyden University, but invested with the title of Professor) re-
mained its director at Leyden till his death. Since that time the distinguished
Professor of botany at the Utrecht University, F. A. G. Miquel, was appointed
director, but he retains his Professorship at Utrecht, and comes only some
hours every week to visit the Herbarium. Those particulars, not of a true
scientific character indeed, may be perhaps interesting to your English readers,
strangers having in general a very imperfect notion of foreigi^ institutions. Of
the Annales, a work in large folio, two volumes are already completed. In
1868 four parts were issued of the third volume (Fascic. H.-V.), all relating to
the Flora Japonica (Prolusio Floi^re Japonicce). The fifth number (Fascic. V.,
was published in the last six months. It contains an enumeration of the
species represented by specimens in the Herbarium of no less than 28 different
natural families. To this number a plain lithographic plate is added, represent-
ing Meldea gibbosa, Miq. , and Parinarium macrophyllum. Professor Miquel
has also given a short paper, De Piperaceis Novae HollandicE (Verslagen en
Mededeelingen der Koninklijke Akadamie van Wetenschappen, Afdeeling
Natuurkunde. Tweede Reeks, Tweede Deel, p. 53-64). This paper of the
author is interesting as containing a new revision of the whole system of the
Piperacere after new discoveries. It is well known to botanists that Professor
Miquel, 23 years ago, has given an elaborate monograph on that gi'oup of the
vegetable kingdom. J. V. der Hoevkn. "

2. BELGIUM. — Letter from Dr Candcze, Glaiiu

" Liege, 20th January 1868.

" The Belgian Contingent of Zoological Works is null for the second part of
1867. My task for this time is thus easy. In fact the last works which appeared
bear the date of 1866, such as the 'Revision Generale des Clivinides,' by M.
Putzeys (Ann. de la Soc. Entornol. de Belgique), that of the Amara, by the
same (Mem. de la Soc. Roy. des Sciences a Liege), and some memoirs published
in the Bulletins de 1' Academic de Bruxelles.

" It is true that a very important work by M. Van Beneden, on the ' Polypes
du Littoral Beige,' has indeed appeared in the 34th volume of the Memoires
de PAcademie Beige, but the separate copies of this remarkable work bear
the date of 1866, belonging in reality to that year. The year 1868 will be more
fruitful, for some works are in the press. E. Candeze."

II.— LETTERS FROM TRAVELLERS AND
NATURALISTS ABROAD.

I. NEW HEBRIDES.— Letter to Dr Hooker from the Rev. J. Atkins.

"Norfolk Island, 29/// October 1867.
" I returned in August from a short craise amongst the New Hebrides, Banks,
Santa Cruz, and Solomon gi-oups. I had no opportunities for collecting speci-
mens, except a very few ferns and grasses, but I hope to be able before very
long to give accurate accounts, on some points, of some of these islands. Their
endless variety of languages in process of formation are, I think, a most im-
portant and curious study ; their natural history and botany scarcely less so.
The vegetation of all the groups is similar, allowing for differences of climate,
and in its '^general character differs altogether from that of Australia, and pro-

130 Journal of Travel and Natural History

bably is connected with that of the islands to the north, for I find Java is also
a habitat of several ferns that I have found. At Christmas I am to take holy
orders, and in April next to be left at Sans Christoval for a month or two.
During this time I also hope to visit all the southern Solomon Islands, and after
that to accompany Bishop Patterson on his annual visit to the other groups.
On my return, I hope to have something to write about that will interest you,
and perhaps some specimens to send.

"The coco nut is planted, the banana, yam, taro, a sweet potato (not
Convolulus batatas), and a herbaceous plant used as a vegetable. There are
scarcely any native fruits, but several sorts of nuts. Bread fruit grows best in
the Banks's gi^oup. At one island of this group thirty varieties of yams are
named. In the Banks' Islands and northern New Hebrides, shell only is used
for adzes. In the Solomon Islands stone for adzes and knives. No pottery
is made at any. At Santa Cruz a loom is used in weaving their elegant mats,
and they seem, in other ways, more advanced than their neighbours. I
suppose that they use stone, for their word for iron is the Maori name for a
stone adze. I have only met with two tree feiTis, one a polypody and one a
marattia ; both are very common. Palms are very plentiful in the northern
islands of the Solomon group. The areca nut is chewed there and at Santa
Cruz, but they become fewer as we go south. I have not seen the areca in the
Banks' Islands, nor the sago in the New Hebrides, where indeed I have only
seen one palm beside the coco nut. A club moss and the fern Asplenium nidus,
common here (Norfolk Island), are found throughout these groups. It is possible
that the tree fern may be the same, I have not got a piece of the island fern
with me to compare.

"The natives of the Solomon and Santa Cruz groups are very much more
civilized, although perhaps fiercer than the Banks' islanders. This is easily
accounted for by the difference of race of these islanders, — the Polynesian is an
active, energetic race, the Melanesian more indolent and uninventive. The
canoes of the Solomon Islands are beautiful in design and workmanship, and,
like their houses and weapons, highly ornamented. The only way of procuring
fire that I have heard of in use amongst them, is by rubbing one piece of
wood on another. M. J. Atkins."

III.— GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE.

RHINOCEROS HORNS.— Letter from Edward Blyth, Esq., formerly
Curator of the Museum of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta.

"London, 16th March 1868.
"As in the first No. of your 'Journal' (p. 70), you called attention to some
remarks which I made, in the course of a discussion at one of the Scientific
Meetings of the Zoological Society, upon the occasional shedding or loss by
violence, followed by the renewal, of the horn or horns of a rhinoceros, I may
mention that the particular instance adduced was given upon the authority of
the Count Alexis Bobrensky, of Moscow ; and that my suspicion of the
occasional occurrence of such a phenomena arose from my obtaining the facial
portion of the head, with the two horns attached to the skin, of a recently killed
male of R. Sumatranus, which I supposed at the time to have been rather a
juvenile animal, from the small size of the horns. It was obtained in the
Yunzalia district of the province of Martaban, by means of a heavy falling
Stake, such as the natives set for tigers and other large game (as repre-
sented in C. J. Anderson's ' Lake Ngami' 2d edition, p. 258) ; and I was
already aware of the superb development which the horns of this small species
of rhinoceros attain in some instances, as exemplified by the beautiful specimen
of an anterior horn in the British Museum, upon which Dr Gray founded his
su]iposed R. Crossii (Proc. Zool. .Soc. 1S54, p. 250, where a figure of it is
supplied). Tliat horn, which is very highly curved, measures 32 inches along
its front, and is 17 inches in span from head to tip. I have also recently seen

General Correspondence 131

a fine pair of horns attached to the head, in the possession of my friend Colonel
Pytche (now Chief Commissioner of British Burma), and those upon tlie
specimen obtained in Upper Martaban were short and small as in an adolescent
animal. On my return to Calcutta I had the specimen in question macerated,
and the skin, with the horns upon it, detached from the bone ; and then I was
surprised to find that the nasals were completely anchylosed and united, and
that the animal accordingly had been a tolerably old one, notwithstanding that
its horns were so little developed, and I consequently inferred that the particular
individual had probably shed and renewed its horns, however unusual such an
occurrence might be. I have now to call attention to the tendency which
probably all of the existent species of rhinoceros have to develop a rudimentary
or small horn on the forehead. This may now be observed in the instance
of the large female of R. indicus, in the Zoological Gardens, Regent's
Park, and when I called the attention of Mr A. D. Bartlett (the super-
intendent of the establishment) to the circumstance, he surprised me much
by telling me that the present appearance is a second one of the kind, the
animal having broken off a previous frontal homlet, which he afterwards
shewed me. On the occasion of its being violently broken away from the
skin, I was informed by him that the animal bled profusely from the place,
the blood streaming down its face ; but that the site soon healed over in
the usual way, and now a new hornlet has begun to shew. That broken off
from the skin is of a subquadrate form, measuring about an inch every way, and
the summit of it is ground off by attrition, or it would have been at least half an inch
longer. Sir T. Stamford Raffles, in his paper on the Animals of Sumatra (pub-
lished in the thirteenth volume of the 'Transactions of the Linnaan Society'),
remarks of R. Sumatranus that ' The natives assert that a third horn is some-
times met with ; and in one of the young specimens procured, an indication of
the kind was observed.' In Mr C. J. Anderson's 'Lake Ngami' the same is
remarked of one or more of the ordinarily two-horned rhinoceros of Africa.
This traveller writes : — ' I have met persons who told me that they had killed
rhinoceroses with three horns ; but in all such cases (and they have been but
few) the third or hindmost horn is so small as to be scarcely perceptible'. It
is remarkable that Linnceus referred to rhinoceros bearing a third horn. It
seems a not unlikely character to have been developed more frequently in
some of the extinct species of the genus. As regards the horns of the Asiatic
two-horned species (R. Sumatranus), I have seen a pair of them, beautifully
carved and polished, and set with the bases upwards, and on a parallel, in a
carved black wooden stand, similar to those upon which Chinese metallic mirrors
are mounted, and the Chinamen give such extravagant prices for fine specimens
that they are exceedingly difficult to be got hold of ; and hence their extreme
rarity in mansions. The anterior horn of Colonel Pytche's specimen (before
referred to), which is not half the length of that in the British Museum, is worth
about 50 rupees, or;i^5, as I was assured by him ; the price increasing, as usual,
with the size and length. Both R. Sumatranus and R. Sondaicus, are extensive-
ly diffused over the Indo-Chinese countries, and I have been credibly informed
by a gentleman, who saw, when in the province, the two horns upon the
preserved skin of the head, that an example of the former which had been killed
was regarded even in Asia as an exceedingly great rarity. A full-grown female
has recently been captured alive near the station of Chittagong, which became
moderately tame in the course of a few weeks, and it is probable that we shall
see it ere long in the Zoological Gardens. Edward Blyth."

Jourtial of Travel and Natural History

^lisallaug.

British Museum Entomological Collections.— Tliose who have
felt aggrieved by the long-continued neglect with which this part of the collection
has been treated for years past, will be pleased to learn that the recent appointment
of two additional assistants (Mr Waterhouse and Mr Butler) to this department
has already begun to make some impression upon the chaotic mass of material.
In the Coleoptera Mr Frederick Smith has now finished the arrangement of the
Curculionidae, and Mr Waterhouse that of the Lamellicornes, at all events to such
an extent as to make them a credit instead of a discredit to the National Collection.
The collection in these two immense families is now not only the largest in the
world, but also the best arranged. We have especial pleasure in recording the
excellence of Mr Waterhouse's work. Mr Frederick Smith needs no praise from
us : he only brings to the classification of the Coleoptera that scientific talent
which so long made his former department, the collection of Hymenoptera, the
one bright particular star of excellence in the midst of general disorder. But
Mr Waterhouse has only recently joined the staff; and as much of the
future usefulness of a very important part of the collection must necessarily
depend upon his fitness, his success was felt to be a matter of some import-
ance by those who wished well to the institution. The able manner in which
he has put the Lamellicornes in order, must, therefore be a source of grati-
fication, not only to the Museum authorities, but to the general public. It is
an earnest of good work to come ; and the next group which he takes in hand
(which is to be the ITeteromera) will test his abilities still more severely.
As he is at the beginning of his work when improvements can be most easily
made, and when it is as easy to follow a good plan as an inferior one, we would
suggest a reconsideration of the manner of labelling, and, the adoption of a fuller
style, such as that first, we think, introduced by M. Reiche, which contains
not only the name of the genus or species, but a reference to its author and the
place and date of its first description. It will be a little more troublesome at
first, but will save time to every one in the end. The National Collection
should adopt the best system known, and full and judicious labelling is a
very important point to be attended to from an educational point of view.
Mr Frederick Smith is now engaged on the difficult work of reducing the
Phytophaga into order, and incorporating with the Museum stores the contents
of the late Rev. Hamlet Clarke's collection, which, we learn with much plea-
sure, has been secured for the Museum. It served as the basis of the por-
tion of the British Museum catalogue of Ilalticidae, written by him, and
contains types from most of the great collections of Phytophaga, which had come
into his hands by purchase. Mr Butler, the other new aid to the Insect-room,
likewise promises well. He has been told off to the Lepidoptcra, and has already
brought the difficult though attractive group, Erycinidae, into order. He has
also published several good papers in the Annals and Magazine of Natural
History and the Zoological Society's Proceedings, &'c., on different groups of the

Miscellany

133

diurnal Lepidoptera. We have every expectation that he, too, will be a credit to
the institution.

Animals and Plants found in the Hot Springs of Soda
Creek, Ne'W Mexico. — In the springs, both hot and cold, confervc-e and a
few grasses grow ; no fish are found in them ; no Crustacea, except perhaps one
about \% inch long, which is found in the hot springs, and which has a hard
covering and rudimentaiy legs. The mixed crustacean, or whatever it may be,
is very much of the colour, size, and shape, of the kind found in Great Salt
Lake by Captain Fremont in 1 843-4, The temperature of the hottest springs
is 98° and 99° F. — Berthould in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phil., 1S66, p. 342.

Eruption of Mount Vesuvius. — Our readers may be pleased to see
a copy of a little sketch which a friend has sent us from Naples, representing
the appearance of Vesuvius during the night of the 9th of December, as seen
from the opposite side of the Bay. It is from one of the little sketches in dis-
temper which are sold in Naples, but we have the assurance of our friend that
it gives a perfectly correct representation of the scene. We had applied to him
for a photograph of the scene, but lie found it impossible to get a satisfactory one.

South African " Patch Hats." — Amongst the specimens recently
received at the Kew Museum from the late Paris Exhibition is a hat, of some
thing of the ordinaiy "deer-stalker" shape, from the Cape of Good Hope.
It was called a "patch hat," and at a first glance one might suppose it
to be made of the shola (^schynomene aspera, L. ) which is so much used
in the East Indies for hats and other light or ornamental articles ; but as
the shola does not grow in Africa, it was scarcely possible that the hat in
question could be produced from thai plant. Upon a closer examination
I found the material to be the tuberous root of an Erythrina (E. acantho-
carpa, Mey. ) which covers whole districts in some parts of South Africa, send-
ing its roots to such a depth in the ground as to make it almost impossible to
exterminate it ; consequently it is a most troublesome plant to the farmers in the

134 Journal of Travel and Natural History

cultivation of the land. The plant grows to a height of about three feet,
the flowers, which are a brilliant scarlet with orange or greenish tips,
appear from November to the end of January. I'he roots when first
dug up are very heavy, owing to the large amount of moisture they
contain ; when dried, however, they become exceedingly light and cork-
like, though without the elasticity of cork, so that it is useless for stop-
pers for bottles; nevertheless, owing to its extreme lightness, and being a
non-conductor of heat, it is much used for hats and such like purposes. And it
has been applied for the lining of entomological boxes ; but it is not suitable for
this purpose, as, owing to its non-elasticity, it does not hold the pins sufficiently
firm. Slices of the dried root burn readily like tinder, and in many districts in
South Africa it is said that little or nothing else can be had wherewith to light
a fire. One root in the Kew Museum measures about three feet long, and
about five inches in diameter, tapering at both ends and covered with a dark-
brown epidermis. This, however, is very small compared to some which are said
to grow eight feet long and eighteen inches in diameter. — y. R. yackson, Keio.

Geographical Relations of the Reptilia and Batrachia
of Sonora. — An instructive paper by Dr Cope on the Reptilia and Batrachia
of the Sonoran Province of the Nearctic region, is published in the Proceedings of
the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (October 1866, p. 300), in
which will be found a good deal of information as to the geographical dis-
tribution of the different forms. It concludes with the following remarks : —
Professor Baird has regarded (Proc. Acad., 1859, p. 300) the Sonoran and
Lower Califomian Provinces as identical, and has pointed out the slight affinity
of the latter to the Pacific district. It appears from the preceding, that, in re-
spect to the reptiles, they constitute provinces nearly as distinct from each other
as the Sonoran is from the Central, a conclusion agreeing with that allowed
by Dr John L. Leconte, from a study of the Coleoptera (vide Proc. Acad.,
1861, p. 335.) That these and the Pacific Province are more nearly related to
each other than to the Eastern Province, is sufficiently apparent on general Her-
potological and other grounds, as set forth in Professor Baird's masterly review
of the distribution of North American birds. {Silliman'' s yoiirnal of Science
attd Art, 1866.) Dr Gunther has indicated the Tropic of Cancer as the ap-
proximate division line between the Nearctic and Neotropical regions ; the
writer (loc. cit., 1861, p. 306), has regarded this as the parallel of its eastern
extremity, and placed the western several degrees further north. More recently,
Professor Baird has indicated a less oblique division, raising the eastern
extremity to the mouth of the Rio Grande, and terminating it on the west at
Guaymas. While he characterizes the line as "arbitrary" for the birds, it is
much less so for terrestrial vertebrates. In these the transition of Fauna; is
striking and quite abrupt.

Notes from Honolulu. — A letter from Honolulu, under date Oct.
31st, 1867, says, "About three months since, a steamer belonging to the United
States, left that port to survey a small coral island called Middle Brook Island,
in 28.30° N. lat., about 163^ W. long., some 500 miles distant from the Hono-
lulu group. It was thought that this small island might afford a suitable coal-
ing station for the Californian-China steamer line. An officer on board that
vessel, at the request of the writer of the letter, collected specimens of the plants
growing on that 'small piece of rock' about half-a-milc in diameter, and

Miscellany 135

40 feet above the level of the sea. Amongst the plants so collected were
Ipomasa maritima, Capparis Sandwicensis, Tribulus cistoides, Boerha via diffusa
Scasvola sericea, Lepidium Owhaiense," &c. The same writer says, "I lately
had the misfortune to lose my only Sabal umbraculifera, raised from seeds
received from the late Sir W. J. Hooker, about six years ago, by the ravages
of our sugar-cane borer, the larva of a kind of weevil ; and, since, that pest has
destroyed several Pritchardias, and begun to attack other palms. I cut them
out when their presence can be detected outside. Of course I have removed
every stump of sugar cane from my garden. Our Vaccinium reticulatum pro-
duces a very palatable fruit ; it grows at an elevation of 47,000 feet, so that it
would probably stand the climate of the south-west coast of England or Ireland.
Antigonon leptopus is a great favourite in our gardens here, and when fully in
flower, with its graceful festoons of pink or crimson spikes, may well be com-
pared for beauty with the Bougainvillea. I have another species in my garden
with white flowers." — J. R. yackson, Kew.

Pill-rolling' Beetles.— M. Piochard de la Brulerie, in making a report
to tlie Entomological Society of France of the resuUs of the Society's Entomo-
logical excursion in Spain in 1866, gives the following information concerning
the habits of the pill-rollers (the Ateuchus of the Egyptians). He thus speaks
of Ateuchus cicatricosus, a species common in the Mediterranean district : —
"I saw it roll its balls. The female alone charges herself with this duty,
and, like the other species of this genus, walks backward, employing its hinder
legs to support her precious burden. The male superintends the work with
a visible interest, but without taking any active part in it. When an obstacle
is encountered, and the ball, which contains his progeny, falls into an inequality
in the soil, it is well worth seeing how he is agitated, turns round and round,
pushes the female with his head, and excites her, I was about to say with his
voice, but rather by making the noise which is produced by the nibbing of his
elytra on his abdomen resound in a despairing tone. If the observer takes the
female and puts her on the ground at some distance, the male redoubles his
despairing cry. The female hears him, appears undecided, consults the four
cardinal points, and at last sets off with the greatest rapidity, stumbling in her
haste to repossess herself of her ball, the object of her maternal solicitude. You
accuse the male of being a lazy fellow, playing the part of the fly on the coach.
Fly, possibly enough ! But fly indispensable, for if you take him, the female
stops and remains with her head bent upon the sand with the most pitiable air
imaginable. She continues to clasp her ball with her hind legs, but nothing
will make her budge ; and, if her companion be not restored to her, I believe
that she would remain on the spot till she died." — Ami. Soc. Entom. France, 1866.

Black Siberian "Wolf shot in Thibet.— (Trip to Thibet, Kylas,
Source of the Sutlej, and the Mansurwur and Rakhas Lakes, by Captain H. U.
Smith, Indian Army.) From the Lake Mansurwur, which we found to be
about 15 miles from Dachin, we marched about 50 miles to the east and north ;
the first two marches were on the high road to Lhassa. We then turned to the
north and kept under a large range of hills nmning north and south. After
shooting a snow-antelope and gazelle, we turned to the left and went up the
valley of the Kylas range, where I was lucky enough to shoot a black wolf, the
first ever shot in that part of the world. Although this may appear irrespective
of what I am writing to you about, I think it as well to mention that this

1 36 Journal of Travel and Natural History

animal appeared to be totally unknown in the country ; so much so, that when
I brought it in, none of the natives could inform me what it was. On inquiry
I find it is known in Siberia ; but, in this part of the world, this is the first
instance in which it has been met with. — Proc. Roy. Geo. Sor., vol. xi.. No. 3.

Age of Kitchen Middens of Cape Henlopen, U. S. — Dr Leidy
in the course of the summer made a visit to ihe kitchen middens of Cape
Henlopen, in company with Mr Cassie, Mr Robert Fraser, and Mr Canby
of Wilmington. They had noticed the shell accumulations extending from just
below the town of Lewes on Delaware Bay, for about the distance of a mile or
more, to the base of a huge sand dune between the bay shore and the lighthouse
of Cape Henlopen. They had provided themselves with ample means to
examine the extent of the shell heaps, and had been surprised to find that they
were all quite superficial, from a few inches to less than a foot in depth. In a
number of places they appeared to form hillocks but they were only accumula-
tions around the former sites of trees, as indicated by the traces of stumps and
roots. They visited similar accumulations on the shore south of the Cape, and
were told that they were found in many portions down the coast. All of those
which were examined contained fragments of pottery, chips of jasper, and
stone arrow-heads. A few copper rings were also found, and in one heap
Mr Canby found several English coins. Dr Leidy thought the shell heaps
were of no gi'eat age, and were probably contemporary with the discovery
of the country by Europeans. — Froc. Acad. Nat. Sc, Phil., 1866, p. 290.

Steatomis caripensis. — Ever since Humboldt's time this bird has
maintained its place as a sub-family of the goatsuckers, rather from the diffi-
culty of finding a more suitable place for it elsewhere than from any very strong
belief by ornithologists that it really was a goatsucker, whatever its outward
resemblance. A bird which was known to feed upon fruits so hard as to
require a hammer to break them, could never be very confidently arranged in
the same group as the small-billed insectivorous goatsuckers. The scarcity of
specimens, however, more especially of the skeleton and soft parts, has hitherto
prevented a proper ascertainment of its affinities. The Zoological Society
has now procured the means of clearing this up. From one of their corre-
sponding members, they have received a supply of specimens in spirits,
some of which have been presented to the Royal College of Surgeons, the
British Museum, &c., and a portion retained for examination by their own
prosector, Dr Murie. Complete accounts of the anatomy of this bird may,
therefore, be soon looked for from the labours of Professor Huxley, Dr Murie,
and others.

Journal of Travel and Natural History. 137

REPLY TO MR WALLACE'S THEORY OF
BLRDS' NESTS.

MR WALLACE'S paper on birds' nests, which appeared in last
number of this Journal, was a welcome contribution, not
only from its intrinsic excellence, but for its bearing on the great
questions of the origin of species and development of form, which
now occupy men's minds. It is unnecessary to say, however, that
it only expressed his own views, and that our publication of them
by no means implied their adoption by us, or any recantation of
our own opinions, elsewhere promulgated on similar subjects.

The pages of this Journal will always be open to both sides of
any question falling within its province. Audi alteram partem
is one of the principles which we lay down for our guidance in
conducting it. On that principle we now propose, as we have
placed Mr Wallace's arguments before the reader, to say a few
words in reply to them, or rather to those parts of them from
which we dissent. On the greater part of the paper we have no
remark to make, except to express the pleasure and interest which
we felt in perusing it. We think he has completely made out his
case, that in the main it is female birds with gaudy plumage
which constmct their nests under cover, and those with dull plum-
age which make them open. No doubt there are exceptions to
the rule ; for example, the hedge sparrow is not more gaudy than
the house sparrow, and yet the one makes its nest open, the other
usually under cover. Our little favourite Jenny Wren is not a whit
more gay than the wife of her friend Cock Robin, and yet the female
robin makes an open nest, and the Avren a covered one. Still,
looked at as a whole, and disregarding exceptions (which may be
capable of individual explanation), the rule is nearly universal,
that wherever the plumage is so bright as to attract attention the
bird makes its nest under cover, and that where it is not, this pre-
caution is dispensed with.

All will admit that this phenomenon, from whatever cause pro-
ceeding, is a means of preserving the bird and eggs from discovery,
marvellously well-fitted to attain its object, and calling for our
admiration as a work of design, whatever may be the laws
or the process by which it is brought about. What that

138 Journal of Travel and Natural History

process has been is the point on which we differ from Mr
Wallace. He says it is " natural selection," and thoroughly con-
vinced, as he is, of the soundness of his theory, he shuts his eyes
to its imperfections and unwarranted assumptions, and with pardon-
able complacency demands that, " until at least an equally wide
range of facts can be shewn to be in harmony with any other
theory, he should not be expected to abandon that which has
already done such good service, and which has led us to the dis-
covery of so many interesting and unexpected harmonies among
the common (but hitherto most neglected and least understood)
of the phenomena presented by organised beings."

This can only be meant as a fashion of speech. He cannot mean
that, until a better theory be produced, he will adhere to his pre-
sent faith, even if proved to be wrong, merely because it has done
good service. No one seeks to deny that it has done good service,
but it is neither its confirmation, as Mr Wallace thinks, nor its
refutation, as we regard it, but its ventilation which has done the
service. Thousands of exploded fallacies have in their time done
good service. Whatever tends to make men think and search after
truth does good service. To the theory which does so we own
our obligations, whether it prove true or false. But our gratitude
stops there. As soon as it is shewn to be wrong we give it up,
whether we have a better theory to put in its place or not ; and
so here we have no doubt Mr Wallace would do the same, could
we only convince him that he is wrong. T/iatwQ despair of doing.
We are afraid that he has too long and ardently laboured to build
up and strengthen the theory of natural selection to be able to see
any defect in it now, or rather to attach any importance to those
flaws which he cannot but see, but which appear to him as mere
motes in the sun. We may, however, be more fortunate with
others who have not yet such confirmed conviction upon the
matter ; and shall at any rate make the attempt.

The present theory is the natural and legitimate sequence of the
Darwinian theory of natural selection carried out to its full extent,
and although not more startling than Mr Darwin's original position
in regard to design, gives better means of testing it as being
carried to a greater extreme. Natural selection — the belief in
constant, unceasing, slow, and gradual change — and, to a certain
extent, the influence attributed to the struggle for life, are the three
points of the Darwinian creed from which we dissent. These are
the points wliich are usually regarded as specially Mr Darwin's

Reply to Mr Wallace's Theory of Birds' Nests 139

own. Others, such as " derivation," the " homologies," &c.,
are regarded as less original, because first suggested by older
authors; but, putting aside the abstract reflection, that there is no
such thing as originality (everything that enters the mind of man
being suggested by something else), we have always considered
that in this estimate an injustice is done to Mr Darwin. According
to our conception science owes vastly more to him for the way in
which he has established the principle of derivation on a firm basis
than for his other speculations, which have not brought the same
conviction to our mind. Our objections to the latter may be
briefly indicated in a few words — we have not space for more than
an indication.

Mr Darwin regards the struggle for life as a means by which the
less perfect conceptions of nature, which he assumes to be con-
stantly appearing, are wiped off ; it is as a destructive agent that
he chiefly regards it. We regard it from the opposite point of
view — as a preservative rather than a destructive agent — as a means
of strengthening and maintaining the life of species^ in the same way
that pain maintains and restores the life of individuals. Without
the blessing of pain we should succumb to every accident and
ailment — without sorrow, happiness would be impossible — without
grief there could be no joy. In the same way, but for the struggle
for life, general degeneracy would be the result, and the species
would come to an end from the degradation of its constituent parts.

Next, as to the slow and gradual change which Mr Darwin
maintains to be in constant operation in all organic beings, we
maintain that if such a change really were constantly in progress
without intermission, the inevitable result must have been the con-
fusion of all species. It could not be otherwise. No mathematical
problem can be more inexorable. If there were no pause or
resting-place in the course of change there could be no distinction
of species — the whole of organic life would be one confused mass
of individuals. To mark off that mass into sections, there must
be some pause in the process of change. We have elsewhere
("Geographical Distribution of Mammals") argued that the real
explanation of what we see is, that organic life is endowed with a
plasticity and readiness to change whch only requires stimulus to
force it into operation, and that the usual stimulus is change of
conditions of life ; without change of condition the species rests
undisturbed ; with it, it produces new forms. This would explain
both the continued endurance of species and the appearance of

1 40 Journal of Travel a fid N'aiural History.

new species, a double phenomenon which appears to us inexpli-
cable under Mr Darwin's theory.

The last of the Darwinian theories to which we demur, is that
of natural selection. Our objection to it in wholesale is, that it
implies constant succession of failures and a never-ending waste
of power on the part of nature, both of which we believe to be
inconsistent with her working ; she never errs and never wastes.
No instance has ever been pointed out of a failure by nature. No
species has ever been discovered which is not the fittest for its
place. Mr Darwin admits the absence of all evidence of the
transitions which his theory requires, and endeavours to explain it
away by the imperfection of the geological record and the short-
ness of our current living experience. Of course, if that is a
sufficient apology for the absence of transitional forms, it is
equally so for the absence of any unfit forms. We are of those
who think that it is not sufficient. Our creed is that nature not
only does everything well but everything best, and that it is an
inherent part of the constitution of the laws of development that
they must produce the fittest — that they have no power to produce
anything but the fittest — just as in minerals, however various the
forms of crystals may be, they are all crystals. In minerals
nature never deviates off into vagaries, making them globes or
ovals. Whatever may be their constituent elements, the inherent
necessity of their constitution compels them to appear in angular
forms. So the laws of development of organic beings leave only one
course open to them, and that leading to the production of the fittest.
This hypothesis is at least in accordance with known facts. The
theory of natural selection has to assume its facts and apologise
for their absence.

It is the attempt to explain the evidence of design by natural
selection, which is the weak link in the theory. Had the origin of
that been left unexplained, or simply assumed to be the product of
laws bearing that result ifi gremio, and natural selection limited to
dealing with the fate of species after their appearance under such
laws, or applied only to explain or maintain a progressive advance
in the scale of life in general, it would not have been open to
the same objections, nor would it have encountered the same
opposition.

The simple proposition that when two competing forms of life
appear, the weakest will go to the wall, and disappear from the strife,
leaving the other as the fittest in possession of the field, is not cal-

Reply to Mr Wallace's Theory of Birds' Nests 141

culated to draw forth much opposition. The failure lies in the
attempt to refer to blind chance (the chance of the production of
an accidental combination of design or an element which, by con-
tinued selection, shall ultimately assume the form of combined
design) structures which all — Darwinites not less than their
neighbours — admit to be examples of skilful and elaborate con-
trivance.

But formidable as the objection is when stated merely to the
production of species, or instances of design in species, it becomes
infinitely more so when we are asked to extend its application to
sexual differences and periodical changes. See what Mr Wallace's
theory of birds' nests requires. Take his explanation of the
origination of dull-coloured female mates to bright-coloured male
birds. He starts with the assumption that originally both male and
female had bright plumage. There seems no reason why he should
begin with the assumption that they were both bright rather than
both dull-coloured ; but his argument is only directed to that side of
the question, and it would obviously have required a different line
of reasoning to convert a dull male into a bright male from that
which would convert a bright female into a dull female. In the
case of both being originally bright-coloured, there is a quasi
necessity for the female to become dull-coloured. There is the
supposed compulsion of the struggle for life. But in the case of
both being dull at first, that compulsion would not apply to the
male bird. There is no controuling necessity for him to put on
a finer coat than he had before. However, pass that, and let
us accept the question from the side which Mr Wallace pre-
sents to us — both male and female bright ; female sitting on
an open nest ; species like to be extinguished from the exposure ;
all enemies at once see her, and seize upon the eggs ; ruin stares
the species in the face. It has two modes of escape : one, an
easy and natural one, no ways beyond the instinct of a species
or the intellect of an individual, by building the nest in a more
concealed position ; the other, a more difficult one, wholly be-
yond its own control, the female becoming converted, by
Darwinian process of natural selection, from a bright-coloured bird
into a dull-coloured bird. According to Mr Wallace, some adopted
the easy remedy ; others did not, and in them a change in the
colour of the plumage was effected by natural selection. All the
females of the same species were, of course, not equally bright in
plumage \ and as the least brilliant females escaped observation

1 42 Journal of Travel and Natural History

better than tlie gaudier ones, natural selection perpetuated their
offspring in greater numbers than that of the latter, and so ended in
producing a race of duller-coloured females. But is it so? Had it
been a species, and not merely the half of a species, the argument
would at least be consequent. But a female produces males as well
as females, and the result of breeding in-and-in from dull-coloured
females would be to dilute thecolourof the whole breed, both male
and female — not ]ircserve tlie male bright and turn the female dull.
The hereditary qualities of father and mother are no ways special to
the respective sexes of the offspring. In our own -species it is very
commonly said that the sons take after the mother, and the daugh-
ters after the father, which would go against Mr Wallace's theory,
if true ; but we believe it is not true, and that we have no reason
to suppose that one parent has on an average a greater share in
producing the physiognomy of their offspring than another. *

The explanation of the phenomenon seems to us of a totally
different nature. Although the plumage of such males and females
as we have been speaking of is often apparently very dililerent,
there are grounds for believing that they are both the same,
only develoj)ed to different degrees, according to the amount of
vital action operating on each. Thus we see, in the pheasant and
common fowl, old hens assuming more or less of the plumage of
the males. In them it is obviously not a different livery, but the
same livery at different stages of its production. It is the same with
young birds, their plumage is different from that of their parents, and
we do not suppose that Mr Wallace would refer that to natural selec-
tion. It is a parallel case to the down on the chin of the boy and the
beard on that of the man. Why this immaturity of plumage (if
we may so call it) exists in some female birds and not in others
we do not i)retend to explain ; but it appears most probable that the
building of open nests was at first the normal habit with all birds,
and that the instinct of building them under cover, and in con-
cealed places by those whose bright plumage would betray them
in open nests was acquired by exjierience. \Ve all know that in

* On this sul)ject see the evidence collected by Mr Darwin in his new work,
"Animals and Plants under Domestication," vol. ii., p. 72, which seems to us
to confirm the ahove conclusion, although Mr Darwin regards the facts as
shewing that peculiarities ajipearing in either sex "strongly tend to be in-
herited by the offspring of the same sex, but are often Iransniilted in a latent
state through theopjiosite sex."

Reply to Mr Wallace's Theory of Birds' Nests 143

birds, intelligent modification of the ordinary construction of their
nests is by no means rare under exceptional circumstances.

Mr Wallace and Mr Bates have, with their usual ability, argued
also for natural selection as the explanation of the instances of
mimicry or disguise which are to be met with in many animals,
such as moths pretending to be bees, flies to be wasps, and gener-
ally the resemblance which exists between the colour of animated
beings and that of the scenery in which they live— white in snowy
regions, sand-coloured in sandy-deserts, heath-coloured in moors,
and so on. These, however, do not appear to belong to the same
category of phenomena as the sexual differences in plumage above
referred to. In sexual differences the theory relates to modifica-
tion of colour previously existing; in mimicry to the causes by
which it is originally determined. It is part of the Darwinian
theory that surrounding objects and extraneous circumstances are
without influence on the development of structure, or on the appear-
ance of species produced among them. We do not see that such
a belief is essential to that hypothesis ; for although, if it were once
admitted that such causes had some influence, it would not be easy
to say where it stopped, still it would always leave natural selec-
tion and the struggle for life full scope for work. The fact is,
however, that unless he has changed his mind, Mr Darwin holds
that surrounding objects or conditions have no determinate influ-
ence on the formation of species. The wonderful resemblance
between the colour of the ground and that of the animals which
inhabit it, seems to us to furnish at least a prima facie case to the
contrary ; and seeing that neither view has any direct evidence to
offer in its favour, it seems to us more reasonable to suppose that
an adjustment of the particles of colour in harmony with surrounding
colours should be inherent in the laws regulating its development,
than that all animals have come to wear the colour of the scenery in
which they live, by those which were produced of any other colour
having been wiped off as less fitted for surrounding conditions.
It is a strong call on our faith to admit that power of natural selection
to extend not only to making the colour once for all, but to vary-
ing it regularly twice every year, as in the case of many animals
inhabiting arctic regions.

Every artist, every admirer of scenery, is familiar with the har-
mony of colour in nature. We do not believe that this is fortuitous.
It seems as if there were a polarization of colour as there is of
magnetism and electricity, which reduces everything into harmony.

1 44 Journal of Travel and Natural History

In last number of this Journal, in a notice of Dr Wyman's views of
the symmetry and homology of limbs, the reader will find facts
mentioned which go to prove the presence of a magnetic or
electrical polarization in the development of the embryo of
vertebrate animals. We are fearfully and wonderfully made,
and there are many things in the making of which we have
as yet no idea — the distribution of colour one of them. If
the theory of natural selection does not give a satisfactory
explanation, why the colour of animals corresponds with that
of the district in which they live, then neither will it give one
in the cases of mimicry by one animal of the pattern of colour or
appearance of another. We believe that more of the instances of
mimicry than is usually allowed are explicable on the ground of
actual affinity between the imitator and the imitated ; others, per-
haps, by the colour of the species having been produced under
similar original conditions. A gaudy butterfly, of a staring pattern,
may not, when taken separately, look as if very much in harmony
with the scenery where it was produced ; but seen alive in its
native woods it no longer appears so. There it is natural, and, if
we give the fancy vein it would not be difficult to imagine a mix-
ture of flower and foliage, dewdrop and sunshine, making a gor-
geous eff'ect, as bright and not unlike the most gaudy butterfly ;
and if to that influence the pattern is due, in one instance, similar
causes might produce similar results in another, as in the case of
the colour of the animals in the desert, &c. These resemblances,
taken from tropical forests, may be mere hamionious representa-
tions of common general effect. Still, there remain many most
remarkable imitations, both in form and colour, which are not so
explicable ; but in most of these we know of no habit of life or
advantage derived from the similarity, which could be explained by
referring the resemblance to natural selection. The cases where
such a reason has been assigned are very few, and at least requiring
more investigation before it can be said that it accounts for the
resemblance on the ground of natural selection.

In examining Mr Wallace's able paper we have not put his
cases under any critical examination. We have taken his facts as
stated by himself He is most careful and accurate in all matters
falling under his own observation ; but we think his fondness for
generalizing sometimes leads him to accept as settled and admitted
statements which are only conjectural hypothesis not yet generally
allowed. For example, he adopts the statement as a proved fact

Reply to Mr Wallace's Theory of Birds' Nests 145

that the bright colour of flowers is confined to those which require
insects to fecundate them, and that the object of their being pro-
vided with gay colours is to attract the attention of insects to them.
Now, both of these assumptions are without wan-ant. As to the first,
many bright flowers in the garden need no insects to fecundate
them. For example, what colours can be brighter or more gaudy
than those of our orange and tiger lilies, the campanulas, the poppies;
almost every gay flower, indeed, which has a long flexible stalk,
that will bend with the wind, fecundates itself without help of
insects. The stalk and the wind do it between them. As to the
second assumption, that the gayness of the colour attracts insects,
we have only to observe that insects are provided with very imper-
fect and inferior means of vision. They have the power of smell
very largely developed, but that of sight is very feeble. What is
more, the defect is chiefly in the distance to which they can see ;
they are very near-sighted, as any one can convince himself, by
watching a butterfly attempting to fly over a high wall. In ap-
proaching it, it obviously does not see it until it is close upon it;
it retreats a little, and flies a little higher up and again approaches
it : again finds the barrier, again repeats the process, and it is only
after several attempts that it at last surmounts it. This defect is
inherent in the structure of the insect's eye ; and therefore any
argument founded upon the analogy of our own vision would lead
us wrong ; and it is plain that if the insects cannot see the gay
flowers, their bright colour cannot answer the purpose of attract-
ing them.

For the above reasons, we cannot agree with Mr Wallace in the
views he has arrived at ; and we have been the more disposed to
canvass them, because any hypothesis proposed by him deserves
full consideration, not only from the ability with which it is sure to
be advocated, but from the weight attached to whatever proceeds
from his pen. If his views are erroneous, 'it is of the more import-
ance that they should be questioned ; if they are doubtful, that
they should be sifted ; and if correct, ventilation will make them
only better known.

146 Journal of Travel and Natural History

HEUGLIN'S ''REISE NACH ABESSINIEN." *

WHEN we turned over the leaves of this book the other day,
in Messrs WilHams and Norgate's back-shop, and saw
them plentifully besprinkled with the scientific names of plants
and animals, we thought we had got a prize, and, clutching it under
our arm, made off with it to feast in private. Arrived at home, we
ensconced ourselves in our sanctum, paper-cutter in hand, and
prepared for enjoyment —

" Shut, shut the door, good John, we said,
Tie up the knocker, say we're sick, we're dead."

According to rule we should have been disappointed, for it is in
the nature of things that all enjoyments should be greater in
anticipation than in reality ; and in one sense this book is no
exception to the rule, for we found the rather prominent display
of scientific names which attracted us at first wholly without
arrangement, and of little novelty ; but, on the other hand, the
reader will see that some of the facts mentioned by Von Heuglin
furnish very interesting subjects for meditation and speculation,
although he has not worked them out for us.

In one respect indeed, and for one set of people and one pur-
pose, there is no room for disappointment. By those visiting the
country, as for instance the officers of the British army, it will be
found of much value. Von Heuglin followed a route nearly
parallel to that taken by the present expedition in its advance
on Magdala, and until he reached that stronghold almost every
step that he took will be found traced in his diary — every
watering-place, every stoppage, and the time taken between each
marked ; every cluster of huts and every church recorded, and
the height of almost every mountain range determined. In
fact, in this book the topographical department has a portion
of the work done to its hand, which, if it had had the oppor-

* Reisc nach Abcssinien — den Gala Landern est Sudan und Chartum in den
Jahren 1861 und 1862. Von M. Th. von Ikuylin. Jena : 1868.

Hcugli)is " Reise Nach Abessifiien" i47

tunity, it would doubtless have sent some one to execute in
anticipation of the present campaign. It is an itinerary, and
so far as we can judge of one through a country which we have
not seen, we should say it is exceedingly well done. The details of
an itinerary, however, are caviare to the general reader or the
naturalist, who will look rather for incidents of travel and in-
structive observations in natural history. As to the former, it
is difficult to believe that the country passed through by Heuglin
is part of the same land visited by Sir Samuel Baker, and that
lions, leopards, elephants, rhinoceroses, and hippopotami, were
or might have been encountered by the one as well as the other.
But so it is ; while Sir Samuel's course was one continued scene of
dangerous encounter with these animals. Von Heuglin, so far
as can be gathered from this book, seems to have seen little more
of them than their traces, and not have come into close contact
with any of them. It would be quite a sufficient explanation of
this that Heuglin's route was along a tolerably frequented line of
march, the " Great North Road " of Abyssinia, while Baker's
was purposely in the pathless desert wilds, where the larger game
had sought shelter from the intrusion of their dreaded enemy,
mankind ; but a still more important reason was that the one
hunted in the lower grounds, while the other was in the high
plateau, to which the larger game does not ascend. The lion does
not go higher than 7000 or 8000 feet, the elephant than 5000, and
the rhinoceros 7000, while the height of the main plateau is
10,000 feet.

Another reason may possibly be a difference in the constitution
of the two men; for, although it is plain, from the number of
birds and animals collected by Heuglin, that he is by no means an
indifferent sportsman, he either met no adventures to recount, or
he has not the faculty of making the most of them. Keeping in
view that the work is published in 1868 (although the journey was
made some years before), and that he visited King Theodore,
whom, besides, he had known in former years, we think he might
have given us a little more about that potentate than a couple
of pages. We cannot suppose that Von Heuglin does not
know more about Theodore than the best infomied special corres-
pondents ; but he may hold it not honesty in one occupying his
position (Austrian Consul at Chartum) to set down all he
knows. It is a good rule to speak well of the bridge that carries
you over, and if you cannot, the next best is to say nothing at all.

1 48 Joia-nal of Travel and Natural History

If this be the principle on which Von HeugUn has regulated his
account of what passed between him and the King, we can con-
gratulate him on the success with which he has carried it out. The
most nubigenous diplomatist could not have told us less, although
he might probably have taken more words to tell it in. The
naturalist, indeed, may think that the space is better bestowed
upon natural history than on the elucidation of the phases of
mental variation in a semi-savage chief, and were it not for the
interests now involved in the chief's proceedings we should be
very much of the same opinion. Von Heuglin, however, gives
us no option, so we gladly, though " on compulsion," pass on to
what may be called the proper subject of his work — The Natural
History of Abyssinia.

First, one word as to his route. Starting from Massowa (for we
pass over the journey from Vienna to that port), he gained the
highlands somewhat to the north of the route selected for that of
the present expedition, and continued eastwards for a short space
until he reached Keren on the track usually followed in journeying
from north to south, and then, turning southwards, continued to
follow it until he reached Gondar. Thence he passed on to Mag-
dala to visit King Theodore, passing in his way along the shores
of the Tana Sea. On reaching Magdala he found that King
Theodore was encamped in the Gala country, considerably to the
south, and he prosecuted his journey until he reached his camp at
a place called Etsebed. After paying his respects to the King, he
retraced his steps until he reached the head or northmost point of
the Tana Sea, then turned north-eastwards, striking for the Nile,
which he reached at its junction with the Rahad, and then de-
scended it by vessel to Chartum.

The coast region on the shores of the Red Sea — almost the
whole of the Abyssinian highlands from north to south, and the
upper Nile district — all contribute materials to the present work,
and from such materials some contribution to the solution of the
problem of the physical history of Abyssinia might reasonably have
been expected. This last Von Heuglin does not undertake.
The volume is crammed full of natural history information on
three branches — mammals, birds, and plants, but none of it is what
is called " applied." The information is all raw material, and is
communicated in the simplest and easiest way — easiest for the
writer we mean. It is given in the shape of a diary of each day's
procedure, and the material thus collected is emptied at the

HeugUn's " Reise Nach Abessviien''^ 149

reader's feet just as it has been accumulated. There is " a deal
of fine confused feeding" in it, but the picking, the plucking, and
the cooking are all left to the reader's self These lists of the
species collected at the different places would be nearly as instruc-
tive as, and in truth the narrative, so far it relates to natural history,
is in many respects little more than, a succession of lists, except
that, in printers' language, they " run on," and are lightened by
slight characteristic epithets, such as " the blue-flowered myosotis,"
" the bitter-tasted cardamine," the " rich-blooming trifolium," &c.
The materials thus collected, however, are sometimes very sugges-
tive, and lead to important inferences regarding the past history of
the region. Thus, for example, Heuglin examined one or more of
the uninhabited islands of the Dahlakian archipelago opposite
Massowah, and in a list of the birds and mammals observed at one
of them (Sarat), mentions the jackal, the hyena, the wild ass, and
the Antelope Soemmeringii. How came they there ? They cannot
have swam from the mainland, for Sarat and the Dahlak archi-
pelago are by the map some twenty miles distant from the main-
land, and it may be taken for granted that no jackal, hyena, wild
ass, or antelope ever swam twenty miles ; or if we go to the extreme
of possibility, and suppose that it is not absolutely impossible that
in extremity one of them may have done so, we imagine no one will
maintain that herds or else single gravid females of all four species
had made their way out to this small island without compulsion
or without attraction. It seems equally clear that they cannot be
there through the introduction of man. It might, indeed, be argued
that the wild ass may be a descendant of the common ass, left
there by man, which had reverted to the original type. But
putting out of view the fact that the island is uninhabited, this
would not apply to the hyena, the jackal, or the antelope. There
seems, therefore, no escape from the conclusion, that at some
former period these islands were united to the mainland, and by a
depression of the bed of the Red Sea have been severed from
the mainland where those same animals are common. In the same
way the opposite coast of Arabia is peopled by these very animals,
and it is scarcely logical to suppose that there was a depression of
the ground between the Dahlak islands and Abyssinia, and yet none
between these islands and Arabia. It appears indeed, from the
antient Port of Zullah being now two miles from the shore, and
other facts of a similar nature, such as the extension of the land at
the head of the Persian Gulf, that this action is now reversed.

150 Journal of Travel and Natural History

but at a fomier and no very distant period, a depression un-
doubtedly must have taken place.

But these facts not only prove the depression of the Red Sea,
but give a date for its occurrence. It must have taken place sub-
sequent to the appearance on the earth of the present jackal,
hyena, wild ass, antelope ; in fact, during the recent epoch. But
more than that, it tells us that it must have taken place subse-
quently to the elevation of the Sahara, for the same desert inhabitants
are found in both. We know from the shells found in the deposits
and sands of that desert that it was a sea during the Miocene and
Quaternary epochs. A similar desert exists'in the southern half of
Arabia, and but for the intervention of the Red Sea and the high-
lands of Abyssinia, there would be one continuous stretch of sandy
desert, the bed of an antient sea, from the Atlantic to the Persian
Gulf. But the Red Sea must be subsequent in date to the appear-
ance of these desert animals, and, so far as regards Abyssinia,
geology teaches us that Avhenever a great elevation of one portion
of the earth's surface has taken place, it has been accompanied by
a corresponding depression of another portion parallel to and
alongside of the part elevated ; and the compensatory relation of
the two phenomena shews that their occurrence must be nearly
simultaneous, or rather that the depression must have slightly pre-
ceded the elevation. For, assuming that the earth is a liquid molten
mass in process of cooling, surrounded by a crust already cooled
and solidified, it is not easy to understand how any first impulse of
ebullition causing a movement of elevation should be given ; but
it is very easy to understand, that as the process of cooling goes
on, and the consequent shrinkage follows, the hardened crust will
in some places be left without support, and in these it will settle
down like the roof of a coal mine when the props are withdrawn ;
as it does so on the molten matter it will sink in it, to a certain
extent displacing some, and causing it to surge up on either side,
producing earthquakes, breaking the cohesion of the superincum-
bent strata, and finding exit by fissures and volcanoes. Eruptions
are usually spoken of as the result of an access of intensity in the
igneous action — a fresh hand at the bellows ; but although at the
immediate scene of action they assume this phase, in point of fact
they are the very reverse — they are indications of gixviter cooling
instead of greater heat in the interior of the earth — they are the
mere splashing caused by the falling in of a portion of the cooled
roof. In the i)resent case the depression of the Red Sea and the

Heuglhis " Rcise Nach Abessinieti " 151

elevation of the highlands of Abyssinia must be counterparts in
the same transactions. By his Ust of Saharan and Arabian mam-
mals which occur in the islands of the Red Sea, Von Heughn
furnishes proof that they have been cut off from the mainland by
the sinking of the bed of that sea ; and, curiously enough, if infor-
mation which he received regarding the animals which occur in
the Tana Sea turns out to be true, he, in like manner, furnishes us
with means of proving the elevation of that inland lake from the
bottom of the sea, and that too at a date subsequent to animal life
having put on its present form. The Tana Sea is a large sheet of
water 5732 feet above the level of the sea— according to Ruppell —
lying in a hollow, surrounded by lofty mountains. It is very deep.
Heuglin found no bottom with a line of 197 yards. Its bed is
said to be cone-shaped, and Ruppell has supposed it to be an
immense extinct crater. This supposition we think wholly unten-
able : craters are not things that increase indefinitely in dimensions
according to the force and magnitude of the forces engaged.
They are phenomena which have a natural limit, as the bubble of
foam at the base of the falls of Niagara is no larger than that from
a mill wheel, and the size of the crater must bear a deteniiinate pro-
portion to the height and spread of the cone. Now, the Tana Sea
covers sixty square German miles, and a crater of that extent must
have had a cone at least four times as many miles in height, or
else have speedily been cooled over and reduced to several distinct
cones of normal size scattered over the space. Rejecting, then,
all idea of the Tana Sea being an extinct crater, it may be a collec-
tion of water accumulated from the rainfall of the surrounding
mountains, or the remains of a part of a sea-bottom, raised up —
mountains, bed, basin, sea, and all — during the course of the eleva-
tion of the district generally. There were, no doubt, both general
elevation and special increase of height by the jDouring out of vol-
canic matter. The fact which suggests this view is the following
remark by Heuglin : —

"Besides the hippopotamus, which dwells in great numbers in the
Tana Sea, there is, as I am well informed, here found another
animal, probably a manatus, called the Ja-Baher-Dedsa., or Aila
Auli ; the first name means a sea calf." — (p. 289.) "Probably this
animal is identical with the Arha-Bih, a large beast called the Sibda
that is met with in the tributaries of the Mareb." — (p. 247). The
Tana Sea is not the only inland habitat assigned to the manatee
in Africa. It is said by Barth and others to occur in Lake Tsad ;

152 Journal of Travel and Natural History

but there is nothing very extraordinary in this. It is known to
ascend the Niger and its tributaries ; a young specimen, of which
the skull was sent home from thence, having been described by
Prof Owen under the name of Manatus Vogelii; and the feeders of
Lake Tsad arise in the same tract of level, spongy country as some
of the tributaries of the Niger. In the rainy season the whole country
there is overflowed, and a boat can pass from the tributaries of the
one system into those of the other.

We have, moreover, elsewhere* recorded (on the authority of
Dr Kirk) the probable occurrence of a manatee in Lake Shirwa.
Like Heuglin, Dr Kirk only spoke from report — but he believed
the report \ and if it were true, the remarkable thing is, that
although the lake communicates with the sea, it is above the
Murchison Falls, which it is perfectly impossible any fish or water
animal ever could have surmounted. If it is a manatee the expla-
nation of its presence there must be sought for in geological changes
of level.

It is right to say, with regard to the supposed occurrence of the
manatee in Lake Tana, that Dr Fitzinger, in a paper in which he,
from the information communicated by Von Heuglin, enumer-
ates with details the species of mammals found in the north-east
coast of Africa, considers the information a mere fable. After
speaking of the Dugong, which occurs in the Red Sea and along
the shores of the Indian Ocean, and which the species in the
Tana Sea would most probably be, (the West African manatee,
although it rounds Cape Horn, and has been met with as far north
as the mouth of the Zambesi, not appearing to have been met
with further to the north) — he adds the following "Note — In Dem-
bee Sea" (Tana Sea), " according to the assertion of the natives, a
marine mammal occurs, which they distinguish by the Amharisch
name of ' Ja-baher-dedja ' (sea calf) or 'aila.' Apparently this
report is founded only on a fable." — (Fitzinger in Sitzungberichte
der Kaiserl. Academic der Wissenschaften, Wien, 1866. liv. 4
and 5, page 610). Von Heuglin, however, from whom Fitzinger
had his information, does not regard it as a fable, for he has re-
I)eated it without any indication of mistrust — indeed, rather the
reverse, for his words arc, " Wie ich schon berichtet habe," (as I
am well informed).

The inquiry leads to another important question, and that is

Murray's "Geographical T^istribution of Mammals," p. 120.

Hcuglin's " Reise Nach Ahessinien " 153

the origin of the Btue Nile, for if the Manatee exists in the Tana
Sea, and the Bkie Nile issues from the Tana Sea, one would ex-
pect that the Manatee should be found in it too. In all maps the
Blue Nile is laid down as issuing from that sea; a considerable part
of its course, after leaving it, is, however, marked with dots,
signifying that it has there not been explored, and is laid down
from supposition. There is at least one cataract in this unexplored
upper part of the river, which may prevent the Manatee passing
into the Nile, although such obstructions are more powerful ob-
stacles to the ascent than the descent of river animals. But the
reason why the Manatee is not known in the Nile may be that the
Blue Nile does not, in reality, flow out of the Tana Sea at all, or
rather that the river which does flow out of it is not a tributary of
the Nile. Heuglin, in his map, destroys all connexion between the
Blue Nile and the Tana Sea, but unfortunately says nothing in
explanation of his doing so. There are, however, one or two
facts which, although not absolutely inconsistent with the Tana Sea
being united to the Nile, are in perfect harmony Avith its not being
so. Bruce mentions one — namely, that there are no crocodiles in
the Tana Sea. Heuglin states that most of the species of fish
found in it (they belong chiefly to the Cyprinidae) are not found in
the Nile, a fact, however, of less value than it looks like, for many
of the fishes of the Upper Nile themselves are different from those
which inhabit the lower part of its course.

There still remains another interesting point for inquiry relating
to the Manatee in the Tana Sea, and which we may hope that our
expedition will be able to clear up — and that is, whether it is a
Manatee or a Dugong — the one being the representative of the
sea cow in the Atlantic, the other in the Indian Ocean. The
Dugong has been found in the Red Sea, so at first sight we may
anticipate that the Manatee in the Tana Sea will most probably be
the Dugong; but seeing that through the Sahara the Atlantic
so recently flowed across Africa, we confess that we should by no
means be surprised should the animal be the same as, or at least
nearest to, the Atlantic Manatus Senegalensis. The steps by
which such changes in level, as we have been speculating on have
been effected, will hereafter be matter for the study of geologists.
At present all that we know about the geological structure of the
Highlands of Abyssinia is, that it is almost entirely composed of
granite, basalt, and trachyte. Great quantities of pumice-stone are
scattered over many parts of it, and the volcanic character of the

TRAVFX M

154

Jourual of Travel and Natural History

country is apparent at a glance of its scenery. Fig. i, copied
from the chromolith frontispiece of Heuglin's work, is a striking
example of it. When the traveller once reaches the lofty plateau
he finds that the road keeps as much as possible along the ridges.
If it were to go as the crow flies it would be constantly plunging
down precipices on one side only to ascend them on the other.
It therefore maintains a high level as much as possible, and in
doing so has often to wind along the edge of precipitous crags
leaning over the gulf below. These form the sides of natural
cuttings (like the canons in Mexico), which are often looo feet in
perpendicular depth, and are, moreover, so narrow that a gunshot

0^ S

Fig. 1. A sketch of Absyssiuian scenery.

would reach across. Wherever in these twilight defiles they can
find space and footing, such plants as the Colqual, the Dodonsea
viscosa. the tall shrul)by Fvchinops and Andropogon grow clustered
together. Before dismissing the allusions to geology we may
merely add, by way of parenthesis, that there are in the Dammerde
some places where gypsum and a dolomitic limestone occur, which
is l)urnt by the natives and used to make mortar. The mineral
products are described by Von Heuglin as few in number and
of little commercial value. There is gold in the Gala country in
small quantities, and iron is also widely spread or disseminated; but

Heuglitis " Reise Nach Abessinien " 155

he says that the per-centage to be got out of the stone is so small
as to make it useless for working.

The number of species, both of plants and animals, in the
Highlands of Abyssinia is very large^a fact characteristic of all
mountain regions. Some have attempted to explain the general
fact by supposing the mountain a sort of centre of creation,
in which species from all the surrounding districts have taken
refuge, as in an island when the neighbouring lands have been
submerged through geological changes of level. To us it appears
better accounted for by the modification of Mr Darwin's theory of
the origin of species which we have jDroposed (viz., that the change
in species is produced by change of condition, and that so long as
the conditions of life are the same no change takes place). No
change can be greater than one from a plain to a mountain region,
and nowhere can there be a greater change of condition. It should
follow, therefore, on our hypothesis, that there should be a greater
amount of alteration in species, both in number and degree, in
mountainous regions, than in those which contain less varied
elements of condition of life — and so we find it to be.

To make out lists of these from Heuglin's work would be easy,
but, of course, out of the question here; we must refer the reader
to the work itself for them, and to the lists which he has published
in Petermann's " Mittheilunge," and in the Sitzungberichte of the
Imperial "Akademy der Wissenschaften " of Vienna. We can
only notice one or two of the incidental remarks which he makes
on some of the species.

The Abyssinian lion is distinguished from the Sudan variety by
its dark mane, which in winter is developed very strongly. Heuglin
had many opportunities of seeing lions of enormous size, but those
of the Gala Land were the finest that he ever saw.

The leopard or panther ranges from the lower Oola to a height
of from 11,000 to 12,000 feet high. Dr Fitzinger in his paper,
above referred to, considers it still doubtful to which of these two
species the kind found in north-east Africa belongs ; he might have
added whether there really are two species at all or not, which
we doubt. It is the commonest and boldest carnivorous mammal
in Abyssinia — so common is it that it sometimes appears even in the
town of Gondar itself. " The walls " says Heuglin (we presume he
means those of the sanctuary and different churches, for the town
itself is quite open, and these alone are surrounded with large
half fallen walls) ; " the Avails are often clothed v/ith thorns, in

156 Journal of Travel and Natural History

which wild beasts harbour, and nightly enter the town, or live in
the ruins (of which there are great masses in difterent parts of the
town), and not rarely the leopard, the spotted hyena, the ratel, the
rhabdogal, and divers foxes, genets, and ichneumons, appear
in the high places " (p. 216).

Perhaps, however, the most interesting point in relation to the
Abyssinian felid», is the possibility that the tiger is an inhabitant of
that country ; at least, so we are inclined to interpret the infor-
mation reported by Heuglin, under the head of the " Wobo."
"There is" says he "a variety of the leopard which must be
either a hybrid between the lion and the leopard, or a peculiar
species hitherto unknown, which, however, I had no opportunity
of seeing. It is described by the natives as the wildest, cunningest,
and strongest of all the carnivora, and, according to some reports,
is yellowish, with dark longitudinal stripes (mit dunkeln langs-
treifen). It appears to occur over the whole of Abyssinia, but
none of the Europeans living there know how to make a correct
description, and those of the natives giving an account of it do
not agree entirely with one another." (p. 236) Regarding this
reported animal, Dr Fitzinger in his paper above referred to says :
— " In Abyssinia one hears frequently spoken of two large, highly-
dangerous species of the cat tribe, which must be distinct from the
' Felis Nimr ' (panther). The one of these must, from the reports
of the natives, be a tiger-like animal, and should be found particu-
larly in south-east Abyssinia, where it bears the name of ' Wobo.'
The other is apparently a blacker leopard, known as the Gesella
of the Abyssinians. Also, in the island between the rivers Dendet
and Rahad, in Eastern Senaar, is a dangerous leopard-like
beast of prey, that is known by the Arabs on the Dender, under
the name of ' Abu Sothan,' and according to the testimony of
Osman Beg, the late commandant of the troops of the line in
Senaar, and that of the independent reports of the great Arab
sheiks of that country is somewhat larger than the ' Nimr '
(leopard), and has a white or whitish ground-colour, and is
striped black like the zebra." But those in the animal of whose
appearance Heuglin gives the reports should be completely
long striped, and not cross striped as in the tiger. According to
the information collected by Von Heuglin two largo, very dangerous
beasts of prey appear (under the names of the " Wobo," or the
tigerish appellation " Mendelid") in Abyssinia, which are wholly
distinct from each other, andof which the nativestell a heaj) of fiibles.

Heiigl'uis " Rcise Nach Abessinien'' 157

At one time the " Wobo " was described as precisely the same as
the " Abu Sothan " from the Dender ; at another time, again, as a
beast that hirks, sitting crouched up, and has hands hke men.
Also, it is reported that it is especially by night that it goes out to
prey, and is very fleet and nimble. May this not be some such
thing as an Ursus ? Also, Lefebvre in his voyage (p. 20) communi-
cates a notice on the Abyssinian " Wobo." (Sitzungberchle Akad.
Wissensch. Wien. 1866., vol. liv., p. 556).

On referring to Lefebvre, we find the following notice of it by
St Hilaire, under the head of the bear :

" The bear, although very rare in Africa, nevertheless exists there, as every-
where else, in the mountain forests ; but its presence has not yet been ascertained
in each of the principal locaUties of this great continent Thus, never until
this day has it been, so far as we know, brought from Abyssinia. No traveller
has ever seen it. Neither Bruce nor Salt indicates this genus of mammal in
their list of Abyssinian zoological names.

"And, nevertheless, it is certain that it exists there. That animal has even
a special name in the language of the Abyssinians, who call it the ouobo. M.
Lefebvre even cites this fact, that the first time that the Abyssinians who
visited France saw a bear in our menageries they called out, ' it is the ouobo V
This proof may assuredly appear decisive, for this name is applied to no other
animal. There is thus no doubt about the existence of the bear in Abyssinia, and
if there is anything to be wondered at, it is certainly not its presence in that
country, for from the moment that it is met with in Syria it may readily be
admitted that it ought to be re-found on the east coast of Africa, and by conse-
quence in Abyssinia ; but its rareness is such, that no traveller who has run over
that country has spoken of it, nor ever heard it spoken of, with the exception
ofM. Lefebvre."

The exclamation of the Abyssinian natives would indeed be
strong evidence were it not that we are told in the same breath
that it was so scarce that we should scarcely have expected that
they could ever have seen it before. One would like, too, to
know something about the interpretation of what they said ; for it
is plain that if the "ouobo" be a bear, it cannot be a yellow animal
with black stripes. There may be two unknown quantities here
confounded under one name — a bear and a tiger — but it is plain
that Heuglin's beast cannot be a bear, for he expressly says,
that although some authors have spoken of an Abyssinian bear,
he is satisfied that that is a mistake. What seems pretty well
vouched is, that there is a Felis larger than, or at any rate as
large as, a leopard, of a yellow colour, marked with black stripes.
May it not be the tiger itself? Heuglin no doubt says the stripes
were reported as longitudinally arranged ; but there are plenty of

158 Journal of Travel and Natural History

mammals that are vertically, or more or less obliquely striped,
but very few indeed that are truly longitudinally striped; and there
are several of the cats that have irregular semi-longitudinal oblique
patches or broken stripes, but the banded tail in all these shews
the true direction of the stripes. The ground colour in the Abu
Sothan is whitish, but this is no discrepancy, for the tiger in
Siberia has also a whitish ground colour. The known range of
the tiger is from the Malayan peninsula northwards to the Amoor,
and from the Pacific to the Caspian Sea, and we know of no
reason why it should not also be found in Abyssinia. The lion
as well as the tiger is found in India and Persia, and there are
very good reasons for holding that the original specific centre of
both was in the northern hemisphere, and that it was only Avhen
the elevation of Abyssinia bridged the dividing Saharan Sea, between
Europe and Africa, that the lion found its way into India and Africa
proper, and it is only since then that it established its supremacy
over the whole of it. That the tiger did not do so too is ex-
plained by the fact, which is of so universal application as to have
been laid down by naturalists as a general law, that two species of
the same genus of the larger animals almost never inhabit the same
district, the one or other apparently obtaining the mastery, and
driving the other out. The occurrence of the lion at Goojerat
may be said to contradict this ; but probably before man came
to disturb the balance of power, the truth might be that there
were all lions and no tigers at Goojerat ; and certainly, so far as
we can learn, there was a greater comparative preponderance of
tigers on the east than on the west side of India. In a contest
for possession, the lion would probably have the mastery wher-
ever the country was suited to his requirements, and most of
Africa being suited to these it is natural that under the supposed
law he should engross it; but Abyssinia is one of the parts which
does not suit him, but suits the tiger. Heuglin says the lion does
not occur higher up than Moina Dega, a range near Gondar,
about 7000 above the sea. The whole of the upper Highlands of
Abyssinia are thus left free for the tiger, and as he can thrive in
a much colder climate than the lion (as is evident from his being
found in Siberia, and even on the skirts of Thibet, far up towards
the snowy region), it would appear a not unlikely place to look for
Jiim. We trust that by the time our troops have reached Mag-
dala some of our sporting officers will have settled this interesting
question.

Heugruis " Reise Nach Abessijiien" 159

Many other mammals are mentioned in Heuglin's pages, but it
is for the most part a mere mention — a record of their names as he
meets with them, and that is all. Among them are elephants,
rhinoceroses, hippopotami, one or two undescribed otters, one or
two undescribed mice (of one of which he makes a new genus,
Oreomys), the Manis Temminckii, the Orycteropus Aethiopicus
(ofwhose underground proceedings against the ants he gives an
account), and many antelopes. One general reflection flows from
an examination of these notices, and that is, that there is in the high
plateaus a decided preponderance of African over Mediterranean
or European types of mammals — that is, of forms recruited from the
south over those drawn from the north. Taking Fitzinger's list of
the mammals of North-East Africa (as being fuller than the casual
records in this volume), and picking out the mammals of Abys-
sinia from those not occurring within its limits, we find them to
be ninety-six, including those of both Highlands and Lowlands. Of
these, forty-two are found also in Central or Southern Africa,
twenty-one in the Mediterranean district,* and the remaining
thirty-two peculiar to Abyssinia. If again we separate the Low-
land from the Highland species (/. e., species found above 8000
feet above the level of the sea) we find thirty-five characteristic of
the Highlands, and fifty-eight of the Lowlands, and thirteen either
common to both, or which we are unable to place for want of
information.

With regard to birds, again, in looking over Heuglin's lists,
what has chiefly struck us is the gradual increase of South
African forms which make their appearance as he goes on his way
southwards. As in the mammals, the preponderance of African
form is apparent from the first, but we think the gradual increase
of these southern fomis is fully more marked.

Another deduction from these records would seem to be that
the range of the birds is not more extended than that of the
mammals. It might naturally be expected to be more so, but we
do not thiuk that this is the case in nature. This is a point,
however, for further inquiry, which we scarcely vouch as to
Heuglin's book, but think worthy of more careful investigation.

* The difficulty of drawing the Hne of separation between the Mediterranean
and South African district in Nubia, Senaar, Darfour, &c., renders this point
of the calculations less accurate than we should wish, but the approximation is
sufficient for our purpose.

i6o /oitrnal of Travel and Natural History

Of the lower animals, we have scarcely any mention of croco-
diles in the rivers — a python, and one or two other serpents in the
Lowlands, and a couple of lizards are almost all the other verte-
brata noticed. Of the molluscs he mentions Tridnacna squa-
mosa, as a shell found in the Red Sea (p. 70). The reader will
remember that the Tridacnas are those large trigonal bivalves
(some of them of enormous size) sometimes used as holy Avater
vessels in Roman Catholic churches, which are now chiefly con-
fined to the Australian seas, and of which fossil remains are abun-
dant in the Eocene formations, giving support to the theory that a
special similarity exists between the animals which lived at those
epochs and those which now inhabit Australia and the neighbour-
ing seas. He also speaks of the Alpine heights between Gondar
and Magdala being rich in small shells. They live under a
covering of mosses and lichens, under stones and rubbish, and in
the rind of thistle heads. In the Tana Sea occur species of Palu-
dina, Cyrene, and Unio, pecuhar to Abyssinia — all genera with a
very wide range of distribution, but having more relation with the
northern regions than the south (p. 290).

As to plants, the proportion of African and European forms
specified by Von Heuglin are very nearly equal in number ; any
one reading the book, however, with the idea of tracing anything
like the successive preponderance of African forms, as the traveller
proceeded southwards, is apt to be misled if he does not pay atten-
tion to the heights of the district where the species have been
collected. The plants mentioned at first are much more frequently
African types than European (three to one we should say), but
further on in his journey, as he gets higher up, the more do the
European types (many of them our own familiar favourites, wild
roses, thyme, eyebright, &c.), prej^onderate until they quite
reverse the proportion. The most noteworthy point in its
botany is the very remarkable identity of its species, or generic
forms, with those found by Dr Welwitsch in the mountain region
of Angola.

There are a number of forms peculiar to Abyssinia itself, the
most remarkable of which, perhaps, is the wonderful Jibara
(Rhynchopetalum montanum) the zone of which begins at
11,000 feet, and continues, so far as the soil extends, up to
the highest tops, at first mixed with Erica and Hypericum, then
standing in thousands on the short grass of the meadows, bloom-
ing amongst the numerous small alpine plants (p. 222),

Heu^Utis ^' Ilcise Nach Abessinien"

i6i

Fig. 2 is a representation of this remarkable plant. It has long
been known as one of the most striking plants of the country.
Jussieu and most botanists have ranked it among the Lobeliace^e,
but we think that Robert Brown formed a truer estimate of its
affinities when he placed it in the neighbouring order, the Cam-
panulacece. If it were blue (which it is not) it might be called
the blue-bell of Abyssinia, rather a different looking Campanula
from our humble little hare-bell, it is a tree 15 feet in height, with

Fig. 2. "Ihe Jibar-1 (Rhynchopetilum niontanum

succulent leaves, and in some respects bearing a great similarity
to the Agaves, with which it has the additional point of resemblance,
that it lives until it flowers and then dies. The flower-spike is
yellowish-red in colour, and very handsome. Its other qualities,
however, are not so pleasant, its fresh juice has the smell of bugs.
It is very poisonous, so much so that even its shadow is said to be
fatal to those who sleep under it. A more credible report is,
that even its smoke occasions vomiting.

1 62 Journal of Travel and Natural History

Of trees, the Adansonia is perhaps the most remarkable, but
the character of the woodland landscape is given by sycamores,
acacias, euphorbias, and, near churches, by a lofty juniper, which
seems to have been planted probably from similar reasons to those
which induced our own ancestors to plant the yew in our church-
yards. The ferns, mosses, and lichens are of species or types
common to the whole world.

We have the less hesitation in passing over the botanical part ot
the work thus hurriedly, that we do not imagine it to be the work
of Von Heuglin himself, but is probably a compilation from Dr
Steudner's notes, or from the published works of others. Dr
Steudner was the botanist of the party, and his lamented death
subsequently has probably compelled Von Heuglin to undertake a
part of the work for which he himself was less qualified. The
great majority of the indications of the plants is thus limited to
their order or genus.

In conclusion, it would be most unjust to Von Heuglin to
deny that the work is one of value, although, in some respects it
may be open to adverse criticism. It is to be kept in view, too,
that it has been brought out by an editor in his absence, and has
doubtless suffered from the evils inherent in that mode of publica-
tion. One great fault is the absence of an index. It is, properly
speaking, a book of reference, and should not have been issued
without that indispensable accompaniment to such works.

Journal of Travel and Natural History 1 63

HAMLET CLARK'S LETTERS HOME/"

THIS is a posthumous publication. The author is beyond the
reach of our praise or blame. The one cannot gratify
him, nor the other wound him. Neither title-page nor preface
tell us this, but we know otherwise that the author died after both
were printed off, and when the plates alone were waited for to
complete the work. As he tells us in his preface, it was a pleasant
relief to him on a sick bed to look over and carry through the
press the old " Letters Home," of which this little work consists.
From that sick bed he never effectively rose. Within a few weeks
after he wrote this, he passed from amongst us, leaving his "Letters
Home" as a last little contribution to science and literature.

The reader may naturally expect that the work being posthumous,
the criticism will be unbiased. We shall try to make it impartial,
but we cannot make it unbiased. We knew him, we loved him —
to know him luas to love him, and to speak of him without a bias
is to us impossible.

The Rev. Hamlet Clark was the eldest son of the Rev. Henry
Clark, vicar of Harmston, Lincoln; born in 1823, he died in 1867,
at Rhyl, in the 44th year of his age. He was educated at Beverley.
Like all men who are endowed by nature with any special talent,
he early shewed his gift. His talent was Natural History, and
chance directed it to Entomology.

His first station as a clergyman was at Northampton, and there
for some ten years he fulfilled diligently and successfully his clerical
duties. His leisure hours he devoted principally to entomology.
That science has reached such gigantic proportions, that it is
impossible for any one man to master every branch of it. Hence
a division of labour has become a necessity, and men now take
up some single more or less extensive section of the subject, and,
confining themselves to it, master it, resting content with a more
superficial knowledge of what lies beyond it. Hamlet Clark
began with British beetles, and from the chance circumstance that
the locality where he found himself was especially favourable for

• Letters Home from Spain, Algeria, and Brazil, during past Entomological
Rambles. By the Rev. Hamlet Clark, M.A. London : 1867.

164 Journal of Tra7'cl and Natural History

water beetles, attached himself more particularly to them. His
first papers were notices upon them in the Zoologist and other
Natural History Journals.

After leaving Northampton, he took a curacy in London, and
subsequently ministered in the Quebec Street Chapel, until within
a couple of years of his death. Whilst there, notwithstanding the
heavy duties of a London clergyman, he found time to continue
his natural history pursuits — especially during the hours before
breakfast. With the facilities which the London collections,
libraries, and intercourse afforded him, his subjects now embraced
a wider field. Besides a very good knowledge of beetles from
all parts of the world (supported by a large collection which
he had gradually accumulated), he specially followed out two
important sections — the water beetles and the Phytophaga.
On the former of these he had no rival, the most celebrated
entomologists throughout the world referring to him as the
authority on the subject ; and on the latter he was almost as
absolute, Mr Baly and he dividing the empire between them. On
these subjects he undertook to prepare the Catalogues of the
British Museum, and a considerable portion of the most difficult
part of them had been already published before his death. Another
portion waited only for his formal revisal, and the remainder was,
we understand, far advanced. We trust that his labour will not
be like water spilt upon the gi-ound, and that the Trustees of the
Museum will take the necessary steps to get his work finished
and published.

Few but those who have been behind the scenes know the
wear and tear of a city clergyman's life, when he is zealous and
sincere. Preaching is but a small part of the labour; the
schools and different schemes occupy much more of it, but pro-
bably the private visiting and assisting the poor is the most arduous
part of it all. As it is the most arduous, so is it the most
dangerous. Many a valuable life has been sacrificed in that field.
The long hours which they pass on their feet, the exposure to
the infections of the sick-room, to the unhealthy atmosphere of the
dwellings of the poor, the mental distress and anxiety caused by
the misery it is their lot to see, too often without ability to relieve,
combined with the overwork from their other duties, have lost and
are constantly losing us lives infinitely more valuable than those, to
try to save which they give their own. True it is, the toil
and the danger is of their own seeking. If they so choose, they

Hamlet Clark's Letters Home 165

need not go near the poor, but to those who are zealous in their
calling, it does not come in the shape of an option. It presents
itself to them with a face of duty, and like gallant soldiers they
obey her voice, regardless of consequences to themselves.

In that command, on that field, Hamlet Clark found his
death. His constitution, never strong, gave way under the strain,
and disease set in which finally disabled him, and compelled him
to abandon the scene of his labours.

He retired to Rhyl, in Wales, where it was hoped that
country air and abstinence from work might restore his health.
There he passed two years of suffering. Burke speaking of poor
Marie Antoinette says, that "we are interested that creatures
made to suffer should suffer well." Assuredly Hamlet Clark suffered
well. The courage, modesty, and piety with which he faced ap-
proaching death is to us beautiful beyond expression. The coolness
and Christian composure with which he made ready to die, reveals
itself in every line of some letters which we received from him at a
time when he knew that death was not far off One or two short
quotations may do some reader good, as they did us. On 14th
of last April he wrote : —

" I have just been reading my Greek Testament — ^John iii. — and have been
pondering inter aha over the good old man's request, ' greet the friends by name. '
I suppose he meant that his friend Caius knew perfectly to whom he referred ;
and that (besides this) he desired a special personal greeting to be conveyed to
them from him. The ' by name' could mean nothing else. Well, I too offer
my insignificant greetings ' by name' to your breakfast table, and rejoiced much
to accept your very kind expression of sympathy from them all in your last
letter. It is strange, physiologically, how a word or two of sympathy, when
one quite believes in it, has such real power to help to triumph over pain and
weakness. Even now the mind has vast power over the body ; what will it be
hereafter ? Why, this wretched body of ours will be wretched no longer ; but

the able and willing servant of the intelligence. Thanks for the offer of • 's

book. Don't gizie me anything, it is of no use, for my time is short ; but the
more you lend me to read the better. I can''t work now much, and hard study
seems more and more impossible — a fortiori, the more is chance reading, or
gossip, or a visit from a neighbour welcome."

In the last letter which we received from him, 4th May, he
says : —

"I have just received and been reading 'Bentham's (Pres. Linn. Soc.) Address
and Obituary of Past Fellows,' a sadly long list ; and it set me musing on the
preciousness of life, and the vastness of God's natural world of life, and the
possible future of the next coming, more brilliant still, world of life, and the

i66 Journal of Travel and Natural History

value of time, and it all made me turn over myself with my face to the wall, as
I lay in bed, and wonder and long that it were possible for me to have strength
given me to lay lance in rest once again, and add one little stone — ever so little
would do — to the great temple that science is erecting. So you see, friend, that
absolute contentment, even after all the discipline I have had, is not my happy
gift yet; but that I sometimes fidget in the bonds of this overpowering weakness
and pain, like a half bred hound in leash when his game is afoot."

On loth June he was no more.

His " Letters Home " consist chiefly of letters to his father, con-
taining his impressmis de voyage (suppressing personal and family
allusions), during a yacht trip to Spain and Algiers, and a short
visit to Rio Janeiro, both made in the course of the year 1856, in
company with his friend Mr Gray. They are written in a fresh
and pleasant style, with an occasional sparkle of fun, and with
admirable powers of description, and there is a total absence of all
affectation or thought of self in the volume.

The trips were undertaken partly for health, but still more for
natural history purposes, and, of course, notices of natural history
and entomology are frequent, more especially in the excursion to
Brazil. But before giving an exaiuple or two of these taken from
it, we shall cull one little piece of practical advice suggested by
something Mr Clark saw on the passage out, which may perhaps
be useful to some parent who reads it : —

" Of course in such a crowded varying life as this [on board the steamer to
Rio] I could give you page after page of gossip and anecdote ; but with all the
inclination, I have not the means of writing amply. One idea, however, I will
give you, the experience of the last day or two ; it is this : whenever any one
having girls to transplant to another country, is looking out for some niater-
familias to whose charge they may be entrusted with comfort during the voyage,
let the first (not the second, but the very first) requisite be the sailing qualities
of madame. She may be most superior, and discreet, and watchful, and
anxious to do her duty to her young friends, but all this avails nothing at all if
she is unhappily confined to her berth by sea-sickness. One or two ladies here
have been making acquaintances which older and wiser people could see at
once were not desirable, by no fault of their own, but by almost pressure of
circumstances. They had only one friend on board, who was taking them to
their family at Madeira ; and she is always ill in bed below ; they cannot be for
ever with her in her berth ; under these circumstances the generality of chance
acquaintances are those which are the least eligible," p. 84.

How gently and charitably he apologises for the young minxes,
and how sound and judicious the advice ; unfortunately in such cases
there is rarely much choice of matrons. It is too often a choice
of difficulties.

Hamlet Clark's Letters Home 167

The steamer stopped for a day to coal at the St. Vincent Islands,
and Clark and his friend Gray took advantage of the opportunity
to entomologize, but with very trifling success :

"There is nothing here where we have been working ; during the whole day
we have not taken more than twenty species among us. I worked as hard as
I could but there was hardly anything. In the ravines, they say, trees will grow,
bananas, canes, &c. ) ; and in the ravines, to any one who has the courage to
come and explore them, would be found, at the proper season, all the entomo-
logical faima of the island."

The enthusiasm and enjoyment with which the two friends Clark
and Gray set themselves to study the natural history of the
neighbourhood of Rio is charmingly told, and the acuteness of
their observation, the innate talent of the naturalists, is constantly
and unconsciously displayed :

" The forest trees, without being giants, were well-grown, and they had many
species of parasitic orchids on their trunks. I noticed that although parasitic
plants were in abundance, they seemed to affect special trees ; most of
the trees had their tnmks clean and bare ; but if any had a growth of para-
sites, that tree was probably covered with them from root to topmost
branches, and with several other quite different species. I accounted for this
in my own mind, not by any greater age of the tree, but by some probable
greater rugosity of the bark, which would give better holding powers to the
little parasitical roots ; at all events the effect was curious ; here was a tree
three or four times its proper diameter, bulging out like one of our ivy-clad ash
trees at home, but not with one special overgi-owth, but brilliant with scarlets,
and many-hued greens, while all around it were other trunks of trees clean and
bare ; why had not they, too, their coat of many colours?" p. 115.

The following observation on fire-flies is interesting, and the
fact observed difficult of explanation :

"This is a pleasant boarding-house in the very midst of the wood, with
virgin forest on all sides of us, and plenty of insects, even in the rainy season.
I have been out two or three evenings, hardly with the expectation of getting
anything, but for the sake of seeing the fire-flies. It is no figure of speech to
say that on still evenings, especially after a rainy afternoon, they eclipse the
stars ; their lights are of all sizes and magnitudes, and more than one colour.
The large Elateridaa of the genus Pyrophorus have a brilliant steady and very
bright light ; these are veiy difficult to catch, inasmuch as they sail slowly round
the tops of the high trees, looking exactly like wandering planets ; and others,
smaller but of brilliant lustre, fly hither and thither among the brushwood, also
Pyrophorus perhaps, at all events Elateridse, and not Lampyridae like our English
glow-worm, that haunt especially damp situations. On one side of the road
leading to the house is a deep gully, conducting a little stream to a small lake
of water ; this road on such evenings presents a marvellous sight — the whole of
the gully is lighted up with thousands of sparks. I am not romancing, they are

t68 Journal of Travel and Natural History

in thousands, and the wonderful part of the sight is, that while many of the
rank and file evidently wander only according to their individual will, there are
others, and these the majority, which keep perfect time and sway in their flash-
ings one with another. For perhaps twenty yards you see every light (of this
second set of lights) evenly and slowly flying in one direction ; then all at once
in a moment every light will vanish ; in the next moment every light flashes forth
again, and progresses in another direction. It is impossible to resist the conviction
that all areactingin harmonyand conjunction with each other, and that the impulse
of forward progression, and then of a momentary obscuration of light, and then
again of a brilliant simultaneous flash and another onward movement at another
angle, is felt by each individual, and directed by one the leader of the brilliant well-
drilled band. The sight (when one remembers that these are insects, and not
birds or beasts) is quite startling, so complete is the precision of united action,
and so continuous — going on, for anything I know, all the evening or all night
long. I can call to mind no parallel to it, not even an actual parallel in birds
or fishes."

To which he appends a recent note ;

"As similar scenes must have been observed by any entomologist who had
ever spent a few days in the Organ mountains, I applied to my friend Mr Alex-
ander Fry, who in knowledge of the Coleoptera of the southern region of the
Brazils, and in the practical experience of their habits, which he had gained by
careful examination of them during several years' residence in Rio Janeiro, is
among European entomologists facile princeps ; and he entirely corroborated
the obsei"vation noted above. He replied : ' I can confirm your observation
that the fire-flies of the genus Aspisosoma of Castleneau flit at night in great
numbers over low-lying damp fields, chiefly under water, emitting light by short
flashes, at intervals of three or four seconds, the' majority keeping time -with each
other as if in ohedieuce to the Imton of a teader.''"

May not the intermittance be due to the action of the wings in
flight, and its regularity to their all taking the same space of time to
open and shut them (most insects of the same species being uniform
in size), and may not its concurrence in action be due to a flight of
them having all started at the same time; and may not their all
having started at the same time be due to some common cause,
whether a general alarm or a general invitation, as from some female
having come within liail.

One other instance of intelligent and inquiring observation, and
we shall pass on to less speculative matters :

" I think I never mentioned to you one of the interesting sights that we
always took care to inspect whenever we ascended the aqueduct road from
Botofogo. There was near the road-side a large tree standing by itself in the
sunshine, towards the top of it a branch had been torn off liy the wind, and the
wound gave forth a stream of dark resinous sap which ran nearly to llie ground ;
this resinous sap was a very favourite haunt of Lepidoptcra and Coleoptera, and

Hamlet Clark's Letters Home 169

indeed of all orders. I always made a point of visiting this tree ; it was mani-
festly a well-known luncheon-room for all insects whose morning duties led them
into that part of the forest : they kept coming in from all quarters and going away
in all directions : the big butterflies were fussy and unneighbourly, running up
and down in the sunshine and disturbing all around them ; the beetles, though
lively enough on occasion, were more demure, and sedulously attended to the
main object of their visit. The Ichneumons are unpopular among the insect
tribes, everj'body gives one of them a wide berth, and interchange of civilities
as between butterflies are of the curtest ; one big black steel-coloured gentle-
man is so obnoxious that as soon as he alights every one in that neighbourhood
departs. What a vast deal there is for us to learn ! these creatures, I suppose,
have their traditions, or if not traditions (by these I mean of course the natural
tendencies that they derive from their parents) their own personal experiences.
I know that they were right about those Ichneumons, perfectly right ; but how
do they know it ? How do those little creatures know that the steel-coloured
Ichneumon would as soon have a luncheon off them as off the gum, perhaps
prefer them ! or indeed that he, in his experience of life, visits this tree in the
full expectation of being able to get a wholesome meal off one or two flies ? or
do they know it at all ? and why, when they cannot endure the shadow of a
carnivorous wasp, will they permit, without difficulty, the blundering swing of
the antennae of a Trachyderes right across their bodies, or let a big Papilio
almost walk over them ? There is a degree of discrimination in all these actions
that is quite superior to the instinct of, we will say, a Chlamys, which, on the
approach of danger makes itself in an instant exactly like a bit of caterpillar's
dung ! That is inexplicable enough, but that is simple and uniform : the rule
of life among the Chlamydese is, " If ever you are in the least frightened roll
yourself up as tightly as you can : " it is their misfortune or their good fortune
that the result is that the sight of them would turn the stomach of any respect-
able bird on the hunt for food. To this nile there is no exception ; a hannless
butterfly accidently touching them would metamorphose them into an unpleasant-
looking cylinder just as soon as the touch of my very dangerous finger and
thumb. But here on this gummy tree, the rendezvous of insects, you find some-
thing very superior to this. There is a discriminating power which is always
exercised aright, and which seems very much like the result of memory and of
experience : certainly the absence of any such discriminating power might be in
a moment fatal, putting an end to all experiences : it is the quick-witted who
live, it is the dullards who are food for Ichneumons ; although whence they
got their wits I can tell as little as I can tell why the old hen-partridge makes
her brood cower down in the stubble at the sight of a distant hawk while she
cares nothing at all for fifty crows or gulls : all that is evident is that such
knowledge has been imparted to them by the Creator." p. 155.

We see similar instinctive antipathies in every branch of the
animal kingdom. Every one knows how the voice of the Hon
makes all the beasts of the forest tremble and fly. Gardener, in
his travels in Brazil, remarked: —

"My horses, which were feeding at a little distance, came closer to us when
they heard the almost unearthly sounds produced by the fierce inhabitant of the
TRAVEL N

170 Journal of Travel and Natural History

forests (the jaguar) : even those T had brought from the coast, and which I am
certain had never been exposed to the attacks of these animals, foUov^'cd the
example of the others, p. 298.

Owing to its being the rainy season Clark did not find aninaal
life in Brazil so abundant as he expected :

"Wild animals are rare about here ; tapirs are to be found in some of the
hills, and we are exhorted to have a day after them. Birds are rare, at least
large birds ; I can see none that I know of by pictures or collections : humming
birds are more abundant, of all hues, and brilliant like precious gems : spiders
and beetles, too, want looking for, but their absence is accounted for by the ex-
cessive rain." p. 120.

There is another and a truer reason which he hits upon after-
wards : — '-

"I have had one or two expeditions lately into the virgin forests : they are
not the places, as a rule, for entomologists, insects congregate rather on the
outsides, in the clearings, or by the sides of paths, or anywhere where they can
get air and sunshine ; but the forests are worth seeing over and over again, if
not for their insects at all events for themselves. They impress one with the
sense of vastness and silence and solemnity, and teach me (as I can conceive
nothing else could teach except, perhaps, a bed of sea-weed on a tropical shore)
the marvellous exuberance of nature's powers ; ferns and mosses intertwined
with parasitical orchids, giant trees, climbing plants, each or many with their
special flowers, darken the air that they perfume : the air is full of life : you can
hear but you can see nothing. / suspect there is a great world of insects high up
above in the thick bushy tops of t lie trees that can bask in the sunlight."

Wc know that there is : Mr Fry, the eminent Brazilian ento-
mologist, has told us that many insects are never taken except
high up the trees, and that the only means by which he could pro-
cure them was by nets fastened to the end of excessively long
poles.

"You have the deep distant hum as of thousands of insects, occasionally the
note of a bird, sometimes, perhaps, the fall of a branch, or it may be a strange
sound that is inexplicable, but nothing can you see but the vegetable world, and
this arrests the whole of you ; sight and smell as well as hearing make you
pause with charmed surprise at every step : always there is something to wonder
at or to examine."

The following is an interesting statement relating to the distri-
bution of life in different parts of the globe :

"That which is most remarkable in the general character of the coleoptera is
the wonderful exuberance of species and the real scarcity of individuals ; most
of our species are represented only by a single specimen. We go out three or
four days consecutively along the same walk, visit the same shrubs and trees,
and yet each day's captures are different from the preceding. We both walk

Hamlet Clark^s Letters Home 171

along the same track pretty nearly at the same time and yet each will bring
home many species that the other has not seen, and with this abundant variety
of species there is an absolute dearth of individuals. I have taken at Deal or
the Chesil Bank, or in many English localities, six or ten times as many insects
as I ever captured here in any given number of hours. At present insects don't
come to us by any means, we have to go to them at their ovra. homes. Geode-
phaga are at this altitude, 3CXX) feet, very scarce indeed, except the leaf-loving
arboreal Geodephaga, the lovely genera Lebia, Agra and their allies, Buprestida;
are rare too ; Elateridse, Curculionidoe, and Galerucidae are the dominant
groups for the moment : perhaps in Longicorns we take eight species every day,
and of course single examples : of Elateridae and Curculionidse I have often
taken enough in an hour to occupy the whole of the next morning if I were to
set them out after the fashion of precise order-loving symmetrical entomologists
in England. Water beetles are at present most scarce, or indeed impossible ;
we are in the midst of the rainy season, and violent rains, sometimes all day or
all night long, have so deluged everything that lies low that I cannot get at the
pools and brooks for the water." p. 139.

Of tlie biting and stinging vermin, to which all tropical countries
are obnoxious, he had his fair, or rather more than his fair share.
Reptiles are not very troublesome in Brazil. They are plentiful
enough. Clark generally killed two or three a-day, for they lie
in just the very places that insects, and of course entomologists,
delight in, but such an occurrence as any one being bitten is very
rare. But if snakes are more feared than felt, ants, at least, make
themselves felt sore enough.

" Brazil is one great ant's nest ; they are of all sizes and dispositions. Some
are a plague to us in the house, for they will come at night and prey on the in-
sects in our store-boxes ; some are a plague to us in the forests, they get inside
ones clothes and bite and sting ; others are a more serious evil still, vegetable
eaters, which will take a fancy to the leaves of some tree, and strip every leaf
off in one night. There are some long-jawed fellows that attack you by a jump,
not by the spring of their legs, but of their back-bone (only they have none. )
They can fling themselves about a foot, and live under fallen timber and such
places : they are not so cruel as the little ones. The small species are my
terror ; their stings are like red hot needles, and they do not, like some others,
keep hold with their mouths, thus making only one red mark on the skin till
they are picked off. Much less do they nm off, having done their duty ; but
they go, say just two inches forward, and then go through the stabbing process
again. On one occasion I was in very great trouble ; inadvertently I stood still
for a moment examining the contents of my net, just in the midst of their run — ■
a forage expedition of the whole tribe. I did not see them, nor indeed did I
look, so intent was I on my precious beetles ; when all at once I felt their sting
over a g^eat part of my body. The whole legion had walked up my boots.
The pain was really dreadful. But happily, when I had changed my quarters,
and thrown off in desperation half my clothes, a slave youth came by who

172 Journal of Travel and Natural History

helped me to pick the wretches off my body and clothes, and to get in order
again. Since that adventure I have always been careful not to interrupt the
social migrations of ants." p. 133.

With fleas and flies, cockroaches, et hoc genus omne, he had
many Httle distresses, which are pleasanter to read of than to have
experienced,

"I have been badly bitten since I have been here by a little pest of a fly
which abounds near the house ; it raises small swellings or blisters about the
size of a small pea, which are most irritating, and, if scratched, speedily turn
into sores. The backs of my hands and knuckles are so swollen that I cannot
close my left hand at all. Every one suffers, but I far worse than any one else.
At last I discovered the reason ; it is only because I wear black clothes, and
every one else avoids black. An engineer said to me the other night, ' I
always like to sit next to you in the verandah. " I began to feel flattered, and
to give my neighbour much more credit for discernment than I had supposed.
Clearly his was an appreciating mind, which could understand and value re-
spectable society. ' And I'll tell you why. Sir; because then I am never bitten
by these beggars of flies ; the heat of your clerical black clothes draws together
all the borrachados in the place. Yes, Sir, you are a public benefactor ; they
will never hurt any one in white, so long as you are dressed in black.' I am
doomed to be a benefactor, I fear (for my wardrobe will supply little but black),
and to be bitten for my improvidence before I left England. May all men sing
my praises as they ought." p. 146.

The skimmings we have given are a fair indication of the con-
tents of this work. Biased or not, we have no hesitation in say-
ing it is one of the pleasantest books we have read for many a day.

Journal of Travel and Natural History 173

THE PRESENT ST A TE OE SCIENCE ON THE NORTH-
WESTERN SLOPES OE THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
By Robert Brown.

"I 1 riTH most people the region in question is less associated
* • with scientific workers than with bowie knives, " difficulties,"
gold-mining, and fiir-trading ; and although we are fain to confess
that the majority of the sojourners in that wild region are still not
a little addicted to these more or less harmless popular pursuits ;
yet, as I propose to shortly indicate, in a review of the present
state of science in these countries, there are some who are
labouring even there to add to the common fund of knowledge.

First in geographical position and importance comes California
and the state recently constituted of the region in the vicinity of
the Sierra-Nevada mountains— TV^a^i^.

First in that section comes San Francisco, a city which in
eighteen years has risen from a collection of cotton tents on some
sand-hills to a substantial city of 150,000 inhabitants. In San
Francisco the California Academy of Natural Sciences is the prin-
cipal object of attraction to naturalists. It meets monthly at its
rooms at 622 Clay Street, and is now in a tolerably prosperous
condition. The Society lingered from its organization in 1853
until recently with a membership never exceeding forty, contri-
buting many interesting facts to the general sum of scientific and
practical knowledge, but unable to attain that broader field of
usefulness which numbers and money can alone secure. It is now,
however, likely to be more prosperous. The liberality of members
has enabled it to obtain somewhat better rooms, which are fitted
up to preserve and display its many thousand specimens of
minerals, its 4000 conchological specimens, its 1500 specimens of
palaeontology, and its large herbarium, valuable library, and
miscellaneous collection, historical and ethnological. They are
now prepared to exchange with individuals and societies in other
parts of the world, and thereby to extend much their scope of
operations. Their " Proceedings " are published yearly in 8vo,
with woodcuts, and though the execution, typographic and zylo-
graphic, is not superb, yet it perfectly answers every purpose, and
suits the Society's limited funds. We believe that the woodcuts

174 Journal of Travel and Natural History

are all executed by one of the members {Dr Kellogg) free of ex-
pense to the Academy.

The following gentlemen have distinguished themselves by their
labours in the different branches of natural science which they
respectively chiefly affect, viz. : in geology, Professor J. D. Whitney
(state geologist. President of the Academy), Messrs Gabb, W. P.
Blake, J. E. Clayton, Ashburner, Dr James Blake, and Auguste
Remond; in mineralogy, Messrs W. S. Keys, J. Ross Browne, and
Dr G. E. Moore; in botany, Messrs H. N. Bolander, Brewer,
Bloomer, and Dr Albert Kellogg; in zoology (general), Dr J. G.
Cooper, Eugene V. Lorquin; in conchology, Mr W. J. W. Harford,
Dr Newcomb, and R. E. C. Steams; in icthyology, Dr W. O. Ayres;
in zoophylology, Mr Gabb; in infusoria, Dr James Blake; in
entomology, Dr H. Behr (lepidoptera); in magnetism. Col. Ransom;
and in seismology, Dr J. B. Trask; all gentlemen willing to
exchange observations or specimens with those in other countries.

The body is out of debt, perhaps for the all-sufficient reason
that the credit of science has hitherto been rather weak in
San Francisco. The State Geological Survey, under the efficient
direction of Professor Whitney, is still pursuing its operations,
though under many obstacles and difficulties incidental to the
troubles about the annual grants from a practical-minded legisla-
ture. They have already published two volumes, and others will be
forthcoming as soon as the necessary funds are in hand. The
gardens of Mr Woodward, and the very excellent museum in the
" What Cheer House," ought not to be passed without notice.
I believe that the German Society of Naturalists in San Francisco
does not now exist.

In various other parts of California are scattered a few naturalists,
of whom we may mention Mr Andrew Taylor of Santa Barbara, an
ethnologist well known in Europe, who is preparing a large work on
the ethnology of California, on which subject he has already pub-
lished a series of articles in the California Farmer some years
ago, and Mr John Buttle, an Englishman, formerly of the Royal
Engineers, and assistant to Dr Lyall, botanist of the North-West
Boundary Commission, and also one of my most valued lieutenants
in the Vancouver Exploration, a portion of which he afterwards
carried on himself He has now established himself as a land-
surveyor at San Jose, fifty miles south of San Francisco, and is
prepared to make collections of plants, seeds, &c., in any part of
California. Dr Thomas Logan of Sacramento, is a zealous

Science beyond the Rocky Mountains 175

meteorologist. Better information is much to be desired re-
garding the natural history (and the geography as well) of
Sonora, Arizona and the head of the Gulf of California; but
though governments have been established there, yet the troubled
state of the country through the interminable Apache and
Comanche wars renders travelhng anything but safe. Accordingly
nothing has been done in that vicinity of great importance since
the expedition of Ives, the Mexican Boundary Commission, and
the Pacific Railroad Survey. There appears, however, to be some
stray collectors there, for parcels of plants, &c., are occasionally
arriving at the California Academy's rooms from that country.

(2.) Oregon, Washington Territory, Mo7itana, and Idaho.

I wish I could make an equally satisfactory report regarding the
broad quartette of partially-explored, and thinly-peopled states and
territories embraced under this heading. I know of scarcely one
naturalist resident in these countries, and what has been done has
been by transitory visitors; and in Idaho and Montana, notwithstand-
ing the visits of Townsend, Douglas, and others, there is still a good
deal to be done in zoology and the botany of herbaceous plants.
There are, however, one or two solitary individuals amid the
rude backwoodsmen^mining population, trappers, rowdies, and
ruffians — which compose the bulk of the population of these terri-
tories, particularly the latter two, by whom the wandering naturalist
would be intelligently appreciated, such as Dr Thompson and
Colonel Drew in Jacksonville, Rogue River, both of whom, though
not scientific men in the strict sense of the phrase, are yet exceed-
ingly intelligent collectors of minerals, antiquities (of the Indians),
&c. ; and at the Dalles of the Columbia resides the Rev. Mr Conton,
a very enthusiastic geologist and successful collector.

In Washington territory, Mr J. G. Swan (author of " Three
Years in Washington Territory "), resides at Neah Bay, diligent
in collecting specimens, and ^not neglectful of his duties as a
teacher of the Indians. At Whatcom, Mr Bennett " picks up" any-
thing he thinks of interest, and sends to the all-engrossing " Smith-
sonian."* My good friend, the Rev. Father Cherouse of Snoqualami

* In relation to this, I may remark that, wherever I went in Washington Ter-
ritory, even among the rudest backwoodsmen, I found, at least, three literary
documents, viz., a pack of cards, a quack medicine advertising almanack, and a
Smithsonian Institute Report ; and to the influence of the latter may be traced
that intelligent appreciation of science so universal there.

1^6 Jour7ial of Travel and Natural History

Indian Mission, to whom I am indebted for several interesting
specimens, also pursues a like laudable course, though on a smaller
scale. The Hon. Mr Hines is always ready at Olympia to climb
a mountain with any one, and Mr Victor of Portland, to note all
about it. Dr David Walker, F.L.S., formerly well known as surgeon
and naturalist of M'Clintock's Fox Expedition, is also in the
Territory, engaged as a medical officer of the army; and when I last
heard from him was at Fort Steilacoom busily looking after Crus-
tacea and shells. There may be more observers, but if there are
Messrs Edward Geddings, and Jerard S. Hurd, of the Surveyor-
General's Office at Olympia (whom not to know in that coun-
try is to proclaim yourself unknown), can and will supply the
information.

(3.) Vancouver Island^ British Columbia, and north to the Arctic

Sea.

Though Vancouver Island and British Columbia are now
united in one political division under the latter name, yet nothing
has been done to explore the interior of the former large island
since the expedition entrusted to my direction, ("Vancouver Island
Explorations — Colonial Blue Book, 1864,""*) by order of the
Colonial Government and Board of Explorations. Since the
Alberni saw-mills have been stopped on the outer or western coast
of the island, that extensive stretch of coast is only tenanted by wild
Indians ; and the removal of Mr Hamilton Moftatt, and Mr Pym
Nevins Compton, from Forts Simpson and Rupert of the Hudson's
Bay Company, has left the northern coast without any resident
naturalist. In Victoria, however, a town not very prosperous
commercially (just at present), there are several gentlemen who,
though not publishing naturalists, are yet very intelligent collectors
when opportunity offers, such as Messrs John Gastineau, C.E.,
Robert Homfray, C.E. Bushell, E. T. Coleman, F. Dally, and F. M.
Spence. Dr Comrie and Commander Porcher of H.M.S. Sparrow-
hawk were proposing to do something towards the natural history
of the country ; and as they are resident for some years on the coast
might add to our knowledge. Sir James Douglas, ex-governor,
is a good horticulturist, and gives great assistance to natural-

* Vide, also, Proceedings R.G.S., 1865; Pctermann's Miltheilungcn ; "Le
Globe;" Trans. Bot. Soc. ; Edinlnirgh New Phil. Journal ; the "Farmer," &c.

Science beyond the Rocky Mountains 177

ists by his extensive acquaintance all over the country, and know-
ledge of subjects connected therewith. Messrs Robert King (a
farmer near Victoria, and formerly in Messrs Veitch's employ), and
Clayton, a nurseryman, are ready to supply seeds and trees, &c.
Mr A. C. Anderson, long in the Hudson's Bay Company's service,
and Mr Geo. H. Wilson-Brown, are also well acquainted with the
natural history of the country. The latter gentleman especially
is ready to collect, and enter into correspondence with natural-
ists at home. Mr Lloyd Jones is interested in plants (particularly
ferns), as is still to some extent Dr W. F. Tolmie, chief factor of
the Hudson's Bay Company, after whom Sir William Hooker
named the genus Tolmieia, and Townsend his Sylvia Tolmiei.
Mr J. Robertson-Stewart, one of the principal importers and
merchants, is also at all times ready to assist in the pursuits of a
naturalist. At Nanaimo Capt, Price makes extensive collections of
the cretaceous fossils found in connexion with the coal ; and lastly
(but far from least), Mr James Hepburn, though really a resident of
San Francisco, yet spends the greater part of his summers on this
coast, collecting birds for the most part, and has accumulated a
really princely collection of the Pacific Avi-fauna. He is probably
the only thorough zoologist north of California. On the mainland
there are still fewer naturalists, British Columbia being very
sparsely settled, and to a great extent unexplored and unpeopled,
save by Indians.

Dr Jones, at New Westminster, collects insects, and has an in-
teresting set of Lepidoptera ; and another medical practitioner,
Mr Featherstonhaugh, takes meteorological observations, &c. At
Lilloett, I found one of the traders (Mr Foster) very attentive
to and interested in science, and capable of affording a good deal
of useful information. Mr W. C. Cormack, of New Westminster,
studies Coniferse and other trees. Mr Joseph M'Kay, of the Hud-
son's Bay Company at Fort- Yale, is also a man of the same stamp,
with some knowledge of natural history, and always very ready to
advance the views of naturalists. The northern portion of British
Columbia is very little known, and might still have remained a
terra incognita, had it not been for the establishment, shortly after
the close of the American Civil War in 1865, of "The Collins
Russo-American Overland Telegraph Company," which, in the
prospect of the failure of the Atlantic cable, proposed to run a
line of telegraph right north through British Columbia and Russian
America to Prince of Wales Cape in Behring's Straits, and then

1 7 8 Journal of Ti'avd and Natural History

across Kamschatka, Siberia, and Russia, to St Petersburg. The
project was a thoroughly wild-goose scheme, devised in total
ignorance of the country, and, as might have been expected, fell
through at an early period, — not, however, before extensive pre-
parations had been completed, many most excellent explorations
made, and a portion of the line built. Staffs of scientific officers
were attached to all the surveying and exploring parties, and they
have already added much to our knowledge of the country.
Amongst those which I shall particularly notice, was the explora-
tion made from Lake Tatla, in British Columbia, to the Stikeen
River, over 700 miles of unexplored country, in the depth of
winter, by Major Frank L. Pope, Mr G. Blenkinsop, and two
Indians, — the party being encumbered with no baggage but a
couple of buffalo robes and a little hand sledge, on which they
dragged their food (a daily ration of six ounces of pemmican) and
their guns and ammunition. They were seventy-five days in the open
air, went over a flattish country, where they seemed to think the
season was earlier than on the coast ; and when I met them at
Fort Rupert in May 1866, they looked exceedingly hearty, and
nothing the worse of their extraordinary journey. A botanist
wintered with the party at Tatla Lake, and Major Pope informed
me that he had made a good collection of plants.

In other portions of British Columbia, Chief Justice Begbie
and Mr Oliver Hare, may be mentioned as likely individuals
for a naturalist to apply to for information on the zoology of the
southern portion of the country. The government are also
occasionally sending out little parties of surveyors, in different
sections; but science has no part of these expeditions, nor is
there any special scientific officer attached to the government,
though the revenue depends upon mines for its support.

The immense region hitherto known as Russian-America (or
Alaska, as it is now called by its new masters) is an almost un-
known land, at least in the interior. The Telegraph Company
have made some explorations, principally under the direction of
Robert Kennicott, the well known naturalist ; '^ and the recent

* By recent advices in the San Francisco " Bulletin," from Michaelowski, the
Russian settlement in Norton Sound, the world is informed of the untimely
death, in May 1866, of that gentlemen, one of the greatest explorers and natural-
ists in the annals of north-west America. Mr K. had travelled extensively through-
out the country between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific and Atlantic for

Science Beyond the Rocky Mountains 179

acquisition of this tract by the United States, will most likely be
the means of greatly adding to our knowledge of the country.
Already I learn that an exploring expedition has left for there.
To this party, Dr Albert Kellogg, whom I have referred to as an
eminent botanist, is attached as surgeon and naturalist ; and we
may expect from his researches, much new matter from the in-
terior and on the coast, to our knowledge of which, Mertens, Bog-
nard, Middendorff, Steller, Escholtz, Chamisso, Beechey, Seeman,
and others, have already contributed.

I close this short and necessarily imperfect review of the present
state of science on the Pacific Coast, by apologising to those
whom in ignorance I have omitted to mention, as students of
science in that broad field, where the harvest is ripe, but the
reapers are few. There is still much to be done in these
countries in zoology and botany, particularly in the lower orders
of plants (Algae, Fungi, Lichens, Hepaticse, Mosses, and Jun-
germannise), and animals, and in tracing their geographical dis-

the last ten years, often in Government employ, in the exploring sur\'eys for rail-
road and waggon routes, and as often on his own account as an ardent and skilful
naturalist. From 1861 to 1864 he made several explorations in connexion with
the Smithsonian Institute, and the Chicago Society of Natural Sciences, as a
scientific naturalist, into the most unfrequented portions of the northern domain
of the Hudson's Bay Company. In the latter part of this time he made a most
adventurous and perilous journey to the head-waters of the Yukkon and Stickeen
rivers of Russian-America and forwarded to his friends, through the liberality
of the Hudson's Bay Company, an immense number of specimens in every
department of natural history. His discoveries in geography and zoology
were considered by the learned as of the highest importance ; and the re-
ports of the Smithsonian and of the Chicago Academy, are full of the results
of his constant and multifarious labours. On the formation of the Russo-
American Telegraph Company Expedition, under Col. Bulkeley, his valuable
services were immediately secured, and great seems to have been the assist-
ance which his experience and eminent talent enabled him to render to that
enterprise, in which his whole heart as a naturalist and as a well-wisher to
his fellow-men seems to have been concentrated. In the prime of life, and
with hosts of friends well earned by indefatigable and unselfish labours in
the cause of science and humanity, Robert Kennicott laid his life down, like
the brave soldier, at the utmost frontier of the battle-fields of nature. In ten
years he had, it may be said, coasted the Arctic shores from Hudson's Bay to one
of the remotest points of Russian-America, at the very mouth of Behring's
Straits. He had roamed for years amongst the wildest tribes of the Pacific
Slope, often where the foot of the white man had never trod within 200 leagues,
and there was scarcely any section of our domain which he had not personally
examined as a student of nature.

1 80 Journal of Travel and Natural History

tribution and the laws affecting that distribution. A mono-
graph of the trees is also much required, and the fresh-water
and lacustrine fishes, as well as the marine, would yield ex-
cellent results. With birds, less remains to be done, as they
are, thanks to the labours of Mr Hepburn, Mr Lord, and
of the Pacific Railroad naturalists, tolerably well wrought up.
Our knowledge of the cetacea and seals of the North Paci-
fic is almost a blank. Though I can scarcely think that, with
the enormous expense of travelling through these countries,
and the difficulties of transportation, it would " pay" a naturalist
now-a-days to go on an errand to these countries, yet one resident
there, could at odd times, without interfering with his professional
occupations, do much towards elucidating some unsettled points
in their natural history ; and the hospitable generous character of
people, would at all times lead his neighbours to assist him.

One word more and I have done. A naturalist should always
remember, that a country is not "worked out" because so and so
has been there. I have always found that a diligent naturalist
does better when he visits a country after another, because he has
then a sort of frame-work to weave his labours around — his
predecessor's labour acting as a sort of lamp to guide him through
the obscure paths wherein he is wandering.

Journal of Travel and Natural History 1 8 r

DELPINO ON THE APPARATUS EOR
FECUNDATING PHANEROGAMOUS PLANTS.''

SIGNOR Delpino tells us that the observations recorded in
this memoir, are intended as a prodromus to a general work
on the apparatus and processes for fecundating flowers, in which he
proposes to recapitulate the observations and experiments of C.
Sprengel, Charles Darwin, U. Mohl, Frederick Hildebrand, L. C.
Treviranus, and his own. He tells us that they originated in his
having read the account of the mode in which the Barlia
longibracteata. Pari., is fecundated by the intervention of Xylo-
copa violacea, described and figured in the contributions to
the Flora of Mentone by J. T. Moggridge (1864), and more
especially by the perusal of the work of Mr Darwin, on the fecun-
dation of orchids (1866), which has restored the old and half-
forgotten work of Sprengel to its proper place in the minds of
botanists.

In that work intitled, " Das entdeckte Geheimness der Natur
im Bau und in der Befrucktung der Blumen," (Berlin, 1793,)
Sprengel, by means of a great accumulation of acute observations,
had demonstrated the generality of the laws, which he called dicho-
gamia ; according to which the pollen of the flowers of a plant
ought to go by preference to fecundate the ovaries of the flower of
another plant (of the same species.) In dioecious plants the thing
is manifest of itself; in monoecious plants it is also easily com-
prehended ; but in plants with hermaphrodite flowers, it seems at
■first sight an absurdity, considering the vicinity of the stamens to
the pistil. But the attentive observation of facts shews that it is
not quite so absurd. A phenomenon that is met with in almost
all plants, is that the maturity of the anthers is not always con-
temporaneous with the maturity of the pistil. In some it is the
anthers which reach maturity before the pistil; in others it is the
pistil which, on the contrary, becomes mature before the anthers,
as may be seen in a few plants (Graminaceas, Cyperaceae, Luzulse,

• Sugli apparecchi della Fecondazione nelle piante antocarpe (fanerogame).
Sommario de Osservazioni fatti negli anni 1865-66, da Federigo Delpino.
Firenze. 1867.

1 82 Journal of Travel and Natural History

Plantaginere, &c.). By this fact Sprengel considers the dicho-
gamia is proved. Following up Sprengel's ideas, Signor Delpino
carries them to their extreme limits. The following is pretty
much the course of his arguments :

Generally speaking, the flower is an apparatus where all the
organs conspire to effect the impregnation, in other words, the
dichogamia ; and this is accomplished by means of two agents,
either wind or insects. In the flowers predestined to be fecun-
dated by the action of the wind, the anthers are, for the most part,
borne upon very long and exserted filaments, which gives better
purchase to the breeze, as we see in the Graminaceae and Planta-
gineae. The pollen is very fine and powdery ; often, as in the
Conifers, in extraordinary abundance to supply the great disper-
sion which takes place ; or as in the UrticaccK and allied families,
the anther, incurved at first by the elasticity of its filaments, starts up
like a spring, and scatters within a cloud of pollen. On the other
hand, in the flowers predestined to be fecundated by means of in-
sects, strange changes take place. The lively colours of the floral
envelope are, according to the thinkers who adopt this line of
argument, provided in order that the flowers may be discernible
at a distance by the insects. The profusion of pollen which is
generally met with in the plants, of which the impregnating agent
is the wind, is not present here. The pollen is oily and fatty that
it may the better adhere to the body of the insects. It may have
an effusion of odours and special smells to allure insects pre-
destined to act as scavengers. It may have a secretion of honey
to serv'^e as bait. There are most ingenious preparations to pre-
serve that precious liquor, as well from the injurious effects of the
atmosphere as from insects not predestined for the purpose, and
to direct the action of the same in such a way that they must
necessarily co-operate in the dichogamia. Under this hy]:)Othesis,
if in any flower we meet with brightly coloured parts and organs
secreting honey, we are, according to Signor Delpino, to rest per-
fectly assured that these two contingences exist there for no other
purpose but that of dichogamia. In especial, this is said of such
flowers as in their form seem to be or actually are what is called
anomalous, and which present spurs, fringes, horns, and appendages
of various kinds. Under Sprengel's theory, these anomalies are
nothing but more or less ingenious means for the advancement
of dichogamia.

The result of a multiplicity of observations made by Signor

Ddpino on Fcauidation 183

Delpino in 1865 and 1866, are stated by him to furnish a constant
confirmation of the laws pointed out by Sprengel.

One part of his hypothesis from which we wholly dissent, and
which his observations seem to us never to touch at all, is that the
vivid colours of flowers have the effect of attracting insects to
them. As we have already said in a preceding paper in this num-
ber of the Journal, insects are short-sighted animals. However
strong their other senses may be, and however powerful their sight
may be close at hand, (a point as to which we know nothing), it is
plain that the range of their vision is very limited. Any one who
has noticed the light and jerky flight of a butterfly approaching a
wall, must have seen it almost knock its head against it before it
discerns it. It then falls back a little and lilts away upwards,
again approaches the wall, again discovers the obstruction, makes
another slight retreat and upward flight, and goes through the
same operation until it reaches the top. The reason why we see
the crushed remains of the "shard-born beetle" so often lying
on the pathway is from their knocking themselves down, by com-
ing against the passer-by or other obstructions, as they wing their
drowsy flight. We could cite a multitude of other incidents to prove
the absence of far-sighted vision in insects ; and, of course, if that
really be the case it is impossible that gaudy colours, which they
cannot see, can be given by nature to flowers for the purpose of
attracting them. It may be said that although this infirmity of
vision may exist in some insects, it may not be present in all.
Some have large eyes, and some small, and some none at all, so
that there must be various degrees of vision. We quite admit
this ; but what we say is, that the kind of vision is the same in all;
the plan of the optical apparatus is constructed on the same prin-
ciple in all, and that an inferior principle, and one with less scope
and shorter focus, than the plan of the eye in the higher animals.

We are less disposed to dispute the supposed final purpose of
the nectary and its secretion (honey). Insects seem to have the
sense of smell developed to a much higher degree than that of
sight or any other sense. The multitudes attracted almost instan-
taneously by the presence of any putrifying matter, the crowds of
males drawn in the darkness of the night to the entomologist's
window when he places there a virgin female of the same species,
and a multitude of other instances to the same purport, sufficiently
shew that that sense is possessed by insects to a degree of acute-
ness far beyond what we enjoy. The supposition, therefore, that

184 Jcmrnal of Travel and Natural History

the honey in the nectary may be a bait by which the presence of
insects is secured is not open to any objection on the score of in-
sufficiency or unsuitableness of the means employed. The ob-
jection is of another character. It is the error of supposing that
the hypothesis is not only a true explanation of the facts observed,
but that it is the only one, and that it applies to all cases. Signor
Delpino's observations, however, extend over a large number
of species of various orders of plants ; and whether the reader
adopts his views to their full extent or not he will find in
his paper a great deal of interesting information as to different
contrivances and apparatus which in many cases it seems scarcely
possible to deny have fecundation by insects for their purpose.

Of the Leguminosae, which those who deny the necessity of the
intervention of insects in the fecundation of flowers are fond of
citing in support of their views, he gives the following as the
different ways in which the fecundation in them is effected by
means of insects, first premising that the constant occurrence of a
nectary at the base of the insertion of the isolated stamen was in
itself sufficient proof to him that fecundation must be effected by
that means : the existence of nectaries being, according to him,
solely for this use. He found the plan of the apparatus for fecund-
ation reducible to four types. In all four it is the keel which plays
the principal part, and, consequently, his observations can only
apply to those Leguminosae which have a keel. In the commonest
type the keel enveloped in the wings forms as it were a guard to
the stamens and stigma. A hymenopterous insect comes to place
itself on the flower. The introduction of its proboscis to suck the
honey causes the keel to diverge from its proper position. It
yields, and in yielding lays bare the anthers and stigma, which
thus rub against the back and abdomen of the insects, the anthers
abandoning their own pollen, and the stigmas agglutinating a por-
tion of that already attached which had been taken from flowers
previously visited. We have not space to pursue the contrivances
exhibited in the other three phases. The reader may trace them
for himself in Lotus corniculatus, which is the type of the second
phase, .in Phaseolus caracalla, which is the type of the third, and
in the species of the genus Medicago (M. sativa, M. arborea, &c.),
which is the type of the fourth phase.

The general impression left on our minds by perusal of Signor
Delpino's paper is that while he is probably right in considering
much of the apparatus he describes as special contrivances for

Delpino on Fecundation 185

fecundation by the intervention of insects, but his zeal for his theory
carries him beyond what his premises warrant. For example, he
refers the fecundation of exotic plants in Italy chiefly to a Scolia
and the Italian humble bee; and his theory would infer that the
plan of the flower or of the bee were specially contrived to suit
each other. But how if the plant comes from a country where no
Bombus occurs at all. There may be something else which answers
the same purpose, but the idea of mutual adaptation does not
always apply to the instances selected.

In such questions, however, an independent and satisfactory
judgment can only be arrived at by studying the observations and
repeating for ourselves the experiments which have been made by
others.

TRAVEL

1 86 Journal of Travel and Natural History

FAUNA OF MADAGASCAR*

THIS is the first part of a work intended to consist of the natural
history of the mammals and birds collected by Messrs Pollen
and Van Dam during their travels in the island of Madagascar and
its dependencies. It is accompanied by figures of such species as
are either new to science or only imperfectly known ; and is to
be followed by what is much needed, viz., a critical review and
enumeration of all the mammals and birds indicated up to this time
as natives of the geographical province of Madagascar.

It is printed in quarto, with fine paper and good type, and is to
appear in parts, each of which consists of forty-eight pages, and
contains ten beautifully-coloured plates ; and, a not unimportant
point for the naturalist to know before he subscribes to the work
is, that it is to be completed in four parts.

The part now published contains the mammals and the birds of
prey actually met with by Messrs Pollen and Van Dam; and,
incidentally, a number of critical observations on the species gene-
rally are given, but not the enumeration of all those species.

The mammals noticed are the Lemur Macaco, L. Mayotten-
sis (nov. sp.), Hapalemur griseus, Cheirogaleus furcifer, Lepilemur
mustelinus, Microcebus Coquereli, Cryptoprocta ferox, Viverra
Schlegeli, Pteropus Dupreanus; to which are added some notes
on species the authors had not seen, viz., Lichanotus brevicauda-
tus, Avahis laniger. Lemur varius, L. Catta, Cheiromys Mada-
gascariensis, Galidia elegans, and Galidia concolor, Centetes
ecaudatus, Pteropus Edwardsii, Taphazous leucopterus,Dysopes sp.,
Sciurus Madagascariensis, Mus Indicus, M. musculus, M. rattus,
M. sylvaticus, Sus larvatus — a species of Delphinus — and the
Physeter macrocephalus. More or less information is given re-
garding the character and habits of all these, and it appears to be
carefully and judiciously collated.

For some time past the conviction has been growing on zoolo-
gists, that the number of species of Lemurs is considerably over-esti-
mated, and that a good many of those standing on our lists will, on

* Recherches sur laFaune dc Madagascar et do scs depcndanccs, d'apres les
decouvertes de M.M. Francois P. L. Pollen et D. C. Van Dam — Manimiftreset
Oiseaux par M. II. Schlegel et M. Francois P. L. Pollen : Leyde, 1867. Part I.

Fauna of Madagascar 187

better acquaintance, have to be deleted from them as varieties, or
as the young or the sexes of other known species. The species
noticed by Messrs Schlegel and Pollen furnish examples of this.
The first in the list, Lemur Macaco, turns out to have two quite dis-
tinct dresses — one black, that of the male, the Lemur niger, Geoffr.,
and the other reddish yellow (subject to considerable variation), that
of the female, the Lemur leucomystax, Bart. ; and the experience of
our authors, derived from a long series of specimens of all ages, is, that
these special colours are distinctive of the male and female from
their very youth, although variable in degree of intensity of colour-
ing, especially in the female. The results in clearing up the
synonomy of species is remarkable. From their study of the
animals in life and in their own country, it appears that the most
of the characters on which authors have erected new species and
even genera, are not specific, but merely individual.

The weeding out of species thus accomplished, knocks oft" besides
the above corrections, five of Dr Gray's species, and six of
Geoffrey St Hilaire"s. We should have expected that, after
the warning conveyed by the discovery and correction of so
many mistakes of others, Messrs Schlegel and Pollen would
themselves have been careful to avoid such errors themselves;
but they are no better than their neighbours, and sin with
their eyes open. There are two species of Lemur described
from the Commoro Islands, but none have been signalized from
the easternmost of these islands, viz., Mayotte. Our authors have,
however, got a species from it, and as they cannot get it quite to
agree with the description of either of the other two species, or with
the Madagascar species, to which all three may belong, L. collaris,
(it being a little paler in colour of fur), they have given it a new
name, L. Mayottensis.

M. Pollen gives an account of the habits of the Lemurs,
which our knowledge of them, derived from the study of them
in our zoological gardens, has somewhat anticipated; still, the
history of a naturalist's actual experience in procuring specimens,
living or dead, necessarily contains much that is interesting. To
us the most interesting point in their economy, is the resemblance
of their habits and mode of life to those of the Opossums and other
marsupial animals. Like them they are nocturnal animals, and
like them some of them live in hollow trees with two entrances.
The interest of such similarities lies in the fact that there are also
anatomical and structural as well as external resemblances between

1 88 Journal of Travel and Natural History

the Lemurs and the Marsupials. This is usually called a relation
of analogy ; but without going the length of saying that there is
no such thing as a relation of analogy, or that all the so-called
relations of analogy are in point of fact relations of affinity, it
seems to us that in many cases they are so ; and, at all events, we
shall by no means be surprised if this should be hereafter
acknowledged to be the case in the instance of the Lemuridae
and Opossums.

Cryptoprocta ferox, as to whose true relation so much discussion
has taken place, is here figured and described, and our authors
give the following brief estimate of its affinities :

" Compared with the Cats, the Cryptoprocta recals these animals to mind by-
its physiognomy, by tlie general appearance of its form, by its system of denti-
tion, and its tolerably retractile nails ; and, in particular, it approaches more
nearly in respect of form to the Jagiiarondi, in respect of colour to the Puma,
(Felis concolor). The Cryptoprocta diverges, on the other hand, from the Cats
in general, by its form, somewhat more elongated in all its parts, including the
cranium ; by being not quite so high upon the legs, by its well developed anal
pouch, by an additional molar in each side of the under jaw, and by the bare-
ness of the soles of its four feet, being more extended and not divided by bands
of hairs into a certain number of compartments."

Occupying, as it does in these respects, a somewhat middle
position between the true Cats and the Viverridas, it is not likely
that its nearest relations will ever be settled to the satisfaction
of every one ; but it is satisfactory to know exactly what the dif-
ferences are, so that every one may put his own value upon them.

Of the Galidia elegans and concolor, we learn that they
both frequent marshy places, covered by aquatic ferns and reeds,
and prey on rails and other water birds and their eggs ; but after
their chase they retire into the forests, situated at a certain elevation,
They also feed on mice, rats, and some fruits, such as the banana.

These animals were discovered by Bernier, in the north east of
Madagascar. The Galidia concolor is commoner than the G.
elegans, and G. olivacea is only a variety of it. M. Coquerel
made some observations upon one individual, which was kept in a
very frequented hotel at St Denis, in Bourbon Isle. It was com-
pletely free, and was constantly running about, giving utterance
to a sort of purring or clucking, like that of some birds. It made
continual war on insects and other vermin in the hotel. In a very
short time all the rats disappeared. It pursued them into the
narrowest holes, sucked their blood, and eat their brains. It got
quite tame, and followed its master everywhere.

Fauna of Madagascar 189

The Cryptoprocta, the Galidias (including Atilax and Gahdictis),
and a Genet (Viverra SchlegeH), now first described, and nearly
allied to the Indian species (V. Indica), are the only carnivorous
mammals in Madagascar, the Lemurs being essentially fi-ugi-
vorous, for although they occasionally kill small birds, and cracking
their skulls like a nut, suck out their brains, they are scarcely flesh
feeders, the rest of the body being thrown away. This paucity of
Nature's police might be sufficient to maintain the balance of
power in the island while in its natural condition \ but now that
the entrance of man on the scene has introduced elements of
disturbance, the police is quite inadequate to its task. Rats and
mice have come in the white man's ships, and have overrun the
island to a degree unheard of elsewhere.

M. Pollen says of them :

"The mammals which are most abundant in Madagascar, are beyond con-
tradiction the rats and the mice, known to the inhabitants under the names of
Valave and Sizi. The most common are the Mus Indicus and the Mus
musculus. They have probably been introduced by merchant ships. The
quantity of these animals is so great, that at night one can scarcely walk a step
without seeing them running about in hundreds in search of food. I shall
never forget the torments that the rats caused us, during our abode in the
forests stretching along the banks of the river Kongony. Their teeth spared
nothing, and we were often obliged to share our repast with these annoying
gourmands. It happened even several times that they gnawed away the soles
of the feet of my Malagese servants, who, plunged in deep sleep, did not per-
ceive it until next day, when the burning pain of the wounds apprised them
of it."

They are terribly destructive to the sugar canes, and all pro-
visions not put in a place of safety, the most approved contrivance
for which is a circular piece of wood, like the bottom of a cask,
perched on the top of a pole. The first colonists of Bourbon Isle
(the Isle de Reunion) suffered so much from the rats and mice
between 1548 and 1664, that they were literally driven from the isle.

The account given of the Centetes ecaudatus, the Madagascar
hedgehog, is full and interesting. These animals pass the half of
the year buried in profound sleep — and this takes place in the cold
season, and not in the hot season as has been generally reported.
About the month of May or June these animals dig a hole in which
they sleep from the month of April to December, with their head
nestled between their hind feet. The place of these holes is often
indicated by a little mound of moss or soil, like mole-heaps. At
this time they are very fat, and tlie natives of Madagascar and the

1 90 Journal of Travel and Natural History

Creoles of Bourbon Island eagerly hunt after them for the sake of
their flesh, which they esteem highly. During that season, and
more particularly on feast-days, the market of St Denis is well
furnished with these animals, either fresh or smoked. The Creoles
who inhabit the mountains usually come down to the town on
Sundays, to supply the market with these animals. They sell them
according to their size and weight, often even at the price of two
francs and a-half each. According to some amateurs, the flesh
of this animal is preferable to that of sucking pig ; although others
think it has a slight flavour of musk. The hunting of these Mada-
gascar hedgehogs is performed by dogs trained for the purpose,
but, more generally, they employ ugly little curs which seek out
their retreat with ardour. As soon as they have found the retreat
of one of these animals, they dig a hole and drag it out dead
asleep. The hunter then puts it in his bag, and kills it afterwards.

The Tangue {as this animal is called in its native country) is very
prolific, often producing twelve to sixteen little ones at a birth.
This fecundity saves it from disappearing from the face of the earth,
as is happening to so many animals which undergo continual
persecution. Their food consists of earth-worms which they get
out of the ground by means of their pointed muzzle and their feet,
in the same way that pigs do. They also devour certain roots,
fruits, and insects. In captivity they eat raw meat as well as the
fruit of the banana, of which they are very fond. Their manner
of life is more nocturnal than diurnal. They sleep all day, almost
Avithout interruption, but they are very active during the night. Mr
Pollen has often kept them in captivity, and in the night they often
broke with their strong teeth the iron trellis of their cage and escaped.
They are subject to considerable variation. In some individuals
the head and space between the shoulders and the fore-part of the
sides are covered with very stiff" and hard spines, while the other
upper parts of the body are furnished with long hair. In young
individuals the hair of the whole of the upper part of the body is
mixed with spines of a whitish or brown and white colour. In
other individuals the hairs are replaced on all the upper parts of
the body, and even on the sides and posterior part.s, by very stiff
spines : hence Messrs Schlegel and Pollen regard the species C.
armatus, Geoff., the distinguishing character of which is being wholly
covered above with stiff spines, as merely an individual variety of
the common C. ecaudatus.

Of Sciurus Madagascariensis, an animal whose existence has been

Fauna of Madagascar 191

rendered somewhat doubtful by a confusion between the nomencla-
ture of it and of the Aye- Aye, our authors do not tell much. What
they do say, however, is in favour of its existence. They say :
" This animal is very rare in Madagascar, and is only found in the
interior of the eastern part of the island." The Museum of St.
Denis possesses an individual brought from the environs of Anta-
nanarivo by a Jesuit missionary. The Betsimsaracs know this
animal under the name of Hansirac. On it and the correctness
of the determination of the affinities of the Aye-Aye depends the
question whether the rodents are aboriginally represented on the
island or not. The opinion of the majority of naturalists places
the Aye-Aye among the Lemurs. But if the Sciurus Madagas-
cariensis exists, and really is a squirrel, that would settle the
question.

The habits of the Aye- Aye (Cheiromys Madagascariensis) are now
so well known that we have no right to be disappointed that we do
not find much new information regarding it. It appears that it is
very rare, and it is only met with by chance. It lives solitary or in
couples, and never in bands, and is essentially nocturnal, sleeping
all day in the thick tufts of large bamboos, in the heart of the most
impenetrable forests. The name Aye-Aye bestowed on it by
Sonnerat as the native name is merely a common exclamation of
the Malagese when they see anything strange.

Of the Bats, one new species Pteropus Dupreanus is proposed,
allied to P. stramineus, Geoff., of India. It was rare, having been
only seen once. M. Schlegel considers that this new species, P.
stramineus, and the P. paleaceus, Peters, may all be the same
species \ and also suggests that this species may be identical with
the Pteropus medius of the continent of India, and supports his
view of their variability by reference to three species from Halma-
hera, Ceram, and Arou.

The birds noticed in this part are all falcons and owls, and the
information given regarding them is confined to their specific
characters, their affinity to other species, and a few notes regarding
their distribution. Beautiful plates of some species not yet noticed
in the text accompany the livraison.

192 Journal of Travel and Natural History

Corasponii^nct.

NORTH COAST OF AUSTRALIA.

Extracts from letters from Frederick Howard, Master, R.N., (Surveying
Schooner "Beatrice,") in charge of the Survey of North Australia, to
Captain Richards, Hydrographer to the Admiralty.

"Adam Bay, 22d yaitiiary 1866. — I have the honour to inform you that
the ' Beatrice ' arrived here from Sonabaija and Koepang (in Timor), on the
28th of December 1S65.

" We found the exploring party, under Mr J. M'Kinlay, camped about half
a mile south of Escape Cliff. I beg to state that I have received a printed
letter from the Chief Secretary of South Australia (a copy of which I enclose),
instructing me to attend upon the exploring party, and in obedience to which
we are now full of stores and provisions for the Liverpool and Roper Rivers.

" Adam Bay, 21st Jime 1866. — I have the honour to inform you of the
proceedings of the ' Beatrice ' since leaving this bay on the 27th of January
last.

" Mr M'Kinlay wished us to examine minutely the coast on both sides of
the Coburg Isthmus ; but as I deemed the examination of the western side
would be attended with much danger and delay during the west monsoon, I at
once proceeded I'ound to Mount Norris Bay, and during the month of February
and beginning of March made as much progress towards its surveying as the
weather would allow.

" We were in friendly communication with the natives, several of whom
spoke a few words of English ; one native calling himself ' Bob White,' spoke
it perfectly, and remembered all about Port Essington. The isthmus was well-
stocked with small lierds of buffalo, from which we easily procured fresh beef
on two occasions ; the soil appeared good and the grass adapted for cattle ;
this being the rainy season, however, the ground was very soft, and the low-
land invariably swampy ; there is, however, plenty of sloping land, the highest
points of which we made to exceed 200 feet in height. The best looking spot
for a settlement appeared to be east of Copeland Island, where the land slopes
down to the beach, and deep water runs well into the beach, the land above
rising to a height of over 150 feet. The roadstead would be protected from all
winds but north, and during the south-east monsoon the water would be quite
smooth.

" During our stay a couple of Malay proas made their appearance in the
bay, and put up their trepang works at Copeland Sound, our own headquarters.
They were manned by over 100 men and had 22 fishing canoes, in most of
which we observed one or two natives ; they seem to work well for the Malays,
and many a]:)pear to speak and understand the Malay language. The proas
hoisted Dutch colours as they a])proached, and we found them very quiet and
inoffensive people ; they did not interfere %\ith us in the least. We were able
to survey the coast-line of the bay from Cape Croker round to Point Brogden, &c.

" As Mr M'Kinlay wished us to be at the Liverpool River by the 25th of
March, we left Mountnorris Bay on the lOth, with fine weather and very light
north-westerly winds, and made a track survey round to the Liverpool River,
arriving there on the 25th. Our usual mode of ])roceeding was to move the
schooner along (hiring the afternoon, when we generally had a ])rec7.c, and work
tlie boats during tlie forenoon. 'I"he liays south of tlie Goulburn Islands we
found shoal ; but the King River, east of Point Turner, forms a small but good

Correspondence — North Coast of Australia 193

port, the country east of which Is mostly low, sandy, and apparently worth-
less. We passed plenty of Malays at work in the different bays, and numerous
natives with them. We anchored about y/2 miles south of Entrance Island ;
and on the morning of the 26th of March it commenced to rain heavily, and
never stopped for a minute until !he 3d of April. During the rain the wind
veered round and blew hard from all points, particularly from the north-north-
east, and we had much thunder and lightning, but the rain never stopped ; the
water alongside soon became quite fresh, and remained so for a week, so that we
filled up our tanks. The stream never exceeded four knots ; but the country
was evidently much flooded, numerous trees floating down.

"The ' Beatrice' was twice up the river for a few days, and the boats explored
as far as they could get, the tracing enclosed will give an idea of the size and
.shape of the river. The country in the immediate vicinity of the upper part of
the river seemed to be low and swampy, with a veiy poor soil ; we saw no
bamboos, but numerous palms of various kinds. There seemed to be some
better land near the mouth of the river. The natives from the very first held
aloof from us, and although we tried every means to make them friendly, shewed
great hostility towards us. A party on the east side of the river mouth way-
laid Mr Grey and three men, on their return towards the boat, from making a
theodolite station, and answered overtures of peace by a shower of spears,
which was returned from the men's revolvers ; the natives did not care a bit for
them, and on our party making for the boat, gave chase, and flung shower after
shower of spears, fortunately at such a distance that they were easily dodged,
and none of our party were hurt. The arrival on the scene of the boat-keeper
with a rifle, sent them to the right about. I am happy to say that none of our
people were hurt. This is the only time we have come into open collision with
the natives, though they are always watching for a chance.

"The party in camp, numbering twenty, have hitherto kept on good terms
with the natives, in which they have had to practice much forbearance, as they
are confirmed thieves, and manage to steal something every day. They are
good friends with the natives permanently settled near them, but large parties
continually come in from the surrounding country. At one time they had as
many as 160 round the stockade ; they then became very insolent in their
demands, frequently poising their spears at the whites when they are not
.satisfied, and on one occasion, organised a regular attack, but were apparently
frightened off by a few discharges of blank cartridge from a six-pounder. The
friendly natives are very useful in providing fish for the camp, which they bring
in large quantities (they spear them at night). One or two of the whites can
speak the native languages (for there are four of them on the ' Adelaide') pretty
fairly, but the natives do not seem to have picked up much English.

" We had much sickness at the Liverpool at one time, half our working
hands, and two cases of scurvy, for the men had nothing but their salt provisions
and flour to live upon (we could catch no fish), but luckily we discovered a
grove of cabbage palms a few miles up the river, and managed to obtain over
150, so that when we sailed all hands were well.

" Not having heard or seen anything of Mr M'Kinlay or his party, and our
provisions having completely run out, we were compelled to sail for this place
on nth of June, first burying two bags of flour, &c. . . . We have now
got a sufficiency of meat from the stores here, to last us fifty days, and give us
time to visit the Liverpool, bring some more provisions in a tank I have pro-
cured, and go on to the Roper River, where I expect the explorers have gone,
finding it impossible to make the Liverpool, from the low swampy nature of the
country round its head.

" Timor KCEPANG, 22,d August 1866. — We sailed for the Liverpool River
on the 25th of June, and arrived at Mount Norxis Bay after dark on the 28th,
and next day managed to shoot and bring on board three buffalos — a great
addition to our stock of animal food. The aboriginal native, Bob White,
came on board, and volunteered to go with us to the Liverpool River, and
believing he might be useful to us, I took him on board. We weighed on the
morning of the 30th, and whilst standing across the bay west of the Goulbum
Islands, the same night White informed some of the men that he had heard of
Mr jNI 'Kinlay ; that he was at a place called Arrah, somewhere at the back of

1 94 Journal of Travel and Natural History

the Tor, and that he had very Httle to eat. As this news was about a month
old, I pushed on to the Liverpool hoping that the exploring party would have
been able to amve there during our absence, as the country seemed quite
dried up.

" We came to off Entrance Sound, Liverpool River, during the forenoon of
the 3rd of July. On our running in Bob White recognised the place, he having
been there five or six months, with a party of Malays ; so, shortly after we
anchored, I manned a boat and sent Bob away to try and communicate with a
canoe, which was fishing for turtle about 2 miles off; but we had no success, as
the natives pulled on shore and abandoned their canoe among the rocks. On
the 4th of July I proceeded to the sand hills at Point Hawkesbury, and
ascertained that our bottles, &c. , had not been disturbed, and no traces of white
people having been in the vicinity. We cut some excellent hard wood while at
this anchorage on south west point, to replace our cat -heads and repair windlass.

" We weighed with the flood on the morning of the 9th, and proceeded up
the Liverpool River with a light northerly wind, and reached up to about 3
miles beyond our former anchorage. The natives hailed through the mangroves,
and being answered by Bob White, came on board, about ten in number^ Bob
White seemed to understand their language perfectly, though it was quite
cUfferent from his own. He ascertained that one of the natives had a brother
who had seen Mr M'Kinlay about half a month before, and that he was then at
Arrah, so I determined to proceed round to the Goulburn Islands and send
Bob inland with a letter to the explorers to let them know where we were.
Here the natives having once broken through their reserve, became very friendly,
and came on board with their women and children ; they all smoked like the
Mount Norris people, and several spoke Malay. One woman who came on
board had been to Macassar.

"We reached the south Goulburn Sound on the evening of the 13th, the natives
making a great fire on the beach. We rounded to in 4 fathoms, about a
quarter of a mile off shore, and came at once on a reef of rocks which we saw-
next morning stretching all along in front of the beach. The sails being backed
the schooner came off before we could let go the kedge, and we came to in 5
fathoms. In the meantime a great shouting had been going on between Bob
White and the natives on shore, and a number soon came off bringing a turtle
for sale, They informed Bob it was no use his going to Arrah as Mr M'Kinlay
had left there and gone towards the mouth of the east Alligator river, also that
they were eating their horses and had only two dogs left, and a number of other
things about the party which made me think the natives had really fallen in with
the party, though their idea of time was so confused and limited that there was
little faith to be put in their statement that they had seen M'Kinlay not more
than a week previously.

" We weighed at 8 a.m. on the 14th of July and proceeded towards Mount
Norris Bay, coming to at midnight in Malay Bay, and proceeding on to the
head of the bay next morning, when I despatched White across to the east
Alligator river with a letter, to which he promised to bring an answer in three
days ; in the meantime all hands were out trying to procure buffalo, but
without success, and on the afternoon of the third day I met Bob on the beach
not looking as if he had just come off a long journey. However he declared he
had been to the east Alligator river, found that M'Kinlay had crossed it, and
having no canoe came back again.

" As it ajipeared very likely that M'Kinlay really was returning to Adam Bay
for some reason, I made up my mind to return to Point Hawkesbury, bury the
provisions in the tank I had provided, and then make all sail for Adam Bay,
where I expected to find the party ; but just after 10 p.m. when we had
got rid of Bob White and his friends (who went away loailed with presents) a
canoe came rapidly from the shore, and after a short talk Bob returned on board
and informed us that M'Kinlay, after killing all his horses and cutting them
up into small pieces, had made a small boat of the skin, antl that on that
day he had arrived at a place called luidyalgoot, in a large boat which
Bob called a 'long boat belonging to shi]i,' and urged me to give him the
letter again to take over, as he was sure, he said, that M'Kinlay would come
on the mainland to shoot buffaloes. I gave him the letter, and after ac-

Correspondence — N'orth Coast of Australia 195

cepting (at Bob's recommendation) a youth called ' Smike' as pilot and inter-
preter, we sailed for the gulf at daylight on the morning of the 19th July. The
winds being light we did not arrive off Port Essington till II p.m.

"We weighed from Port 'Essington at daylight on the 20th of July, and next
morning were about 12 miles S. W. from Mounts Bidwell and Roe, the only
really salient features of the whole coast-line of the northern territory. Smike
at first pointed out Greenhill Sound as Endyalgoot, but afterwards said it was
a small distance inside, and advised us to go through the narrow strait dividing
Greenhill Sound from the main, informing us that there were a number of
' stones ' to the southward. We accordingly worked through the straits, having
a flood-stream in our favour, running about three knots, and as much as 19
fathoms between the reefs. The channel was about half a mile wide and 4
miles long. As we advanced Smike changed the locality of Endyalgoot
from the May-day Islands to some other site not then visible, and increased the
size of M'Kinlay's boat to a vessel the size of the ' Beatrice,' with other stories
which made us begin to doubt him altogether. However, I meant to visit
Endyalgoot and judge for myself; but at 5 p.m. the vessel was in only two
fathoms mud, so we came to. At low water we were aground in the mud. The
real Endyalgoot was now in sight, so after moving the vessel into deeper water
to the north-westward I left on the morning of the 22d July, and taking
Smike in the boat with me, pulled down to that island, which we did not
reach till nearly 5 p.m., having had the whole of the ebb stream to pull against
and very little wind. Smike went into the bush to find the natives, and we
made ourselves snug for the night after supper, pulling about half a mile off
shore to escape the mosquitoes, which were very thick on shore.

"At daylight next morning Smike made his appearance in company with a
number of natives, some of whom were wearing portions of his clothing, he
himself coming back to us stripped. His story now was that M'Kinlay had
gone back to the Alligator River after leaving word with these natives that I
was to follow him on to that place, and on my asking one of the natives to re-
peat my name he gave it at once, ' Cappen Howard,' but I believe he had
been well schooled by Smike. I had been along the beach and carefully ex-
amined it above high-water mark for more than a mile and could not find any
traces of white men, although Smike declared that Mr M'Kinlay had landed
at the very spot we did, and shot lots of birds, also that he had only one g;un
among the party.

"Whilst at breakfast Smike contradicted himself and altered his story so often
that I began to think we had come all this way for nothing, and resolved to
proceed to Adam Bay first, calling in at the East Alligator. Having a breeze
up to nearly 9 a.m. we reached the vessel at noon, and as Smike refused to
go any further with us we landed him that afternoon on the beach at the back
of Port Essington. Our people here were also unsuccessful in getting any
buffaloes, only seeing two and never getting a shot.

"Endyalgoot seems a fine island, about 8 miles long, east and west, and 2 or 3
broad ; its eastern end is not filled in Captain King's chart. The water appears
very shoal off its east side. It is wooded like the shores of Mount Norris Bay,
the land having much the same appearance, with several red cliffs along its
south side. We reached the entrance of the East Alligator River on the 25th,
when we came to in four fathoms. The whole coast line from the Coburg
Isthmus to the Alligator River is low and partly fronted with mangroves, and
the three-fathom line is 2 or 3 miles from shore. We found the river of less
depth than we had expected. I tried to effect a landing at noon to get the lati-
tude, but was unable to do so in consequence of the depth of the mud at low
water. Alligators are very numerous on the banks. At 2 P.M. weighed with
the first of the flood, and the wind being light, drifted up the river broadside on,
the vessel being quite unmanageable, the depth 12 feet, until we passed the
mouth of a large creek, which joins the river from the northward, when the
depth increased to 3 or 4 fathoms, and we were able to steer the vessel. As
the river narrowed, the force of the tide stream increased to between 4 and 5
knots, and we had to furl sails, and keep her as nearly as possible in the centre
of the stream. At 6.30, it being then quite dark, we heard a great roaring
a head, as of water rushing over a reef of rocks,- so we came to at once in bk

196 Journal of Travel and Natural History

fathoms, hard sandy bottom. Mr Guy, Mr Miimis, and myself started next
morning in the boats, keeping a good look out on each bank ; and about 9 A.M.,
came on a party of natives, who seemed rather frightened, and kept concealed
in the bush for some time, until at length some came out, and made signs that
somebody had gone to the westward far away. We concluded that they re-
ferred to Mr M'Kinlay, and not wishing to have them about us whilst taking
observations, we pushed on for about a mile, and landed on the opposite bank,
at a place where a large mass of rocks rose directly from the bank. I had a
good view of the surrounding country, and of the windings of the river as far as
we had come, but lost the river about 3 miles higher up, where the country
.seemed to rise slightly, and was thickly covered with scrub. The country to
the southward appeared low and level, and the plains on each side of the river
to have been flooded for several miles inland. The view from north-west round
by north to south-east was interrupted by numerous extensive patches of rock,
similar to the one I was standing on. To the eastward, as far round as south-
east, appeared a high rocky range, nearly bare, and about 10 miles distant,
towards which the river seemed to flow ; and on a trae bearing of north, 84°
east, appeared a conspicuous column of rock apparently from 20 to 30 miles
distant, and 600 or 800 feet high. We thought this was the ' Tor ' at first, but the
bearing would not agree with its position, and this pillar had a more slender
appearance. We arrived back on board about 4 P.M., and found that the
natives had been down abreast the vessel, but that the strong tide had prevented
them from swimming off. This party appeared on the opposite bank to those
we had seen in the morning. They asked for rice and tobacco, and said
M'Kinlay was gone to the westward.

"We weighed at 10 P.M. on the 27th, and drifted down with the ebb; the
boats towing. On the 29th, at 2 a.m., the vessel going then about 6 knots
before the wind, we struck on some rocks, and then went fairly aground on
an extensive reef, 4 or 5 miles in length north and south. After hauling off,
we made sail for Cape llotham, passing to the northward of the reef, and
arrived off Escape Cliff at daylight on 1st of August.

"Mr M'Kinlay and all his party had arrived on the 5th of July from the
East Alligator River, where he had been for more than three months, the whole
country round being under water. He at last having killed all his horses, made
a large punt, covering the frame-work with horses' skins sewed together, in
■which vessel he descended the river and voyaged round to Adam Bay, after
burning and throwing into the river the rest of his equipment, to prevent it falling
into the hads of the natives, who had surrounded, the party, and made an
attempt to steal everything. The exploring party had not been able to pene-
trate to any distance, being stopped in every direction by swamps, and we found
that most of the stories told by the natives about M 'Kinlay and his party had
some foundation, if not strictly true ; and the only case of an utter fabrication
was the reported visit to Endyalgoot, evidently got up with a view to getting a
visit from the vessel. The natives had all along, too, reported movements as
happening about a week back which had really taken place two months or six
weeks previously. Frkderick Howard."

STRAITS OF MAGELLAN.

Letter from Captain Mayne, commanding Surveying Expedition to
Straits oi- Magellan.

H.M.S. "Nassau," Gregory Bay,
December 30, 1867.

•'At last we have made a move, and yesterday was a most successful tlay in
all respects. Wc started for Magdalene Island and had one of the most interest-
ing days we have yet had. As we apjiroachcd the islantl we saw the beach
covered with sea lions and penguins, while the small bay in which we anchored

Correspondence — Straits of Magellan 197

was full of seals and penguins playing about in the water. As we approached
the shore 40 or 50 huge seals came close behind the boat, and as we touched
the beach they remained at 15 or 20 yards off, staring at us, snorting, and then
diving and playing all manner of antics, shewing that they were quite ignorant
of who or what we were ; 40 or 50 yards along the beach there were as many
sea lions, quietly basking or sleeping, and though, as usual, two or three were
keeping watch, they did not attempt to move until some officers fired rifles at
them at a distance of 10 or 15 yards. As we ascended to the top of the island
the scene was extraordinary, the whole ground being burrowed by penguins
(they make holes for their nests), and covered by the animals themselves waddling
about in all directions, or standing at the entrance of their holes and barking at
any one who passed near — at least the noise they make is a sort of bark. These
penguins are not so large as the one I sent, but rather more clumpy, and with
shorter stronger bills.

" As we went across a second ridge to get to the summit of the islands a still
more remarkable sight met our view. It was a cormorant rookery or village.
The penguins had hatched all their young, but the cormorants were still sitting,
and it was a most extraordinary sight. Some 200 or 300 yards of ground had
been laid quite bare by them, and there must have been between 2000 and 3000
birds at least sitting. The whole company was divided into three or four
villages, separated by small pools of very dirtydooking water ; the nests were
round saucers of mud, raised 5 or 6 inches off the ground, and placed in perfectly
straight rows, each nest being just a foot apart, as several were measured by the
officers, and each nest contained two or three eggs about half the size of a hen's
egg. They did not seem the least afraid of us, and as we approached sat quite
still ; indeed, it was not until we commenced to shout and throw things at them
that they would rise at all. When they did rise, however, it was like a cloud,
but they soon came back again ; altogether it was, as I have said, a most wonder-
ful and interesting sight. No mention is made of any one having landed there
in King and Fitzroy's time, and I should hardly fancy Darwin taking no notice
of such a thing in his book had he seen it, for Cunninghame says it is the most
interesting thing he has yet seen. If none of them landed there I should not
wonder if we were the first people who have done so for perhaps 200 or more
years, since the days when old Narborough and others salted penguins for food
and found ' they made excellent meat.' There was no trace whatever of human
beings ; the natives of that part have no canoes, and it is far out of the way of
any vessel passing through. Rich. C. Mayne."

1 98 Journal of Iravd and Natural History.

Death of Professor Van der Hoeven, of Leyden. — We little

thought when with natural gratification we commenced our scientific reports in
last number of this Journal, with a letter from Professor Van der Hoeven, of
Leyden, that before the reader could peruse his letter, the hand that traced the
lines should be cold in the dust. His letter was dated 19th February, and he
died on i8th March. It was probably his last contribution to literature and
science. It was by his great work, "The Hand-Book of Zoology," that
Professor Van der Hoeven was best known to English naturalists — his past
works, his own brief notice of works in progress in Holland, in most of which
he bore a greater or lesser share, shew what a loss our Dutch friends have
sustained by his decease.

Birds Bred last year in the Zoological G-ardens, Regent's .
Park. — Mr Bartlett, the superintendent of the Zoological Gardens, in giving
an account of the success of the Society in rearing their fowls, gives the follow-
ing list of the birds that had bred in the gardens during the past year: (i),
Those which had bred in former years — the Impeyan pheasant, the Japanese
pheasant, the Cheer pheasant, Swinhoe's pheasant, lineated pheasant, purple
pheasant, black -backed Kaleege, wild turkey, Bankiva jungle fowls, Tallegalle,
the Eurypyga (the so-called sun bittern, although it has nothing to do with the
bitterns), the Turquoisine parrakeet, the dusky duck, Bahama duck, Carolina
duck, nuldy shieldrake. New Zealand shieldrake, ruddy-headed goose, ash-
headed goose. {2), A number which, so far as known, have never bred in
captivity before, either in the Zoological Society's Gardens or anywhere else,
viz. : Pallas's eared pheasant, the barr-tailed pheasant, the rufous tinamou, the
common cassowary, the black kite, and the black crested cardinal. The most
interestmg of these is the rufous tinamou. Non-ornithological readers may
have seen a veiy curious and most beautiful bird's egg from South America.
It is about the size and shape of a small hen's egg, of the colour of mud, and
with a most brilliant polish. It is like polished marble, of the colour of Lon-
don clay or some limestones. That is the egg of the tinamou. There are
several species of them, and the genus seems to stands between the bustards and
the rails, but probably nearer the former. The most extraordinary thing in its
breeding, however, is that it is the male which sits upon the eggs. He attended
to the eggs of two females that both layed in the nest on which he sat ; but he
could not have sat upon all the eggs that they layed, for Mr Bartlett mentioned
that in the short space of six weeks the two hens layed eighty-five eggs. The
rufous tinamou is one of the lar_u;er species of that genus.

First discovery of Trichina in Pork. — In answer to a question put
by a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia at one of its
meetings last year, whether he had noticed trichina in pork. Professor Leidy of
Philadelphia stated that he had been the first to discover this parasite in the
hog, the discovery having been made twenty years ago, as may be seen by

Miscdlaiiy 199

referring to the rrocccdings of the Academy for October 1846, pp. 107-8.
This notice had attracted the attention of the German helminthologists, as
proved by reference to Diesing's " Systema Helminthum," vol. ii, p. 114, and
Leuckart " Untersuchungen in Tricliina spiralis," p. 618. The circum-
stances under which the trichina had been first detected in pork was on
an occasion when Dr Leidy had dined on part of the infested meat. While
eating a slice of pork he noticed some minute specks, which recalled to
mind the trichina spots seen in the muscles of a human subject only a few days
previously. Preserving the remainder of the slice, on examination of it micros-
copically he found it full of trichina spiralis, but the parasites were all dead
from the heat of cooking. — Proceedings of the Academy of N'atural Sciences of
Philadelphia, 1 866, p. 9.

Predaceous Habits of Indian Frogs. — In a memorandum
published in the recent collection of the Palseontological Memoirs of the late Dr
Falconer, the following fact on this subject is recorded, on the authority of Mr
J. Wright. About the end of August, i860, Wright one evening was seated
outside the house on the terrace, and saw one of the large yellow rain frogs of
Hindostan quietly crouched under a raised piece of timber, close to the terrace.
There happened to be a quantity of chaff and grain strewed over the adjoining
grcjund near the terrace, left there after feeding fowls. Several sparrows were
attracted by the sight of the grain, and settled upon the spot. The movements
of the birds, hopping about and picking the grain, soon appeared to arouse the
attention of the frog, who evinced his interest by raising himself on his hind
legs and vibrating his body rapidly backwards and forwards, without leaving
his cover under the wood. At length one of the sparrows hopped to within
four or five feet of him, when in one spring he threw himself most accurately
on the bird, and seized it in an instant, taking the head, neck, and body at once
into his gape. He then sprang back to his cover, and was vigorously en-
deavouring to swallow the bird, when Wright, who was attentively watching
what was going on, got up, pushed the frog into a corner, where he was able
to lay hold of the reptile, and seizing the sparrow's legs, compelled the frog,
after a determined resistance, to disgorge his prey. The sparrow had a spark
of life remaining when drawn out. The correctness of these particulars is
hereunder authenticated by Wright. " The above statement is strictly coirect."
A similar incident is mentioned by Mr Adams, in his Naturalist in India,
(p. 17): "About half-a-mile from my bungalow, there were two large
hedges of prickly pear, and between them a stagnant pool. I often took up a
position under the cool shade of a peepul-tree close by, and watched the habits
of the feathered tribe at mid-day. On one occasion, having shot a sun-bird, it
fell on the margin of the pool, when some animal jumped from the muddy
water, seized it, and instantly disappeared with its prey. A short time after-
wards a large green frog appeared on the surface. I shot it, and discovered the
bird in its mouth.

"What do Fleas live upon.— Most people (at least most people in
large towns) will probably think themselves qualified to answer this question,
but although we do not pretend to more experience on this subject than our
neighbours, we venture to express our doubts of the truth of the answer which
would be given, for there are some facts which would imply that the perfect
insect must either be able to live without eating at all or else must live upon

200 Journal of Travel and Natural History

something else than the blood of mammals. The entomologist occasionally,
even in this country, finds specimens in the fields, and in the south of Europe
we have heard of their occurring in excessive numbers in sandy places where
travellers have encamped. In these cases no doubt it may be said that the
visitors have chanced to pitch upon a spot where gypsies, vagrants, or dogs,
plentifully stocked with the vermin, had been previously reposing, and that it
was merely the surplusage that remained after their departure that had come
under their observation. But the following instance told to us by a friend as
having fallen under his own observation in Brazil cannot be so accounted for.
A small isolated house or cottage stood on his property at some little distance
from any other house. It had remained unoccupied and locked up for two
years. At the end of that time a tenant offered and the proprietor and his
overseer went to look over the house preparatory to letting it. They unlocked
the door and opened the windows, and by the time they had done so when they
happened to cast their eyes down they saw to their surprise a remarkable change
on the colour of their garments. They had come in with white trousers but
now up to the knees they were if not black at least more black than white : they
were a moving mass of fleas peppered all over them and advancing rapidly above
the knees. It is unnecessary to say that their retreat was rapid. It may be
thought that another necessary coroUaiy to the story would be that they
lost their tenant, but they did'nt. There is a plant or flower in Brazil to
which (as to the Pyrethrum in Europe and Asia) fleas have a personal
antipathy, and wherever it is scattered, either in powder or fresh, they take
themselves off. With this, and white lime, and soap and water, and per-
haps a little personal indifference, the tenant got the better of the fleas ;
but the question is, how they had subsisted and multiplied to such an extent
during the two years in which the house had been locked up. During the
portion of that time, indeed, which the most if not all of that immense
population must have passed in the larva state, there is not the same difficulty ;
for it is known that in that state they live on animal debris, of various kinds,
such as fur, feathers, wool, &c. , but from the time that they are provided with
a sucking apparatus, they must have had something to suck the blood out of,
or else have "gone without." The same problem applies to mosquitoes, gnats,
and other blood-suckers. It is plain that in many of the districts where they
abound, and where man or beast can scarcely live, the vast majority must pass
and end their lives without ever having the opportunity of putting their sucking
apparatus into operation. With the mosquitoes, it may be that like the
ephemera, their life in the perfect state is bounded by a day. But it is not so
with fleas. Many facts regarding them prove that they see many days. What
then do they live upon?

Journal of Travel and Natural History.

CHAPMAN'S TRAVELS IN SOUTH AFRICA*

WITH the single exceiDtion of Dr Livingstone, no white man
has probably ever had such an intimate and wide-spread
acquaintance with the interior of South Africa as James Chapman.
For fifteen years (from 1849 to 1863) he roamed to and fro in the
interior of the country, trading and hunting over previously un-
known regions, often unconsciously running neck and neck with
Dr Livingstone in his discoveries. He was on the Zambesi near
the Victoria Falls before Dr Livingstone, and, but for the obstacles
interposed by the natives, he would have been their first discoverer;
and the idea of crossing the continent seems to have occurred to
the minds of both about the same time. Baines, Anderson, and
other explorers, who had accompanied or met with Chapman, have
made every reader of South African travel familiar with his name.
They will be glad, therefore, that those who knew more of the
man, and of the stores of geographical and other information which
he possessed, should have urged him to publish an account of his
travels, and of the districts he had visited. We believe the credit
of having procured the publication of the two volumes which we
are about to review is mainly due to Sir George Grey, the former
governor of the Cape Colony, before whose intelligent appreciation
and persistent recommendation Mr Chapman's reluctance to come
before the public as an author has given way.

By employing a literary gentleman in this country to arrange
and select from Mr Chapman's ample materials, the difficulties
arising from his distance from England, want of time, and of special
literary qualifications have been got rid of Mr Chapman kept
regular diaries during all his journeys, and these and other papers
have been put in the hand first of one editor in London (Mr
Forester), and on his death into those of another (we believe Mr
Hunt), and the cream of an immense pile of matter has been thus
skimmed, and is now given to the public ; or perhaj^s it would be a

* Travels in the Interior of South Africa ; comprising fifteen years' hunting
and trading, with journeys across the Continent from Natal to Walvisch Bay,
and visits to Lake N'Gami and the Victoria Falls. By James Chapman,
F. R. G. S. 2 vols. London, 1 868.

P

2 02 Journal of Travel and Natural History

juster simile to say tliat tlie plums have l)een picked out of an
enormous pudding of heterogeneous materials ; for the editor tells
us that the plan which Mr Forester adopted, and which he has
necessarily had to follow, was to confine his labours almost entirely
to the work of curtailment and omission, so as much as possible to
leave Mr Chapman to tell his own tale in his own words.

That tale presents him under various phases. We have him in
that of a trader, that of a hunter, of a geographer or physical geo-
grapher, and of a naturalist — in all of which he shews to advantage.

We shall present him to the reader in each of these aspects. In
all they will find his narrative unaffected, intelligent, and interest-
ing ; and we venture to say that whoever reads them will close the
volumes with respect and liking for the author.

One of the first requisites for success in any pursuit is said to be
predilection for it. If it goes against the grain, it will be neglected,
and failure in it will be the consequence. Whether intentionally
or not, virtually it was on this principle that Mr Chai)man selected
the business of trader or dealer in ivory. His passion for hunting
could in it be gratified on the grandest scale, and at the same
time combined with duty and attention to business. The more
elephants he hunted and killed, the more attentive and devoted to
business he shewed himself. Of his attention to business, thus
understood, the strictest disciplinarian could find nothing to com-
plain ; and the daring coolness and perseverance which he
shewed in his encounters with wild animals was equally shewn in
his dealings with the scarcely less dangerous children of the desert.

One most remarkable thing, which must strike every one who
reads this narrative, is the impunity with which white traders pene-
trate into the territories of those savage people, put themselves and
their goods into their power, in fact almost literally put their head
into the lion's mouth, and yet come forth unscathed. Even in
the wars and dissensions among themselves, in which whites have
taken a side, the neutrality of other whites has been recognised,
and their persons and property respected. It is a curious pheno-
menon, and certainly not due to any foresighted calculation of
future advantage, or fear of prospectixe retribution on the part of
the blacks. The chief Sekeletu, for instance, although anxious to
secure trade with the whites, is, we are told, driving it away by
rcfiisiiig t(j deal with them except on terms so exorbitant that the
traders could not purcliase their goods in Natal for anything like
the value he will give for them. Notwithstanding that he sees the

Chapman'' s Travels in South Africa. 203

traders refusing to deal on such terms, and leaving his territories,
and abandoning them not to return, he does not alter his extrava-
gant demands ; and yet, when the trader refuses them, he does not
attempt openly to seize upon the coveted goods and murder their
owners, but allows them to depart. He throws all sort of passive
obstacles in the way of their going : forbids his people to aid them,
refuses guides, nay, is suspected even of attempting to poison them,
but actual force is rarely had recouse to.

" There's such divinity doth hedge a king,
That treason can but peep to what it would,
Acts little of its will."

The whites and traders are kings to these poor savages, and their
homage is derived from the power which they see they possess.
The tribes where this marvellous resj^ect is paid occupy precisely
the districts where the prowess of the whites as hunters is well
known. When they see a man with a single gun face and conquer
wild animals, which it would take their whole tribe to vanquish, it
is not surprising that they should have a sort of superstitious awe
of these wonderful whites. It is partly fear, and partly the in-
stinctive homage of superiority which is paid by the dog to his
master, by the mice to the cat, that paralyses the hand they would
like to raise against them. Some of the more degraded tribes,
indeed, are so cowed and abject that any one, whether black or
white, with a gun in his hand, may bully and abuse hundreds with-
out the slightest resistance being offered. But this does not apply
to the generahty of the savages. It is the coolness and courage of
the white traders in their intercourse with themselves which has
given them this divinity in the eyes of the blacks. The following
incident, which occurred in one of Chapman's difficulties with
them, throws a world of light upon the nature of the immunity
which the whites enjoy at their hands, while it at the same time
explains the means by whicli it has been acquired: —

" At this moment a Bushman arrived breathless from the east in search of the
Makalakas, with a message from Shunkaan entreating me to fly without delay,
as three of Moselikatze's towns were up in arms, and in pursuit of the Baman-
wato, who had been in my track reconnoitering Moselikatze's cattle, and he
feared his troops would fall on us by mistake if I did not get out of the way
before they arrived. In the meantime, I had discovered from one of my guides
that the Bamanwato and the Makalakas were leagued together. The latter,
wishing to escape fi-om Moselikatze's rule and place themselves under the protec-
tion of Sekomi, and join the tribes he had gathered, had invited the Bamanwato

204 Journal of Travel and Natural History

to come and inspect the country, and study the practicability of making off
during the rainy season into the Bamanwato country with the whole of the cattle
submitted to their charge by Moselikatze. Becoming aware of this, 1 refused to
fly, being fearful of confirming the suspicion of the Matabale that I, too, was in
league with the Bamanwato, and resolved that if they came on I would meet
them amicably, hoping, as I still retained a smattering of the Zulu language,
from my residence at Natal, that I should be able to explain how matters really
stood.

' ' Having saddled my horses, I left my guides of the Shua in charge of my
traps, and, under the guidance of some other natives, sought out the hiding-
place of the Makalakas, which I reached about eleven o'clock at night. Con-
trary to my expectations, I found them quite prepared for my arrival, and drawn
up in a formidable array, standing under cover of their long shields, evidently
with hostile intentions. Surprised at this, I felt for an instant at a loss how to
act, but a moment's reflection satisfied me that it would not do to exhibit any
symptoms of alarm, that my safety depended on the composure and firmness
with which I acted on this emergency. Having, therefore, ordered Molihie to
stand with his gun ready at full cock, I rode up undauntedly to within a few
paces of the dusky crew, whose appearance was doubly horrid as the bright
moonlight did not penetrate the deep shade of the mopani trees under which
they stood. At this moment, the leader of the gang sprang forward in advance
of his comrades in a sort of war dance, as is their wont when threatening a
charge, and rattling the shaft of his spear against his shield, yelling and whistling
shrilly the while he demanded what we wanted there at this hour of the night.
Springing from my horse, as did also Molihie, I was perfectly astonished at the
effect produced by our assumed composure, when this brave of the braves hastily
retreated into the ranks, evidently disappointed at the want of pluck amongst
his followers, who slunk one by one behind the bushes. Following up my
advantage, I rated them soundly in Sechuana in as loud and bold a voice as I
could assume, threatening to destroy the whole of them in one instant if they
did not instantly lay down their spears. Strange to say, with that superstitious
dread which these unsophisticated savages entertain of the white man, but which
I had never fully believed in till this day, the whole of the Makalakas laid their
spears on the ground, trembling with fear, while nearly all the Bushmen dis-
appeared in a twinkling.

"Having brought matters to this satisfactory conclusion, I demanded my
ivory, which in another instant was forthcoming. After this I required eight
Bushmen to carry the tusks ; at first these could not be found, but, stamping
impatiently on the ground, I insisted on having them, when the Makalakas set
up a shouting, explaining that the danger of hostilities was passed, they one by
one emerged from their concealment ; I then demanded a bundle of dried flesh
by way of compensation, for the trouble they had given me, with another Bush-
man to carry it, and at length having cautioned the gang to take care that I did
not set the ground on fire under their feet, we took our departure, driving the
bearers of the tusks before us to our bivouac" — (vol. i., p. 254).

The only instance which we meet witli in these vohnnes where
the wliites were actually put to defiance, and an attemi)t at murder
and robbery made, occurred among the Ovambo, an ignorant

Chap mail s Travels in South Africa 205

people of the lowest grade, living more to the west, and as yet per-
haps less acquainted with their power and prowess. It occurred
to Mr Green, the companion of Professor Wahlberg, and it was
fortunately successfully resisted after a regular fight and a good
deal of bloodshed. We have not space to copy the narrative, but
we recommend it to the reader's perusal, as a stirring example of
courage and conduct.

The attempts at laying the whites under contribution, which the
natives who have seen more of them generally make, are confined
to stealing, cheating, tricking, and deceiving. The most serious
are the systematic plans to mislead, for the purpose of bringing
them to their own villages, or retaining them near them, that they
may profit by their liberality, by their traffic, or by the meat of the
animals which they kill. Perhaps it would be unreasonable to pass
a very severe judgment for this upon miserable Bushmen, who, by
the arrival of a party of whites, are at once removed from the direst
privation to the most profuse abundance, who exchange a miserable
subsistence on roots for plenty of the most palatable animal food.
But in the case of chiefs, rich in cattle, and living on the fat of a
land teeming with abundance, it is different.

The inherent mendacity of the negro character is shewn in
strong light by the constant attempts which these chiefs made to
misdirect, retain, and mislead Chapman. Now he was warned not
to go in this direction, because Sekeletu would kill him, then not to
go in that direction, because Moselikatze was ravaging it; he would
be told that such a route was unpassable for want of water, or such
another from the presence of the tsetse fly — all afterwards ascer-
tained to be pure fabrications. Again, after receiving the most
friendly promises of men and oxen to help him on, the whole of his
men would desert him, having received private instructions, and
yet, with the most marvellous inconsistency, the waggons would not
be plundered ; nay, goods would be left deposited in the hands of
some of these very chiefs, to remain until his return, and would be
faithfully guarded and rendered up when he came back.

Of course, there were good and bad among the chiefs, as among
ourselves at home. Some of them seem to have been gentlemen,
others low scoundrels ; but, on the whole, the impression left on
us by Chapman's account of the natives in the interior of South
Africa is rather favourable than the reverse. Perhaps the expres-
sion he uses in speaking of one of them, that he had "a pleasing
but idiotic expression of countenance," may apply to more than

2o6 Journal of Travel and Natural History

one individual, and to the features of tlieir mind as well as of their
countenance.

Mr Chapman's qualities of coolness, courage, and perseverance
are not less prominently shewn in his capacity of hunter. Here is
an elephant adventure. It is one of his first encounters with the
elephant, and took place before his nerves were hardened to the
degree they afterwards became : —

" The troop, finding their prostrate fellow deaf to their entreaties, moved on,
and I soon followed, but was repeatedly driven back by a worthless old hag of
a cow (elephant), who, with the air of a vixen, would not allow me to come
near the troop ; and I found it was necessary to kill her first, if I wished to get
at the rest. So dashing towards them she turned upon me just as I had dis-
mounted, uttering a fearful cry. This was a desperate move ; it sealed her fate,
though mine seemed in greater jeopardy. My horse, terrified at the elephant's
thrilling cry, pulled the reins out of my hand, and left me on the open plain,
staring death in the face, without any cover to flee to. At this critical moment,
I despaired of life ; but presence of mind, together with unusual firmness, were
now vouchsafed to me. I felt I had but one chance for life, and that I now
held in my hand. Now for courage and a steady shot. It was the courage of
despair, and it was Providence that directed my aim. I awaited the furious
animal's approach, with my gim at my shoulder ; but my hand shook so violently
that I could take no sure aim, and I felt reluctant to pull the trigger.

"Still the enemy approached with outstretched trunk ; her loud trampeting
iiad ceased, but she uttered a series of short-fetched gi'unts, which sounded in
my ears like an exclamation of triumph at having her enemy in her power — a
victim she would grasp in another moment with her powerful trunk, and crush
to atoms with her ponderous feet. At this juncture, she happened to lower her
trunk from before her ; and the slight movement leaving her forehead exposed,
I instantly took advantage of it, and a bullet from my rifle crashed right into
the centre of her skull, and she came down with overwhelming violence at the
distance of seven paces from the spot where I was planted. But if before I
had been sustained by Providence, and, indeed, I felt that something beyond
my physical power had saved me, I now lost all my fortitude, and stood for
a moment perfectly aghast, trembling, and most horribly bewildered.

"But, now, again recovering myself, and inspired by the first law of nature,
to lose no time in retreating from a possible death-struggle with my now pro-
strate foe, I ran to my horse, standing at the distance of 200 yards, and cocking
his cars in amazement at the fray. I then reloaded, and began to speculate on
the prudence of following the rest of the troop." — (vol. i. p. 84.)

A terrible warning of the danger of elephant hunting on foot is
given in the death of Dr Wahlberg, who fell a victim to this fashion
of hunting, and of whose tragic end an account by his companion,
Mr Green, is quoted in these volumes.

Professor Wahlberg and his expedition were better known to
scientific men than is often the case with foreign expeditions, at
least during their progress. He was in relation with the Univer-

Chapman's Travels in South Africa

207

2 o8 Journal of Travel and Natural History

sity of Stockholm, and his collections were forwarded to that
institution. That University, not having a purse like that of the
British Museum at its back, is obliged to manage its affairs a little
more economically ; and as it cannot go into the market and make its
acquisitions by purchase, it manages to do so by exchange. When-
ever a scientific expedition, such as that of the " Eugenie," was
sent out, or private arrangements made with collectors abroad,
large stores of specimens were directed to be accumulated and
sent exclusively to the museum. These were put in the hands of
the keeper of the museum, our much respected friend, Professor
Boheman, with free permission to use them for the benefit of the
Institution ; and by means of a very extensive correspondence, he
distributed them among scientific men all over the world, receiving
in exchange what they had to give. The results of this have been
to make the University of Stockholm a first class museum, inferior,
no doubt, in much to our own museum, but superior to it in such
scientific types as are not to be had by purchase (except by the
purchase of some entire collection, after the death of the owner,
in which they have been accumulated by the same process as that
followed by the Stockholm Museum). Wahlberg's collections were
distributed this way, and while Lake N'Gami was almost unknown
to the general public, specimens of its natural history, sent home
by him, Avere spread over all Europe and America in the cabinets
of men of science. Hence the drying up of the source whence
these came, invested his fate with a special interest in the eyes
of those who, like many of the readers of this Journal, formerly
profited by his labours.

From Mr Green's narrative, it appears that his fate was entirely
due to his practice of "foot-hunting." He had been frequently
remonstrated with upon its danger, but he always insisted on its
being the most safe, maintaining that he could always turn an
elephant in its charge, by giving him a shot in the head. At the
same time he had a presentiment of his fate, from his having pre-
viously had several narrow escapes from elephants, but turned a
deaf ear to remonstrances and advice. " I cannot help myself,"
said he, " when I get sight of the brutes, I seem to lose all appre-
hension."

Our readers will remember Gordon Cumming's thrilling accounts
of lying in wait at night, ambushed in a hole near a water pit, to
shoot the wild animals when they came to drink. This is a plan
familiar to all South African hunters, and Mr Chapman often speaks

Chapman's Travels in South Africa 209

of it. Altliough effective and free from danger with elephants,
rhinoceroses, and other animals, whose eyes are no better adapted
than our own for vision by night, it has always seemed to us a very
risky business with lions and noclurnal beasts of prey, there being
a great chance that they might be the first to find out the watcher,
when the consequences of such a mischance would be serious.
That this might very well happen, appears from an adventure which
Mr Chapman once had during a night's stalking, when no less than
ten lions made strenuous efforts to spend the evening with him in
his " skaarm," as the ambush is called.

" A number of lions being in the habit of resorting nightly to the spring,
either to drink or to waylay the game, I went out early in the evening to kill
some animal for a bait to attract them to some spot convenient to my skaarm.
I knocked over two quaggas at my first shot, one of which I had dragged up to
within five or six yards of my shooting-box, when my man, Molihie, declared
his intention of occupying another position, where there seemed little likelihood
of his being visited by lions ; but he completely outwitted himself, for soon after
dark, and before the moon rose above the horizon, I observed some object
crouching towards his post, and my cry of warning was lost in the report made
by his large rifle. The animal he fired at did not move ; and five other lions,
which were lying within a few yards of his position, now got on their legs,
while two others were observed moving round the pond above the wind. My
faculties being now also quickened I observed two lionesses facing me within
twenty feet from another direction, at which I instantaneously fired, and pro-
bably prevented their springing into my skaarm. Abraham, who was with
me, now discharged both ban-els of his gun, and while I held my rifle pointed
at them he reloaded his, when I again fired with the same success. The lions
not seeming inclined to beat a retreat, Molihie's courage was well tested, and
he cried lustily for his master to come to his aid. Of course I could not comply
with this demand, being myself placed in a similar position. Having continued
firing till nearly all my ammunition was expended, I became more cautious, and
taking deliberate aim, was delighted to find the bullet tell, and to see the lioness
bound off with a growl. In this movement she was instantly followed by the
rest ; the troop, numbering ten in all, having beseiged us for a short but anxious
period, during which it seemed as if not even thunder and lightning could
terrify them. After their retreat, we heard them for a long time tearing with
tooth and nail at the second quagga which lay about 200 yards off, but having
only three bullets left we did not dare meddle with them, although for the rest
of the night we had the advantage of a bright moonlight. Having feasted
themselves on the flesh of the quagga, and killed and devoured another, they
came again towards the water to quench their thirst, but the recollection of our
engagement with them some hours before probably checked their advance, as
they halted midway and set up a terrific roaring. Two others also approached
in a different direction with fearful roars, but Molihie having fired a shot which
mortally wounded a white rhinoceros, the lions feared to venture near the water.
Game of all sorts came and went in vast multitudes all night, many passing

2 1 o Journal of Travel and Natural History

within a few feet of us ; and I feel no scruple in affirming that, since the pre-
ceding evening, before sunset till the next morning after sunrise, excepting
during the time of our being beseiged by the lions, no less, at a moderate com-
putation, than a hundred head of game drank at the spring every five minutes.
This in ten hours would make the number 12,000, which, however enormous
it may appear, is, I feel confident, far within the mark. The pool, about 400
yards in circumference, was all night kept in commotion, the splashing of the
water, the din of clattering hoofs, and the lowing and moaning of gnus and
their calves being mingled in discordant notes. The braying of quaggas was
terrible, and the pond, excepting at one or two short periods while we fired,
was never clear. " — (vol. i., 239-40.)

Turning to Mr Chapman's contributions to geography and
physical geography, we find that in some of the most vakiable of
liis discoveries he has been anticipated. He was the first who
crossed the continent from Lake N'Gami to Walvisch Bay, but his
friend Mr Baines accompanied him on his return journey, and in
his travels the geographical information obtained on that route was
fully brought before the public. The country now for the first
time filled in on our maps is chiefly that lying between Lake
N'Gami and the Zambesi.

His observations on the physical geography of the countries he
visited is very interesting and less known. Of Lake N'Gami we
learn that it is the small remains of an immense sea, which, at a
comparatively not very distant date, covered a vast extent of land
now dry or turned into marshes and reedy swamps, one of which
is upwards of seventy miles in circumference. The lake itself,
although fifty miles in length and eighteen miles broad, is nowhere
more than twelve feet deep, and it appears to be still further drying
up and decreasing in size.

' ' This country, with all its pans, has the appearance of having been a lake of
immense size. The supply of water which filled it in former days having no
doubt been stopped far away to the north of Lebebes by some volcanic action,
which has sent the water formerly coming hither in another direction. Dr
Livingstone thinks the Victoria Falls have drained it. Is it not rather more
probable that some gradual pressure from within has been slowly at work,
which would account for the general desiccation of the country? Within the
lifetime of some of the lake people and Mabobas the N'Gami has gradually re-
ceded a mile or more all round, and, within the knowledge of white men still
living, fountains have everywhere been drying up. I have had abundant op-
])ortunities of noticing the same thing going on gradually during the last ten
years. The natives coming from Lebcbc also insist that one branch of the
Teouge (or Okavango) diverges towards the west coast just in the same manner
as the Tugela is said to diverge from the Orange River" — (vol. ii., p. 64).

"When I first entered this country (N'Gami district) I fiamd many of tliosc

Chapman'' s Travels in South Africa 2 1 1

ponds (salt pans), with an alirupt bank all round, and the water then, as was
usual, nearly up to the top ; but even in ten years a wondeiful change has taken
place, the water has gradually diminished, owing no doubt to the general de-
siccation going on, and in places where formerly I could swim we have now to
go underground for a supply of water. Whenever late and heavy rains fall the
natives say that things are very much better, though never as it used to be of old.
They say the country is dead" — (vol. ii., p. 62).

Anderson noticed that the lake is subject to an ebb and flow,
which he supposed to be caused by the moon's attraction, but
Chapman, rightly considering that the attraction of the moon could
have no perceptible influence on such a small body of water, paid
more attention to the phenomenon, and found that it was merely
caused by the prevailing wind at a particular season (easterly in
the morning) driving the water over the very low beach on the
opposite shore (as far sometimes as half a-mile) when it is said
" to go out and feed," and then receding when the wind subsides
in the evening. The same phenomenon extends even to the river
opposite the town (which is two miles east of the junction), render-
ing the water-mark of the morning and that of the evening very
different — (vol. ii., p. 311).

He also corrects another mistake into which Livingstone and
Anderson both fell, in supposing the Botletlie to be an outlet of
the N'Gami Lake. He tells us that about thirty years ago, or more,
this was indeed the case when the lake extended over perhaps
nearly twice the area it occupies now ; but ever since that time it
has had two confluences, but no outlet. The waters of the Dzo,
dividing, help to supply the lake, but send the largest quantity of
water eastward, through Chapo's-lagoon or reedmarsh (the size of
which has been under-estimated), into the large Salt Lake. When
the Botletlie river is very low, the whole of the water coming from
the Dzo into the Tamalukan and Botletlie first flows westward for
some distance until it has filled up for a certain distance the deep
channel leading lakewards, and not till this is filled up will it have
scope to run freely to the eastward, the residue then going west-
ward into the lake. Neither the river nor the lake now ever alters
its former fulness. The position of the large mochuerie trees on
its banks point out the original water-mark. These trees always
grow on the water's edge, and, now that the river is receding so
far, many die off" every year — (vol. ii., p. 311).

He tells us, moreover, that it sometimes happens that when the
Chobe and the Tso or Dzo, which flows into the Tamalukan out
of the Teouge, are full the water runs up the Tamalukan, and the

2 12 Journal of Travel and Natural History

overflowing streams, meeting here, flood the Mahabe flats for many
miles eastward, forming a sheet of water nearly twenty miles in
breadth, where at other seasons not a drop can be found. At
such times the river is navigable from the lake to Sebetoanes, and
one might then travel in a canoe from Chapos at the terminus of
the Botletlie to the mouth of the Zambesi, on the east coast, or for
several hundred miles northwest of the lake from a very long way
beyond Lebebes in the same direction. And if, as the natives
assert, the Teouge branches off from another river beyond Lebebes
flowing to the west coast, then it would appear that the continent
of Africa is probably navigable for boats right across from east to
west — (vol. i. p. 184).

A similar difticulty in defining the exact line of the water shed
occurs in other parts of Africa, as between Lake Tchad and the
Atlantic, and probably also more on the eastern side of the continent.

With regard to the numerous salt pans which mark the hollows
in the country around Lake N 'Garni we learn that some of them
are of great size — that of Ntwetwe is 18 miles broad and upwards
of ICO miles in length, and when in the middle of it the effect was
that of being surrounded by a broad expanse of a calm and white
ocean. To what cause are we to attribute these saline crusts or
efflorescence ? Does the salt proceed from beds of salt in older
deposits ? Are they the last dried parts of a salt sea ? Do they pro-
ceed from the evaporation of fresh-water lakes, or are they the pro-
duct of salt springs. Mr Chapman's description rather points to
the latter two causes. He says :

" The underlying mud of these pans is an unctuous, tenacious, substance very
like cement, and a hard greenish honey-combed cavernulous or vermiculated
sandstone (?) lies scattered at intervals. In some of the smaller outside pans a
hard white crust of limestone is found on the surface of the soil, which, having
been broken by the hoofs of game, lies scattered aroimd like flat pieces of ivory.

The springs on the north side of these pans have generally a bank of tuft
which those south of the Botletlie, when they have a distinct bank, have it on
the south side. Some of the springs are no more than little pits dug out of the
bottom of sloping limestone hollows or ponds by the aid of a bushman's spade
and a sharpened stick. Some of these ponds are broad and shallow, without
any bank, and the surface is covered with loose shingle, while others are an
irregular or more often a rounded fissure in limestone tufa, with two or three
successive layers in the bank underneath. The pits or wells are generally filled
with small rounded shingle, while outside is more generally a slope by which
men and animals descend to the water. 1 do not think that the game has
broken the banks to that extent, but they would naluially aiiproacli the water
on the most accessible side" — (vol. ii., p. 61).

Chap}iia)is Travels in South Africa 213

The deserts themselves are another very interesting subject of
inquiry. We have often wondered whether the degree to which
antient sea bottoms are covered with vegetation might not be used
as a measure of the relative time which has elapsed since they
became dry land. Of course a great deal would depend upon
accessory circumstances, and more especially the amount of irriga-
tion enjoyed by each, but we imagine it to be indisputable that,
ceteris paribus, the longer the sea bottom has been exposed the
more will it be clothed with vegetation, and the higher will be the
character of the vegetation upon it. And in a general way we
think that this is visible in all the different raised sea-bottoms of
any magnitude with which we are acquainted. Which is the sea-
bed which has been most recently raised ? We imagine the Sahara
and its continuation in Arabia, the deserts of Scinde, the deserts
in Central Asia, and the salt lake deposits between the Rocky and
the Cascade Mountains in North-west America. What is their
state? Unmitigated barrenness, nothingbutsandand gravel, without
vegetation, except in patches and spots favoured by irrigation.
We have not space to turn a digressive eye upon the relative con-
ditions of age and vegetation in these and the North American
prairies of older exposure, the Brazilian forest plains, the pampas,
the interior of Australia, etc. It will be sufficient to contrast the
Sahara with the Kalahari and other deserts in the interior of
Southern Africa. The original condition and latitude are not un-
like, but they are immensely different in age ; the Sahara the
youngest, the Kalahari perhaps the oldest desert on the face of the
globe ; and what is their present state ? — waterless deserts both —
but the one a mere deposit of gravel or shifting sand, the other
provided with a dense vegetation peculiar to itself Mr Chapman
thus describes the latter :

" The country over which we had been travelling since leaving the Bamanwato
is called the "desert," and travellers going to "the lake" from the colony are
obliged to go round it by the course we were now steering as the most practicable.
Could they make direct for the lake through the country of the Bakwain or
Bawanketze tribes they might reach their destination in half the time. Though
called a desert the reader must not picture to himself another Sahara, for although
a sandy country and devoid of water, excepting a few scanty wells at intervals
of forty cr fifty miles, it is nevertheless fertile, the grass gi'owing most luxuriantly,
and large forests of trees of many kinds abound" — (vol. i., p. 54).

' ' We started at one o'clock the next day, and laboured through the heavy
sand and dense bush, the oxen coughing and nearly choked. Although every-
thing in this so-called " desert " gi-ows most luxuriantly, and grass and herbs
most exuberantly, we found no water" — (vol. i., p. 50).

214

Journal of Travel and Natural History

"The desert here consists of a succession of sandy zones or bults, as the
Dutch call them, of whitish sand running parallel to each other in a direction
nearly east and west

In the sides of some of the bults, or sometimes on the summit, are found spots
where water may be obtained by digging. These spots are known to the
bushmen only, and yield abundance of water after a good rainy season ; but
sometimes the water recedes deep into the earth, and the bushmen then suck
water from the damp sand several feet below the earth by means of a tube of
reed buried in it, having a sponge-like tuft of grass inserted at the end. These
water-yielding localities are indicated by the green colour of the grass in the
dryest season, and are always in the more loose and white sand"— (vol. ii.,p. 297).

Useful information is given as to the course of the Zambesi, so
far as explored by Mr Chapman ; but, naturally, the chief interest,
so far as relates to that river, concentrates on the wonderful Vic-

toria Falls. He gives three different views of them, taken from
different points, one of which the publishers have kindly lent us for
illustration. It is that taken from Garden Island, in the middle of
the Falls. Want of space forbids us quoting the relative descrip-
tion ; but, except for the unusually vivid tints of the rainbow, dwelt
on by all who have seen them, which, of course, cannot be done
justice to in any picture, the sketch scarcely requires interpretation.
In like manner, the accompanying sketch of their crossing the
river above the Falls to Garden Island, in the very middle of the
Falls (so called from Dr Livingstone having fenced in a portion of
it, and sown it with useful seeds, all now broken down and de-
stroyed by the wild animals), must supply the place of his account

CJiapina)is Travels in South Africa

215

of the passage. This descent must obviously have been rather a
nervous affair; in the event of a capsize nothing could have pre-
vented their all going over the Falls. The perilous course is con-
ducted by the steersman in the bow, who steers as much by the
pressure of his feet as by the action of his paddle ; the skiff obey-
ing their pressure something in the same way that a well-trained
horse does the pressure of the knee of his rider. Looking at the
sketch, and the description, we found ourselves soliloquizing
" Facilis decensus averni — how in all the world did they get back ? "
Mr Chapman, assuming that his subsequent career is sufficient
evidence that they did get back, omits to mention how ; but on
turning to Baines' book, we find that this, as we expected, was the

worst part of the job. The boatman, Zarzela, had to send re-
peated messages to the enraptured sight-seers, warning them that
it was time to go, as the journey back was toilsome and dangerous.
We do not know whether the Canadian boat song has yet
penetrated into Central Africa, but " Row, row, brothers row, for
the stream runs past, the rapids are near, and the daylight's past,"
would decidedly have been appropriate ; we learn, however,
from Chapman that " God save the Queen " has made its way
there, and that he was surprised by hearing it and " Lucy Neal,"
and one or two others of our simpler melodies, sung in the kraals
of native tribes who had probably not seen a dozen white men in
the course of their lives.

2 1 6 Journal of Travel and N'atia-al History

But we must hasten on to what deserves more of our space than
we have left for it — Mr Chapman's " Contributions to Natural
History." His editor, in the preface, anticipates that this ^^'ill prove
one of the most attractive parts of the book, and in one sense he
is right. If he speaks of his contributions as afield Naturalist, we
heartily endorse his opinion — if he speaks of his work as a closet
Naturalist, we are bound to say we cannot. Mr Chapman wants
the necessary grounding and special education to fit him for deal-
ing with natural history as a scientific Naturalist. He does not
sufficiently know what has been already done \ things which strike
him as remarkable, and which are recorded as such, are familiar
to the merest tyro in the schools. When a doctor reads this book,
and comes to the information that, after Chapman recovered from
a fever, the cuticle nibbed off his whole body — (vol. ii., p. 283) —
he will need no ghost to tell him that the author is not a medical
man ; so, when a Naturalist finds him recording the discovery of a
trap-door spider's nest as a great curiosity-^(vol. i., p. 38) — and
speaking with interest of the surveying caterpillars standing on the
points of their tails — (vol. ii., p. 294) — he at once knows that he is
not dealing with a trained Naturalist. I\Ir Chapman has all the
natural qualifications for a first-rate Naturalist, but he wants the
reading and training, without which it is impossible to perform
the work of the scientific Naturalist — and yet he attempts this.
In ignorance of the points requiring attention, and of the characters
on which specific differences are based (or if not ignorance, at
least in defiance of them), he gives descriptions of new species,
and amendments of old ones, which, with all the desire in the
world to speak well of them, we cannot, in consistency with our
duty as an honest critic, refrain from condemning; when we men-
tion that there are descriptions of mammals under native names,
without indication whether they are new or not, and without a
word as to their dentition, their feet, or anything but their colour,
we have said enough. The editor, in his desire to do justice to
Mr Chapman's labours, has shewn a want both of courage and
discretion in not suppressing the whole of his attempts at descrip-
tion. It would have been an advantage to all parties had he done
so, and, instead, given us more of his observations on the habits
and pecuharities of the animals themselves. It is there that Mr
Chapman shines — as an observant field Naturalist, he is every-
thing that could be wished. The whole book teems with instances
which we long to adduce. Some we must give, and we think that

Chapman! s Travels in Sonth Africa 217

perhaps our best plan will be to select one animal, and bring
together all the unconnected notices which we can find relating to
its habits, instead of picking out single — perhaps more striking —
anecdotes regarding a variety of animals or plants. It is plainly
impossible that we can transcribe everything of this nature that is
to be met with scattered throughout the volume. We shall take
the elephant as our subject.

Here is an adventure that will remind the reader of one incident
in the history of a still more celebrated elephant hunter, Sinbad
the Sailor. It occurred in pursuit of a bull elephant that Mr
Chapman had wounded —

"At length I found myself in an extensive mogonono field, swarming with
lephants in every direction, crushing down the bushes with a sound resembling
the roaring of waves. Not knowing in which direction to turn, I climbed a
mokala (camel-thorn) tree, of which there were a few about, and which seemed
to be the standing-place of numerous elephants every day. On reaching the
top of this tree, I found myself surrounded by elephants, mostly cows, in every
direction, in groups closer than I ever dreamt of. My position not being very
enviable, I sat in breathless suspense observing the movements of the numbers
of gigantic animals round me on every side. At the distance of about 120
yards to the eastward of my position, I soon discovered the old bull which I
had followed, surrounded by a group of about a dozen cows, caressing and
fondling him ; some of them dashing him with water from their trunks, others
with sand. Those elephants below his wind, probably scenting his blood,
lifted their trunks, and after smelling a moment, gradually moved off. The
elephants below me were working their trunks about, but made no effort to
move out of the bush in which they probably considered themselves concealed ;
while groups, in other directions, that seemed to have got over the alarm caused
by the reports of our guns, were moving slowly, followed by their calves, break-
ing down the branches, and pulling up young shoots and grubbing roots, which
they strewed before their young with an air of the most maternal solicitude. A
shot fired on the outskirts by my servant, Abraham, drove a troop towards my
position, and another and another shot seemed to be bringing masses of cow
elephants from every direction round me ; but to my great relief, as if -actuated
by one impulse, the foremost began to move into two parallel files, one on each
side of me." — (vol. i., p. 154.)

The following are some minor details :

*' It is worth mentioning, by way of caution to South African hunters, that
most elephants recover their powers of doing mischief after appearing to be
mortally wounded, unless they have uttered their death-groan. I have known
them to fall four or five times, as if dying, and then rise again." — (vol. i., p. 89.)

"In some places, and in some seasons, these animals (elephants) drink only
every other night, and then go far to feed. In parts where they are much
hunted, they remain two nights away from the water, and return every fourth. "
— (voL i., p. 88.)

TRAVEL. Q

2 i8 [oiu-nal of Travel and Natural History

"In localities where elephants abound, they generally frequent the same
forest at the same time every day, to stand (sleep) in the shade at noon." —
(vol. i., p. 154.)

" The elephants in this part seem now quite to understand what a 'skaarm'
(screen or ambush) is, and I observe at every watering place we come to, the old
skaarms have generally been destroyed by the elephants, who have scattered the
logs about and trampled the holes full of earth again." — (vol. ii., p. 92.)

"On the 2 1 St we had another tedious and unsuccessful hunt, following the
trails of a hundred elephants or more ; but we could perceive by this pro-
cessional sort of movement that the animals must have taken fright, and were
on the move into another district. Indeed, many other troops of elephants
that seemed to have been browsing fearlessly, discovering their trail, seem alsf5
to have taken the alarm, and followed it at once."*

" On the islands (above the Falls of the Zambesi) as we passed, I noticed the
elephants had everywhere been committing their depredations, destroying
numerous trees. These islands are their favourite resorts, abounding in fruit
and other trees, of which they are very fond. They come regularly to pick the
wild dates and almonds, mokachon, and the many other fruits that abound ;
and with the sagacity of a man, coil their powerful trunks round the stem of
the palm trees, to shake the clustering fruits to the earth, not being able to
break the tree. I have never seen one broken or overthrown, slender as they
appear." — (vol. ii., p. 132.)

' ' The rest had now escaped, except one, attacked by Mr Campbell, whose
gun I heard at intervals of a few minutes. Riding in his direction, I found he
had expended all his ammunition, eighteen bullets, and wanted my assistance ;
so, having headed the animal after a smart gallop, one bullet from my double-
barrelled Blisset brought him to a stand, and three more to the ground, just as
the moon's beams began to penetrate through the foliage of the trees, which all
around for several yards were besprinkled with blood dashed from his trunk.
After receiving the last bullet, the poor beast twisted his trunk around a very
frail tree, by which he tried to support his ponderous frame ; but the tree, as
well as his legs, soon gave way, and he sank expiring to the ground." — (vol. i.,
P- 151-)

" Occasionally we come across trees which have been broken by the almost
irresistible strength of the wild elephant ; trunks of even 3 feet in diameter
being sometimes snapped in two." — (vol. ii., p. 289.)

"Looking round, I beheld Molihie in a somewhat similar plight to what had
just been my own, being chased by the elephant he had singled out. But the
most extraordinary part of the affair was this : the elephant not being able to
overtake his enemy, I saw him pull up successively two trees by the roots, and
cast them after Molihie, nearly striking his horse with one of them. This sin-
gular act of sagacity surprised me not a little, being under the impression at the
time, as I am to this present day, that the act of thus hurling the trees was not
accidental, but intentional. Each of these trees was nearly 20 inches in
diameter [<iucry circumference], and they were thrown 12 or 15 yards from the

* These sagacious animals always know by the apjicarancc of the track of
their own species whether it lias been made in flight, though the track be
several days old, and they are sure to follow. — (vol. i., p. 71.)

ChapDiaifs Travels in South Africa 2ig

spot where they grew, so that, leaving the intent out of the question, it was in
itself a prodigious feat of animal strength." — (vol. i. p. 251.)

' ' Next morning we awoke at a late hour, and breakfasted on part of an
elephant's trunk, which was baked in a pit during the night, in the way before
described, and was soft as a jelly, resembling very much the flavour of ox
tongue. The foot, a joint from which twenty men can dine, is also exceedingly
fine, being a white, crisp, and gi-izzly kind of substance, strongly ingrained with
fat, and, though rich as marrow, one may eat any quantity without feeling
surfeited ; but a certain portion of the head and cheek of a fat elephant cow is
by far the most delicious morsel." — (vol. i., p. 33.)

" Elephants' .lard is the most cooling and beneficial ointment for all inflamma-
tory wounds, that can be obtained." — (vol. i., p. 160.)

"They had rubbed themselves well with the fat of the elephant, an operation
in which they particularly delight, as it softens and cleanses the skin, cures all
scrofulous diseases, and it is, moreover, a non-conductor of the heat of the
sun."— (vol. i., p. 155.)

"I noticed, while walking the other day, that one of my men picked up
quantities of almonds, far away from any signs of the tree. On inquiry I found
they are dropped in the excrements of elephants, in an undigested state, and
the natives tell me, that by following at this season on an elephant's spoor, they
can always obtain a sufficient quantity for a meal in a short time. I noticed
that wherever the elephant halted they found from a dozen to twenty or thirty."
— (vol. ii., p. 141.)

The same thing is recorded of other similar fruits :

" A small dull-green fruit tree bears a fruit which is called in Natal an orange.
It is of the size of a large orange, with a hard rind, is of a yellow colour when
ripe, and has a delicious odour. The seeds contain a good deal of strychnine,
but they are not eaten by man. Elephants however eat seeds and all in great
quantities, but pass the seeds in an undigested state." — (vol. ii., p. 145.)

" The elephant apparently is very fond of the mosela (the finest of the
acacias), which, so far as they can be reached by an elephant, about 25 feet,
are everywhere nibbled off." — (vol. ii., p. 47.)

The following is a curious incident difficult of explanation :

" I bought here," says Mr Chapman "a piece of a bull tusk, weighing 18 lb.
Dutch, which was found in the stomach of one of the elephants killed by them
on the Shesheke. The two had evidently been fighting sometime before, but
there were no external signs of the hide having been penetrated, the elephant
being quite hearty, and the wound having closed up again." — (vol. ii., p. 176.)

It would have been interesting to know the form and dimensions
of this piece of ivory ; also, whether by the word stomach Chapman
means the stomach literally or only the belly. Mr Baines, to
whom we applied for particulars on the subject, uses the latter
term. He writes us :

" The piece of ivory found in the belly of an elephant was deposited in the
Cape Museum. Mr Chapman was well satisfied with the testimony of the

2 2 o Joiir7ial of Travel and Natural History

hunters who found it. The only difficulty is to account for its breaking off in
so soft a part as the belly of an elephant ; perhaps it might have been previously
fractured."

We are more disposed to think (notwithstanding its great size)
that the mass of ivory had been swallowed. It could never have
penetrated the true stomach, and not only the animal survive, but
the wound close up, leaving no trace; and it is only a little
less difficult to suppose that it could have done so in the abdomen
proper ; still, that is possible ; we imagine the other to be im-
possible.

But by far the most interesting novelty regarding the elephant
recorded by Chapman, is the occurrence of an individual with nine
tusks. This was also mentioned by Baines in his " Explorations
in South Africa ; " but his account seems not to have excited the
attention it deserves. The reader will presently see that it is an
abnormalty of the most intense interest. Mr Chapman's account
of it is as follows :

" The elephant killed by Molefi, otherwise called Rapiet, six years ago on the
Teouge, and which attracted notice from the singularity of its having no less
than nine perfect tusks, was, he told me, a male. The tusks were ranged five
on one side and four on the other. I purchased some of the tusks at the time,
but they had been mixed up with many others, and, when I heard of the
peculiarity, they could not be identified. I got Molefi to describe the affair
over again, and Baines made a sketch from his description." — (vol. ii., p. 98.)

The above does not tell much, but Mr Baines has had the kind-
ness to look out his sketches of the elephant for us, and most
liberally allowed us to use them ; and on examining them we find
them so full of interest that we shall devote a separate paper to
their consideration (see page 265), to which we beg to refer those
readers who may be interested in the subject.

In the same way we might go over the lion, leopard, buffalo,
rhinoceroses, giraffes, antelopes, and the other principal wild ani-
mals inhabiting the interior of South Africa, and give similar notanda
of their habits and peculiarities ; the reader will find the book a
perfect storehouse of such information, but we must be sparing.

Of the lion we may note that although plentiful and daring in
some places, and often heard, it must be rapidly diminishing in
numbers. Chapman mentions that, notwithstanding all his ad-
vantages, he had only killed seven during all the years of his
wanderings —

Chapmaiis Travels in South Africa 221

" In some parts, indeed, the natives do not kill either lions, wolves, or wild
dogs, regarding these animals as hunters of game which they turn to their own
account." — (vol. i., p. 93.)

On the other hand, the Uons sometimes look upon the natives
from the same stand-point of their own advantage, treating villages
of them as private preserves of game. Chapman gives an instance
of this in the district where he found them most numerous : —

" In parting with my cattle, I requested Awraal to permit me to send them
on to the extreme eastern boundary of his country, at Elephants' Klof, but he
dissuaded me from this project, assuring me that the lions had of late become so
daring that no human being could live there. The Damaras and bushmen who
had escaped their ferocity had been obliged to remove to a district north-east of
this place. The cowardice shewn by these poor people had of late made the
lions so bold that nothing but human flesh seemed to satisfy them, nor did their
huts, fires, and fences, afford them the slightest protection. Some of Awraal's
people who were returning the other day from a giraffe hunt, were assailed by
a troop of these daring animals in open daylight. The lions sprang upon the
pack-oxen, who ran wildly about under the weight of their rough jockeys,
plunging madly until fortunately they had disencumbered themselves of their
bundles of meat as well as their rude riders ; the lions contenting themselves,
after having a few shots fired at them, with the meat they had seized. Another
party of these hunters the same day came upon the carcase of a Damara recently
killed and partly eaten, and every night this same party were kept awake or
had to make circular fires around them, leaving their dogs to fight off the brutes
until daylight. So changeable and uncertain is the character of the lion that in
some districts by daylight he is timid as a mouse, and will scarce venture to
attack man even by stealth and by night ; but when he comes upon a famished
or mean-spirited race, he keeps near a village and treats its inhabitants as though
they were his flock of cattle, killing them as hunger urges. A hungry lion is a
most daring animal ; there is nothing that he will not dare in broad daylight
and in the most impudent manner, driving you off from your own game, or
following you up in open ground under every disadvantage to himself. But
such cases are rare, and they are generally either driven to it by hunger, past
success, or a keen relish for human above all other flesh. The general disposi-
tion of a lion, like that of all other animals, is to avoid man, and the districts
which he haunts in South Africa being as yet abundantly stocked with game,
man seldom becomes his victim." — (vol, i., p. 420.) "The natives, too, assert
that lions and all other beasts of prey are more daring when the men are away
from their houses and villages, which they soon smell out." — (vol. ii., p. 303.)

Mr Chapman passes the different species of rhinoceros in review,
and gives his opinion as to their distinctness. He is inclined to
admit two species of white rhinoceros, in which we think the
majority of naturalists will not concur.

Among the rare animals met with by him, the water buck (the

2 2 2 Journal of Travel and Natural History

only antelope of truly aquatic habits), the sable antelope, and the
new quagga, first described by Mr Layard, and called Equus
Chapmanni, after our author, are perhaps the most interesting :
all, however, better known to naturalists in this country than he
seems to be aware of. He speaks, however, of a variety of
buffalo, which, from his description, seems not unlikely to l)e
really a new species — although he has not included it in the
appendix among those which he so reckons. Near the Banabea
village of Borogo, near the Chobe, he shot two of them, which
although aged, he found differing materially in the size of both
body and horns from those he had seen in other parts. Their
bodies were short, their horns very much so, and twisting very
abruptly (vol. i., p. 184). It may be worth the while of future
travellers to examine them more closelv.

Chapman's new Quagga (Equus Chapmanni. Layard,.

More than one antelope and a number of birds are probal)ly

The spider referred to in the following passage is also apparently
undescribed :

"The road is so crossed with the silken web of large spiders, that it is
difficult work getting through them. I generally have April before me with a
branch beating it down. Sam, who took his place on one occasion, is so short
that he only half did the work, and I had constantly to hold my hands before
my face. In spite of this precaution, my hat was coloured yellow, and my face
frequently covered over as with a veil. The silk when taken from the branch

Chap7naiis Travels in Souf/i Africa 223

is dirty, full of flies, beetles, butterflies, and locusts. I have seen birds securely
bound in these strong silken cords. It has a very unctuous feel, and to this
property is due the spiders' great success. I have got a small sample of clean
silk also. " — (vol ii., p. 293.)

A good deal of desultory information is given as to the fruits
and cultivated vegetables of the country, but too often without
means of distinguishing the plants, except by the native names.
The following statement as to producing bitter and sweet melons
from the same seed by different treatment, may be interesting to
horticulturists, not on account of different qualities proceeding
from the same plant {that is known to occur in other species) ; but
on account of the statement that the kind can be determined by
the manure :

" It appears strange that one melon seed should produce both bitter and
sweet or sourish melons, which is the fact, though it has puzzled many
travellers, who generally believe the melons are two different species, but this is
not the case, and it all depends upon the manure it gets. The seeds deposited
with the dung of elephants are bitter, those manured by the white rhinoceros
sweet. Sometimes they are mixed on one field, at other times the sweet
melon are sought in the grazings and near the haunts of the rhinoceros. The
bitter melons are not always eaten, on account of their extreme bitterness, but
the seeds being taken out and pounded between two stones, the meal is boiled
into a nice pottage, or eaten raw." — (vol. i., p. 297.)

A case exactly the converse of this is also mentioned, where the
same plant is poisonous to one animal, and harmless to another.
It appears that a Euphorbia and another milky bush is used by
the Berg Damaras to kill numbers of animals, by infecting pools
of water with their juice, and that they also kill the white rhino-
ceros with the drug, although the black one eats greedily of the
same bush with perfect impunity — (vol. i., p. 342.)

There are instances of something similar occurring in other ani-
mals which prevent us hastily setting this aside as erroneous, but
we have not space to describe them.

The kinds of domestic animals kept by the natives in the
interior are not numerous.

" None of the natives that I have yet seen have any cattle or goats, but fowls
and dogs are common. The latter are very small, but have great spirit and
endurance, enabling their masters to kill tlie largest animals with their aid." —
(vol. ii., p. 207.)

" The dogs kept by the natives are all a very diminutive mongrel species,
vei-y weak in giving tongue, and with little spirit." — (vol. i., p. 93.)

2 24 Jotirnal of Travel and Natural History

"We were under the necessity of driving them (the natives) off with our
dogs, of which, owing to their superiority in size and bark over their own dogs,
they have a great dread." — (vol. i., p. 92.)

They have domestic fowls, apparently a variety of the barn-door
chuckle, which is found over the whole world ; and finding
them thus in the heart of Africa, although of a distinct variety,
may suggest doubts as to that invaluable member of society having
been derived from the Bankiva fowl, and give rise to the inquiry
whether the Bankiva fowl is not an offshoot of our common species
run wild, instead of the wild origin of the tame breed. At any rate
Mr Chapinan found that the Makololos had a breed of very small
fowls, like bantams, not remarkable for beauty of plumage, but
exceedingly prolific, some hens laying two eggs regularly every
day ; and he observed, that one of the hens with chickens only a
month old, was again laying.- — (vol. ii., p. 147 and p. 253.)

Of the geographical distribution of plants and animals some-
thing is also to be learned. It would appear that a ridge between
the Shua and the Gwai rivers formed the boundary between two
Faunas, or sub-Faunas. The rivers here flowed in opposite
directions, and new birds came into view while others disappeared. —
(vol. ii., p. 95, 96.)

North-west of Lake N'Gami, vultures were scarce. Elephants
shot were not found by them for three or four days, during which
they did not make their appearance. He remarks that the
adjutants were more numerous on the carcases than the vultures,
and must have come from a very great distance — (vol. ii., p. 20)
— thus confirming Sir Samuel Baker's observation, that they occupy
the highest stratum in the heavens, and come from the greatest
distances.

At Kopjes (south-west of Lake N'Gami) one fennec and one
guinea fowl were got. Giraffes Avere not rare near Walvisch Bay.
The Cerastes or horned snake is common everywhere, from the
Cape to Ovamboland, on the west side of the continent. In
Ovamboland particularly, Chapman's brother found them so
numerous after a fall of rain (for contrary to the general opinion
Mr Chai)man maintains that snakes do not like great heat) which
succeeded a severe and long continued drought, that the ground
was covered with these venemous reptiles, so that they could
hardly walk without treading on them. — (vol. ii., p. 26.)

Glow-worms are plentiful in some parts, which is quite in

Chapman's Travels in South Africa 225

accordance with their known geographical distribution ; but we
think he must be in error when he says that " there is a larger
kind, which evidently belongs to the Elateridae" — (vol. ii., p. 245).
If so, it is the first "fire-fly" recorded out of tropical America,
with the exception of the remarkable genus Photophorus, which
comes from the New Hebrides, Fiji Islands, and New Caledonia.
He speaks of a bright scarlet glow-worm. If that is the colour of its
integuments and not of its light, it will be interesting, as probably
belonging to the Lycidae, many of which are brilliant red, the
family next the glow-worais (none of which are red), but of which
none have hitherto been met with that are luminous.

After quoting so liberally from Mr Chapman's pages, we need
not occupy the time of the reader with further criticism on their
contents. We have sufficiently shewn our opinion of their merits,
and we heartily wish them all success.

2 26 Journal of Travel and Natural History

FALCONERS PAL^ONTOLOGICAL MEMOIRS:'

THE death of Dr Falconer on the 31st January 1865, left a
gap which will not soon be repaired in the always scanty
ranks of British Mammalian Palaeontologists, who could ill spare one
so justly regarded, both here and abroad, as among the first of
living authorities. And the deep regret with which the announce-
ment of his premature decease was received, was, if possible,
heightened by the thought that with him had also perished tbe
greater part of the extensive stores of knowledge he had acquired
in many years of constant study. Of this knowledge, though at
all times willingly and freely imj^arted to those who sought for
information, it was feared that but little had been committed to
paper in an available form. And some reason existed for this
impression. His acute and penetrating intellect, his unwearied
zeal in the collection of facts, and quick perception of their bearings,
associated moreover as these qualities were with an ever active and
fertile speculative disposition, were so completely subordinated to
an inflexible love of truth and certainty, and accompanied with such
a constant dread of loading science with avoidable errors, that it was
at all times with difficulty, and more especially in the latter years
of his life, when his knowledge more than ever shewed him how
much he had still to learn, that Dr Falconer could be induced to
commit himself to the final publication of his views. Nor did he
ever do so until tliey had undergone a long and critical ordeal
in his own mind, and been viewed in every possible aspect.
Gifted also as he was with an uncommonly retentive memory, he
scarcely seemed to require the use of written notes to secure for
himself the retention of facts. The facility with which he could
at will recall the minutest particulars of any sul)ject upon which
he might be engaged, was truly remarkable, and in this power may
be sought perhaps an additional reason for the delaying or entire
omission to place upon paper, things of wliich a [icrmanent record
would have been of inestimable value to others.

But this feeling, that with his life had also jjcrishetl the greater

* Palceontological McniDirs and Notes of the Into lliii;h I'alconer, A.M.,
M.D. Compiled and edited liy Charles Murchison, M.U., Ilanhvickc.
London. 1868.

Falconer's Palccontological Memoirs 227

part of the knowledge he was known to possess, has happily
been removed by the posthumous publication of his literary
remains, in the two thick and handsome volumes before us,
and which include, besides all his printed papers on paLxonto-
logical and cognate subjects, several important more or less
completed memoirs, unpublished at the time of his death, and
which, though doubtless reserved by him for further emendation,
are still of extreme interest and value.

In addition, we are furnished with a copious mass of his
scattered notes and memoranda, carefully collected and judiciously
arranged, pregnant with the most valuable information, and which
cannot fail to be of great use to all future inquirers. It should
be remarked also, that the various papers, whether published
or unpublished, have been abundantly illustrated by plates
from the accomplished hand of Mr Dinkel, and which give this
compilation an original value which it is impossible to estimate
too highly.

The warmest acknowledgment is due from all Palceontologists,
for the fraternal care and friendly zeal with which the com-
pilation, illustration, and publication of the widely-scattered
materials has been so admirably carried out. No better nor more
enduring monument could have been erected to the memory of
Dr Falconer.

Dr Falconer's scientific life may be naturally divided into two
distinct periods, one comprising the time of his service in India,
from 1830 to 1847, ^^i"**^ the other that which elapsed after his
final return to England. The Editor has followed a similar course
in the arrangement of his papers.

The first volume, as stated in the preface, gives the results of
the author's investigations on the Fossil Zoology of the Sewalik
Hills and other parts of our eastern possessions ; whilst the second
is composed of memoirs and observations for the most part
written subsequently to his return to Europe. The bulk of the
materials thus brought together is very great, and although a con-
siderable part of them has already been published, these have
appeared in such an irregular and scattered manner in various
periodicals, some not very accessible, that had the compilation
comprised only these, it would still have been extremely useful.
But the amount of original matter now for the first time given to
the world is also very considerable.

It is of course impossible within any moderate limits to give

2 28 Journal of Travel and Natural History

more than a cursory survey of the contents of such an extensive
compilation, but this we will endeavour to do as briefly as possible.

The first volume commences with a biographical sketch of
Dr Falconer's career ; from which we learn that he was born at
Forres, in the north of Scotland, on the 29th of February 1808,
and after the usual course of scholastic and academical education in
Aberdeen and Edinburgh, took his degree as M.D. in the year 1829,

Earnestly devoted to Natural History rather than to purely pro-
fessional studies, his attention, upon receiving an appointment as
Assistant-Surgeon in the East India Company's service in that
year, was at once directed to it.

He proceeded to London and spent the time he was compelled
to wait before his departure to India, partly in assisting Dr
Wallich in the arrangement of his Herbarium, and partly in the
study of Geology, with the aid of Mr Lonsdale, and in the Museum
of the Geological Society.

Well prepared by previous studies on the same subjects in
Scotland, he could not fail thus to become an accomplished
botanist and geologist ; qualifications which were speedily turned to
account on his arrival in India in 1830, where, almost immediately
after his landing, he distinguished himself by the publication of a
paper on some fossil bones which had been collected in Ava, by
Mr John Crawford and others. Early in the following year,
having been ordered to Meerut in the north-west provinces, Dr
Falconer discharged his first and last military duty, in taking
charge of a detachment of invalids proceeding to Landoor in the
Himmalayahs. This march, however, proved to be the turning
point of his whole subsequent career. The route lay through
Suharunpoor, where at that time the late Dr Royle was Super-
intendent of the Botanical Garden, and whose duties, during a
leave of absence, were committed to Dr Falconer, by whom in
the following year he was permanently succeeded. Thus, " at the
early age of twenty-three, did he find himself advanced to a re-
sponsible and independent public post," and this, fortunately, in a
situation " which offered to a naturalist the most enviable oppor-
tunities for research."

Suhanmpoor, situated at the immediate foot as it were of the
Himmalayahs, from which it is only separated by a low interven-
ing range of hills, was a field especially favourable to the naturalist.
Of the advantages afforded by this favoured site, Dr Falconer lost
no time in av^ling himself. He at once commenced the exploration

Falconer'' s Palccontological Memoirs. 229

of the neighbouring range of hills, and was the first to establish a
strict definition of the name "Sewalik," which had previously-
been but vaguely understood. He restricted the term to " the
tertiary elevations commonly separated from the Himmalayan range
by valleys, or " dhoons," and this definition, after a little opposi-
tion in the first instance, has been since generally adopted by
geologists.

One of the first results of his explorations was the establishment
of the fact that the hills in question belonged, not to the " New
Red Sandstone," as had been before supposed, but to the tertiary
period. This opinion, however, was founded mainly upon geolo-
gical and physical evidence, though strengthened by the occurrence
of beds of lignite and fossilized dicotyledonous woods which had
been already noticed by Lieut. Cautley in 1827. But although
at the time, when he had thus satisfied himself of the tertiary age
of the hills, the evidence of animal remains was wanting, his
prescient mind, nevertheless, led him to foresee " that the remains
of Mastodon and other large extinct Mammalia would be found
either in the gravel or in other deposits occupying the same
position in some part of the range;" and towards the end of 1831
he was able himself to confirm the truth of this sagacious anticipa-
tion by the evidence of a " black cylindrical fossil " which had been
found some years before by his friend, Lieut. Cautley, but whose
real nature had been previously overlooked. Stimulated by the
knowledge of the true nature of this relic, he was led by further
investigation to the discovery of bones of crocodiles, tortoises, &c.,
and of other fossil remains, a brief notice of which important dis-
covery was given in the Journal of the Asiatic Society in March
1832.

Two years subsequently, or in April 1834, Dr Falconer dis-
covered in the Simli Pass the shell of a fossil tortoise, and
shortly afterwards Captain Cautley found in the Kalowala Pass
numerous more perfect remains, not only of reptiles, but also in-
cluding those of mammalian genera, belonging to the Miocene epoch.
"The finding, therefore, of the fossil fauna of the Sewalik Hills was
not fortuitous, but a result led up to by researches suggested by pre-
vious special study, and followed out with a definite aim."

Towards the end of the same year, also. Lieutenants Baker and
Durand, pursuing a similar line of research, discovered the
great ossiferous deposit near the valley of the Murkunda. On
being informed of this important "find," Dr Falconer hastened to

230 Joiirna/ of Travel and Natural History

the spot, where " within six hours," as he states, he collected up-
wards of 300 specimens of fossil bones. Thus, not only were his
previous expectations fully confirmed, but the most abundant
materials afforded him for Palseontological study. The results of
this study are given, as we have said, in the first volume, some of
the earlier papers in which must have been composed under un-
usual difficulties, seeing that in the remote quarter of India in
which he was placed, the " ordinary means resorted to by men of
science for the purposes of reference and comparison were wholly
wanting." " But Falconer was not the man to be baffled by such
discouragement ; he appealed to the living forms around him," and
was thus enabled in some degree to compare "the extinct fonns
with their nearest living analogues."

The enormous extent of the valuable materials which were thus
collected will be at once seen in the Pahxontological Galleries of the
British Museum, of whose contents they furnish so imposing an
element. With respect to this, in more senses than one, gigantic
collection, it may be well said, as remarked by the Editor, referring
to Falconer and Cautley, "Si monumentum requiras, circumspice."

Speaking of this collection, and as a proof of the zeal with which
Dr Falconer must have devoted himself to science during the first
ten years of his residence in India, we find it recorded that, when
compelled by the state of his health to return to Europe in 1840,
he brought with him seventy large chests of dried plants, and forty-
eight cases, containing not less than five tons of fossil bones,
together with numerous geological specimens. The greater part
of the fossils were presented to the India House, but a large
number of unique or choice specimens, required to fill blanks, or
complete series in the Cautley Collection, which was about the
same time presented to the British Museum, were forwarded to that
institution.

But this enormous mass of materials was almost useless until
it was arranged and classified. Sir Robert Peel, consequently, at
all times distinguished amongst our statesmen for his encourage-
ment of science, at the instigation of the various learned bodies,
made a grant of ;;^iooo to defray the cxi)ense of preparing the
materials for study and exhibition ; and at tlie same time, rooms
in the ]5ritish Museum were assigned to Dr Falconer for the
purjjose of his prei)aring and arranging ihcni. It was pro-
posed that the result of his labours should be published in an
illustrated work, to be intitled " Fauna Anticjua Sivalensis,"

Fakona-'s Fa Leo nto logical Memoirs. 23 1

which was to consist of six Parts, and which, it was estimated,
would occupy about six years in publication. Within three
years, however, nine of the Parts appeared, each containing twelve
folio plates by Ford, of unexampled beauty and fidelity, and
affording representations of more than 11 23 specimens. But the
descriptive letter-press, as is but too often the case, did not keep
pace with the execution of the plates ; for, after a little progress,
Dr Falconer " found that the labour in comparing and identifying
the enormous mass of materials was so great, that if he had given
up his time to the letter-press, he would have been unable to finish
the preparation and arrangement of the collection during the period
to which his stay in England was peremptorily limited." In
December 1847 he was, in fact, compelled to return to India,
where he found it impossible to continue the work as he had hoped ;
and as circumstances, at a subsequent period, prevented his re-
curring to it, this grand design was left incomplete, to the grievous
loss of Palaeontology.

One Part only of the letter-press of the "Fauna Antiqua" was
ever printed. It forms the commencement of an account of the
" Fossil Species of Elephant and Mastodon found in the Sewalik
Hills," and well serves to shew how much we have lost in the dis-
continuance of the work. So far as was found possible, this
deficiency has been supplied by a detailed description of the
plates, which has been compiled by the Editor from Dr Fal-
coner's notes and memoranda, and will be found of great value by
those who may be fortunate enough to possess one of the few ex-
tant copies of the plates, for whom this compilation has supplied a
great desideratum. It also affords copious data, on many points,
of extreme value to all engaged in the study, more especially of
the Proboscidea.

The volume commences very appropriately with two highly
interesting papers. One, drawn up from manuscript notes by
Dr Falconer, of a discourse delivered before the Royal Asiatic
Society in 1844, and from a paper apparently written in India some
years previously, contains much interesting matter respecting the
history of the discovery of fossil remains in the Sewalik Hills and
their general relations, and shews how deeply, even at the outset
of his career, Dr Falconer was interested in speculations concern-
ing the antiquity of the human race. The second of these intro-
ductory papers is by Captain (now Sir Proby) Cautley, with whose
name that of Falconer is so inseparably connected, on the " Struc-
ture of the Sewalik Hills, and the Organic Remains found in them,"

232 Journal of Travel and Natural History

which originally appeared in the Geological Transactions in 1836,
and has been very judiciously inserted where it is now placed.

The principal unpublished papers contained in the first volume
are: — i. The "Description of a Fragment of Jaw of an unknown, ex-
tinct Pachydermatous Animal, from the Valley of the Murkunda."
The fossil in question, which was discovered by Messrs Baker and
Durand, contained two posterior upper molars, which, in general
character, so closely resembled those of the Hippopotamus, that
the fossil had been assigned to that genus. Further investigation,
however, in Dr Falconer's hands, proved that it belonged to a
hitherto unknown genus, to which he assigned the name of ChcBro-
therhwi or Tetraconodon^ which presents characters apparently
connecting it with Hippopotamus Sus, and Anthracotherium.

2. Another interesting unpublished paper, which was written
about 1839, is on the " Fossil Rhinoceros of Central Thibet, and its
relation to the Recent Upheaval of the Himmalayas." It aflbrds an
excellent example of the care and skill with which Dr Falconer
set about the unravelment of defective and uncertain evidence, and
of the mode in which he employed his results in the solution of
any question before him.

3. The paper " On Chalicotherium Sivaleuse" was fully prepared
for the Geological Society in 1847, ^ii^cl it appears strange that
it was never presented. It is here given, well illustrated by figures
taken from the plates of the " Fauna Antiqua."

Passing over the highly interesting papers on the fossil Camel,
and on Sivatheriu giganteum, that extraordinary link between the
Ruminantia as represented in the Camelidse, and the Pachydermata,
which have been already published, we come to an account of the
Colossochelys Atlas, perhaps the most extraordinary of all the
strange forms disclosed in the Sewalik Hills, and with respect to
which unfortunately no complete memoir was ever drawn up by Dr
Falconer. The Editor, however, has endeavoured, so far as in him
lay, to remedy this deficiency, and we are here furnished with a
very interesting collection of all the documents relating to this
suljject, illustrated by original figures drawn by Mr Dinkel from
the specimens themselves in the British Museum, so that but little
is left to be desired.

The volume concludes with the " Oflicial Report of an Ex-
pedition to Cashmere and Little Thibet in 1837-8," which, though
drawn up thirty years since, is now for the first time jiublished, and
will, as the Editor remarks, doubtless still be read with interest.

Falconer'' s Palceontological Memoirs 233

The contents of the second volume may conveniently be
divided into those papers, &c., which refer to special points in
Palaeontology, and those which relate more generally to the question
of the antiquity of the human race, and to what Dr Falconer has
somewhere termed " Cryptology," but which might more correctly,
perhaps, be designated Antrology. A subject which of late years
has acquired such gigantic proportions, and is at the present day
pursued with such ardour in all parts of Europe. To the former
class of papers belong several important and lengthy memoirs on
he different species of Mastodon and Elephas, which have been
or the most part already published ; whilst among those which are
now for the first time printed should be cited the most important
perhaps of all the unpublished memoirs left by Dr Falconer — viz.,
that " On the European pliocene and post-pliocene species of the
genus RJiiiioceros."

It is well known that next to the Proboscidea no class of fossil
mammals had attracted so much of Dr Falconer's attention as that
of the Rhinoceroses, and as it was generally supposed he had
written a good deal on the subject, the publication of his observa-
tions was naturally looked forward to by palaeontologists with
anxiety and impatience. As regards the later tertiary and the
quaternary epochs, no class of mammalian remains is of more im-
portance than those belonging to the genus Rhinoceros, whilst at
the same time there are none perhaps in whose study such grave
difficulties have been encountered \ difficulties, however, arising not
so much from the intrinsic conditions of the subject itself as from
the almost inextricable confusion into which the synonymy had
fallen. No one, it was universally felt, was in a better position to
clear up this confusion than Dr Falconer, whose abundant oppor-
tunities of investigation at the fountain-head in all parts of Europe,
quick powers of discrimination, and accurate judgment, plainly
pointed out as the man to undertake the task. In the present
paper, which appears to have been drawn up seven or eight years
ago, we are presented with a clear and lucid interpretation of much
of the vexed synonymy, and furnished with satisfactory distinctive
characters of the species which existed in the period above named.
Much, it is true, yet remains to be learnt with regard to the ex-
tent of distribution and relative ages of the different forms, but a
great step towards the solution of these questions has been gained
when we can feel tolerably sure of the actual species to which a
writer refers. This consummation has now almost been reached
through the labours principally of Dr Falconer, his friend Dr
Lartet, and Mr Boyd Dawkins.

R

234 Journal of Travel a7id Natural History

No public collection in the world affords such abundant and
authentic materials for the study of the fossil species of Rhinoceros
as that in the British Museum. We here find either original
typical specimens or authentic casts of nearly all the forms that
have been described under a variety of names. Leaving these names
out of the question, from twelve to fourteen distinct fossil species
can be determined. Of these, however, only four belong to the
pliocene and subsequent periods. But though the number of actual
forms is so limited, and notwithstanding the circumstance that
there is apparently no great difficulty in distinguishing one from
the other — at any rate when brought together so conveniently for
comparison — the mass of confused synonymy with which they have
been overloaded is quite extraordinary.

We cannot here enter at any length upon this subject, and
must content ourselves with a brief remark or two with regard
to one species with which Dr Falconer's name will always be
closely connected, and with respect to which we find, from a very
recent communication in the "Annalesdes Sciences Naturelles," that
M. Lartet entertains an opinion as regards the synonymy, in which,
as at present informed, we cannot agree, and in which he also
differs from Dr Falconer.

The latest arrangement of fossil Rhinoceroses .adopted by Dr
Falconer is this : —

Pliocene.

I. No bony nasal septum.

1. Rhin. leptorhinus, Cuv. {pro parte).
R. megarhinus, Christol.

R. mercki, Kaup.

II. Partial bony septum.

2. R. etruscus, Falc.

R. leptorhinus, Cuv. {pro parte).

3. R. hemitoechus, Falc.

R. leptorhinus, Owen {pro parte).

Post-Pliocene.

III. Complete bony septum.

R. antiquitatis, Blum.

R. tichorhinus, Fisch. and Cuv.

And this arrangement, with the omission, perhaps, of the geo-
logical epochs to which the various species are assigned, appears
to us perfectly natural and very convenient. As regards the names,

Falcojier's Pa/a:o?ito/ogical Memoirs 235

also, we believe that it represents the real state of the case, and
that these names ought to be universally adopted with the ex-
ception, perhaps, of the last species. For although there can be
no doubt of the priority of Blumenbach's appellation, it would
now be extremely inconvenient to employ it in place of that which
has gained, it may be said, universal adoption. Right must some
times yield to might.

The above arrangement was proposed, it would seem, by Dr
Falconer in the year 1862, in letters to his friends M. Lartet and
Colonel Wood, and it will thus be seen that before that date he
had satisfied himself : — i. That no more than 7^//;' pliocene and
post-pliocene species of Rhinoceros could be recognised, two of
which had been clearly distinguished since the time of Cuvier,
whilst one had been established altogether by himself, and
another first clearly defined and rescued by him from a confused
synonymy. In M. Lartet's interesting paper, just referred to,
the same classification is followed and the same synonomy
adopted, but with one very important and curious difference
with regard to the species last referred to. M. Lartet regards
R. hemitcechus as synonymous amongst others with R. merckii
of Kaup. Of the grounds upon which this opinion is based,
we are not at present fully aware, although they are doubtless
contained in an as yet unpublished communication read before
the Geological Society of France in 1867. It is, therefore, with
the greatest hesitation that we venture to express an opinion
opposed to that of the distinguished French Palaeontologist.
Our reason, however, is simple, yet one which it seems difficult
to get over. In the British Museum there are two or three
sets of casts of three molar teeth of Rhinoceros, which were
prepared, and presented to the Museum by Dr Kaup himself,
as typical representatives, it would seem, of his R. merckii, and it
is not improbable that these casts were taken from the teeth of the
original R. kirchbergense of Jager. They must, in any case, be
taken to represent the true R. merckii of Dr Kaup. Now these
teeth are manifestly those of a species identical with the larger of
the Grays Thurrock forms, and consequently, in all probability,
with the R. megarhinus, which M. Christol from Montpelier and the
best authorities coincide in regarding as the same with the
Grays Thurrock form, which is termed by Mr Boyd Dawkins
R. megarhinus. Moreover, Dr Falconer (p. 309) remarks that
he had carefully examined at Stuttgart the materials on which
Kaup and Jiiger's R. merckii was founded, and had satisfied himself

236 Journal of Travel and Natural History

that " it is not a distinct species, but is identical with the Grays
Thurrock species, or R. leptorhinus {?nihi)." And we further
find in a note (p. 316), that Kaup himself in a later work (Beitrage,
I Heft, p. 4) had given up R. merckii for R. leptorhinus ; though
we are not, in our inability to refer to the original, willing to place
much stress upon this, as it is not improbable that Dr Kaup under
R. leptorhinus may have understood R. hemitoechus. We shall be
curious to see how M. I-artet explains the difficulty.

We are compelled to pass over without comment a number of
the succeeding papers, amongst which are those on Plagiaulax, and
numerous short notes and memoranda on Hyaena, Ursus, (S:c., and
proceed to notice the concluding portion of the volume, which is
chiefly occupied by various papers on antrological subjects — as the
Ossiferous Caverns of Brixham, Gower, Sicily, and Gibraltar,
together with an Essay, or rather the commencement of an Essay
on " Primeval Man and his Contemporaries," which was written
in 1863, and intended, as we are informed, "as an introduction to
a distinct work with the above title, the object of which was to set
forth the physical Proofs of the remote Antiquity of the Human
Race and the physical condition of the earth's crust prior to and at
the date of Man's first Appearance."

As we have before remarked, Dr Falconer's attention from the
commencement of his scientific career had been much devoted to
the above subject, and the present paper, appropriately placed at
the end of a compilation of his labours affords clear evidence how
deeply the subject had entered into his thoughts throughout
his life. It would in fact be quite true to assert that the
antiquity of man and the questions connected with it, formed a
constant stimulus to his palaeontological inquiries, whether on the
plains and mountains of India, or in the caverns and superficial
deposits of Europe. Nor would it be going too far to maintain
that to no single individual can be assigned a greater if so great a
share in giving the first impetus to those researches respecting the
quarternary epoch, which have been so ardently pursued of late,
and have already afforded such satisfactory and astonishing results.

He believed, and the fact can scarcely be disputed, that the
investigation of the Brixham Cavern marked what might almost
be termed the commencement of any really scientific investiga-
tions as to the conditions of priscan man and his relations to
a now extinct fauna. Nor can the credit be refused to Dr
Falconer of having been the first powcrfiilly to call attention
to the importance of a systematic exploration of that Cavern,

Falconer'' s PalcEontological Memoirs 237

which has since been so ably carried out under tiie superinten-
dence of Mr Pengelley, and the results of which we have reason
to hope will very shortly be laid before the world. A second
great impulse in the same direction was, also about the same time
given by the making known of M. Boucher des Perthes' important
discoveries in the gravel beds of the Somme Valley; and here, again,
we find that the general recognition of the extreme interest of these
discoveries, which had before been almost derided in France, was,
in the first instance due, or at any rate was materially hastened by
Dr Falconer, who on his journey to Italy and Sicily, in October
1858, paid a visit to Abbeville, and was there so much struck with
what he saw in M. des Perthes' collection, and at once so impressed
with its value, that he immediately wrote to Mr Prestwich
strongly recommending him to proceed to Abbeville. This advice
was followed, and the results of Mr Prestwich's visit, who was
speedily followed by a host of others, are too well known to require
mention here. Suffice it to say, that from that time the fame of
M. Boucher des Perthes, as one of those who have most contribu-
ted towards the history of priscan man in Western Europe, has been
placed on an imperishable basis. Nor should it be forgotten that
the discoveries made by Dr Falconer of and in the Grotta de
Maccagnone, in the following winter, served in no slight degree to
add to the impulse which M. des Perthes' discoveries, and those
which had been made in the Caverns of Gower and at Brixham,
may be said to have first given to Antrological and prehistonic
research.

With this subject, therefore, above all others, the name of
Falconer, as one of the earliest and most zealous pioneers, will ever
be inseparably connected. Devoted to it all his life, he may even
be said to have perished in its cause. It was his zeal in this inquiry,
more especially as connected with the fossil Cave Fauna of the
Mediterranean, that induced him to undertake a journey to
Gibraltar in the autumn of 1864, to visit on the spot the
caverns and fissures which had been recently opened on the
Windmill Hill, and ably and indefatigably explored by Captain
Brome, to whom Palaeontology is so deeply indebted. The
fatigue incident to a hurried journey through Spain and France
there is too much reason to fear may have predisposed him to
yield to the acute attack to which he fell a victim shortly after
his return, and thus deprived science of one of its brightest orna-
ments and most zealous votaries, and his friends of one of the
most genial, honest, and warm-hearted men that ever existed.

238 Journal of Tnnrl and Natural History

THE BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA*

THIS work of 382 pages has been a laborious undertaking,
which could only have been satisfactorily carried out by an
ornithologist of ripe attainments. The accomplished Honorary
Curator of the South African Museum at Cape-Town is specially
qualified for the task, not only by his long residence in the country
where ornithology has been his favourite pursuit, but by his
previous well-known researches in different branches of zoology
in Ceylon and elsewhere. He has enjoyed opportunities of study-
ing the bird-fauna of various parts of the world, from the United
States of North America to New Zealand, and few have profited
more by those opportunities. Accordingly, he was well prepared
to supply a useful digest of the ample materials at his disposal,
and to present it in a systematic form for the convenience of his
brother naturalists in other regions.

In the preface to this work it is remarked, that "many birds are
herein described that have no claim to be considered as South
African beyond the dicta of the old authors. This has been done
to serve as a beacon to others, that they may avoid the labour and
trouble which I have had in determining their true localities."
Well and good ; but we cannot but consider it a blemish in the
book that such species, or even alleged species, for some of them
are entirely fictitious, and others well known inhabitants of India,
South America, and elsewhere, which can quite safely be pro-
nounced to be entirely foreign to South Africa, should nevertheless
be numbered like the rest, so as to give a total of 792 species
that exist or have been untruly rei)orted to exist in the region
treated of. Now, about 84 species so admitted require to be
deducted, thus reducing the number to 708 species, or thereabouts.
We should prefer to have seen all notices of doubtful species, and
especially of those which are indubitably foreign to South Africa,
printed in smaller type, or (as we hear that this was actually im-
practicable in Cape-Town, from deficiency of the requisite type!)

* The Birds of South Africa. A Descriptive Catalogue of the known Species
occurring south of the 28th parallel of south latitude. By Edgar Leopold
Layard, F.Z.S., &c. 1867. Longman, Green, & Co., 39 Paternoster Row,
London.

The Birds of Son/h Africa 239

they might at least have been distinguished by not bearing numbers
like the authenticated feathered inhabitants of South Africa.
There are, nevertheless, some well-known species of other countries
which we are considerably surprised to learn are likewise met with
in the region treated of by the author ; for instance, a well-known
Indian crested cuckoo (Coccystes melanoleucus), in addition to two
exclusively African congeners ; and, still more remarkable, a species
of titmouse (Parus cinereus), which likewise inhabits the Himma-
layas, the Nilgiris, and other mountains of Southern India, those
of Ceylon, of Java, and of the Philippines — a truly remarkable
range of distribution ; but the most extraordinary instance of the
kind would have been that of the North American cliff swallow
(Hirundo lunifrons), the very singular discovery of which, or of a
species barely distinguishable from it, in South Africa, may be
given in the author's own words : —

" Procured in the neighbourhood of Middlebury, by Mr A. V. Jackson,
building in companies under rocks. I was first led to a knowledge of this
species, by observing an unusual appearance on an overhanging rock, photo-
graphed during the journey of H.R.H. Prince Alfred through South Africa in
i860. On applying a strong magnifying power to the picture, I distinctly
made out that the appearance consisted of a cluster of birds' nests. I at once
concluded that they were constructed by some species of swallow unknown to
me, and requested my zealous contributor, Mr Jackson, to look well after them,
if ever he found himself in the neighbourhood. This he has done, and tells me
that he counted about twenty nests, under a rock, clustered together ; he also
obtained the only specimen which I have seen. Dr Hartlaub, to whom this
specimen was submitted, states that it is a young bird of the American Hirundo
lunifrons ; a species which has of late years been extending its migrations from
its real habitation in a most remarkable manner."

Quite recently we learn that Dr Hartlaub has come to consider
this South African bird to be distinct from its American congener,
as might well have been suspected, and he now designates it H.
Alfredi, in compliment to H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh.*
Specimens, also, of the supposed Cypselus melba and C. apus of
South Africa were not long ago exhibited at a meeting of the
Zoological Society, where they were considered to be distinct from
the two corresponding swifts of the northern hemisphere, and they
must now bear the names C. gutturalis, Vieillot, and C. barbatus,
Sclater (ex Temminck, m.s.).

* A coloured figure of Hirundo Alfredi is supplied in the "Ibis" for April
of the current year, with some further particulars respecting it.

240 Journal of Tra7r/ ami Natural ITistory

That the hobby falcon (Hypotriorchis subbuteo) is occasionally
met with in the Cape colony is a fact by no means new to us ;
several instances of its occurrence are recorded by Mr Layard,
and a specimen having been sent by him to Dr Sclater, the latter
gentleman wrote word — " Never before received from the south of
the equator." Upon which Mr Layard remarks in a note — "This
observation of Mr Sclater's opens up a curious subject of inquiry.
Have this and other species only lately found their way down the
Continent? Or have they escaped the notice of previous observers?
I incline to the former supposition, as I cannot conceive that some
of our common species should have escaped the notice of such men
as Dr A. Smith and Le Vaillant. Look, for instance, at the extrem.e
abundance of Cypselus apus" (C. barbatus) "and Hirundo rustica
throughout the colony. How came Le Vaillant not to include
them among his swifts and swallows? Surely not because they
are European, as he enumerated and figured Cypselus melba"
(C. gutturalis), " and other European species," The question of
the swifts is decided by their proving to be sufficiently well
distinguished as species from their European proximate con-
geners.

The celebrated traveller Le Vaillant is sadly shewn up by Mr
Layard. Some of the alleged species of birds, figured and described
by Le Vaillant, have proved to be absolutely fictitious, having been
founded on made up or compounded museum specimens, certain
of which are still extant at Ley den and elsewhere. In many other
cases he has figured and described species of birds as occurring in
South Africa, which are now well known to be peculiar to far
distant regions, as the Melanocorypha tatarica of Northern Asia,
and various familiarly known birds of India and of South America,
with some also that are peculiar to Madagascar, of which last he
even gives the Malagasi appellations in one or two instances. In
a note to the descriptions of two Asiatic bulbuls, asserted by
Le Vaillant to have been killed by him in Africa, and duly
referred to their proper habitats by our industrious author, he
remarks : —

" I have been at some little pains to trace Le Vaillant's footsteps in Southern
Africa, in order, if possible, to identify such of the birds that have been intro-
duced into his great work as South African, but which are supposed by some to
have been obtained from other countries. A statement which appeared some
time ago in the serial Household Words, to the effect that Le Vaillant never was
in South Africa, also stimulated my desire to obtain full information regarding
him. I need not follow him through all his wanderings at this moment. Suffice

Birds of South Africa

241

for my present purpose to say, that I do not believe that lie ever crossed the
Orange river, and procured this bird (Pycnonotus cafer) there. He describes in
his travels how he was floated across the swollen river, and his chase after the
giraffe. I question much if this account is true. There was living at Camies-
berg, within the last few years, an aged woman named Van Zyl, who related to
my informant that she well remembered the kleine Franschman (little French-
man), as she called him ; that during his stay in that part of the country he
lodged entirely at her house ; and that he never crossed the Orange river, being
too much of a coward to do so. When told that he stated that he shot the
giraffe, she scouted the idea, and declared that the skin which he took away
was brought piece-meal from the opposite side of the river by his Hottentots.
Mrs Van Zyl was a large raw-boned woman, who stood upwards of six feet
and usually wound up her narrative concerning Le Vaillant by laughingly
relating how she had horsewhipped the ' little Frenchman ' for attempting to
be somewhat too free with her."

After reading the repeated exposures of Le Vaillant's mendacity,
and wild flights of imagination brought to notice by Mr Layard, it
is impossible to have any respect for his statements, and it is only
right that his true character should be appreciated. Almost the
first in his particular field of observation, at a time when little was
known of the natural productions of South Africa, there was
sufficient admixture of truth in his elaborate work on the birds of
that part of the world to lend credit to his numerous unfounded
assertions. It may not be generally known that he was sent to
South Africa as a paid collector of objects of natural history by
the father of the late venerable Professor Temminck of Leyden.
Mr Layard also supplies a reminiscence of a naturalist of a very
different stamp, the late W. Swainson, of whose writings and
theoretic notions about classification, at one time so popular and
much canvassed, we hear very little now. They have been pretty
well consigned to oblivion. It appears that much of his property
was wrecked in Table Bay, in the ship that should have carried
his effects to New Zealand. " Several of his books were recovered
and bought up by a number of gentlemen who admired his talents,
and he was informed that they would be forwarded to him if he
would indicate his address. This he never cared to do, and the
books remained here (in Cape-Town). Of them, the South
African Museum has Temminck's ' Planches Colorie'es,' Le
Vaillant's ' Oiseaux d'Afrique,' the first volume of his ' Histoire
Naturelle d'Oiseaux Nouveaux de I'Amerique et des Indes,' and
Wilson's 'American Ornithology.' They contain many curious
manuscript notes on the plates and margin, all bearing on his
ideas of the affinity of species." So writes Mr Layard, and we

242 Journal of Travel and A^atural History

have been informed that some of the MS. notes referred to are not
a little curious, even as a psychological study. Mr Swainson was
Attorney-General of New Zealand for several years, but it does
not appear that he continued his ornithological studies upon the
feathered inhabitants of our antipodes.

The classification adopted by Mr Layard is antiquated, but this
is of little import in a work of which the special object is to dis-
criminate and determine the various species. A few of his iden-
tifications are erroneous, as that of Milvus migrans (seu ater) with
the Indian M. govinda, which latter he includes as a synonyme of
M. migrans. Again, the South African Casarca cana is surely well
enough distinguished from the Asiatic C. rutila, the well-known
"ruddy shieldrake" of the books, or "Brahmini goose" of Anglo-
Indians. Calamodyta (or rather Acrocephalus) arundinacea,
Turdus arundinaceus, V., Sylvia turdoides, Tem., is not the same as
the Indian A. brunnescens. Strix affinis will bear the prior name
of S. poensis, Fraser. His curlew, as we believe, is Numenius
lineatus, Cuvier (N. major, Schlegel), the ordinary Indian curlew,
which is quite distinct from the European N. arcuatus. The
Plectropterus goose is probably the West African P. Ruppelli, not
P. gambensis. Ardeola leucoptera we suspect to be erroneously
introduced, the winter dress of A. comata being mistaken for it.
But there is little else to criticise in the nomenclature adopted by
our author. The name " wild turkey " is bestowed on a consider-
able variety of birds in different parts of the world, and we learn
from Mr Layard that it is applied in South Africa to a species of
ibis, the Geronticus calvus ! The very unexpected fact is com-
municated by his correspondent, Mr Atmore, that the Indicator
minor " kills and eats small birds as savagely as Lanius collaris.
The very first I shot was in the act of eating a sparrow that I saw
him kill in fight. I suspect the other species of Indicator of
similar propensities." Mr Layard shot a specimen of Indicator
major as it was " clinging to the upright branch of a tree like a
woodpecker." The true affinity of the honey-guides (Indicator) is
distinctly with the woodpeckers and not with the cuckoos, among
which latter Mr Layard still classifies them; indeed, the feet are
absolutely those of a woodi)ecker, as distinguished from those of
any cuculine genus. Of a species of true woodpecker, the
Geocolaptes olivaceus, he remarks — " This singular bird i)resenls
a remarkable instance of the adaptation of creatures to the localities
wherein their lot is cast. Though belonging to the woodpecker

Birds of South Africa 243

tribe, it never pecks wood, but bores its way into the banks of
rivers, sides of hills, or the walls of mud-buildings, in search of its
prey, and for a home for its young. It also seeks for food on the
ground, in the same manner as the golden-winged woodpecker
(Colaptes auratus) of North America ; its flight also struck me as
being very similar to that of the American bird." Mr Darwin also
describes a true woodpecker in South America, which is never seen
upon a tree, for there are no trees on the bare lands which it
frequents ; and yet, if one general structure or conformation more
than another would seem to be expressly modified for peculiar
and exclusively arboreal habits, it is assuredly and most emphati-
cally that of a woodpecker !

We incline to regret that our author has not favoured us with
some slight notices of the anatomy of those very peculiar genera,
Irrisor, Indicator, and Colius, which would have been exceedingly
acceptable, as elucidating the disputed affinities of those isolated
forms. The first we believe to be closely related to the Bucerotidai
or hornbills, the second to the Picidfe or woodpeckers, and the third
to appertain strictly to the family Musophagidae or the touracos,
more especially approximating certain species of Schizornis,
which even resemble the colies in the disposition of the toes, as
well as in the texture and colouring of the plumage. Irrisor is
included under Upupidas by Mr Layard, and there is no doubt of
the affinity of the hoopoes for the hornbills, the irrisors holding an
intermediate position. Of Irrisor erythrorhynchus he writes : —

" This bird inhabits the Forests of the Knysna, and extends as far as the Great
Lake. It frequents high trees, about the topmost branches of which it hunts
unceasingly for insects. Its voice is harsh and resounding, and has acquired for
it the name of kackela among the Dutch, which signifies ' the chatterer.' It is a
difficult bird to shoot, being very sliy and wary, and for ever whisking round
on its perch, taking special care, however, of its long tail, by lifting it over the
branches. Its motions at these times reminded me very much of the habits of
the coucals or ' pheasant -cuckoos' (Centropus). I never saw or heard of one of
these birds being observed on the ground. The residents in the Knysna dis-
trict informed me that these birds breed in hollow trees, and that their eggs
were pure white and round."

The predatory habits of Indicator minor, if not of the other
species of this genus, have already been mentioned, as also the
fact of I. major clinging to the upright branch of a tree in the
manner of a woodpecker. . Mr Layard describes three species, I-
major, I. variegatus, and I. minor ; but the genus is not quite

244 Journal of Travel and Natural History

peculiar to Africa, as generally supposed, there being one species
of true Indicator in Borneo, and another in the Sikhim and
Bhotan Himmalaya. Of I. variegatus he states that — "With respect
to the oft-repeated story of the honey-guide leading persons to the
nest of the honey-bee, it is as well to mention that the bird will
perform the same antics, and with the same cries, to lead any one
to a leopard, wild cat, or snake, or will even follow a dog with the
same vociferations." Of I. minor we are told : — -

"The lesser honey-guide is found on the Knysna ; and Le Vaillant gives the
Swartkop and Sunday's Rivers as other localities. It probably extends all
along the south-east coast. M. Atmore procured it at Blanco, and writes
thus : — ' I have had another good opportunity of watching the habits of I.
minor. I used to wonder where they got all the bee's-wax that is usually in
their gizzards, and the other day I found it out. There was a male at a bee-
hive as busy as possible catching bees. After watching him for some time, my
son shot him, and his gizzard was full of bees' legs, with the wax on them. He
is held in no repute here as an Indicator ; but I. major is, and he is scarce.'
M. Atmore has mistaken the pollen of the bee for wax. The bird's habit of
capturing bees like a flycatcher is interesting. In another letter he writes —
' Eggs white, in nests of Picus capensis and Laimodon unidentatus. ' "

Are we to understand from this that the honey-guides are para-
sitic like the true cuckoos, entrusting their eggs to the charge of
other species, or that they repair for incubation to the deserted
nest-holes of woodpeckers and barbets ? We suspect the latter,
and the white eggs are decidedly those of a woodpeckerratherthanof
a cuculine bird. Bruce notices the protrusile tongue of the honey-
guide ; but M. Atmore writes of its " gizzard," a term which, if
properly applied, should intimate a much thicker muscular coat to
the stomach than we find either in the woodpeckers, or in any of
the diversified cuckoo family. Why has not Mr Layard supplied
us with trustworthy information on these points ? As regards
Colius he informs us : —

" Of the three species of this genus found in South Africa, and known by
the trivial name of muis-vogel, or 'mouse-bird,' C. erythropus is the only
one that occurs in the neighbourhood of Cape-Town. It is not uncommon in
gardens during the fruit season, ranging about in small families of six or eight
individuals. They fly with a rapid, though laboured flight, generally at a lower
level than the object at which they aim, and on nearing it rise upward with a
sudden abrupt curve. They creep among the branches like parrots, and hang
suspended, head downwards, without inconvenience ; indeed, it is said that
they invariably sleep in this position, many of them congregated together in a
ball. They are said to breed in holes of trees, laying three or four eggs, some-
what rounded at each end, of a dull white colour. In habits, the three species
closely resemble each other ; and at the Knysna, where tliey are all to be found,

Birds of South Africa 245

we frequently shot them, and could not distinguish which we had obtained until
we picked them up."

The Turactis persa is denominated the " lory" in South Africa,
and it is " very common throughotit the forest districts. * *
* ^ Strange to say, though I inquired carefully, I never could
obtain any information respecting the nidification of this beauti-
ful and common bird." M. Atmore, however, states that the eggs
are white ; but this must be from hearsay, as he writes — •" How
difficult it is to find these forest-birds' nests ! The lories are
breeding now ; but for the life of me I cannot find a nest. The
young ones go in troops, and are delicious eating \ the old ones in
pairs. We never shoot specimens out of a troop, except for the
pot." Mr Layard does not include Colius among the Musopha-
gid^, but gives two species of Turacus, and one of Schizornis.
All are alike peculiar to the African continent.

There are pleasing songsters in South Africa, as in most other
countries. Of the Crithagra canicollis, a finch very closely akin
to the domestic canary bird, we are informed that — " The Cape
canary is a very common bird throughout the colony, congregating
in flocks on the open and ploughed land, and feeding on grains
and seeds of all kinds [?]. It sings very sweetly, and breeds in
captivity with the tame canary, the male bird being very hand-
some ; and, I am told, producing with either the yellow bird or
one of its own species [/. <?., another mate of similar parentage ?].
I purpose trying the experiment." Bessonornis phsenicurus is the
Cape robin, and decidedly deserves the name. It is common in
all the gardens, even in the midst of Cape-Town, flitting along the
gravel-paths, scraping in the flower-beds, perching on the leafless
summit of some deciduous tree, or the ridge of the house-top, and
pouring out a short, robin like song, which when heard in the
dusky twilight reminds the listener of the familiar note of the
household bird of the red stomacher." Other instances might be
cited ; and there are two or three good mockers. Thus Saxicola
pileata is " one of the most favoured and favourite birds of the
colony, over the whole of which it extends. He is protected and
petted on account of his own natural sweet notes, and for his great
powers of imitation. Perched on a white-ant's nest, he pours out
a flood of song, chanting long into the darkening twilight, when
other songsters are gone to rest ; and the morning light scarcely
enables you to see the musician, ere he again commences his
mellow notes or imitations."

246 Journal of Travel and Natural History

Of that exceedingly remarkable bird, the ground hornbill
(Bucorax Abyssinicus), the " Abba Gumba" of Bruce, we are
infoniied that it is

" Common on the eastern frontier, but in consequence of their feeding on
carrion, and emitting a dreadful stench, I have not succeeded in inducing any
of my correspondents to send me one. I am told that they associate in large
flocks, and devour vast quantities of grubs and locusts. They get their name
(" brom-vogel" of the colonists) from the droning cry they utter. The Fingoes
seem to attach some superstitious veneration to them, and object to their being
shot in the neighbourhood of their dwellings, lest they should lose their cattle
by disease. Le Vaillant figures a head of this bird, in which the bare space
round the eye, and the lower portion of that on the neck, are blue. In a single
dried liead which we possess those parts are deep orange-red."

The difference in colour of the facial and inflatable gular skin
is sexual. In a crippled male lately in the London Zoological
Gardens, the skin of those parts was bright red, whereas in three
healthy females at the present time in the collection the same
naked skin is livid blue. The " Abba Gumba" differs widely
from all the rest of its tribe by its lengthened shank and chiefly
terrene habits. As it stalks about on the ground, nobody
unacquainted with it could suppose, at a moderately distant view,
what manner of bird it is, or, in other words, to what family of
birds it appertains. Its eyes are exceedingly prominent and very
mobile, being usually half covered by the upper lid, which is
fringed with strongly developed lashes, and with its projecting
visual organs thus screened, as it steps about, the bird attentively
surveys the ground around and about for the larger insects, and
any small living vertebrated creatures that fall in its way, being
an eager snake-devourer, and buffeting those reptiles with its
wings. In that valuable repertory of ornithological lore, the
" Ibis," there are sundry notices of the habits of this anomalous
ground-hornbill. According to Mr J. J. Monteiro, the species is
common in the interior of Angola, being seen " in flocks of six or
eight (the natives say always in equal number of males and
females). Further in the interior I was credibly informed that
they are seen in flocks of from one to two hundred indivitluals.
The males raise up and open and close their tails exvictly in the
manner of a turkey, and fllling out their bright cockscomb-red
bladder-like wattle on the neck, and, with wings drooping to the
ground, they make quite a grand display. They do not present a
less extraordinary appearance as they walk slowly with an awk-

Birds of South Africa 247

ward gait, and peer from side to side with their great eyes in quest
of food in the short grass, poking their large bills at any frog,
snake, &c., that may come in their way. They are omnivorous in
their diet — reptiles, birds' eggs, beetles, and other insects, genguba
or ground-ants, constituting their food in the wild state. In confine-
ment I have fed this bird upon the same food, also upon fresh fish,
which it shewed itself very fond of, as well as on entrails of fowls,
&c. On letting one loose in Loan da, in a yard where there were
several fowls with chickens, it immediately gulped down its
throat six of the latter, and finished its breakfast with several eggs.
The note or cry of the male is like the hoarse blast of a horn,
repeated short three times, and answered by the female in a lower
tone. It is very loud, and can be heard at a considerable distance,
particularly at night. These birds are said to build their nests on
the very highest Adansoniae, in the hollow or cavity formed at the
base or junction of the branches with the trunk. Their flight is
feeble and not long sustained. When alarmed they generally fly
up to the nearest large tree, preferring such as have thick branches
with but little foliage, as the Adansonias. Here they squat close
on the branches, and, if further alarmed, raise themselves quite
upright on their legs, in the attitude of listening, with wide-open
bills. The first to notice a person at once utters their customary
cry, and all fly off" to the next tree. They are very wary, and the
grass near the mountains being comparatively short, with but
little scrub or bush, it is very difficult to approach without being
observed by them from the high trees."

The foregoing elaborate notice indicates an exceedingly different
bird from the numerous and diversified other species of hornbills
(Bucerotidje), all of which latter (so far as known) are essentially
arboreal and frugivorous birds in the wild state, however compara-
tively carnivorous as observed in captivity. But there are several
instances of kindred genera of birds differing most remarkably in
their customary or occasional diet. Who would have supposed
that the Steatornis caripensis (one of the Caprimulgidie) subsisted
on berries ? And the strong-billed purple swallows (Progne) of
America are described to be partly baccivorous ! Again, the true
rollers (Coracias) are exclusively animal feeders, while the birds of
the kindred genus, Eurystomus — as observed in confinement, at
least — feed eagerly on bananas, as we have often personally wit-
nessed. The ordinary cuckoos (Cuculus, &c.,) are mainly devourers
of caterpillars, and in no instance, that we are aware of, partake

248 Journal of Travel and Natural History

of fruit or berries, whilst the nearly allied genus of koels
(Eudynamys) are eminently berry-devourers. It may not be gene-
rally known that sundry ground-pigeons feed eagerly on earth-
worms, as we have witnessed in the Zoological Gardens ; and it
would hardly be expected that the piscivorous mergansers (Mergus
castor and M. serrator) would take to scrambling eagerly for
fragments of bread thrown to them, a sight that may be ordinarily
witnessed of those at present in the Regent's Park collection. All of
these are instructive facts which should habitually be borne in
mind when cogitating on the differences of the " Abba Gumba"
from the other hornbills.

Another remarkable snake-devourer, also of a peculiar African
type, exists in the famous secretary-bird (Serpentarius reptilivorus),
which the acclimatizers of Australia should assuredly endeavour
their utmost to introduce, especially as it does not attack poultry.
Mr Layard describes it as

" Widely distributed throughout the colony. When a pair estabhsh them-
selves in any locality they speedily drive out all others of the same kind, and
will breed in the same nest for a long period. The nest is a large structure,
added to yearly, placed sometimes in a low bush, sometimes in a thick thorny
mimosa. I am told they never lay more than two eggs, which are of a dirty
dull white, profusely dotted with light brownish-red blotches at the obtuse end,
and sparsely over the whole shell. The young utter a guttural, rattling cry,
precisely resembling the call of the Stanley crane. They are a long while ere
they can walk, as their legs seem unable to support the weight of their bodies,
and snap with the least exertion. One which I was rearing for the Acclimatiza-
tion Society of Melbourne and Sydney trod in a small wooden bowl sunk in the
ground, and instantly fell, breaking his leg and wing. I spliced them both,
but he died in ten days. Since the above was written I have lost several from
similar causes. I have known them snap a legif suddenly startled into a quick
run. All who have tried to rear these birds notice this brittleness in their
bones. I am informed that the texture of the nest is so loose that the legs of
the young hang through the interstices until they acquire sufficient strength to
be bent under them."

Several secretary-birds have been brought to London within the
last year or two, but it is a long time since one has been exhibited
in the Zoological Gardens.* We have seen one kept together with

* It is suggested in the "Ibis" for April 186S, p. 242, tliat the extreme
brittleness of the bones arises in birds reared in confinement, from the fact that
they are deprived of the lime derived from the bones of the small mammals
and reptiles devoured by them in their wild state and brought by their parents.
Sprinkling their food, usually raw meat, with chalk, as a substitute, is further
suggested, and this, remarks Mr Layard, is not a bad idea for those wlio rear
falcons.

The Birds of South Africa 250

a lot of poultry, with which it lived in perfect harmony. Another
anomalous African form is known as the umbre (Scopus umbretta),
which Professor Schlegel considers to be a stork, while Professor
Sundeval regards it as immediately related to the Balceniceps,
another strange African genus, which latter (in our humble opinion)
is more nearly akin to the South American boatbill (Cancroma).
The " strange antics" which it performs, according to Mr Layard,
recall to mind those of the kagu (Rhynochoetus jubatus) of New
Caledonia.

" The hammerkop (literally, 'hammer-head') is found throughout the colony,
and all the way to the Zambezi, frequenting ponds, marshes, rivers, and lakes.
It is a strange, weird bird, flitting about with great activity in the dusk of the
evening, and preying upon frogs, small fish, &c. At times, when two or three
are feeding in the same small pool, they will execute a singular dance, skipping
round one another, opening and closing their wings, and performing strange
antics. They breed on trees and on rocky ledges, forming a huge structure of
sticks, some of them of considerable thickness. These nests are so solid, that
they will bear the weight of a large heavy man on the domed roof without
collapsing. The entrance is a small hole, generally placed in the most in-
accessible side. The eggs, three to four in number, are pure white. On my
late friend Jackson's fann, at Nel's Point, there is a singular rocky glen between
two hills. In this spot, a beautiful permanent spring, called 'Jackals' fontein,'
takes its rise. Of course, in consequence, there are a few wild almond and
other trees, and the place is a little oasis amid the barren mountains. It is a
favourite resort of wild animals, hyenas, leopards, jackals, &c., and here Mr
Jackson has constructed one of his most successful hyena-traps. On the ledges
of the rocks in this secluded spot, a colony of 'hammerkops' have built for
years. Some of the nests are quite inaccessible, while others can be reached
with a little trouble. I counted six or eight within 50 yards, all exhibiting the
same form and structure, and some of them containing at least a cartload of
sticks. Mr Jackson told me they occupied the same nest year after year, and
added to it or repaired it as required. About some that I visited, I found brass
and bone buttons, bits of crockery, bleached bones, &c. Mr Jackson said, if a
' Tottie' lost his knife or tinder-box on the farm, or within some miles of the
place, he made a point of examining the ' hammerkops' ' nests, and frequently
with success ; the birds, like the bower-birds of Australia, embellishing their
dwellings with any glittering or bright-coloured thing they can pick up. In the
Karoo, between Worcester and Robertson, I saw a nest placed on the ground
on the side of a trifling rise ; it was at least 3 yards in length, by i^ across,
with a small entrance hole at one end."

If the Guachos of the South American Pampas happen to lose
any small object, they search the entrances to the burrows of the
viscachas about the neighbourhood, and Mr Danvin relates an
instance of a gentleman having thus found his watch, which he

TRAVEL. s

251 Journal of Travel and Natural History

had dropped while on horseback the previous evening. Mr E.
Newton found four nests of the Scopus, close together in one
clump of trees in Madagascar. " Three of them were on the same
tree ; the fourth on another, which had been partly blown down,
and not more than 6 feet from the ground. It was with some
difficulty," he adds, " that I climbed over the nest, and so solidly
was it built, that it bore my weight. There were two entrances to
the nest (the others had only one each), and notwithstanding the
great size of the nest, the chamber within hardly appeared large
enough to contain its future tenants." Upon another occasion he
found a brood of the Madagascar kestrel (Tinnunculus gracilis)
within the large nest of Scopus umbretta.*

There are several remarkable nest-builders among the birds of
South Africa, and amongst the nests the enormous compound and
thatched fabric of the " social grosbeak" of authors (Philetairus
socius) is about the most celebrated. The nests of Plocepasser
mahali are "composed of the stalks of grasses, the thickest ex-
tremities being placed so as to protrude externally, and offer a
defence against snakes," &c., as remarked by the late Sir Andrew
Smith. Upon which Mr Layard writes : —

" Dr Smith's statement, that the protruding sticks of the nest are meant as a
defence against snakes, appears to me to be as well founded as the idea that
other members of this family construct their bottle-shaped nests at the extremity
of branches, so as to be out of the way of monkeys and snakes. Why should
these birds, beyond all others, be endowed with such prescient wisdom ? Why
should they depart from their custom sometimes, and build their nests on reeds?
Or why take these precautions in places where neither snakes nor monkeys
exist?"

Among the more active and well-informed correspondents of
our author, Mrs Barber holds a conspicuous place, and this lady
writes from " The Highlands," near Graham's Town : —

'* I send herewith the nest of a kind of finch (Hyphantornis capitalis). They
are common, and most likely you know both the bird and its nest, though I do
not suppose that you know the material that the nest is made of ; for in our
youthful bird-nesting days it puzzled us amazingly, until at length we found out
the secret, which was, that the nest of this bird is made of the fibres of the
leaves of a species of Sanseviera, a plant belonging to the natural order
Asphodeleoe ; but as our Flora has not yet been published up to that order, I
cannot give you its specific name with any degi^ee of certainty. It is not the
tall aloe-like one that grows in our forests ; but the dwarf, thick-leaved, stcmless
Sanseviera, with the red edges to its leaves. The whole leaf is full of strong

*Ibis, vol. IV., p. 267 (July, 1862), and vol. v., p. 170 (April, 1S63).

The Birds of South Africa 252

fibres, but from its tough nature the birds are only able to strip off the two
marginal threads ; and to construct one of these nests many thousands of
Sanseviera leaves are deprived of their red-edged fibres : in the neighbour-
hood of one or two of these nests, you will not find a perfect leaf on any of
those plants."

In the Zoological Appendix to Salt's "Travels in Abyssinia,*
contributed by the late Earl of Derby, the curious fact is stated of
Columba guineae becoming a domestic house pigeon ! The asser-
tion has been currently regarded as a mistake unquestionably, but
there is nothing extraordinary in a rock-building pigeon attaching
itself to edifices. All of the house-frequenting birds of this country
are rock-builders naturally, and even now the jackdaw, the starling,
the house sparrow, the chimney swallow, and the house martin,
may not unfrequently be seen to nestle in sea-cliffs. Columba
guinese is described by Mr Layard to be

" Common throughout the colony, nesting in rocky places, on inaccessible
ledges and in holes ; never in trees. * They fly in flocks when the crops are on the
ground, and do considerable damage to the agi-iculturist. In the sea-face of the
mountains, of which Cape Point forms the extreme south, there are numerous
caverns tenanted by these birds. Some years ago I entered one of them in a
boat, and for the first time had the pleasure of seeing this fine pigeon breeding
in considerable numbers ; every ledge of the cavern-side was tenanted by as
many nests as could be conveniently stowed away, while the parent birds were
continually arriving or departing on their busy task of feeding their young.
The cave was unapproachable except by water, and one would have thought
that the birds would have been careless in consequence of the choice of this
eyrie ; but not a nest was accessible. I have, however, obtained eggs of this
species from other sources."

The allied C. arquatrix and C. delagorgui are forest birds, the
former of these placing their nests on the tops of the tree-ferns,
high upon the mountains, as well as upon trees in mountain ravines.
In this country C. oenas is occasionally a cliff-builder, like C. livia,
as discovered by Mr J. E. Harting, although exceptionally and
locally, as it would appear. Mr Layard refers to "the tame white-
breasted guinea-fowl," as if it invariably possessed some white upon
its plumage, as Mr Swainson, too, formerly supposed ; but we have
seen very many of unbroken colouring. Of the wild South African
species (Numida mitrata), Mrs Barber writes : —

" Our wild guinea-fowl are easily tamed, and you frequently see both sorts
together upon the fanners' homesteads on the frontier. Our South African
species is altogether a much handsomer and larger bird than the tame, and is of

* Vide, however, the "Ibis" for April of the current year, p. 141.

2 53 Jounia/ of Travel and Natural History

a much deeper colour, with the white spots larger and more conspicuous. They
are good layers, and rear their young much in the same way as our [so-called]
pheasants do. . . . Sir Walter Currie has upwards of a hundred of these
beautiful birds upon his property (Oatlands) at Graham's Town ; they are
thorough-bred South African ones."

It is not mentioned that the two species ever interbreed, even
when kept together. One more remarkable bird we will bring to
notice, the Podica mosambicana, which Mr Layard arranges with
the grebes (Podiceps), whereas the true affinity of this genus is
decidedly with the gallinules. He also follows the old system of
approximating the jacanas (Parridse) to the Rallidte, and su-
bordinating them to the Palamedeadae. The last we consider to
be modified geese, not distantly akin to the spur-winged geese
(Plectropterus), and especially to the semi-palmate goose (Anseranas
melanoleuca) of Australia ; while the Parridse we consider to be
allied neither to the Rallidse nor to the Palamedeadae. We
cannot perceive that they approximate the Rallidas in any
particular whatsoever. We have watched the Malayan Podica
personata through a glass, upon an alluvial island in the Great
Tenasserim River, and are satisfied that it is a pre-eminently
diving form of coot or gallinule, as the details of its external
structure intimate. Of the South African P. mosambicana, Mr
Layard shot at two without obtaining them, from their efficient
diving capabilities ; and of one of them he remarks — " At first I
took it for a coot, but as the bird dropped its legs, I saw the feet
were bright orange, and apparently weblied [/.r., scalloped]; other
peculiarities also convinced me that I had a stranger before me."
We have not handled the Podica, nor the allied genus Heliornis,
fresh, but feel no doubt that their anatomy will be found to remove
them altogether from the grebes to associate them with the coots
and gallinules. The eggs and covering of the chicks should do
the same, as these are most diverse in the two families in question.

The more prominent characteristics of the South African avi-
fauna may now be very briefly indicated. As many as seven
species of Vulturidae are enumerated, inclusive of the African
lammergeyer (Gypaetus meridionalis) ; about forty authentic species
of FalconidcTe, inclusive of the secretary-bird, which M. Layard
refers to this family ; and ten species of Strigidae or owls, or in all
fifty-seven species of Raptores, a few of which are very rare or
barely admissible. The splendid Aquila bellicosa, distinctly
referred by our author to Spizaetus, is very scarce in the colony.

The Birds of SoutJi Africa 254

only two specimens having fallen within his notice. It is of this
species that Mr. T. Atmore writes, in epistola, — " Just as we were
leaving the Knysna, we heard of an eagle's nest in the forest, and
under the tree, the person who found it counted 95 heads of the
little blue-bock (Cephalophus cceruleus)." M. Layard next describes
six authentic species of Caprimulgus, three of Cypselus, and as many
as fourteen of Hirundinids, if the last of them be not rather a
Cypselus. Next four species of Coracias, the one African trogon,
thirteen species of HalcyonidiK, six of Meropidse, the Upupa minor,
and two species of Irrisor. Then he passes to the passerine honey-
suckers, beginning with that very isolated bird the Promerops
caffer, then twelve authentic Nectarinice, and a Dicasum with two
supposed synonyms that should be cancelled. At least twenty-
seven admitted species are referred to Drymoica. Of the Phyllo-
scopus group only three, one of them being the British P. trochilus.
Ten good species are assigned to Saxicola, and three to Parus
(inclusive of the Asiatic P. cinereus). Four species of Zosterops,
three of Motacilla, and as many as eleven are referred to Anthus.
Eight thrushes, including two species of Petrocincla ; and six of
the African genus Bessonornis. Three orioles ; and six authentic
bulbuls. Various flycatchers of different genera; three Campe-
phagse, and two Dicruri. Four genuine shrikes, with sundry forms
placed near to them, whether or not rightly. Three species of
Corvidse, and fourteen of Sturnidse. As many as twenty-six species
of weaver-birds (Ploceus, &c.), and eighteen of Estrelda and Ama-
dina. Twelve true finches, and four kinds of sparrows ; six
Fringillariae ; and twenty species of larks, inclusive of three
Pyrrhulaudse \ nine Megalophoni (the African equivalent of the
Asiatic Mirafr^), and four Certhilaudce, the affinity of which last is
perhaps closer to the pipits. Three of Colius, two of Turacos, and
one of Schizornis. Five hornbills additional to the "Abba Gumba."
Three parrots only ; seven barbets (erroneously subordinated to the
Picidse) ; six woodpeckers, and the peculiar South African wryneck
(Yunx pectoralis) ; three honey-guides ; three coucals (Centropus),
one malkoha (Zanclostomus aereus), and ten Cuculinse.

There are two species of green fruit-pigeon (Treron), seven
ordinary pigeons and doves, and three ground-doves (Peristera).
Of gallinaceous birds, two species of wild guinea-fowl, ten assigned
to Francolinus, two to Coturnix, two species of Turnix, and four of
Pterocles. The south African ostrich, by some considered to differ
from the northern race. Ten species of bustard. One Qidicnemus,

255 Journal of Travel and Natural History

and four species of Cursorius ; two of Glareola ; five of lapwing ;
the universal stone-plover (Squatarola helvetica) ; eight plovers ;
one oyster-catcher ; the cosmopolitan turnstone ; three cranes ;
sixteen of heron and bittern, with the night-heron ; the Scopus ;
one spoonbill ; four storks; one adjutant-stork; the Xenorhynchus
senegalensis, and Anastomus laminigerus ; five species of ibis ;
twenty Scolopacid^, of which two only are foreign to Europe— the
sole South African snipe (Gallinago asquatorialis), and the so-called
painted snipe (Rhynchsea capensis) which is likewise common in
southern Asia ; two species of Parra (or rather of Metopidius) ;
and sixteen Rallidee, to which the Podica should undoubtedly be
added.

Of Anatid^e, two species of flamingo are recognized ; and fifteen
of geese and ducks of various genera, most of the species being
pecuHarly African. Next follow thirteen petrels, and five albatrosses ;
two skuas, and only two gulls ; six terns, and the very remarkable
Dromas ardeola which is believed to be immediately related to
certain of the terns, notwithstanding its grallatorial proportions.
Last in order of succession come three grebes, one penguin only
(Spheniscus demersus), one Plotus, one Sula, three cormorants,
and two pelicans. Among the land-birds we have only cited the
more prominent and characteristic genera ; and the thanks of the
naturalist community are due to Mr Layard for the great pains
which he has taken in reducing to something like order and cer-
tainty a great deal of heterogenous material abounding in mis-
statements and redundancies, which required that the whole
subject should be worked anew with the zeal, intelligence, and
local knowledge which have enabled him to accomplish his some-
what arduous undertaking to so considerably satisfactory an
extent. E. Blvth.

Note. — Long since the foregoing article was written, the first part of an elaborate
analysis of Mr Layard's " Birds of South Africa," from the pen of J. H. Gurney,
Esq. (who has long devoted great attention to the avi-fauna of South Africa),
has appeared in the "Ibis" for April of the present year. Mr Gurney's ex-
cellent contribution, however, does not partake of the character of a review, so
that there is no occasion to suppress the present communication. He has added
several species to the list of birds obtained within Mr Layard's prescribed
limits. — Ed.

Journal of Travel and Natural History 256

FERNS OF EUROPE AND THE ATLANTIC
ISLANDS^

THIS work is a handbook in a form and at a price adapted to
ensure for it a wide circulation, containing an enumeration
and full description of the ferns (species, varieties, and forms) of
Europe, the Canary, Cape Verde, and Azore Islands, and the
northern half of Asia. So far as ferns are concerned, we can only
regard the whole of the northern hemisphere, leaving out the
Himmalayas, as forming one single and indivisible geographical
region. In every part of it the species common to the whole
region form a large proportion of the total number that occur.
This is the case if we count the number of species, and still more
so if we take their relative abundance into consideration. The
total number of species which belong to this region does not
rise above 150. There are twice as many ferns to be found in the
Himmalayas as in the whole of the rest of the northern hemisphere.
We have nearly one-third of the 150 in Great Britain. As they
stand in the present work, the total number of European species is
seventy, and for the rest of the area included forty-five have to be
added. Perhaps it would have been better, looking at the matter
in the geographical light, to have excluded the Cape Verde's, the
affinity of the vegetation of which is with Senegambia rather than
with the other outlying African Islands ; but the number of Cape
Verde species is only about twenty in all, which twenty, however,
includes six or eight characteristically tropical species which would
otherwise be omitted. For the last quarter of a century Dr Milde
has made a special study of the European ferns, and he is well-
known as a careful and painstaking observer. The ferns of our
own islands have been so thoroughly studied and written upon
that it is not to be expected that a foreigner should be able to
throw any fresh light upon them ; but we would none the less
strongly recommend the book to such of our readers as devote
themselves to the British species, because Dr Milde has traced out
the varying forms of each so carefully throughout the entirety of
their geographical range, as to make the work a profitable study
for all our home-botanists. The extent to which false species have

* Filices Europce et Atlantidis, Asire Minoris et Sibirise, auctore Dr J. Milde.
Lipsicae, A. Felix, 1867, Svo., p. 311.

257 Journal of Travel and Natural History

been manufactured out of some of the common ferns with a wide
geographical area is perfectly astonishing. Osmunda regalis, an
extreme case, for it is so striking and well-marked a plant, and so
widely dispersed in Europe that it is certain to attract the notice
of any person who pays attention to plants early in their botanical
career, has received between ten and twelve specific names, given
to it most of them by authors of high repute who have received the
plant from some distant country, and named it afresh upon the
principle that their old familiar acquaintance could not possibly
have strayed so far. If it has fared so with the Osmunda, what
can we expect with the widely-diffused species of the less clearly-
marked large Polypodial genera, such as Aspidium (Polystichum),
aculeatum, and Cystopteris fragilis ? But we cannot impute any
fault of this kind to the author of the work before us, and hence its
merit. Dr Milde has carefully examined and compared together
his specimens from over a wide geographic range without allowing
himself to be biased by preconceived ideas of the kind to which
we have alluded, and has, moreover, taken great pains to acquaint
himself with, and to procure a sight of authentic specimens of the
numerous species (a large proportion of them bad ones) which
have been published during the last twenty years in the various
continental journals and bulletins, and it is a great boon to the
general student to have these all brought together into one view,
and to have them described and revised (revision meaning in a
large number of cases annihilation) by so good an authority.

We do not consider Dr Milde's scheme of fern-classification, so
far as it possesses any novelty, an improvement upon the old
methods. He divides, in the first place, the Filicoid plants into
four, what he calls, families — Filices, Equisetacea^, Lycopodiaceffia,
and Rhizocarpere. These, we consider, may be fairly regarded as
divisions equivalent to the natural orders of flowering plants, and
we suppose that Dr Milde views the matter in the same light, as
he calls his next divisions sub-orders \ but if so, it would have
been much better to have used the ordinary nomenclature. Filices
he divides into five sub-orders — Hymenophyllese, Polypodiaceoe,
Cyatheacere, Osmundace?e, and Ophioglossere. To this we have
nothing to object, except that it is better to keep the termination
acece for orders. He draws a distinction, which is quite a sound
one, between a true indusium or involucre, quite distinct from the
surface of the frond and destitute of stomata, and a false indusium
passing insensibly into the parenchyma of the pagina, and fur-
nished with stomata on the under surface. This is quite satisfac-

FcDis of Europe and the Atlantic Islands. 258

tory, but, when following out the idea, he puts Pteris, Allosorus,
Cheilanthes, and Adiantum, with Gymnogramme and Polypodium,
into one tribe, makes a second of Blechnum, Woodwardia, Athy-
rium, Asplenium, Scolopendrium, Camptosorus, and Ceterach
(defining this last as destitute of involucre) ; a third of Phegopteris,
Aspidium, Cystopteris, Onoclea, and Woodsia ; and in a fourth
puts together Davallia and Nephrolepis. he gets groups which, in
our view, are neither natural nor capable of being characterized
clearly.

Following principally the lead of Dr Mettenius, whose recent
death in the prime of life is a loss to fern-literature which can
scarcely be estimated too highly, the later German writers on ferns
have adopted a much more technical and systematized terminology
than has ever been used in this country. This has the disadvan-
tage of making their books so much more difficult for the non-
initiated to understand, and in some cases we certainly think they
have gone further in this direction than is compensated by any
advantage Avhich they obtain in precision in defining species or the
groups of various values. For instance, they recognize eight dis-
tinct types of free venation, which Dr Milde defines in his preface
and refers to sometimes, but not invariably, in his descriptions,
called the veining of Cjenopteris, Ctenopteris, Pecopteris, Tteniop-
teris, Sphenopteris, Eupteris, Neuropteris, and Cyclopteris. We
submit that this is overdoing the thing, and that it would be better
to reduce the types to four, as follows : —

1. A distinct unb ranched vein carried into each ultimate divi-
sion, as in Hymenophyllum Tunbridgense.

2. Ultimate divisions with a distinct midrib and simple or forked
veins branching from it, as in Scolopendrium, Lomaria spicant,
Pteris aquilina.

3. Ultimate divisions with a distinct midrib and pinnated
veinlets branching from it, as in Aspidium aculeatum, Nephrodium
filix-mas, &c.

4. No distinct midrib but the veining flabellato-dichotomous,
as in Adiantum capillus-veneris, and Botrychium lunaria.

Will not this, expressing the cutting of the frond in the ordi-
nary way, simple, pinnate, bipinnate, tripinnate, pinnatifid, bipin-
natifid, tripinnatifid, answer every practical purpose ?

It may be useful also to some of our readers if we explain
their terminology of what may be called the architecture of the
frond. For the general outline of the frond, Dr Milde has three
terms, which certainly is not systematising too much, " pyrami-

259 Ferns of Europe and the Atiatific Islands

data," narrowed gradually from a broad base to the apex ;
" decrescens," broadest half or two-thirds of the way down, and
the lower pinnce dwindling in size ; and " ambigua," not distinctly
either of the other two. Nearly all the compound European ferns
are under the two latter, but there are a great many exotic ones in
which the decrescent type is shewn very clearly. In the arrange-
ment of the veining and divisions, he distinguishes between
" anadroma," where the veins and pinnules begin first on the upper
side of the midrib or pinnae as the case may be, and " catadroma,"
where they begin first on the lower side. The three principal
types of architecture are the Polystichoid, in which the veins and
pinnules are entirely anadromous, the Phegopteroid, in which the
pinnules are anadromous in the two lowest pairs of pinnse, but the
pinnules catadromous, though the tertiary veins are anadromous
upwards, and the Cyatheoid, which only differs from the last in
its catadromous tertiary nerves. He distinguishes two kinds of
scales, " paleae cystopteroidece," with the cells not incrassated, but
lax, elongated, prosenchymatous, and concolorous, and " paleae-
clathratae," in which the cells are short and hexagonal, the centre
colourless, and the walls thickened and coloured, and keeps up
Athyrium as a genus, on the ground that, besides its difference
from Asplenium in fructification, its scales are always of the former
type, whilst those of Asplenium are of the latter.

The subject of hybrid ferns is one of the greatest interest. Dr
Milde seems quite satisfied that they do really occur, and mentions
four cases in which, if we understand him correctly, intermediate
forms between well-known species were found in small quantity
with the different plants. In three cases out of the four, Asplenium
trichomanes was one of the plants, and the others respectively,
viride, adiantum-nigrum, and germanicum, and in the fourth
instance the two species were Scolopendrium vulgare and Ceterach
officinarum.

In conclusion, we must not omit to say that the book contains
a comi)lete monograph of all the known species of Osmunda,
Botrychium, and Equisetum, and that upon the latter family Dr
Milde is by universal consent the first living authority. He admits
in all twenty-five species, and seems to consider that sections of
the stems furnish the best characters for their discrimination.

Those interested in Isoetes will find a full account of the fifteen
species which are now known in Europe, two-thirds of which are
quite recent discoveries. J. G. Baker.

Journal of Travel and Natural History 260

THE JARARACA.

THE Jararaca {Bdhrops Ncuwicdii, Spix.) is the substitute of
the rattlesnake in Brazil. About Rio it is frequently met
with in plantations, and in bushy and grassy places by the sides of
woods, but is scarcely ever found in dense forests. The Rev.
Hamlet Clark, in his " Letters Home," gives an account of his first
introduction to it, which may serve for that of the reader too :

" We were riding slowly along in single file, our guide leading, when, as we
passed a broken horizontal limb of a tree, close to the side of the path, all at
once he woke up into active life. He was off his mule in a trice, handed me (I
was next in file) the rein and his whip, had cut down and whittled clean a cane
sapling, and then with all his force whack came the cane on the broken branch !
Now we knew what the man was after. At once there uncoiled itself and fell
to the ground a splendid serpent (the man said 9 feet long, we thought not
quite so much), the deadliest serpent known here. He was sleeping, twisted
round the branch in the sunshine, black and bright yellow, very hideous in its
beauty. A villainous flat broad head, made uglier by a thin neck, snapped at
us in every direction as we stood round it, and a single snap that hit its mark
would have been certain and ^.peedy death to man or beast."

Deadly enough its bite certainly is, but not quite so invariably
fatal as Mr Clark supposed. People are said to have died from it
within the space of two or three minutes after having been bitten,
but more generally they survive for ten or twelve hours, and many
recover entirely or rather do not die, but their constitution is
almost always broken, and they suffer much from ulcerated limbs.

Gardiner in his "Travels in the Interior of Brazil" mentions the
case of a female slave, about thirty-two years of age, and the
mother of four children, who, whilst weeding Indian corn on a
plantation, about eight miles distant from the house, was bitten by
a Jararaca on the right hand, between the bones of the forefinger
and thumb. He describes both the symptoms and the treatment.
The accident took place about eight o'clock in the morning,
and immediately after she left to return home, but only reached
half way when she was obliged to lie down from excessive pain
and exhaustion. At this time she said the feeling of thirst was
very great. Some slaves belonging to the estate to which she
belonged happened to be near; one of them rode off to inform
the manager. When he arrived he found the arm much swollen
up to the shoulder, beneath which he applied a ligature. From a

26 1 Journal of Travel and Natural History

cottage in the neighbourhood he got a httle hartshorn, some of
which he appHed to the bite, and caused her to swallow about a
teaspoonful in water. Being in a state of high fever, he took
about I lb. of blood from her, after which she became faintish.
She was then removed to the Fazenda, and had two grains of
calomel administered to her, and about an hour after a large dose
of castor oil. Gardiner saw her the following day, when she still
complained of excruciating pain in the hand and arm, to relieve
which a linseed meal poultice was applied ; and the pulse being
130, and full, about another lb. of blood was taken from the other
arm. Next day a number of little vesicles made their appearance
on the back of the hand, and a little above the wrist, which, when
opened, discharged a watery fluid. For the next two days she
continued to suffer much pain, to relieve which poultices were
constantly applied. More vesicles formed, and the cuticle began
to peel off in the vicinity of the bite. On the fourth day after the
accident, when the poultice was removed, she complained of no
pain at all in her hand, and on careful examination it was found
that gangrene had taken place, all below the wrist being dead,
and from the state of the arm there was every appearance of
mortification extending. On making an incision into the living
portion above the wrist, a considerable quantity of a very foetid
whitish watery fluid discharged itself; and on pressing the arm
between the finger and thumb a crepitation was felt from the air
which had generated beneath the integuments. She was now very
weak, the pulse 136, small and feeble, and she appeared to be
fast sinkmg. Amputation being the only means that seemed to
oifer her a chance of recovery, Gardiner at once decided to take
off the arm. He accordingly performed the operation, and in a
fortnight after the stump had healed up, and she was walking
about the room. He tells us that four years afterwards he again
saw her, and her general health had not suffered in the least, but
she had become irritable and ill-tempered."'^

This was an exceptionally favourable case. The reader will
understand, therefore, that the reptile is looked on with no little
dread and alarm, and that every one gives it as wide a berth as
they can, although it is naturally timid, and never attacks unless
in desperation, and when it imagines its retreat cut off.

Our friend Mr Alexander Fry, the well-known Entomologist, on

*Gardincrs' "Travels in llic Inlciior of Bnuil, 1846," p. 51.

The Jaracara 262

one occasion had an encounter with them which may be interesting
to the reader, and as we have his permission to repeat it, we shall
endeavour to do so as nearly as possible in his own words :

" One fine morning I left Rio for an entomological excursion up
the mountain of Tejuca, and thence on to a neighbouring mountain
called Pedra Bonita, which is situated between the Tejuca
and the Gavia, and commands a most extensive and lovely
prospect. Its top is nearly flat for a si)ace of many acres,
and is covered by small bushy shrubs a foot or a foot and
a-half high, very like our bilberry bushes. The sun was high
when I reached the top — at his highest and hottest — and
the scene that opened upon my view as I breasted the crest
of the hill, and gradually obtained a more and more extended
prospect, was magnificent beyond description. Even in that
land of paradise I remember nothing more beautiful. Pushing
on with my eyes fixed on the ravishing scene, I had reached
the centre of the plateau without looking at the ground over which
I passed. I had brushed through the bilberry bushes as one would
through the heather on a Highland moor. Wrajot in the heavenly
view, I had paid no heed to my steps, but when I reached the
middle something distracted my attention for a moment, and my
eye unconsciously caught sight of an object which instantly
banished all thoughts of the view from my mind. There ! within a
yard of my knee, coiled up on the top of one of the bilberry
bushes, lay a hideous Jararaca, with his head raised up in the
middle of his coils, his eyes fixed upon me, and his mouth gaping
wide open. It is the habit of these creatures to open their
mouths, and gape ready to strike when disturbed or irritated.
Hallo ! thought I, here is a dangerous neighbour ; discretion
is the better part of valour — I'll get out of his w^ay; and I
turned a little to the left to slip gently out of his reach. As I
did so I just glanced carelessly in the direction to which I was
turning, when I involuntarily started back, for there, within a
couple of yards of me, on another bush, lay another Jararaca,
coiled up like the first, with his head erect, his mouth open,
and his eyes upon me. Lucky I noticed you, my gentleman !
tliought I, and began to slide off" to the right, when there, full in
my face, lay another Jararaca, coiled up on the top of his bilberry
bush — head erect, mouth open, and eyes intent on me. I stood
still, and glanced hurriedly round — the recollection raises the hair
on my head even yet. There, on every side, lay Jararacas upon

263 TJie Jararaca

Jararacas. Their black and yellow livery spotted the whole
space. The hot sun had summoned them all out to bask in his rays.
I had stumbled into a perfect nation of them. There they lay —
every head erect, every mouth open, and every eye turned upon
me. I thought the way by which I came must at least be free.
I looked back. No ! they appeared as numerous behind me
as before. I must actually have brushed close by some of
them as I pushed through the bushes. I was completely
surrounded — the cynosure of all eyes — the object of universal
attention. It was like a horrid nightmare. I had found my way
into Pandemonium, and stood like Satan with all the evil spirits
sitting around me in the shape of serpents. For an instant I felt
chained to the spot ; my heart stood still. But one thinks quick
in such emergencies. I had escaped in my way in, and I thought
my best chance of escape would be by following the same route
out. Gently, gingerly, and slowly I backed my way out of the thick
of them, until the bushes were more free from them, when I
changed my tactics, took fairly to my heels, and in a series of
bounds, more cervine than human, I found myself out of the con-
venticle."

Our friend may thus say that he has been present at a public
meeting or parliament of the Jararacas. From its constitution one
might rather describe them as members of the lower house, but
the silence, decorum, attention to the business in hand (basking
in the sun), and the look of quiet but dignified surprise wdth
which they effectually repressed the intrusion of a stranger, must
have more reminded him of our Upper House. The shortness
of his stay, and the promptitude of his retreat, however, pre-
vented him from obtaining information on some points which
excited his curiosity. Where did they all come from, and where
would they have all gone to when the meeting broke up and
the sun went down ? Although the creature is not unfrequently
met with in the neighbourhood of Rio, it is generally solitary. It
shews what multitudes there must be of them in some localities,
and how, until favourable circumstances call them forth and reveal
their numbers, we may form most erroneous impressions as to the
relative numbers of the animals composing a Fauna.

Journal of Travel a fid JVahiral History 264

<|tti0ctUanij.

A Capybara Trap.^ — The Capybara is sometimes caught, or rather I
should say killed in traps set for it near the rivers in Brazil. I have reason to
know it. I was very nearly caught in one myself on one occasion. It was near
Petropolis, a favourite country retreat of the inhabitants of Rio Janeiro. I went
fishing one day in a stream which flowed not far from it. After whipping it for
some distance without any great success, I came to a part of it where the forest
and underwood encroached so much upon the banks that it was impossible to
fish. At some distance further down, I knew that the banks were clearer ; but
I could only reach this clearer part by making a long detour, or else by forcing
my way through the jungle along the bank. To save time I took the latter
course. T took my rod to pieces and put it up. As I forced my way through
the thick jungle I found it more difficult than I had supposed ; the thick
branches and strong Uianas often nearly completely blocked the way, and I
was more than once compelled to go down on my hands and knees and creep
under them for a longer or shorter distance. In such places I had, however,
generally the advantage of something like little sheep roads or hares' paths,
made by some of the beasts of the forest — made in fact by the Capybara — they
were to a certain extent clear below, but above their height passage was im-
possible. As I was creeping along one of these paths, on my hands and knees,
my attention was most happily, but quite accidentally, drawn to a stake driven
into the ground on one side of me — then two or three more in a sort of row ;
and when I cast my eyes on the other side there was a row of them there too,
and obviously converging closer and closer, leaving little more than space for me
to pass. What can this be ? thought I. Presently I thought the place where I
had got was even darker and more gloomy than before, and looking up I
saw immediately, just above my head, a mass of something black, not very
distinguishable but which looked like a combination of timber and rocks.
Decidedly, thought I, discretion is the better part of valour here, and I backed
my way most cautiously out. I began to guess what it was. It was a Capybara
trap — the stakes on each side were to lead the animal into the trap, and the trap
itself was an enormous mass of stone placed on some timbers which rested on
the stakes on each side, poised so accurately and gingerly that the slightest
displacement of one of these stakes would remove the support and allow the
mass to fall. As soon as I got free from it I made my way to its outside, gave
one of the stakes supporting it a kick with my foot, when the mass immediately
came down by the run. Any animal under it must have been crushed to death.
Had I not chanced to observe the stakes I should most certainly have been
killed or disabled, and it was a place where, if I had been disabled, I might
have lain for days or weeks without any one coming to my rescue or knowing
of my fate. — Alexander Fry.

Mr R. Spruce on Insect Migrations in South America. —

" The first time I saw a house invaded by Cazadoras was in November 1855, on
the forest-slope of Mount Campana, in the eastern Peiiivian Andes. I had

265 Miscellany

taken up my abode in a si)litary Indian hut, at a height of 3000 feet, for the sake
of devoting a month to the exploration of that interesting mountain. The walls
of the hut were merely a single row of strips of palm trees, with spaces
between them wide enough to admit larger animals than ants. One morning,
soon after sunrise, the hut was suddenly filled with large blackish ants, which
ran nimbly about and tried their teeth on evei^thing. My chargjti proved too
tough for them ; but they made short work of a bunch of ripe plantains, and
rooted out cockroaches, spiders, and other such like denizens of a forest hut. So
long as they were left unmolested they avoided the human inhabitants ; but
when I attempted to brush them away they fell on me by hundreds, and bit and
stung me fiercely. I asked the Indian's wife if we had not better turn out
awhile and leave them to their diversions. ' Do they annoy you ? ' said she.
' Why, you see it is impossible for one to work with the ants running over
everything,' replied I ; whereupon she filled a calabash with cold water, and
going to the corner of the hut where the ants still continued to stream in, she
devoutly crossed herself, muttering some invocation or exorcism, and sprinkled
the water gently over them. Then walking quietly round and round the hut,
she continued her aspersions on the marauders, and thereby literally so damped
their ardour that they began to beat a retreat, and in ten minutes not an ant was
to be seen.

" Some years afterwards I was residing in a farm-house on the River Daule,
near Guayaquil, when I witnessed a similar invasion. The house was large,
of two storeys, and built chiefly of bamboo-cane, the walls being merely an
outer and an inner layer of cane, without plaster inside or out, so that they
harboured vast numbers of cockroaches, scorpions, rats, mice, bats, and even
snakes, although the latter abode chiefly on the roof. Notwithstanding the
size of the house, every room was speedily filled with the ants. The good lady
hastened to fasten up her fresh meat, fish, sugar, &c., in safes inaccessible
even to the ants ; and I was prompt to impart my experience of the efiicacy of
baptism by water in ridding a house of such pests. * Oh ! ' said she laughingly,
' we know all that ; but let them first have time to clear the house of vermin ;
for if even a rat or snake be caught napping they will soon pick his bones. '
They had been in the house a very little while when we heard a great commo-
tion inside the walls, chiefly of mice careering madly about and uttering terri-
fied squeals ; and the ants were allowed to remain thus, and hunt over the
house at will, for three days and nights, when, having exhausted their legitimate
game, they began to be troublesone in the kitchen and on the dinner-table,
' Now,' said Dona Juanita, ' is the time for the water-cure ! ' and she set her
maids to sprinkle water over the visitors, who at once took the hint, gathered
up their scattered squadrons, reformed in column, and resumed their march.
Whenever their inquisitions became troublesome to myself during the three
days, I took the liberty to scatter a few suggestive drops among them, and it
always sufficed to make them turn aside ; but any attempt at a forcible eject-
ment they were sure to resent with tooth and tail ; and their bite and sting
were rather formidable, for they were large and lusty ants. For weeks after-
wards the squeaking of a mouse, and the whirring of a cockroach were sounds
unheard in that house." — The your)ial of the Linnccan Society, vol. ix.. Zoology.
No. 38, Dec. 13, pp. 359-60.

Journal of Travel and Natural History 265

A NINE-TUSKED ELEPHANT.

IF the reader will take the trouble to turn to our review of
Chapman's Travels in South Africa he will find there mention
made of a most remarkable abnormality in the dentition of the
Elephant, which occurred in an individual killed near the Zambesi.
The phenomenon appeared to us to open up too wide a field of
inquiry to be satisfactorily disposed of as a digression in the midst
of a review, and we therefore reserved it for discussion in a separate
article. The passage in Mr Chapman's work is as follows : —

"The elephant killed by Molefi, otherwise called Rapiet, six years ago, on
the Teouge, and which attracted notice from the singularity of its having no less
than nine perfect tusks, was, he told me, a male. The tusks were ranged five
on one side and four on the other. I purchased some of the tusks at the time ;
but they had been rnixed up -vyith many others, and, when I lieard of the
peculiarity, they could not be identified. I got Molefi to describe the affair
over again, and Bainesmade a sketclifrom liis description. " — (Chapman's Travels,
vol. ii., p. 98.)

The reader will remember that Mr Baines accompanied Mr
Chapman on the journey referred to, and that Mr Baines had
already, some years since, published an interesting account of his
travels, entitled "Explorations in South Africa." In that work he
speaks of the same elephant in the following passage : — -

' ' One of the most wonderful freaks of nature I have heard of, is an elephant
with nine tusks, shot about the year 1856 by this man. It had on the right
side five and on the left four, all growing as usual out of the upper jaw. The
pair occupying the usual place were of about thirty pounds weight each ; just
behind them were a pair somewhat larger, pointing downward and backward ;
between these was another smaller pair, and before and behind them in the
right jaw were two others, but in the left only one behind, all these being much
smaller. I made two sketches, one of each side in his presence ; and there is
no doubt of the fact, as Mr Edwards, the partner of Chapinan, bought six of the
tusks ; the head unfortunately was broken up." — (Baines' "Explorations in South
Africa," p. 454.)

Mr Chapman is in South Africa, beyond reach of our interpolla-
tions, but Mr Baines fortunately resides in London, and we have
thus been able to obtain some additional details from him per-

TRAVEL T

266 Journal of Travel and Natural History

sonally. That eminent traveller has not only most liberally placed
his sketches of the nine-tusked elephant in our hands, with per-
mission to use them, but has also had the kindness to make draw-
ings from them for the accompanying woodcuts, the two first being
taken from the original sketches, and the third, with the mouth
open, an imaginary sketch made at our request to shew our idea of
the real position of the teeth, and which he has been willing to
execute notwithstanding that it is opposed to his own convictions
on the subject.

The elephant in question was, as above mentioned, shot
by a Bechuana named Mahura or Rapiet (that is, the father
of Peter, it being it seems the custom in that country to call the
parent after his first-born son), and both Chapman and Baines
consider his testimony on this point honest and reliable — a
conclusion in which the anatomists who have seen the sketches
concur, from the intrinsic evidence of the apparent position
assigned to the abnomial teeth. Although Baines and Chap-
man did not see Rapiet until some six years after he had shot
the elephant, the subject had surprised himself so much, and at-
tracted so much attention in the country, that it remained fresh in
his recollection. Mr Baines made a drawing of the head and tusks in
his presence, and took great care to place them according to his ac-
count of their actual position. Rapiet gave him no reason to
imagine that any of them grew anywhere but in the upper jaw, and
Mr Baines tells us that he is quite sure that if either of them had
grown from the lower jaw he would have told him of it. Mr
Baines consequently supposes that they all grew as usual from the
socket of the tusk above the upper jaw. We think, for reasons to
be presently mentioned, that he must be wrong in this, as he
certainly is in an analogy which he suggests, and which we only
note, that it may not be said that we have kept back anything re-
lating to such an interesting case. He says : —

"I do not profess to account for it, but if I mention that the Kak tribes, by
splitting the horns of the young calves, cause them to grow into any number of
branches, as the animal attains maturity, it may be suggestive to those who wish
to investigate such cases. 1 have seen many instances of deformed, distorted,
or broken tusks, the fractured parts of which were overgrown with nodules or
excrescences of ivory."

Mr Baines has also shewn us a sketch taken from a dead elephant,
in which one of the tusks is turned up in the ordinary way, and the
other turned down like the two additional large ones in this

A Ninc-Tusked Elcpha?it

207

mammal. This is all that we know, or are ever likely to know,
regarding this extraordinary case, and it was a most fortunate
chance that sent Mr Baines to the spot to take the sketches from
the description of the man who saw it, killed it, ate it, and sold it.

7^/3 oumju,.

Fig. I.

The woodcut, fig. i, is taken from Mr Baines' sketch of the
right side of the head, fig. 2, from that of the left side (both drawn
in Africa).

Fig. 2.

When Mr Baines put these into our hands, our first step was
to endeavour to decipher the problem they presented— to
bring the huddle of tusks into something like order, for, however
incongruous in appearance, they could not be disposed at chance,

2 68 Journal of Travel and Natural History

or according to no law. It is true that Nature sometimes takes
strange liberties, refusing to be bound by the strict rules to
which our ideas of homological propriety would confine her ; and
our knowledge of teeth and their developments is still anything
but satisfactory. Unaccountable, or rather unaccounted for, mon-
strosities are preserved in bottles in surgical museums, where teeth
appear in strange and unwonted places, and extraordinary variations
in the dentition of otherwise perfectly normal individuals occur.
Falconer, for example, figures (Palseont. Mem., vol. ii., pi. 21) the
right lower ramus of a rhinoceros jaw, which possesses two pre-
molars, four nearly equally worn, for which it has no manner of
excuse on the plea of ancestry — and many similar deviations
might be collected. Speaking generally, however, there is a place
for everything, and the only barrier to our interpreting every de-
viation from ordinary rule is our own ignorance of the laws re-
gulating them. In the present case we entered on the inquiry with
the advantage of being able to identify at least two of the nine
tusks (the ordinary tusks), and were thus provided with a starting-
point to serve as a guide to determine the character of the rest.
Wisely distrusting, however, our own qualifications, we had recourse
to the assistance of two experts, to whose judgment all would be
likely to defer. Mr Boyd Dawkins and Professor Huxley have
carefully considered the sketches and facts, and their opinion is
expressed in the following letter from Mr Dawkins (which he al-
lows us to print) : —

"I thank you much for the remarkable sketch, which has a very important
bearing on the theory of descent with modification. To go into the matter
as it deserves would far exceed the limits of a letter. Before, liowever,
I briefly recapitulate what strikes me at sight, I would say that I accept the
truth of the story told, after the lapse of six years, by an African hunter,
although the Africans, as a rule, beat even the Cretans in lying. The peculiar
form of the tusks, and their insertion into the jaw, could not have been the
offspring of African shrewdness. There is, however, one point in which the
sketch seems to be rather obscure. The large downward and backward cur\'ing
tusk c apparently springs from the same alveolar base as the large nonnal
tusk b, in the sketch of the right hand side of the head. It is altogether im-
possible, so far as we know of the development of teeth, that two tusks of that
magnitude could co-exist in the same pre-maxillaiy. Their diverse curvature
also would oblige their alveoli to assume a diverse direction. Therefore, I take
it that c and b do not belong to the same pre-maxillary, as is shewn in
the sketch of the right side, but to the upper and lower jaws, as seems to be
represented in the sketch of the similar tusks in the left side of the head. On
the assumption of the truth of this inference, the incisive dentition is full of

A Nine-Tuskcd Elephant

269

the deepest interest. Falconer wrote, in 1856, an essay to prove that the teeth
of Deinotherium Elephas and Mastodon formed one series, and in 1862 (in his
essay on E. Cohimbi, Nat. Hist. Rev.) he committed himself to the conclu-
sion that those three genera sprang from the same common ancestors, and not
from one out of the three. Now, had I to construct an ideal ancestor for the
three genera, its incisors would assume very much the form of those of the
sketch. Elephas would necessitate two large upward curving tusks in the
pre-maxillary ; Mastodon, two straight tusks in the lower jaw g and h; and Dei-
notherium, two downward curving tusks, also on the lower jaw. I cannot
believe that anything happens by accident in nature, and, therefore, I would
attribute this abnormal incisive dentition to the law of recun-ence to an
ancestral type, just in the same way as Darwin accounts for the recurrence of
the colour in domesticated breeds of pigeons. On any other hypothesis it
remains a stumbling-block, and a riddle without an answer. All the elephants

di I II 1. . „ .,_ HT . J di I II

possess " ^it-~^-^ —

di o I Oj

but all the Mastodons

di I I i>

all the Deinotheria

This elephant possessed the incisive characters of the other two

di ? I
di ? I

genera, plus other smaller teeth, normally undeveloped in the elephant Deino-
therium and Mastodon. The teeth seem to be as follows : —

Upper \

Right

I -H
o +

+ I
+ I

Under I

Left — Incis.

Ridlt M

I +
I +

I -t- o =
I -h o =

The smaller upper incisors a and c, which are found in none of the three
genera, seem to me to be the result of a struggling after the full complement in
the Herbivora. If the first small incisor a be in its true place, then the tusks
of Elephas are not incisors one, as they have always been considered to be,
but incisors two."

Fig.

Fig. 3 shews the disposition of the teeth as thus deciphered.
A glance at the lower jaw of the Deinotherium and Mastodon,

270

Journal of Travel and Natural History

will shew the acuteness of Mr Dawkins' diagnosis, and the vrai-
semblance of his interpretation. Fig. 4 shews the lower jaw of the
Deinotherium, and, looking at Mr Baines' sketch of the left side of
our elephant, it can scarcely be doubted that the large downward
and backward curving tusk, which we shall denominate the Deino-
theroid tusk, is the homologue of the tusk in the Deinotherium,

and that it must have grown in the lower jaw. As Mr Dawkins
justly says, there is no room for such a tusk in addition to the
normal tusk in the pre-maxillary bones, and although it is not even
free from difficulty to imagine how it could find room in the lower
jaw, especially from want of length, the difficulty is undoubtedly
less there than in the upper jaw.

Fig. 5-

Figs- 5, 6, and 7 represent the under jaw of different species of
Mastodon (fig. 5, M. Ohioticus ; fig. 6, M. angustidens ; fig. 7,
M. longirostris), and we imagine still less difficulty will be felt in
accepting the small straight projecting teeth (which we shall
call the Mastodontoid tusks), seen between the two large tusks
in our elephant as the homologues of the projecting incisors in the

A Nine-Tusked Elephant 271

Mastodon. But here an interesting question arises — What incisor,
in point of order, do these tusks represent ? Heretofore,
we have been accustomed to consider the tusks of the Deino-
therium as representing the same incisors (in their order) as
those of the Mastodon — that, in fact, the lower jaw of the
Deinotherium was merely that of the Mastodon bent down,
and that these, as well as the tusk of the elephant and
Mastodon in the upper jaw, represented one and the same
incisor (in order) in all. We do not know that there is any
authority for the belief, or that any one has made it actually the

Fig. 6.

subject of investigation ; indeed, there have hitherto been no
termini habiles from which such an investigation could proceed,
but Mr Dawkins informs us that he considers that the current
belief among palaeontologists is, that the tusks in all three represent
the same incisor, based, so far as can be made out, on a theory that
if any incisors of any beast be undeveloped, they jnust be either
I. 2 or I. 3 ; but, as he admits, adhuc sub judice lis est. Up to
this time the theory could not h»e called more than a conjectural
hypothesis. The new information contributed by this elephant,
however, would seem to sweep this theory clean away, and teach us

that all the incisors are equally liable to non-development, and that
in the same family now one, now another, and again a third, may in
their turn be the subject of e.xcessive development at the expense of
the other.

Taking six incisors as the tjq^ical number in all herbivorous
animals — that is, three on each side in each jaw, under the theory
alluded to by Mr Dawkins — the incisor which should be most de-
veloped should always be the first, and if two only are present,
then the two first ; but we should read ordinary facts differently.
In mammals generally, we think {e.g., camivora, cattle, deer, &c.),

272 Journal of Travel and Natural History

where the full complement of incisors is present, the most de-
veloped incisors are the outermost — I. i is the smallest, I. 2
next smallest, and I. 3 largest ; and if we carry the canines into the
inquiry the position is still stronger : and we imagine that we may
fairly on this point reckon the canines as outer incisors. Although
springing from another bone, their form and intimate structure
assimilates them with the incisors rather than the molars. Facts
would appear, therefore, rather to tend to the opposite conclusion
from that of the theory. It would seem reasonable that the incisor,
which is most largely developed in general, should be that which
would be preferably developed in the case of a diminution in the
number. But the position of the tusks in this nine-tusker shews that
both conclusions are erroneous. According to the theory the normal
tusk of the elephant is incisor i, but in the nine-tusker there is a
small tusk in front of the large tusk, and it must therefore be No.

1, so that the normal tusk is incisor No. 2; and our supposed con-
trary position, that it should be No. 3, based on the outermost inci-
sor being generally the largest, is also shewn to be untenable,
because in the nine-tusker there is a small tooth behind the normal
tusk, which must be No. 3. The truth seems to be, that any
of the incisors may take special development as a specific character.
And in the case of the Mastodon, Elephant, and Deinotherium, we
think there is reason to hold that all three have been respectively
so developed in turn. It appears to us that the tusk of the Mas-
todon represent incisor No. i, that of the Elephant incisor No. 2,
and that of the Deinotherium incisor No. 3.

We take the occurrence of a small tusk in front of and another
behind the normal tusk in the nine-tusker to be probatio probata^
that the tusk of the Elephant is incisor No. 2. If that is settled
it breaks up the theoretical rule, and we have then only to go by
probabilities drawn from analogies and resemblances.

Now, the very first of these probabilities, drawn from
analogy, is, that as the tusk of the Elephant is incisor No.

2, so should the tusk of the Mastodon and the tusk of
the Deinothere. But that this cannot be the case is at once
shewn by the representative tusk of both the Mastodon and
Deinotherium being both present in the under jaw of our nine-tusker.
They cannot both be the second incisor; consequently, the
analogy from the developed tusk in the Elephant being incisor No. 2
falls to the ground. The special development is obviously not
the same in all three, and as the Mastodontoid tusk is the inner one,

A Nine-Tusked Elephant 273

it cannot be the third. It must either be the second or the first.
It must either be homologous with that of the Elephant, or else be
incisor No. i. Now, in estimating the probabilities for and against
this, we do find some slight difterences between the tusk of the
Mastodon and Elephant. In dealing with the tusks of the Mas-
todon we are here assuming that both those in the upper and
under jaw represent the same incisor. It is only an assumption, but
the laws of symmetry will probably bear us out. We are obliged to
assume it, or we should not be able to compare the two, for it is
obvious, that if the upper and under Mastodon tusks do not represent
the same tooth, we have nothing to compare with the tusks of the
elephant. We might compare the upper tusks of the Mastodon
with them, but if they are not the same as the under tusks the
argument would not affect the latter. Assuming them to be the
same, the differences between them and those of the Elephant's
are, first, that they are somewhat differently shaped ; they project
nearly straight forward, being only slightly deflected from the line
of the molars. This at least, so far as it goes, is not an argument
for identity of tooth, but rather the reverse. Next, they are pro-
portionally smaller than the tusks of the Elephant and Mammoth.
If we are right in regarding the inner incisors as the smallest, this
points to their representing an incisor within that of the Elephant.
Their texture may furnish another plea.

Mr Baines mentions one commercial fact relating to the teeth
of the Hippopotamus, which may or may not have some bearing on
this point. It appears that the canine teeth in the lower jaw of
the Hippopotamus are of finer and better texture than the projecting
incisors. Mr Baines says that the latter do not sell for ivory, while
the canines do. We have above said that there seems no reason
in such a question as this for putting the canines in a different
category from the incisors. But although we were to do so, it
would not affect our argument, which is, that if the dentine of the
Mastodon's tusk is inferior to that of the Elephant, it is a symbol
of inferiority of development ; and inferiority of development is the
character of incisor No. i, as compared with incisor No. 2 — size
and development being here convertible terms. Now, we have
very little comparative knowledge of the dentine of the respective
merits of the tusks of the Elephant and Mammoth. The only
published information which we know on the subject is two
figures of the microscopic structure of each highly magnified,
given by Professor Owen in his "Odontography" plates. In these

2 74 Journal of Travel and Natural History

the dentine of the Mastodon certainly seem less dense and fine
than that of the Elephant. With the view of throwing further
light on this point, Mr Waterhouse of the British Museum has
kindly caused a section to be made of a portion of the tooth of
the lower jaw of the Mastodon and of the tusk of the Deinothere.
Unfortunately the two teeth were not in an equal state of preser-
vation, which somewhat vitiates the result, but so far as it goes it
shews a closer and finer consistency in the Deinothere than in the
Mastodon.

For these reasons, slight though they be, we are inclined to regard
the tusks of the Mastodon as being incisor No. i, the Elephant's
tusk being incisor No. 2. The temptation is great to regard the
tusks of the Deinothere as being incisor No. 3.

The wish, perhaps, is father to the thought. It would complete
the series and harmonize with the succession propounded by Mr
Falconer for the other teeth of the three genera. It seems, too,
not unnatural that, when we find that the difference in the teeth
of two out of three of the forms of the same type makes its appear-
ance in different incisors, we should, when we find a third diffe-
rence in a third species, expect it to be manifested in another also.

The most formidable objection seems to be that the symmetry of
the two jaws in the nine-tusker would require that the large teeth
in each should represent the same incisor in point of order. There
is, however, what appears to us a good answer to this. In the
Mastodon we know the tusks of the lower jaw are greatly smaller
than in the upper, and if this is to be accepted as a guiding rule,
it would follow that the Deinotheroid tusk in the lower jaw of the
nine-tusker is actually larger than the normal tusk in the upper
jaw, instead of being smaller, and, consequently, cannot represent
the same tooth. And this is one of the reasons for supposing it
to be incisor 3 — for the incisors, increasing in size gradually out-
wards, the largest should come last. And if we increase the
size of the Deinotheroid tooth in the same proportion that the
Mastodontoid tooth has to be, to give it the proportions of an
upper tusk, it would greatly exceed in size the Elephantoid tusk.
And the same remark applies to the Deinothere itself. At first
sight there would seem to be no means of comjxarison between the
tusks of the Elephant and those of the Deinothere, tlie one being
on the upper jaw, and the other in the lower. But if we take the
proportion of the size of the head into account, the proportion
between the lower and upper tusks of the Mastodon as a guide,

A Nine-Tusked EIepha}it 275

and increase that of the Deinothere to the same degree, we should
then have to enlarge it by three or four times before comparing it
with the tusk of the Mammoth — when we should find it vastly
thicker, and not much inferior to it in length ; and the thickness
is of more importance than the length, as indicating better the
size of the socket. The enormous thickening of the deflected
beak, or prolongation of the symphysis of the lower jaw in the
Deinothere, is another argument indicating unusual size. How
far the actual position of the tusk in this, as made out from
young individuals, will further corroborate our view, we must
leave to observers who have the opportunity of making the
examination to determine. The texture of the tusk of the Dein-
othere, so far as we can make out from a microscopic examin-
ation of sections in the British Museum and College of Surgeons,
seems to us to harmonize with this view — its density and closeness
being apparently greater even than of the Elephant.

Before closing we should like to say one word on Falconer's view,
adopted by Mr Dawkins, that the three genera must have sprung
from one common ancestor, and not from one out of the three,
to which the reduction of their dentition into regular distinct series
(like three tunes played on different keys on the same instrument)
lends support.

We may observe, however, that this is not a necessary corollary
to there being in each a distinct series of teeth. As Mr Falconer
says elsewhere ("British and European Fossil Mastodons," Palaeont.
Mem. ii., p. 17 and 18) — "Although the Mastodon of North
America and the Mammoth are so widely different in the form of
their molar teeth, that they must be ranked under distinct genera,
the intermediate gradations are so complete as to establish a pas-
sage from one into the other." And we can see no necessity
requiring the evolution of each form directly from the first common
ancestor, possessed of the proboscidean qualities ; they may be so
evolved directly, but there is nothing to hinder one or more of the
series remaining concealed and undeveloped through a long suc-
cession of only one of the forms ; and when the proper conditions
for its evolution occurred, that it should then, and only then, make
its appearance. Editor.

276 Journal of Travel and Natural History

ON MR WALLACES THEORY OF BLRDS' NESTS.
By the Duke of Argyll.

THE "Theory of Birds' Nests," published in No. 2, Vol I.
1868, of this "Journal," by Mr A. Wallace, is a theory which
appears to me to be altogether unsound. It rests upon an
ingenious but a very partial and a very arbitrary selection among
the facts of nature ; it takes no account whatever of many of
those facts which are nevertheless conspicuous \ and it is supported
by arguments which are often inconsistent with each other.

The theory itself is prefaced by some general observations to
which also I venture to take exception. I propose in this paper
to deal with the various propositions of Mr Wallace in the order
in which they occur, whether in the prefatory remarks, or in the
more formal exposition of the theory itself

In the first place, then, Mr Wallace condemns " the very
general belief that every bird is enabled to build its nest by means
of some innate or mysterious impulse," and he opposes to this
belief, as the true doctrine, that birds are enabled to build their
nests "by the ordinary faculties of observation, memory, and
imitation."

Now, as the young bird which (in England) is born in May or
June 1868 will proceed in April or May 1869 to build a nest as
perfect and as beautiful as that in which itself was hatched, I do
not see how either memory, or imitation, or observation can have
anything to do with its architectural powers. It is true, no doubt,
as Mr Wallace observes, that some birds (some only) shew con-
siderable intelligence in "modifying the position, form, and
material of their nests to suit the changed conditions with which
the presence of man surrounds them." But this margin of varia-
tion, like all the modifications of mere instinct, is confined within
narrow limits; and this degree of intelligence, whatever it may
amount to, is itself hereditary and innate, so that it is no greater
in an old bird which has seen many summers than in a young bird
which has not seen more than one, and never can have seen any
nest constructed. The innate character of the physical powers
and tendencies which lead to nest-building, is well seen in the
chick of the Telegallus, which begins scratching and scraping up
the ground the moment it quits the egg, in unconscious but

On Mr Wallace's Theory of Birds' Nests 27,7

instructive exercise of the peculiar habit by which the Hatching
Mounds are afterwards to be constructed.

Mr Wallace next observes that the habit of ascribing of nest-
building to innate impulse " has had the bad effect of withdrawing
attention from the very evident relation that exists between the
structure, habits, and intelligence of birds, and the kind of nest
they construct." But no such effect has arisen or can possibly
arise from the doctrine he condemns. Those who believe that
the nest-building instinct is innate, believe also, of course, that
the structure and habits, and intelligence of birds are all equally
innate, and are all strictly correlated together.

Mr Wallace next proceeds to give some explanation of the
peculiar nests of some birds as necessarily resulting from the physical
structure of those birds themselves. I do not think this explanation
is successful. Thus the Caprimulgidje are said to be physically in-
capable of weaving together moss, or fibres, or wool into a strong
well-constructed nest, because of their small broad bills, and their
feet weak in grasping power. But some of the most perfect nests in
the world are made by bills apparently quite as ineffective — as, for
example, the beautiful nest of long-tailed Tit. The bill of this bird
is extremely short, and not very pointed. Nor does a strong grasp
of foot seem necessary for the building of a nest on the ground.
On the other hand, many birds with a " well-formed and pointed
bill" make no nest at all — as, for example, the Terns and Sandpipers.
Nor is it true that no good materials are to be found in the haunts
of these birds. Dried sea-weed, and the grasses and other plants
which grow in abundance on the margins of lakes and seas and
rivers, are admirable materials for being woven, nor could any
implement be apparently m.ore admirably adapted for weaving
them than the bill of a Tern or a Sandpiper. Mr Wallace has
missed the real explanation in his determination to accept no
explanation which is not rooted in a mere physical cause. There
is a reason — a very manifest reason — why Terns and Sandpipers
should not make elaborate nests ; but there is no physical cause
rendering it impossible for them to do so. The reason is simply
this, that birds which require to breed upon the open ground,
must, for the purpose of concealment, make nests as small and
inconspicuous as possible. Even the very least collection of
materials upon a particular spot attracts the eye at once as it
ranges over any uniform or slightly varied surface ; and the
instructive knowledge and feeling of this fact has been given to

2j-jS Jo2irnal of Travel and Natural History

the birds whose . habitat is the ground, as a necessity of their
existence and of the continuance of their species. Many species
make no nest whatever, and, in general, the purpose of conceahnent
is still more perfectly secured by an admirable adaptation of the
colour of the eggs to the colour of the ground.

Mr Wallace next looks out for other physical causes as determin-
ing bird architecture. " Two other factors," besides the structure of
the bird, he specifies — one is the effect of changes in external con-
dition, producing corresponding changes in the form, or the material,
or the situation of nests ; the other is the influence of hereditary
habit, tending to preserve such modifications even after they have
ceased to be directly useful. But hereditary habit is merely another
form of expression for an instinct. Hereditary habit is an inborn
tendency to do certain things in a certain manner — a tendency
purely congenital and quite independent of experience or observa-
tion of any kind. So far, therefore, I agree with Mr Wallace, although
here he does not appear to agree with himself, that this is not only a
" factor," but the most powerful factor of all in the nest-building of
birds. I agree also with him that external conditions, or what he
calls "environment," is another factor — for the very obvious reason,
that both the structure and the implanted instincts of birds must be
correlated with the external conditions in which they are intended
to live. But this is an explanation only in the sense of indicating
a purpose which we perceive, and which we see to be actually
attained. It is no explanation at all in the sense of even suggest-
ing any instrumentality which we can understand. The reason
why such correlations should exist is as clear as day. The physical
causes by which they have been brought about are as dark as night.

So far I have been dealing only with Mr Wallace's preliminary
observations ; but these are intended to prepare the ground for
the new theory which follows. It is necessary, therefore, to look
carefully to the drift of these observations, and to the direction in
which they are intended to lead us.

Nest-building, then, is represented as determined —

1. By the ordinary faculties of observation, memory, and imi-

tation.

2. By the organic structure of the bird itself— the shape of its

bill, feet, &c.

3. By hereditary habit.

4. By " environment " or surrounding conditions.

It will be observed that of these four factors, all, except the first,

On Mr Wallace's TJieory of Birds' Nests 2'j()

are consistent and closely connected with " blind instinct." In as
far as the nature of a bird's nest is determined by its own structure,
and by hereditary habit, and by surrounding conditions, in so far
it is determined by conditions over which the bird itself has no
control, and which belong to it as part of its very constitution and
nature.

We now come to the first sentence which foreshadows the
coming theory. Specifying the structure of a bird, and its en-
vironment as to the most important elements in determining its
kind of nest, Mr ^^^allace proceeds thus : —

"If, therefore, we find less important and more easily modified characters than
these correlated with peculiarities of nidification, we shall be justified in con-
cluding that the former are dependent on the latter, and not vice versa."

The obscure wording of this sentence makes it rather a hard one
to construe or to follow : but, taken with the context, I believe the
argument to be this — When two things, or two sets of things, are
correlated together, the one being more fixed or less changeable in
its nature than the other, we may conclude that the most change-
able is " dependent on " the least changeable (as on its physical
cause ?). The reasoning, then, as apj^lied to the question in hand,
may be stated thus : —

' ' The structure and habitat of birds we find to be correlated with certain
peculiarities in their nesting ; but sti'ucture and habitat are both comparatively
fixed and difficult of change ; the peculiarities of nests are therefore dependent
on the peculiarities of structure and of habitat in birds. But if, on the same
principle, we can find any other circumstance about birds which also is correlated
with peculiarities of nesting, but which is more easily capable of change, then
we may conclude that this circumstance is one dependent on the nature of the
bird's nest and not vice versa."

The fallacies which lie hid in this argument are about as nume-
rous as the words which it contains. In the first place, the defini-
tion of the peculiarities which are selected as correlated together may
be altogether fanciful and arbitrary; in the second place, things which
are really correlated together, whether always or only in general,
may have no "dependence on" each other as physical cause and
effect, but may be and often are the result of some cause or causes
which lie above and behind them both ; in the third place, the
changeability of any peculiar character may be an assumption
as arbitrary as the definition and conception of the peculiarity
itself.

To test these fallacies we may take a case. Sandpipers,

' 28o Journal of Travel and Natural History

Grouse, and in general all the larger birds which lay upon the
ground, make a very scanty nest, some of them no nest at all.
Let us, then, apply the argument of Mr Wallace. As nests are
determined by structure and by habitat, they are comparatively
fixed. The colour of birds is comparatively unfixed, and liable to
change. Therefore, the scanty nests of ground-laying birds are the
cause of their peculiar colour — the peculiarity of that colour
being, that it is in general assimilated to, or correlated with, the
colour of the ground which they inhabit.

But there is no need of testing the fallacy of Mr Wallace's
argument by referring to any cases beyond those which he has
himself selected. His classification of facts is as arbitrary and
unnatural as any which could possibly be chosen for the purpose
of shewing how arbitrary and how unnatural a classification can
be made. Let us see what it is. " Considering," he says, " the main
purpose of birds nests to be the protection of the eggs, and the
security and comfort of the young birds, we may group them under
two primary divisions, according as they more or less completely
fulfil this important function.'' But there are no such primary
divisions in nature, from this very obvious cause, that all birds are
on a perfect equality as regards the completeness with which these
two great objects are attained. The young Guillemot or Fulmar,
which is hatched upon a naked ledge of rock, without a scrap of nest,
and exposed to all the storms and rains of the Atlantic, is as " com-
fortable" and as "secure" as the young of the Golden-crested Wren
which sways in a dome of well-woven moss under the breezes
which reach it in a wood of pines. These modes of nesting are
indeed very different, but in respect to providing for the " comfort
and security " of the young, the one is as perfect as the other ; and
amidst the vast variety which prevail in the nests of birds, this one
great purpose is secured with equal certainty in them all.

The very idea of this classification, then, is erroneous from the
beginning. But the manner in which it is applied brings out its
artificial character still more clearly. " In the first of these two
primary divisions," continues Mr Wallace, " we place all those in
which the eggs and young are hidden from sight, no matter
whether this is effected by an elaborate covered structure, or by
depositing the eggs in some hollow tree or burrow under ground.
In the second (primary division) we group all in which the eggs
and young and sitting bird arc exposed to view, no matter whether
there is the most beautifully-formed nest or none at all." Here

0)1 Mr Wallace's Theory of Birds' Nests 281

we have a classification of birds which professes to be founded on
their nests, but which, nevertheless, treats as matters of perfect in-
difference the structure, and the material, and the situation of
those nests — which brings into one group the long-tailed Tit, which
builds a receptical for its eggs and young of the most exquisite
beauty, and the Kingfisher, which vomits a few bones in the bottom
of a hole and lays its eggs upon them. In like manner it groups
together in the second class birds which build with every variety
and degree of skill, and birds which build no nest at all, but lay
their eggs upon the bare ground. Mr Wallace is so absorbed in
his preconceived idea that he faces this result without any apparent
consciousness that it makes a very near approach to a reductio ad
absurdum. " It \\all be seen," he says, " that this division of birds,
according to nidification, bears little relation to the character of
the nest itself It is a functional, not a structural, classification.
The most rude and the most perfect specimen of bird architecture
are to be found in both sections."

But Mr Wallace does not see that even his idea of the "func-
tion" of birds' nests, as distinguished from their structure, material,
and situation, involves total forgetfulness of some of the most im-
portant circumstances which determine their fitness for the dis-
charge of that function. The one circumstance on which Mr
Wallace fixes his attention, regardless of all others, is the circum-
stance whether the eggs and young of sitting birds are or are not
what he calls " exposed to view." That is to say, he makes, or
professes to make, the one circumstance of concealment his prin-
ciple of classification. But this principle he applies only to the
contents of nests, and not to the nests themselves. He forgets
that the very form or structure of nests which most completely
covers up the eggs, or the sitting bird may, and often does, render ■
the nest itself only more conspicuous. Thus a domed nest is a
larger structure, and one more easily observed than the smaller
nests, which are nevertheless open and uncovered at the top.
But, for the purpose of security and concealment, a nest is perfectly
useless which merely covers up the eggs, but attracts attention to
itself by its bulk, or its peculiarity of structure. It is the situation
of nests, and their closed or open character, on which their safety
from concealment depends. Predatory animals, from which danger
to nests arises, do not require to see the eggs if they can see the
nest. If they can find a nest, they know very well what they
will find inside of it. Any schoolboy who has ever nested in

TRAVEL u

282 Journal of Travel and Natural History

the woods of our own island would detect the fallacy of classi-
fying nests as regards their eflficiency in point of concealment
according to their open or domed structure. Many of the
nests which are the best concealed are the slightest, the shallowest,
and the most open. Some of those, on the contrary, which
are most easily and most commonly found are those which are
necessarily bulky from the very perfection of their architec-
ture. Few nests are more easily found than those of the com-
mon Wren, and this in spite of the most wonderful construc-
tive skill in adapting the material of the nest to the vegetation
among which it may be placed. But the compactness of the
structure, its size, and its beautifully domed shape, very readily
betray it to the eye. On the other hand, the comparatively
shallow and loose nests of the Blackcap, Garden Warbler, and
Whitethroat, are most difficult to find, on account of their very
slightness, rendering them singularly inconspicuous among the
tangled growths in which they are skilfully concealed.

So far, then, it does not appear that Mr Wallace's idea of the
functional perfection of nests, if consistently applied, would at all
justify the classification which he seeks to found upon it. On the
contrary, the function of concealment is secured very often with
the least degree of efficiency by the very kind of nest which he
represents as securing it most completely.

We now come to the special theory for which Mr W^allace has
been preparing the way. " Turning from the nests to the
creatures who make them, let us consider," says Mr W^allace,
" birds themselves from a somewhat unusual point of view, and
form them into separate groups, according as both sexes, or the
males only, are adorned with conspicuous colours." There is, no
doubt, a very remarkable difference among birds in this respect.
Tliere is a large number of species among which the rule prevails,
that bright colours are confined to the male, the females having
plumage of dull or neutral tints. There is, on the other hand,
another large number of species among which this rule does not
prevail, and in which both sexes are equally brilliant in their
colouring. Now, two questions arise in respect to these facts. One
question is this, " Can any reason be assigned why dull colouring
should be given to the female birds of any species ?" The second
question is this, " Can any physical cause be discovered by which
this object, if it be an object, has been carried into effect ?"

To the first of these questions, at least as regards many species.

On Mr Wallace's Theory of Birds' Nests 283

there is an obvious and satisfactory reply. There is a reason, and
a conclusive reason, why the female bird in some species should
be dull coloured. Take the case of the common Pheasant, which
is a type of a large class similarly conditioned. If the hen Phea-
sant, which lays its eggs upon the ground, were as brilliantly
coloured as the male, she would be so conspicuous an object to
every predatory animal that the species would be speedily exter-
nainated. This, therefore, is a sufficient reason why she should be
dull coloured, and totally dissimilar from the male. But as regards
the second question, by what physical cause it is brought about,
that this good reason should be met and complied with, no answer
can be given. Mr Wallace himself makes an observation which
effectually disposes of the one " law," in the sense of a physical
connexion of cause and effect, which would most naturally suggest
itself The observation I refer to is this : — That the fact of both
sexes being equally brilliant in many species shews that there is
no absolute and physical connexion between the male sex in
birds and a brilliant plumage. All, therefore, that can be said
is, that it is one of those special adaptations for special purposes
which are so abundant in nature, but which leave us absolutely in
the dark as to the physical agencies by which they are secured.

And if this be the object, or the reason, or the "final cause," of
the dull colouring in the female in Pheasants, it is extremely pro-
bable that the dull colouring which prevails in the females of other
species is connected with the same great purpose ; and it is equally
probable that when brilliant colouring is given to female birds, the
circumstances and conditions of their nesting are such as to dis-
pense with this particular protection, which is so necessary under
other circumstances and other conditions.

Accordingly, Mr Wallace announces the law, or the general-
ized expression of the facts in this matter, to be as follows : — " That
when both sexes are of strikingly gay or conspicuous colours, the
nest is of the second class, or such as to conceal the sitting bird ;
while, whenever there is a striking contrast of colours, the male
being gay and conspicuous, the female dull and obscure, the nest
is open, and the sitting bird exposed to view."

Such is Mr Wallace's statement of the facts — and now we have
his explanation of the physical cause. " The mode in which this
has been effected is very intelligible, if we admit the action of
natural and sexual selection. It would appear from the numerous
cases in which both sexes are adorned with equally brilliant

284 Journal of Travel and Natural History

colours, that the normal action of sexual selection is to develop
colour and beauty in both sexes by the preservation and multipli-
cation of all varieties of colour in either sex which are pleasing to
the other. The female bird, however, while sitting on her eggs in
an uncovered nest, is especially open to the attacks of enemies,
and any modification of colour which rendered her more con-
spicuous would lead to her destruction and that of her offspring.
All variations of colour in this direction in the female would, there-
fore, sooner or later be exterminated, while such modifications as
rendered her inconspicuous by assimilating her to surrounding
objects, as the earth or the foliage, would, on the whole, be pre-
served the longest, and thus lead to the attainment of those
brown or green and inconspicuous tints which form the colouring
(of the upper surface at least) of the vast majority of female birds
which sit upon open nests."

Let us now analyze the assumptions which are involved in this
theory of the physical causes, whereby opposite systems of colouring
have been produced in birds.

It assumes that there is some innate tendency in the plumage of
all hen birds, or at least of the hens of certain species of birds, to
become as brilliantly coloured as the cock. It assumes, in the
second place, that this colouring, when produced, is always more
pleasing to the other sex than dull colouring. It assumes, for ex-
ample, that a cock Pheasant would be much better pleased if he
could have a wife coloured like himself than a wife coloured like
the ground — an assumption which, by analogy, as applied to our
own species, would require that men ought to prefer for wives
the most masculine-looking women. It assumes, in the third
place, that this innate tendency to the development of bright
colours has no other limit than the extermination of the unfortunate
hens on which it is exerted. It assumes, in the fourth place, that
somehow, as these individual bright hens come to be all killed off,
this dangerous tendency gets so snubbed and discouraged in some
other individuals that it ceases to act upon them. It assumes, in
the fifth place, that alongside of this tendency to produce bright hues
there is all the time another tendency opposite but equally innate
to produce dull colouring, imitative of the colours of the ground or
of the habitat of the bird. It assumes, in the sixth place, that this
opposite tendency of colouring becomes encouraged and confirmed
in certain individuals by some kind of knowledge or intimation con-
veyed to it, that the birds upon which it works have a better chance

On Mr Wallaces Theory of Birds' Nests 285

of life than others, and that other hens have been killed as a
penalty for their brightness.

I need not comment on the gratuitous and highly imaginative
character of these assumptions. But there is one peculiarity at-
taching to them which is well worthy of attention. The whole
theory is intended to substitute what Mr Wallace would call a self-
acting system of causes for the purpose of a contriving Mind. And
yet it is very curious to observe, that the only plausibility which the
theory possesses is in the appeal which it involves to the idea of
experience, and the effects of experience upon Mind — that mind
being supposed to exist in some such abstraction as " nature," or
"correlations," or in some other form of words which serves to
cover up and conceal the essentially mental attributes which are
nevertheless invoked. For example, there is clearly no causal or
physical connexion between the destruction of one bird and the
cessation of a tendency to bright colouring in another bird which
is not yet born or begotten. If that tendency be a blind force
it must act blindly constantly, and irrespective of all consequences.
If it ceases to operate because of the bad effects which it produces,
it must be conceived of as a sort of living thing. The stopping of
its v/orks, and the need of that cessation, can no otherwise be
brought together. The only idea which can lead any mind to
place these two facts in such a connexion is an idea founded
on its own consciousness of experience and observation, and
of the course which itself would take to avoid and prevent evil
consequences. It then ascribes (unconsciously) a similar self-con-
sciousness to nature or to the correlated forces of nature, and under
this assumption the connexion between the facts is represented as
intelligible. And no doubt if the tendency to bright colouring is
conceived of as a power or force gifted with the attributes of Mind,
and able first to see and then to foresee the result of its own
works, then the cause of the cessation of that working does become
intelligible enough. But if it be a blind material force always
present and always operating, then it is utterly unintelligible how
it should cease to operate because of the mischief it does.

It will be observed, too, that as this theory always represents the
actual colouring which we now see in any species as the result of
a long process of " selection," it must assume that the species has
started from a condition of colouring different from that which we
now see. Thus, the cock Pheasant has "attained" to the brilliant
plumage he now wears by the admiration and selection of succes-

2 86 Journal of Travel and Natural History

sive hens. Therefore, the cock Pheasant is assumed to have
begun originally from a dull colour. But the hen, on the con-
trary, has " attained" to her dull colouring by the continual
destruction of preceding hens. Therefore, the hen Pheasant is
assumed to have begun originally from a brilliant colouring. Of
course this is a theory of such admirable elasticity that it is cap-
able of being adapted to any facts whatever. If they don't suit
the theory, when read straight forwards, it is only requisite to turn
them round and read them backwards, and one way or another
they can always be made to fit.

I wish, however, to observe that in my opinion it is not possible
to assign a reason any more than a physical cause for many of the
peculiarities of nest-building. Take the case of the Blackbird and
the common Thrush — birds closely allied, and building very much
in the same situation. Why should the Thrush always line her
nest with mud, and the Blackbird always with fibrous roots ? No
answer can be given. In like manner may other species, closely
related in structure, in habitat, in food, have fixed and persistent
differences in their architecture. I am more and more convinced
that variety, mere variety, must be admitted to be an object and
an aim in Nature ; and that neither any reason of utility nor any
physical cause can always be assigned for the variations of instinct.

I would, however, suggest to Mr Wallace that one great object and
use of domed nests, and also of many nests being made in holes,
is one which has no connexion whatever with concealment, or
consequently with his theory. That use is the very obvious and
simple one of the better conservation of animal heat in cases where,
from the extreme smallness of the bird and of its young, special
provision has to be made for this purpose. It is at least remark-
able that in our own country the most perfectly domed nests are
made by the smallest birds, and these, too, by birds whose colour-
ing requires no special precautions on account of its conspicuous-
ness. So far as sombre and neutral tints are concerned, no birds
could more safely sit upon open nests than the golden-crested
Wren or the common Wren, or the long-tailed Tit, or the Willow
Wrens. But the very diminutive size of all these birds, and their
delicate organisation, do require that special j)rovision should be
made for the retention of warmth, and for i)rotection from wet as
well as from cold. This is the reason why the birtls should make
domed or covered nests. I have no doubt whatever that the same
reason applies in numerous other cases, wherever the conditions

On Mr Wallace's Theory of Birds' Nests 287

of climate establish the same conditions of existence as regards
birds whose bodies are so small as to need great economy of their
little store of animal heat. As to the physical cause of this need
being met, there is no other explanation possible than this — that
the Creator has implanted in every creature those instinctive
desires and powers which are necessary for the preservation of its
existence. And this, too, is the explanation, and the only explana-
tion, of the adaptive or assimilated colouring, which, not being
dependent on any instinct or desire of the bird itself, can only be
the result of Mind directing the forces of Nature in a preconceived
and j)reordained direction.

288 Journal of Travel and Natural History

THE INDIANS OF THE WESTERN SHORES OF
VANCOUVER ISLANDS

IN the autumn of i860, two armed vessels sailed slowly up a
deep inlet of the sea on the wild western shores of Vancouver
Island, and let go their anchors in front of a savage-looking Indian
village at the head of it. On board were a young British merchant
and fifty determined backwoodsmen, and their object was to
take possession of the land, over which the Indians had roamed
from days immemorial, for the Colonial Government had, in lieu
of certain dollars, rights, and privileges, granted, with scant con-
sideration for the aboriginal lords of the soil, all the region in
question for timber cutting, fishing, and fur trading, or whatever
else in their good discretion this company of merchants should
select, with full power over the natives thereof; and had granted
unto " our right trusty and well-beloved cousin Gilbert Malcolm
Sproat," the honours, dignities, and emoluments of a justice
of the peace over many a hundred league, with full liberty
to chastise evildoers (if he could), and to convert them from war
dances, and the heathen vanities of Quateaht and Clayher, to the
more benign doctrines of holy mother church ! It seemed for
a while that this gift was of the nature of the Siamese White
Elephant, for Kaloewesh, chief of Opichesah, and the Kekean Lord
of all the Seshaahts were inconsiderate enough to look upon things
in a totally different light, and drew out their shirtless followers in
war muster, and prepared to do battle. Guns were run out, and
rifles were much thicker than could be wished on all sides, but
gradually peace reigned, and with barges of biscuit, tobacco, ver-
milion, and fish hooks, the natives drew off, and in this wise the
ethnologist who writes the work, title of which we give below,
commenced his first acquaintance with the strange people whose
history he commemorates. Soon the woodman's axe rang through
the primeval forest — a huge saw-mill sent the smoke of its engines
up through the frosty wintry air, a little church spire rose amid the
gloomy pines, and so commenced the foundation of an embryo
" city," which, in memory of the gallant gentleman of Spain who

* Scenes and Studies of Savage Life. By Gilbert Malcolm Sproat. Smith,
Elder, & Co. 1868.

The Indians of Vancouver Island 289

first sighted this inlet, they named " Albemi." The savages dropped
off, or came in to work for the whites, and by-and-bye acquired
the dubious accompUshments of chewing tobacco, and flavouring
their antient language with the oaths of British commerce. For
four years did Mr Sproat, the founder of this place, at different
intervals, live and labour in his capacity of magistrate and mer-
chant, a hundred miles from any of his race, save his fellow-
adventurers, roaming through the forest with the Indian hunter,
or travelling circuit in their canoes, making peace between
rival tribes or tall backwoodsmen, whose valuation of Indian
life was of the rudest. For more than 200 miles of coast not
a white man lived. In every quiet inlet and bay smoked the
villages of savage tribes, nearly always at war with each other,
and knowing nothing of the mysteries and civilization of the
whites, who had thus unceremoniously taken up their quarters
among them. They were only a small section of the Indians
of the colony, but perhaps the largest, though least known (if the
term can be allowed, where all are unknown, or worse, erroneously
so) ; and speaking as they did one language with varying dialects,
our author called them the Aht nation from the terminal syllable of
their tribal name, and commenced the studies which are given in
this little volume. The Ahts are a rather squat nation, addicted to
painting, and adopting a canoe life more than that of a hunter — flat-
tening the foreheads of their men and women, but withal a bold
race (so far as boldness in their murderous night attacks goes), skil-
ful in building and navigating cedar (Thuja gigantea) canoes, and
patiently whittling out the broad boards which their long collier-
looking villages are built of They number about 1700 men,
fit to bear arms, and are divided into twenty small tribes, scarcely
two of which are friendly to each other. The race is fast decreasing,
but they seem at one time to have been a powerful people, extend-
ing from Port San Juan on De Fucas Straits, to Woody Point, on the
western shores of the island. They run swiftly, as Mr Sproat
well knows, when he had, in the rough life of a north-western
Justice, to pursue a thieving fugitive through the dense forests
which everywhere cover their country, except when lakes and
rushing rivers intersect the valleys. Their skill in paddling and
managing their light canoes has always been a subject of eulogium
since the days of Cook, Meares, or Vancouver. Their land abounds
in game ; salmon in incredible numbers, and deer sometimes so
plentiful that you can buy them from the natives for 6d. a-head,

290 Journal of Travel and Natural History

while the beaver builds its dams in the streams, and elk (Cervus
Canadensis) roam through the mountains, and wild fowl settle in
clouds at the sedgy debouchment of the rivers. The natives
accordingly supply themselves abundantly, and are rarely troubled
with starvation, even in the inclement season of winter, which
they pass in jollity and dancing, when the amusements, if not very
refined, are at least very hearty. Not much addicted to soap or
garments they may be, but yet the Aht Indians are a people punc-
tihous in etiquette, and the social chimera of Mrs Grundy weighs
heavily on the unfortunate wight who breaks through the obser-
vances made and established among them. They rarely quarrel
in their own tribe, and know nothing of the " noble art of self-
defence." Fish and shell-fish form their principal articles of diet,
varied in the summer with berries, the tender shoots of the Rubus
Nutkeanus, and the roots of the bracken. We recommend our lady
readers to the Aht cookery receipts given in Mr Sproat's volume.
At these feasts orators rank high, and the author describes some of
their speeches as being far from contemptible, while the voice fills
the house or echoes through the forest. Those who wish to hear
what real savage earnest oratory is, should visit Klah-oh-quah and
hear Seta-kanim " on his legs." Boys practice the recital of por-
tions of celebrated speeches, which they retain in memory, and
occasionally as the old men sit on the beach, watching the sun set
on a summer evening, they point out future orators and envoys
among the youngsters who play before them. Singing they like,
but do not excel in : but some of their actors are excellent, and
would be the making of a minor London theatre. Blankets con-
stitute the siunmum bonuni of Aht happiness, and the acquisition
of such portable property is diligently sought after. They are
wonderfully sharp in a bargain, and territorial influence is far from
small, though all land is owned in common. Yet, occasionally,
some individual will claim a river or the borders of a lake as his
peculiar hunting or fishing ground. There is little division of
labour, as among all savages, but yet some individual will have
a monopoly of some trade, such as canoe making, and the
"middlemen" intervene in the land of Aht, as well as in another
country nearer home. The "peculiar institution" prevails to its
full extent among these people ; prisoners of war, if not slain, and
the heads stuck up on i)oles in front of the victor's lodge, as in old
days above Temple Bar or London Bridge (the uncultivated mind
is in all ages the same), being reduced to slavery, and cer-

The Jndians of Vancouver Island 291

tain tribes maintain the unenviable reputation of being dis-
tinguished in this traffic. The slaves, generally speaking,
though treated — they and their offspring — with contempt, are
not on the whole cruelly used. The mental capacity of
the Aht race is by no means small, but a mind travelling
for ages in one groove can scarcely be looked to readily shew
alacrity in subjects foreign to it. Mr Sproat has a very able
chapter on the language of the people, with a full vocabulary,
which establishes one important philological point — viz., that, con-
trary to the generalization of Max Muller, the A/it language does not
change. With the exception of a few words, which the surgeon of
Cook's voyage (Mr Anderson) mistook, the language is the same
as at the date of Cook's visit. The language of the Indians in the
interior of America, owing to their roving habits, is constantly chang-
ing. In the case of these Aht tribes, on the other hand, who have
remained for generations — perhaps for centuries — on one spot, their
language is less altered. The limits of this review will not permit
us to do more than refer the reader to the chapter itself Polygamy
prevails — the number of a man's wives being only limited by his
purse — but the women are much better treated than among the
horse tribes in the interior, having a voice in nearly all bargains,
and being often scolds of the first water. Many curious customs
connected with betrothal, marriage, and divorce prevail, and
adultery is (or was) punished with death. Wives are in reality
bought, but he is looked upon as a mean father-in-law who does
not return, in dowry with his daughter, as much as he received.
IMarriages are sought among other tribes to strengthen the
influence of the chiefs, and with an idea of preventing the
degeneracy of the race. A patrician marries a woman of
equal rank, and like other folks, often affection has nothing to do
with the marriage, the idea being to prevent the sangre azul from
being corrupted by a mixture of common blood. Before the
house of the head chief of the Klah-oh-quahts, there is a large stone
which a man must lift and carry in the presence of the people
before he may aspire to woo the chief's daughter. " Gentle blood and
long descent" is much valued, and though wealth may procure a cer-
tain status, and prowess in v\^ar achieve another type of military aris-
tocracy, yet the old family rank can only be acquired by descent from
a long line of chieftain sires, and is very different from ^Vic\\ parve?m
dignity. A certain rank can even be conferred on a woman, and
the various shades of "nobility" are carefully described by our

292 Journal of Trai^el and Natural History

author. It is satisfactory to think that the aristocracy are not
addicted to evil courses. " It is only among the idle, poor, and
low born youth, and the last-named" {i.e., the rank and file) " that
the worst Indians are found ; as a rule, well-bom natives, and
especially the heads of families, are quiet and well-behaved."
They are rather vindictive, and some ugly stories are told of their
cold-blooded cruelty to prisoners taken in war. Their notions of
meum and tuum are somewhat loose, as in most savage tribes,
but it is right to say that they are honest among themselves —
"honour among thieves" is a redeeming virtue. To their children
they are very affectionate, never chastising them ; and though
generally friendly to strangers, yet are habitually suspicious, and
are continually thinking "how can I turn this person to my own
account, and how can I defend myself from his designs against me?"
Want of foresight, absence of faith and ingratitude, are among the
most cardinal sins which they are accused of as a nation. There
are several interesting sections on their fishing and hunting, pre-
senting some new details of the zoology of the north-west coast ;
and the chapter devoted to an account of their sorcerers is par-
ticularly worthy of the study of those interested in the wide-spread
belief in charlatans, and the similarity of superstitions in all ages
and among all races. The traditions and mythology of the people
are very extensive, and it is to be hoped will soon be undertaken at
greater length than the few pages the author devotes to it. Extra-
ordinary occurrences soon drop into tradition. Already the
blowing-up of the " Tonquin," so graphically described in Washing-
ton Irving's " Astoria," has got to be looked upon as a wonderful
manifestation of their great spirit Qiiahtcaht. The author does
not think that events can be handed down for more than two or
three generations. On the other hand, the natives still remember
Cook, and they talk of the loves and mishaps of Jewitt, armourer
of the " Boston," who was captive amongst them, and wrote an
account of his captivity. Though they remember the old Spanish
settlement at Nootka, yet they have no recollection of Meares
building and launching the " North- West" schooner. Vancouver's
name is pronounced (juite distinctly. The writer of this review
remembers an old Indian who used to describe with great gusto
Vancouver's boatswain giving three dozen to his men of a morning ;
and to tliose who are aware of the martinet character of the great ex-
plorer the reminiscence is quite characteristic ! No more plaintive
account can be given of the cession of Nootka by the Spanish

The Indians of Vancouver Island 293

cavaliers to John Vancouver in 1792 than the Indian tradition of
it : — " The foreigners began to cultivate the ground, and to erect
a stockade and fort, when one day a ship came with papers for the
head man, who was observed to cry, and all the white men became
sad. The next day they began moving their goods to the ship."

It is very hard to get at any notions of their religion. They
believe in a great spirit called Quateaht (whose type under other
names is found all over the American continent : the general reader
knows him best as "Hiawatha" of the Ojibiways), who taught
men all things, who parcelled out the tribes, and then went off to
his home in the happy land. They worship the sun and the moon.
Like the old Teutons, they regard the moon as the husband and the
sun as his wife ; hence their prayers are generally addressed to this
superior deity. Even Quateaht, great as he is, is an inferior deity
to the moon, who "looks down upon the earth in answer to
prayer, and as seeing everybody." " When working at the settle-
ment at Alberni in gangs by moonHght, individuals have been
observed to look up to the moon, blow a breath, and utter quickly
the word, Teech ! teech ! — ' health' or ' life.' Teech ! teech ! —
Life ! life ! That is the great wish of those people's hearts — even
such a miserable life as theirs seems to the civilized observer.''
" Teech ! teech ! " is their common and almost constant prayer.
Unless Quateaht be ranked as such, it is said that they have no
knowledge of a Supreme Being, but they have many good and bad
spirits ; but Quateaht seems to preside over the beautiful country
where good men {according to the Indian standard) go when they
die. Everything there is beautiful and abundant. There a con-
tinual calm prevails, and the canoes float lightly on the sleeping
waters ; frost does not bind the rivers, and the snow never spreads
its white blanket over the ground. In this pleasant country, where
there is continual sunshine and warmth and gladness, it is believed
that the high chiefs and tliose natives who have been slain in battle
on the earth find their repose, the chiefs living in a large house as
the guests of Quateaht, and the slain in battle living by themselves
in another house. No Indians of a common degree go to the land
of Quateaht ; like Odin, he drives away the pauper and the bonds-
man from the door of Valhalla ! Their own account of their
religion is a little dreamy, and the learned doctors of Algic the-
ology differ widely. Once all the Indians were in animals, and when
they die a transmigration of souls into birds and other animals —
particularly owls — takes place. The writer has been implored by an

2^4 Journal of Trai'cl and Natural History

Indian woman not to shoot a fine specimen of the Bubo Virginian-
us, which, in his ornithological zeal, he wished to acquire, as it con-
tained the spirit of her grandfather ! "Clayher" is the personification
of sickness and death. He lives in a country where there are few
deer, no salmon, and poor houses. There the blankets are thin
and the canoes leaky. Clayher is personified as an old man, with
a long grey beard, and a figure of flesh ^\^thout bones, and is
believed to wander at night seeking men's souls, which he steals
away : and unless the doctors can recover them, the losers will die.
In wishing death to any one, the natives blow and say, " Clayher,
come quickly!" Tootoosch is the thunder-bird flapping his wings,
and the lightning is the serpent which darts out of his mouth.
They have a medicine for everything — ^love philtres and death doses,
but it is doubtful if they know anything of the action of poisons.
Their medicine is principally sorcery, but invalids are often taken
away from the lodges and left to perish. An ugly feature in the
Aht ladies is their habit of producing abortion, but infanticide is
(doubtfully) said not to obtain among them. They bury their dead
principally in boxes up in trees, and have many ceremonies con-
nected with death and sepulture. The great feasts in which tlie
accumulated property is given away are very curious, as well as the
custom of giving new names ; but for these, as well as other sec-
tions which we cannot even touch on, we must refer to the work
itself. The concluding chapters are worthy of the attention of
philanthropists who are cogitating over the subject of our treat-
ment of the aborigines, and the momentous question, " AVhat is to
become of them?" Robert Brown.

Journal of Travel and Natural History 295

THE NATURALIST IN INDIA:-"

INDIA is a wide word. It may, therefore, be as well to say at
the outset, that the portion of India over which Mr Adams'
wanderings extended is North West India. Stationed first at
Poonah, and afterwards in Scinde, his wanderings consist of ex-
peditions undertaken from these head-quarters.

If we were to subdivide his volume according to the districts in
which his observations have been made, we should do so as fol-
lows : — I. Poonah ; 2. Scinde; 3. The salt ranges of the Punjaub ;
4. The interior of the North West Himmalayan range; 5. Cashmere;
6. Ladak. At all these places Mr Adams has collected original
information and specimens, and the present volume is a record of
the stores of both which he has accumulated. A sportsman not
less (perhaps even more) than a naturalist, he has picked up a good
deal of the natural history in his book in his efforts to fill his bag.
The general reader may, perhaps, think that there is an excess of
ornithology in it, but this is rather due to the ornithological details
being all mixed up with the narrative, even when they are nothing
more than isolated notices of the occurrence of species at parti-
cular localities, which makes the book drier in appearance than it
is in reality. It would, we think, have been an improvement if
(unless when there was something more than mere locality to
record) the birds met with at different places had been thrown
together in separate lists in an appendix at the end. His observa-
tions on other topics would then have flowed more uninterruptedly
and agreeably to the general reader ; and the ornithologist and
student of geographical distribution would have had all the facts
more especially interesting to them collected together to their
hands, instead of having to glean and pick them out piecemeal for
themselves from the general matter in the volume. Mr Adams'
department, by predilection however, is obviously ornithology, and
it would be rather hard measure to refuse a man a ride on his
own hobby in his own book. So far as regards the determination

* Wanderings of a Naturalist in India. The Western Himmalayahs and
Cashmere. By Andrew Leith Adams, Surgeon, 22d Regiment. Edinburgh,
1867.

296 Journal of Trai'd and Natural History

of various species, and the character on which they are founded,
as incidentally touched upon by Mr Adams, we do not know that
we differ much from his views, but as regards the value to be
attached to small differences, we must confess that we attach more
importance to them than he does. Speaking of the replacement
of the harrier (Circus cyaneus) by its pale representative (Circus
Swainsonii), in the more southern portions of Europe, Asia, and
Africa, he says : —

" He who aims at uniting the meagre distinctions which are often made to
separate species, may, in this instance, consider how much of the little that divide
the pale and dull-chested hen harriers are the result of climate, food, and such
like ; but until we care less for making new species, and think more of applying
ourselves to the study of animals in nature rather than in the cabinet, there is no
prospect that any great strides will be made in the discovery of laws wliich shall
regulate the varieties and geographical distribution of species." — (P. 136.)

This is a very common flourish of field naturalists, but it is mere
conventional tall talk, " palabras, neighbour Verges." The truth
is, that the close examination and observation of the meagre dis-
tinctions to which Mr Adams objects, is one of the most important
means we have of arriving at a knowledge of the laws which re-
gulate the production of varieties and the geographical distribu-
tion of species. It is not the amount of difference between forms
which constitutes species, but its constancy ; and as much can be
learned of the past history and geography of our globe, from the
presence or absence of the same varieties in different places, as
from the occurrence of full species in others. It must be
imderstood that, in defending the species-maker, we do not
refer to those who, for the childish gratification of seeing
their names in print as the authors of species, bring out as
new species everything that they do not themselves know, without
taking proper care to ascertain that it is new, or without having
sufficient materials in numbers of specimens, &c., to decide whether
it really is so or not. These men are the bane of science, and
have no claim to a place in its temple ; but we refer to the careful,
painstaking, and laborious student, who, seeing differences himself,
records them for the benefit of others. Mr Adams is justly severe
upon the former class, but we think he scarcely gives sufficient
credit to the latter. He says : —

" This rage for species-making is not confined solely to cabinet naturalists;
but I regret to think, for the sake of science, tliat, ratlicr than be behind hand,
or that another should make the discovery, it is the custom with even many of

The Naturalist in India 297

our best known field ornithologists, to give a separate specific name to every
individual that differs in the slightest degree from another. It is a great pity,
when a species is found somewhat different from a given type, that we should
not allow it a place among the varieties of that type and species until such time
as proper comparison has been instituted between them." — (P. 263.)

We quite agree that no species should be proposed upon indi-
vidual specimens, unless clearly and manifestly distinct ; but we
have great indulgence to the mistaken species-maker who, by dint
of long poring over long series, at last convinces himself that
he has found a new species. Let us, therefore, not undervalue
any portion of the naturalist's labours, nor attempt to elevate
one mode or branch of study above another. All are working to
the same end, and each throws light upon the progress of his neigh-
bour.

Mr Adams contributes a good quota of original field observations,
and the closet naturalist will find many facts among them which
he may apply to theoretical purposes. As an interesting example,
we may take the account given by him of a visit which he paid to
the crocodile pond called Mugger-peer in Scinde. This resort of
crocodiles occurs in an oasis lying in the heart of sandy deserts, a
considerable distance to the north-west of Kurrachee ; and how
these reptiles came there forms a subject of speculation somewhat
akin to the puzzle of a reel in bottle, and as the reader will, we
think, find only to be explained on the same principle.

The accompanying illustration sent to us from Mr Adams' work
by favour of his publishers will help to give an idea of this reptilian
depot, although his graphic description scarcely requires it : — -

" The journey for the first few miles is of the usual uninteresting description
— sandy plains, intersected with deep fissures and ravines, or studded hei^e and
there with ' scrub,' the oleander-leafed spurge (Euphorbia nerefolia), plentiful
in all waste and desert parts of .Scinde.

"Emerging from a defile, which leads through a low range of hills, the
traveller enters on a desert waste, stretching westward towards the mountains
of Beloochistan. In the far distance two oasis are visible, whose date and
coco-nut trees are refreshing to the sight after eight miles of the most monoto-
nous scenery. In the vicinity of the nearest grove is an antient burial-ground,
where may be observed several curiously carved gravestones.

" I visited the crocodiles (Crocodilus palustris) on two occasions, at an interval
of several years, and although during that time they had been seen by hundreds
of Europeans, including a certain class of mischievous young Englishmen (whose
chief amusement, we were told, had been to shy stones and sticks down the
throats of the gaping monsters as they lay basking on the banks of the pond),
yet there seemed no diminution in their numbers, and the wild and unearthly
TRAVEL X

298

[oiinial of Travel and N'aiiiral Hisiorv

The Naturalist in India 299

interest of the scene was to us as great as ever. From beneath a little banyan-
tree on the verge of the pond, the spectacle, during the steaming heat of a mid-
day sun, might call up to the mind of the geologist the eons of the world, when
the ' great monsters ' wallowed in the seething waters of the oolitic ages, when
the mighty ' Ichthyosaurus,' and a host of ' fearfully great lizards,' dragons, &c.,
reigned supreme over sea and land. And as the date-palm now waves its shady
boughs over the crocodiles of Mugger-peer, so then did the magnificent tree-
ferns, gigantic reeds, and club-mosses, shelter their extinct predecessors.

' ' The greater pond is about 300 yards in circumference, and contains many
little grassy islands, on which the majority of the crocodiles were then basking ;
some were asleep on its slimy sides, others half-submerged in the muddy water,
while now and then a huge monster would raise himself upon his diminutive
legs, and waddling for a few paces, fall flat on his belly. Young ones, from a
foot in length and upwards, ran nimbly along the margin of the pond, dis-
appearing suddenly in the turbid waters as soon as we approached. The
largest crocodile lives in a long narrow tank, separate from the others. The
Fakirs, and natives who worship in the neighbouring temples, have painted his
forehead red ; they venerate the old monster, making a salaam to his majesty
whenever he shows himself above water. A handsome young Beloochee, whose
occupation it was to feed the animals, informed us that the said king was
upwards of two hundred years old ! (?) and that, by way of a 'tit-bit,' he was
in the habit of devouring the young crocodiles. During our visit, this enormous
brute was asleep on the banks of his dwelling-place, and seemed quite indifferent
to our presence, although we came within a foot of him, and even attempted to
arouse him, by rubbing his nose with a leg of goat's flesh, which, however, a
young one greedily seized, and dived under water. Our attendant tried in vain
to excite their ferocity, but beyond a feeble attempt to snap their trenchant
teeth, the animals shewed no disposition to attack us.

" A pony was wading about in the pond, and feeding on the gi-assy hillocks,
but the crocodiles took no notice of him.

" The water in the pond felt cold, although fed from two hot springs, one of
which was of so high a temperature that I could not retain my hand in it ; yet
animal life existed, for I found where the water bubbled up from its sandy
bottom, and in the little lade running to the tank, abundance of a small species
of small black spiral shell, which Mr Woodward informed me is ' very like
some in the British Museum, named Melauia pyramis, an allied species of which
frequents the river Jordan.'*

" The other spring gushes from under a bed of limestone, containing numbers
of fossils, chiefly coral, and other marine zoophites. We had a refreshing
bathe in a reservoir close by ; the temperature, though not so high as the last,
was still warm and pleasant. I should be sorry, however, to repeat the
experiment, not from the chances of meeting with a crocodile (for, I believe,
the Fakirs of the temple guard well against such accidents), but from the
circumstance that (as is generally the case all over the East) lepers and persons
affected with loathsome diseases repair to such localities.

" The crocodiles dig deep in the sand, under the neighbouring date-trees, and

The temperature of the water in the lade was 127° Fahr.

300 Jourjial of Travel and Natural History

there deposit their eggs. Quantities of deciduous teeth of various sizes were
strewn along the slimy sides of the pond.

" Strangers are expected to stand treat, not only by the Fakirs and natives
who gain a livelihood by hanging about the pond and shewing the monsters,
but even the crocodiles themselves seem to anticipate a feast, and on the arrival
of a party, come out in unusual numbers. Accordingly, we had a goat
slaughtered, during which operation the bmtes seemed to rouse themselves, as
if preparing for a rush. Then our guide, taking piece after piece of the flesh,
dashed it on the bank, uttering a low growling sound, at which the whole tank
became in motion, and crocodiles, of whose existence we had been before
ignorant, splashed through the shallow water, struggling which should seize the
prize. The shore was literally covered with scaly monsters, snapping their
jaws at one another.

"They seize their food with the side of the mouth, and toss the head back-
ward, in order that it may fall into the throat.

" A few were observed to bolt their portion on shore after very slight
mastication, but the majority, anxious to escape from their greedy companions,
made instantly for the water, and disappeared with the piece of flesh sticking
between their jaws. Our young Belooch friend informed us that they generally
swallow their food at once, and do not, as has been asserted, bury it until it
becomes putrid ; also, that other large individuals besides the old king frequently
devour the young soon after they are hatched. Crocodiles wallowing in the
mud of the Nile, or gavials in the Indus, are sights which one is prepared to
encounter ; but the traveller may wander far before he meets with a scene so
strange and unexpected as that just described. How these animals found their
way inland to this solitary oasis we could not discover. It can only be surmised
that they had probably been introduced by the natives." — (Pp. 41-45.)

Noteworthy as are many of the incidental facts above noticed,
by far the most interesting and important question is not, indeed,
that put Mr Adams at the conclusion of the above paragraph,
" How these animals found their way inland to this solitary oasis ? "
(for that is assuming a part of the question — that they did find
their way inland), but how it happens that these animals are now
found there ? The reader sees that there is another way in which
this fact may have come about, than that of the animals having
come to the oasis ; the oasis may have come to them. There are
many facts which prove beyond doubt that at a very recent geo-
logical period, the now sandy deserts of the Punjaub and Scinde
were covered with water. Falconer and Cautley have abundantly
proved that the elevation of the Sevalik, or outer range of the
Himmalayahs, took place almost, if not absolutely, within the himian
era ; and it is, doubtless, to the influence wliich ui)heaved these
mountains that the upraising and laying bare of the bed of this
Scindian sea is due. It is more than probable that originally an
estuary, or bed of the sea, united the Bay of Bengal with the

The Nafuralist in India 301

Indian Ocean. This estuary or sea seems to have been after-
wards cut off from the Bay of Bengal by the elevation of the level
between the Indus and the Ganges, and divided from the Indian
Ocean by the barrier along the coast line. When so circumscribed,
Scinde and the Punjaub must have been one vast inland fresh
water, or brakish lake — doubtless inhabited by abundance of
crocodiles. When the continued elevation of the level of the
country in the direction of the Himmalayahs tilted up the basin
which held the water, and it found its way through the barrier at
Kurrachee, the bed of the lake would gradually become dry, leav-
ing water only in the deeper holes and pools, which would become
oases like that of Mugger-peer. In them, of course, the crocodiles
and all other aquatic and amphibious life would take refuge ; and
it seems more than probable that those which we see there at the
present day are the solitary remains of multitudes which once
crowded the wide shores of that inland sea.

There can be no objection to this, from any doubt as to the
present crocodile having, perhaps, not been in existence at the
period in question. In fact, long anterior to that — viz., at the time
when the Sevalik beds themselves were deposited, many animals
now living in India had already made their appearance ; and
among these, it would really appear that the present crocodile,
and, at all events, the gavial, were of the number, both of which
now occur in these districts. The reptile in the crocodile pond at
Mugger-peer is the crocodile Crocodilus palustris. The gavial
(Gavialus Gangeticus), or Indian alligator, does not occur there, but
abounds in all the great rivers of northern India, and in the Indus
is found from its delta northwards to Attock. Captain Cautley, in
a memoir published in the "Asiatic Researches," xix., 25 (1836),
" On the Fossil Crocodiles of the Sewalik Hills,"* says —

"Of the crocodile of these strata I have attempted in the preceding section
to shew, as far as measurements and my limited means point out, that the main
difference between the fossil and the existing animal of the present rivers is in
the breadth ; a difference that miglit tend to an opinion of its being allied to
the Cayman, did not other more distinct characters separate it at once from that
sub-genus. In the Gharial (gavial) now under review, I am tumble to recognise
atiy difference from the living ariimal ; and there are certain peculiarities about
the external surface of the skull of the existing Gharial (gavial) in slight indenta-
tions and rugosities, which are singularly coincident with those of the fossil."

* See Reprint in Palceontological Memoirs of Dr Hugh Falconer, vol. i., p
351. Hardwicke, 1868.

30 2 Journal of Travel and Natural History

If this is the case with fossil remains, so old as the Sewalik beds
themselves, it can excite no surprise that, at any rate, the crocodile
of a period long subsequent to the consolidation and upheaval of
these very beds should be so.

This is not the only instance of such an occurrence. According
to M. Duveyrier, exactly the same thing has happened in the desert
of Sahara. He tells us (" Explorations du Sahara," p. 29 and 232),
that the crocodile still lives on the north side of the Saharan
desert, particularly in the little lakes of Mihero, which must have
once formed part of the great Saharan sea.

The idea that a breed of the crocodiles could, or would, have
been brought over the desert, and deposited in the oases by na-
tives, seems to be wholly without foundation. It involves an anti-
cipation of and preparation for the future greatly beyond the intel-
ligence or practice of the present natives. The occurrence of a
fresh water dolphin (Platanista Inda) in the Indus is another fact
which seems to point to a change from a marine bay to a fresh
water lake; for the dolphin is a marine animal, although capable of
living for a time in fresh water. A slow change from salt to fresh
might have kept the species alive until it, as well as the medium
in which it lived, were changed. The only other fresh water
dolphins (one in the Ganges and one in the Amazons) doubtless
owe their origin to similar machinery.

The salt ranges of the Punjaub have no relation to this sequence
of events. Any deposits of salt that might have been left, as in
other cases by the drying up of a sea, could not occur here ; for, by
our hypothesis, before it was dried up, the sea had become fresh
water, of course from the flow of fresh water into it from
the snowy range of the Himmalayahs. No salt lakes or in-
crustations of salt or soda, as in the deserts in North-west
America or the Sahara, occur in the sandy wastes of the
Punjaub. The salt in the salt ranges is derived, not from sur-
face deposits at all, but from beds in strata, at least as old as the
new red sandstone, if not referable to the still older period — the
carboniferous epoch.

Mr Adams' description of this remarkable district is as follows : —

" The salt range extends from the Himmalayahs across the runjaubin about a
straight hne to the Suliman mountains on their west flank, and is composed of
low hills, intersected by narrow ravines or prominent ridges, for the most part
devoid of vegetation. Limestones, saliferous red and grey sandstones, would ap-
pear to form the chief geological formations, which, according to Professor

71ic Naturalist i/i India 303

Fleming, belong to the carboniferous period (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, 1853 and
1862 ; also, Journ. As. Soc, Beng., 1853, &c.). The plateaus, excepting where
extensive denudation has taken place, are covered with rounded pebbles, mostly
formed from the breaking up of the limestone beds. Salt is found in veins in
various situations, more especially among the sandstone and marl beds in the
neighbourhood of KuUer Kahar, where there are extensive salt mines. The
barren and sunburnt appearance of these mountains strikes the traveller; indeed,
it is chiefly on that account that they become a safe retreat to the wild sheep,
for, except in the cultivated districts, these dreary and desolate wastes are seldom
disturbed by man." — (P. 138.)

"The ravines in the district of Jubba have a peculiar appearance. Viewed
from a height they present a series of worn and angular-shaped hillocks, inter-
sected by narrow defiles, by no means inviting to the traveller, for not a blade
of grass is visible, and the disintegrated red sandstone and marl suggest the idea
of sleeping volcanic embers, which we found during the heat of mid-day had
more than a mere resemblance. I do not think I have ever witnessed a scene
so perfect in its desolation. However, we determined to descend in spite of the
stewing heat and reflection from the hillocks on each side. Whilst threading our
way among a series of narrow lanes we came on a young houriar (Caprovis
Vignei), just dropped, and evidently abandoned by its mother on seeing us ap-
proach. Several herds of rams (which separate from the ewes during the
breeding season) were observed dashing across ravines, offering a snap shot
occasionally. As we anticipated, the heat by noon became excessive, and our
thirst intolerable. No water could be procured save what was strongly im-
pregnated with salt. At last exhausted, I gave in, and must have been verging
on a coup de soldi, as my senses began to leave me, and I felt that both eyesight
and hearing were rapidly failing, accompanied by a loud buzzing sound in both
ears. In this condition I lay stretched on one of the red banks, whilst the
Shikaree set off in search of a spring. I think I may have remained for nearly
half an hour in this condition when I was aroused by the voice of a native, and
looking up, beheld a half naked man carrying a basin of milk and platter full
of cakes, which he at once begged I would accept. This good Samaritan had
seen my distress from his grass-built hut on the top of a neighbouring hill,
where he resided for the purpose of guarding a vein of salt. Never can I forget
the kindness of the poor fellow, who, unsolicited, came to my aid at a time his
services were so sorely needed." — (P. 150.)

In strong contrast to the desolation of this region is the country
near the Chor Moinitain in the sub-Himmalayan district.

" We recrossed the Gerrie on the 26th of March. The day was charming,
and the scenery of that beautiful and sylvan description so characteristic of
many sub-Himmalayan valleys. At our feet rolled the river, dashing furiously
over its rough limestone bed, and gradually becoming less turbulent, until settling
down to a quiet yet mighty flood, it moved steadily onward through the valley,
the sides of which were clad with the gayest attire of spring. The oak, plane,
wild apple, apricot, &c., sent forth their various shades of gi-een. Many were
in blossom, and the deep purple of the pomegranate's petals added a richness to
all around. Above us rose a hill covered with profusion of bush and tree, where

304 Journal of Travel and Natural History

we had spent the day hunting kalij, pheasants, and pea-fowl ; and now, tired and
weary, were enjoying the evening around the log fire, while a barking deer
clamoured loud in the jungle close by as if in defiant reproach for a young buck
which had fallen to my gun." — (P. 102.)

This is a favourite habitat of the Impeyan pheasant or monal,
perhaps the most gorgeous of all birds. It is becoming rare ; and,
although once profusely abundant in the Western Himmalayahs, is
now, comparatively speaking, restricted to certain localities in the
wooded slopes of the higher ranges. " Whole tracts of forests, once
dazzling with the gorgeous forms, are now without a single
specimen." Knowing this, we should have liked to have read that
Mr Adams had been contented with a specimen or two for Natural
History purposes, and done his best, at least, to preserve the race
from the extinction which their splendid beauty is sure to bring
upon them sooner or later. But this does not appear to have
occurred to him.

Laying the consoling unction to his soul, that " it will be long
before it is extirpated, for its haunts are high up among the craggy
rocks, where few ordinary sportsmen venture," he seems to have
gone at them as if he were bent on making a rival bag on a High-
land moor on the 12th of August.

" The pine and oak forests of the Chor were reached on the sixth day, when,
to our intense delight, we soon found the pheasants far outnumbered previous
expectations, for the ravines resounded with their loud screams, and the higher
we went and the deeper we penetrated into the dense forests the more plentiful
they became. The cool days, cold, even frosty nights, added increased vigour
to our exertions. Our table actually groaned with game ; and if there is one
gastronomic remembrance of those days more agreeable than another, it is the
delight we felt on returning at nightfall with a hunter's appetite to enjoy the
monal cutlets, which our excellent Bengal cook prepared in what he called ' his
own way.' " — (P. no.)

" One morning we happened to get into a narrow defile leading towards the
sunnnit of the mountain, profusely covered with ferns, balsams, dwarf bamboo
jungle, and long dank vegetation, through which we could scarcely pick our
way, much less see the great number of monal pheasants which were continually
arising around us. I had just discharged my gim at a ilock of upwards of
twenty monal, which rose in front of us, when within one hundred yards were
two black bears (Ursus Tibetanus) ascending a service tree in quest of fruit ; but
they cauglit sight of us and were off long before we could draw shot and load
with ball. My companion, in spite of the uncertain footing and obstacles,
killed ten monal in an hour." — (P. Hi.)

As attempts are being made to introduce the Impeyan jjheasant
into this country, we may note one or two of the particulars which
Mr Adams gives of its habits and habitats.

The Naturalist in India 305

It is found along the line of the Himmalayahs, at an elevation of
from 6000 to 8000 or 10,000 feet, but is partial to localities. It
is strictly alpine in its haunts, and prefers the cooler regions of the
middle ranges, to the forests bordering on the plains of India, and
it especially affects the deepest solitude of the forest, or the bamboo
and dense jungle which clothe the sides and bottoms of the valleys.
Its favourite food consists of acorns, earth-nuts, bulbs, wild straw-
berries, wild currants, and gooseberries, &c. The breeding season
commences about April, when the wailing cry of the males resounds
through the mountains, and might be mistaken for that of any of
the larger falcons. The female lays four to six eggs, very similar
in colour to those of a turkey.

The plach pheasant, the cheer pheasant, and the kalij pheasant,
are plentiful in the same districts as the Impeyan. Other phea-
sants of scarcely less beauty and interest, such as the black headed
pheasant (sometimes called the Argus), the horned pheasant, the
great snow pheasant, &c., were met with in the higher mountains;
but we must refer the reader to the work itself for the information
regarding them.

Mr Adams' visits to Cashmere supply some interesting incidents
of the chase of the wild animals which inhabit its mountains — the
bear, the ibex, wild goats, or sheep, &c. — and he gives some infor-
mation as to the specific characters of the different species of the
latter, and their limits and distribution, all tending strongly to
shew their very close affinity with each other.

The following quotation will give the reader a fair idea of the
game met with in the mountains, and of the difficulties attending
its pursuit, and of Mr Adams' style of description : —

" We were cautiously picking our footsteps with Alpen-stock across the
dangerous rents and slippery pinnacles, peering down into yawning gulfs and
projecting shelves below us, when suddenly Elli Shah's eagle eye caught sight
of a herd of Ibexes emerging in single file from a narrow chasm underneath,
led on by two fine males, one of which was standing on a spiral-topped rock,
with his four feet close together, in an attitude of observation. Then the
Shikaree seizing a handful of dried mat grass, tossed it up in the air to ascertain
how the wind blew, and removing his turban, replaced it by a skull cap with
the gravity of a judge about to deliver sentence, and gathering up his loins, and
taking the spare rifle, led the way down a hollow, until peeping cautiously over
the edge of the cliff, he suddenly turned towards me, crouching behind him, and
with a nod and grin of satisfaction, and beaming countenance, as much as to say,
' We have them now,' retired, that I might take his place. Resting the heavy
Westley Richards on the ledge, and raising the two hundred yards sight, I
covered the fore-shoulders of a fine male. Thud went the bullet on his side,

3o6 /otir/iai of Travel and Natural History

and up sprang the herd. One female stood out on a projecting rock, and
whilst gazing downwards the contents of the second barrel pierced her heart,
and she sprang into mid-air and fell bumping from rock to rock down into the
yawning abyss below. The male, desperately wounded, was seen following the
herd, which in a few minutes disappeared among the peaks above, whilst we in
wild excitement set off in hot pursuit of the former, which was discovered in a

dying state and despatched immediately On our way down the

mountain, the forest around resounded with the crowing of the plach
pheasants, and as we neared the tent I came suddenly on a huge brown bear
intently feeding on a clearing. Although his head was directed towards me, he
did not seem to notice us until we were within a few yards, and it was too late
to make his escape. . . . He had evidently taken up his abode in the glen
for some time, for on the following day we traced his footmarks like steps or
stairs up the face of the sward to the cliffs where his den was situated. No
doubt he had continued for years pursuing the even tenor of his way to the little
stream below and grassy slopes, seldom roaming beyond a short distance from
cover, where in all probability these patriarchs end their days, and like the
Ursus spelffius of old, enveloped in earthy and calcareous deposits, thus pre-
serve their remains for unreckoned ages.

' ' I well remember, when on our way from Wurdwun to Pambur, halting one
day on the banks of the Scinde, in the middle of a vast forest tract, and when
my servants and Shikaree were employed in stretching bears' skins, I took a
rifle and entered the forest in quest of musk deer. After penetrating the wilder-
ness for some distance, it suddenly occurred to me that I had forgot the pocket
compass, and must now trust to chance in finding my way out. After
hours spent in vain attempts to discover the river, night came on and there
seemed nothing for it but to wait patiently until the morning. The eternal still-
ness, not even the murmur of the pine tops broke the solitude ; in vain I listened
for the noise of the river, and longed for morning, when by the first dawn of day
I was off on my anxious journey, now rushing down slopes and making my way
down hollows, expecting to strike the river at every turn, but always in vain.
Horrible feelings of going directly away from the river haunted me, and the
cravings of hunger began to be urgent. At length, descending a densely wooded
slope of deodars, and gaining a valley and stream, which, after following for
upwards of an hour, I came suddenly on the Scinde, and discovered that I had
struck the river four miles below my tent. When I reached my companions I
was perfectly worn out from the exertion, fatigue, and anxiety, for except a
crust of bread and a few pieces of the flesh of a musk deer I killed in the early
morn, no food had passed my lips for upwards of thirty-two hours." — (P. 233.)

The excursion to Ladak supplies matter of considerable interest
to the reader, probably fully more than to the traveller, scenes of
continued desolation being less agreeable in experience than in
description. There is perhaps no place in the world more
desolate than these high valleys in the inner ranges of the Himma-
layahs. The clouds, heavily charged ^\■ith moisture, brought by
the south-east winds from the Indian ocean, first dejiosit the
greatest part of their contents in deluges on the Ghauts (the first

The Naturalist in India 307

high grounds they encounter), then proceeding on towards the Him-
malayahs, drop the rest of their burden on the SewaUk hills and on
the southern face and tops of the main range. By the time the
currents of air reach the inner ranges, the whole of their moisture
has been deposited, and, as Maury expressively phrases it, " they
pass over into the thirsty land beyond with scarcely enough rain
in them even to form a cloud." This is the explanation of the
difference in humidity between the mountains of Cashmere and
the rainless and cloudless regions of Ladak and Chinese Tartary,
and their consequent barrenness and desolation. Some places
Mr Adams describes as treeless and herbless, except a few clumps
of birches. Others are dreary plains covered with scanty herbage
and patches of furze (often the only fuel to be had, except Yak
dung) and again rocky and stony regions absolutely destitute
of all vegetation whatsoever. Among the animals mentioned
besides the Yak, and its hybrid with the cow, the zo or dzo, are
the ounce, two foxes, the Kiang (Ovis amnon), the Thibetan
antelope, deer, hares, rats (Lagomys), and of course the red
and white marmots. Of his introduction to the haunts of the
red marmot Mr Adams relates the following incidents : —

" The sun was declining as we commenced the ascent, and by the time we
arrived at the summit of the pass had dipped behind the lofty peaks of Haramuk.
We had gained an elevation of 10,500 feet above the level of the sea, and were
now in the region of snow. All ^\'as desolation ; and a cold cutting wind blew
in gusts down the narrow mountain gorges which were filled with ice. In
vain we attempted to peer through the gloom of the rapidly advancing night
for our baggage and servants ; but darkness came on and found us still expec-
tant on the mountain top. We had descended the northern face of the ridge,
to a clump of stunted birch in search of a level spot on which to pitch the tents,
when all at once, in the dismal solitude around, screams burst out of the ground,
louder and louder became the cries ; the rocks sent back the sounds. We
stood in astonishment, wondering what animal could be producing such
unearthly noises, and various were our surmises, until one of our servants arrived
and informed us we were in the centre of a colony of red marmots (Arctomys
Tibetanus). The 'drin,' as the red marmot is named by the natives of these
regions, is confined to certain situations at high altitudes, and prefers fertile and
secluded valleys, where vegetation returns rapidly and is luxuriant. There this
active creature spends the summer months, surrounded by a plentiful supply of
food, until again forced to its burrow by the cold and snow of winter. Their
excavations are formed on gentle slopes or under stones and rocks, where they
delight to sit erect and scream. Often the burrows are scattered over the
valley, where loud wailing cries may be heard for miles along the mountain
sides."— (P- 258.)

Mr Adams visited the Lake Chimouraree (called Chuinoninil by

3o8 Journal of Travel and Natural History

Gerard, the first English traveller who mentions it). It is a sheet
of water ten miles in length by two in breadth, situated at an
elevation of upwards of 17,000 feet above the sea. Several good
sized streams flow into it, but there is no outlet. Some suppose
that under such circumstances the water should become salt, others
that the lake should gradually increase in size and depth ; and as
it is neither salt, nor increasing in size, the Dens ex machina of a
subterranean outlet has been proposed by some to account for its
condition. Mr Adams, however, tells us that this idea has no
support from any appearances observable on the lake or neigh-
bouring country, so that the waste and supply must be balanced
by evaporation. Indeed, it appears that there are considerable
fluctuations in its level, as there were high water marks, indicating
an occasional greater height of water than when he saw it.

We had marked other passages for remark and quotation, such
as his experience of the sensations from the rarefaction of the air
at these great elevations, &c., but space fails us. We have said
enough to shew that the book will be a valuable addition to the
library, not only of the naturalist, but of the general reader.

Journal of Travel and Natural History 309

ON THE VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS OF
AB YSSINIA.

By W. B. Hemsley, formerly Assistant in the Herbarium of the
Royal Gardens, Kew.

AT a time when so much interest is still concentrated upon
Abyssinia, a few words on its vegetable productions may
be acceptable. In the following notes I have endeavoured to con-
dense as much information as possible in a few sentences, so I shall
not apologise for the disjointed character of their composition. It is
now nearly a century since Bruce returned from Abyssinia, after an
absence of about six years, and enlightened the world considerably
on the history, geography, and zoology, and, to a certain extent,
on the botany also, of that part of the world ; but his imperfect
knowledge of the art of describing plants renders his descriptions
useless, except those accompanied by plates. The plates, however,
are excellent for the period. Since then, numerous English,
French, and German travellers have visited that country, and,
thanks to their exertions, we are now tolerably well acquainted
with its botany. The flora of tropical Africa generally, is not of
that profusely abundant and luxuriant character prevalent in most
tropical countries. In the mountainous regions, however, on both
the eastern and western coasts, forests of considerable extent, and
grassy uplands, exist where vegetable life is rich and varied.
Trees of surprising magnitude, and flowers unsurpassed in brilliancy,
are met with ; and vegetable anomalies and curiosities are nowhere
more abundant. The vast sandy plains intervening, are here and
there enlivened by the presence of clumps of strange looking,
gouty-stemmed dwarf trees, bulbous-rooted and succulent plants,
which are peculiarly adapted to the ever-shifting soil. In this they
are sometimes deeply buried, and lie dormant for several years,
when the winds come and denude them as suddenly as they
previously overwhelmed them ; and they recommence growing,
and produce their flowers as if nothing particular had happened to
them. The flora of Abyssinia, and of the eastern coast generally,
is, perhaps, less diversified than that of the western coast ; but it
is, nevertheless, on account of the great height to which the
mountains rise, exceedingly interesting and very comjDrehensive in

3 lo Journal of Tra7'd and N'afiirai History

its features. From a rough calculation, the flora of Abyssinia,
excluding the lower Cryptogams, may be estimated at about 2500
species. In certain sterile and arid districts it partakes in some
degree of the desert character, abounding in fleshy-stemmed
Euphorbias and Adeniums, thorny Acacias and Jujube bushes. In
other places, again, the presence of balsam-producing trees and
shrubs, indicates an affinity to the flora of the opposite coast of
Arabia. Notwithstanding the immense desert lying between
Abyssinia and the fertile regions of the western coast, a large
proportion of the plants are common to both parts. This applies
more especially to those occurring above an elevation of 5000
feet. In the lowlands, the species peculiar to each coast are more
numerous ; but even here the genera are to a great extent the
same. Some Abyssinian species extend northwards to the Medi-
terranean, others southwards to the Cape of Good Hope, and a
very it^N^ excepting ubiquitous tropical weeds, to Madagascar, India,
and Australia. Many genera and species are common to the
mountains of tropical Africa and the plains of Europe. Several
British species are found on the mountains of Abyssinia and
Biafra — Cardamine hirsuta, Cerastium vulgatum, Oxalis corniculata,
Umbilicus pendulinus, Galium Aparine, Scabiosa succisa, Myosotis
stricta, Limosella aquatica, Sibthorpia Europcxa, Solanum nigrum,
Rumex obtusifolius, Deschampsia caespitosa, Aira caryophyllea,
Poa nemoralis, Kceleria cristata, Vulpia bromoides, Brachy-
podium sylvaticum, Asplenium adiantum-nigrum, A. filix-foemina,
and Lastrea filix-mas. Besides these species, common to Britain
and Abyssinia, many of our other genera are represented by allied
species, as — Viola, Silene, Arenaria, Sagina, Hypericum, Geranium,
Trifolium, Rubus, Alchemilla, Pimpinella, Cynoglossum, Utricularia,
Veronica, Hartsia, Stachys, Calamintha, Polygonum, Thesium
Avena, etc. It should be boriie in mind, too, that many of the
foregoing species or genera are also found on the Himmalayan
mountains, and eastward to China and Japan.

^^'ith these Euroi)can forms are associated many tropical or
subtropical genera, as the following : — Vitis, Schmidelia, Desmo-
dium, Vernonia, Mikania, Ubeia, Boleum, Plectranthus, Cyathula,
Lasiosiphon, Pilea, Peperomia, Commelyna, Cyperus, Panicum,
etc. But of these many, of course, do not ascend to the
highest points. The flora has been described as poor in comparison
with that of other tropical countries. But this must be under-
stood as referring to the number of species dispersed over the

Vt'i:^etahk Frodiidio/is of Abyssinia 3 1 1

whole territory, for the well-watered valleys are rich in species
and individuals, while the volcanic mountains and sandy plains
are either almost destitute of vegetation, or only occupied by very
few species.

Cycadaceffi, Lauraceas, Ternstroemiace^, Dipterocarpese, Ilicineae,
Magnoliacere, Berberidec'e, and other families, are entirely absent
from Abyssinia. The large family Myrtacese is sparingly repre-
sented, while the neighbouring family, Combretacete, is abundant.
There is no family of plants exclusively confined to Abyssinia,
nor indeed to tropical Africa; but several genera are limited
either to Abyssinia or tropical Africa. Many genera, formerly
supposed to be peculiar to Abyssinia, have recently been discovered
by explorers on the western side of the continent, as Brucea,
Nathusia, etc.

I will now pass in review a few of the more important and
interesting families represented in Abyssinia, specially noticing
those plants employed either medicinally or economically. It is
almost superfluous to remark, that the Abyssinians have tilled the
ground, more or less, from time immemorial, and have introduced
and cultivate many useful plants from the surrounding countries.
Of the Gramineae no fewer than 200 species are reported ; and
several species peculiar to the country are cultivated for their
grain ; wheat, barley, maize, and oats are grown, the first and
second extensively.

The principal indigenous cereals cultivated are the Teft
(Poa Abyssinia), the Dagussa or Tocusso (Elleusine Tocusso),
and the (Michella), Andropogon Sorghum. Of the foregoing, Teft'
is the most important, being extensively cultivated throughout
the country, at an elevation of between 6000 and 7000 feet above
the level of the sea. There are many varieties of Teft", such as
white, red, green, and purple.

According to M. Richard,-^ four months from the time of sowing
are necessary to bring the seed of Teff" to maturity. In the environs
of Gondar it is sown in August, and cut about the end of Novem-
ber or beginning of December ; and in favourable seasons produces
forty-fold, but oftener less than ten-fold.

Speaking of this grain Bruce says : —

"The Abyssinians, indeed, have plenty of wheat, and some of it of an
excellent quality. They likewise make as fine wheaten bread as any in the
world, both for colour and for taste ; but the use of wheat-bread is chiefly con-

* " Flora Abvssinia."

312 Toii7'nal of Travel and Natural History

fined to people of the first rank. On the other hand, Teff is used by all sorts of
people, from the king downwards ; and there are kinds of it which are esteemed
fully as much as the wheat. The best of these is as white as flour, exceedingly
light, and easily digested. There are others of a browner colour, and some
nearly black ; this last is the food of soldiers and servants."

Michella is largely grown, and offers innumerable varieties.
Another grain extensively cultivated is the Tocusso. The meal
of this is also used for making bread and cakes, but Tocusso is
chiefly employed in the preparation of beer. Previous to being
used for the latter purpose, it undergoes the same process as barley
in this country. Barley is grown in considerable quantities in the
highlands, and is also employed both in making beer and as food
for man and beast. According to Bruce, their Bouza or beer is
made in the following manner ; —

"A jar of Tocusso contains as much as is sufficient to make two loaves,
that are a tenth part of the whole jar ; besides which, they use about half a
votol of "Ghesh" leaves (Rhanuus sp.). The first part of the process
is to grind the Tocusso, after which they take a fourth part of it, and knead it
with water and leaven, as if to make bread. This they put in a jar to ferment
for two days ; at the end of which they make a good many thin large cakes, and
dry them on the fire until they become as hard as stone, then break them down
into crumbs, and put them into a large vessel full of water, capable of holding
six times the volume of the grain. The remainder of the meal must be put into
a hollow oven, over a fire, with a small quantity of water, and constantly stirred
until it becomes a black paste, which, with the bruised ghesh leaves, is put into
the jars containing the crumbs and water, let alone for a day, and then poured
off, and preserved in jars well stopped. At the end of seven or eight days this
liquor begins to be too strong, and is best when fresh, two or three days old."

Sedges, or Cyperacere, are numerous, and employed in various
ways. The Papyrus, according to Bruce, is a native of Abyssinia,
and boats made of the stalks were the only ones in use at the time
he resided in that country ; but subsequent travellers have not
met with, or have neglected to collect it, and make no mention of it.

Palms are rare in tropical Africa, or rather the species are iQ\f
in number, and three only are reported from Abyssinia — namely,
Phccnix dactylifera, the Date, Hyphsene th aica, the Doum
and an unnamed species, described as stemless. The Date is
cultivated. The Doum or Doom is indigenous, and is found in
the vicinity of Gondar, up to an elevation of 6000 feet above the
sea level. This Palm is remarkable on account of its stem being
often two or three times branrlicd, deviating in this resi)ect from
all other known members of the family ; the normal state being a
simple or undivided tnuik. There arc five species of the Yam

Vcgciabic Productions of Abyssinia 3 1 3

fomily, Dioscoreacere, natives of Abyssinia; and one, Dioscorea
Schimperiana, is found in almost every part, but whether any use
is made of its roots is unknown to me. Aroidese are not largely
represented. A species of Arum, called " Ambatcha," has tuber-
ous roots, similar to those of our " Lords-and-ladies," which
are, when peeled, eaten in a raw state.

The Banana tribe (Musacese) is represented by one native
species, figured by Bruce under the native name, Ensete ; but he
was so ignorant of what constitutes botanical characters that he
would not be persuaded that it was a species of Musa.

This species is now called Musa Ensete, and has long been
cultivated in this country.* Besides its botanical characters, it
differs from the other species in having a shorter stem, larger
leaves, and an inedible fruit. M. Richard refers specimens
collected by Quartin-Dillon to M. Paradisiaca, the Plantain, but
with a doubt, and asks if it is not the same as the one figured by
Bruce ; but most likely M. Paradisiaca is cultivated in this, as in
many other parts of tropical Africa, where it is extensively used as
an article of diet. At any rate there is no doubt about the exis-
tence of a Musa, as described and figured by Bruce. The Ensete is
also cultivated for the edible leaf-stalks and stem. Bruce says : —

' ' When you make use of this Ensete for eating, you cut it immediately above
the small detached roots, and perhaps a foot or two liigher ; as the plant is of
age, you strip the green from the upper part until it becomes white ; when soft,
like a turnip well boiled, it has the taste of the best new wheat bread, not per-
fectly baked, and is the best of all food, wholesome, nourishing, and easily
digested. It is cultivated around Gondar."

The root of the Ensete is also eaten as a vegetable by the
natives, and tastes somewhat like a potato; and the leaves are said
to furnish good fodder for cattle.

Two species of Conifer^e are indigenous — viz., Podocarpus
elongata and Juniperus procera. The latter is called "Zadd," and
is one of the largest trees in the country, yielding a hard and
durable timber, much sought after for building purposes.

Willows, or Salicines, so familiar to us, are not unknown to the
Abyssinian, there being three species (Salix axillaris, S. cyathipoda,
and S. octandra) on the mountains. One species of Gale (Myrica
salicifolia) grows in the mountainous districts ; it is, unlike ours, a

•In the "Gardeners' Chronicle" of January 25, 1868, is the following
notice: — "A fine specimen of the grand Musa Ensete, generally known as
Brace's Banana, is now flowering in an orangery at Stowe, the seat of the Duke
of Buckingham and Chandos."

TRAVEL Y

314 Jotirrial of Travel and Natural History

tree of 30 to 40 feet in height. The most important and conspi-
cuous Euphorbiaceae are the species of FAiphorbia itself, which, in
some sterile districts, form the principal feature of the landscape.
These are mostly fleshy-stemmed, leafless, or with very small
leaves, spiny species, much resembling Cacti \ and some of them
attain the dimensions of large trees. When cut or bruised, these
Euphorbias exude an enormous quantity of an exceedingly acrid
juice. E. Abyssinica, the " Kolqual," is employed for purposes of
construction, and rags dipped in its juice are rolled up for torches.
I must here quote a few lines from Bruce : —

" In that memorable day, when leaving the Larabar, or low flat parched
country which forms the sea coast of Abyssinia, and turning westward, we came
to tlie foot of that stupendous mountain, Taranta, which we were to pass in
order to enter into the high land, we saw the wlrole side of that prodigious
mountain covered from top to bottom with this beautiful tree. The frait was
ripe, and being carried on the top of the branches, the trees that stood thick
together appeared to be clothed with a cloth or veil of the most vivid crimson
colour."

Although his description and plates were against him, Bruce
contended that this tree could not be a species of Euphorbia.

E. Petitiana, and E. Schimperiana, are sometimes employed
medicinally, mixed with " Cussoo" (Brayera), to augment their
activity. Urtica sinensis, a stinging-nettle, is cooked and eaten as
a vegetable in Abyssinia, as our common one sometimes is in this
country.

Trees of the Moracece, or fig family, are abundant ; sixteen
species of Ficus alone have been reported. F. Sycomorus
is a native of the low country between the Red Sea and the
mountains of Abyssinia, where, Bruce tells us, he saw a number of
very fine old trees. The fruit of this, as also of F. Vallis and F.
pseudo-carica, is eaten. According to Messrs Fecet and Galinier,
the inner bark of F. panifica is eaten by the natives, and tastes
somewhat like bread.

Proteaceoe, a South African and Australian family, is represented
by one species of Protea and one of Leucospermum. Amongst the
few Polygonacere, is a Dock, Rumex Abyssinicus, or Mok-moks,
the root of which is macerated and mixed with butter to i)revent
the latter from becoming rancid. It is largely employed, and im-
parts, it is said, no bad flavour to the butter. The singular genus
of Bignoniaccai Kigelia is spread over a great part of tropical Africa,
and one species, called by the natives Meder-Deur, is met with in
Abyssinia. It forms a large tree, and is a very conspicuous object

Vegetable Prod net ions of Abyssinia 315

from the long pendulous racemes of crimson flowers and woody seed-
pods, the peduncles being from four to six feet long. This is said
to possess aphrodisiacal properties of a most extraordinary nature.

The bark of the young branches of a Stereospermum, a member
of the same family as the last, is rolled on sticks, and when dry
made into flutes.

Thereare several plants belonging to the Dog-banes, or Apocyneoe,
indigenous in Abyssinia. The fruits of Carissa edulis and C.
tomentosa are eaten. Asclepiadeae, numerous in Africa, especially
the tuberous-rooted species of Southern Africa, furnish one or two
edible roots. The boiled tubers of Ceropegia Vignaldiana resemble
Jerusalem artichokes ; and those of a Gomphocarpus are also eaten
when peeled and boiled.

Solanaceae are plentiful. Several varieties of tobacco are culti-
vated ; and Capsicum conoides is grown in considerable quantities,
and used as pepper. It possesses an aromatic pungency in a high
degree, and a very small quantity is required to season a dish. If
taken too freely it irritates the stomach and intestines, and induces
dysentery. Solanum marginatum is made use of in tanning leather,
and the fruit of another species is employed as a cathartic.

A jasmine, Jasminum floribundum, has intensely bitter leaves,
which are used as an anthelmintic. The large family of the Com-
positese is well represented in Abyssinia ; but the species are not so
numerous as might have been expected. The aromatic leaves of
Dichrocepha latifolia are used as a spice.

Carthamus tinctorius is cultivated, and an oil extracted from its
seeds. Myrsinaceae are few. The fruit of a species of Myrsine is
mixed with barley, and given to mules and asses, and that of Maesa
lanceolata is regarded as vermifugal. Cordia Abyssinia (Cori-
diace?e) should be mentioned. Bruce informs us that all the towns
are planted with them. Every house in Gondar has two or three
planted around it. The flowers are conspicuous, white in colour,
and very profuse, so that in the flowering season the towns are
exceedingly gay and pleasant.

Rubiacefe, or Cinchonaceae, are numerous, and many of them
very beautiful and interesting. The most important is the coffee
bush, Coffea Arabica, a native of the south-western part of Abys-
sinia, and commonly cultivated. It was, however, first known to
Europeans from Arabia, hence the specific name ; but it has since
been ascertained that it was originally introduced into that country
by the Arabs, and cultivated in Yemen, whence was derived all the

3 [ 6 Journal of Travel and Natural History

coffee used for upwards of two centuries. It is asserted that the
custom of drinking coffee was first practised by the Abyssinians,
by whom it has been cultivated from time immemorial, and was
introduced into Arabia in the fifteenth century.

Two or three species of Strychnos are indigenous; and the fruits
are manufactured into snufif boxes. Tupa Rhynchopetalum
(see a figure already given in No. 3 of this Journal), a Lobeliaceous
plant, called Djibarra, is extremely venomous ; the smoke of
its wood, if inhaled, causes vomiting; and even its atmosphere
is said to be fatal. Seeds of this plant, mixed Avith butter,
have the power of facilitating parturition. Another plant of this
family, Cyphia glandulifera, has farinaceous tubers, which are
eaten by the poor people.

About thirty species of Umbelliferoe are recorded from Abyssinia
some of which are remarkable in the family on account of their
shrubby or arborescent character. One, Steganotsenia attains a
height of twenty to thirty feet, with a solid ligneous trunk.

Cucurbitacese are rare in a wild state. Cucumbers are culti-
vated and eaten.

Passifloreffi are comparatively scarce in Abyssinia, but on the
western side of the continent, and in the south, there are several *
genera not hitherto discovered in any other part of the world, some
of which probably will be found by future explorers in Abyssinia.
They are, Tryphostemma, Basananthe, Smeathmannia, Bartonia,
Crossostemma, Machadoa, Acharia, and Ceratiosicyos.

Leguminosce are abundant, cultivated and wild, and many of
them are of great beauty. Thorny gum-producing Acacias,
Mimosas, and Indigoferas are common. Indigo is obtained from
the Indigofera argentea, and the powdered fruit of a Nulletia is a
fish poison. A valuable vermifuge is yielded by Albizzia anthel-
mintica, which has been successfully employed in various parts of
Europe since 1846. It is known under the names of Mussena and
Besenna. The pulverised bark is the part administered, which is
taken in oil, honey, or preserve. It is said to be even more efii-
cacious than Cussoo (Brayera). It kills the tiXnia, and facilitates
its decomposition, so that it is the easier expelled. AToquin Tandon
says, that in small doses it causes neither purging nor griping, but
in too strong doses it acts as a cathartic, and may even become
dangerous. To the Rosacete belongs Brayera anthelmintica, the
Cussoo, or Cabotz, of Abyssinia, another vermifuge, formerly sup-
posed to be the most i)0wcrfu1 in the world. Upon the authority

Vegetable Produetions of Abyssinia 317

of Brayer, a French physician, after whom it was named, two or three
doses of the infusion are sufficient to cure the most obstinate cases
of taenia. It has also been successfuHy employed in Europe.

This is figured under the name of Banksia Abyssinica by Bruce,
who devotes a long article to it, Avherein he tells us that it is one of
the most beautiful as well as most useful trees growing in the
Abyssinian high lands. " The Abyssinians of both sexes and all
ages," he says, " are subject to a terrible disease. Every individual
once a month evacuates a large quantity of worms called ascarides,
and the method of promoting these evacuations is by imparting a
handful of dry Cussoo flowers in about two quarts of bouza or teff
beer, which is taken by the sufferer."

This disease Bruce ascribes to their eating raw meat, for he
observed that Mahommedans, who eat no uncooked meat, were
free from it. Another plant of this family, Rubus apetalus, has,
like our blackberry, an eatable fruit.

Ampelideee, or Vines. There are three or four native species,
and V. vinifera has been introduced, and is cultivated. The large
fleshy kernel of Spondias Birrea (Anacardiaceae) is eaten ; and the
fruit of Schmidelia Africana (Sapindacese) is employed as an anthel-
mintic. When the fruit is dry it is peeled, mixed with flour, and
converted into a kind of paste, which is eaten. Of the Burseracese,
or Balsam trees, there are several species found in Abyssinia.
Myrrh is the product of Balsamodendron myrrha, a small shrub
found on the sea-coast, and balm of B. Opobalsamum. The latter
is also found in Arabia. Olibanum, it is supposed, is yielded by
Boswellia papyrifera, but this is still doubtful. This tree, how-
ever, is one of the most remarkable in the country, where it is
named Makker.

It furnishes a transparent resin, used as incense, and the bark
is used to write upon. Quartin-Dillon and Schimper employed
layers of this bark to pack their dried plants in which they sent to
Europe. Brucea antidysenterica (SimarubeEe), possesses properties
similar to those of Quassia, a member of the same family. This
shrub, Bruce informs us, is spread over the greater part of Abys-
sinia, growing on the sides of valleys. He used it himself for
dysentery, and it cured him after all other remedies had failed.
The root is the part utihzed ; this is powdered, and taken in doses
of about a tea spoonful in camels' milk. Several other species of
this genus have since been discovered in various parts of the world.
Rhamnaceae are abundantly represented by Zizyphus, Rhamnus, &c.

3i8 foiinml (ij '/'/diui d/ui Natniitl History

The species of Zi/.y])hus arc extremely comnujii slirubs, growing
in all soils ; l)iiL in poor ground the leaves are smaller, and the
s])iry stipules very strongly developed. Tlie fruit of Z. jujube and
other si)ecies arc eaten. "dhesh" is a s])efies of Khamnus,
whose leaves arc cmjjloyed in the preparation of beer. 'J'hcl)itler
fruits of Rhamnus vStaddo are, also, used in the same way which, as
well as the leaves of R. ])aucillorus, are said to accelerate fermenta-
tion, and at the same time to impart an agreeable bitterness to tlie
beer, (Gunpowder is manufactured from the wood of Celastrus
serratus (Celastraceie). Plate 49 (jf " Rruce's 'J'ravels" re])rc-
sents the fruit of a Sterculia, wiiic h he erroneously states to be
that of the tree figured in the preceding i)late, which is ])robal>ly
Meliaceous or Anacardiaceous. 'J'hat ])ortrayed on plate 48
is ])r()l)ably the one referred to, as being the tree which the
Abyssinians believe to be the tree that bears frankincense, and wc
arc told that it does })roducc a gum much resembling it.

Malvaceae arc numerous. One of the most remarkable and
interesting is the gigantic tree, Adansonia digitata, or I3ina, the
Baobab of Western Africa, belonging to the tribe Bombaccfe.
This abounds in all die low valleys of the interior, especially in the
valleys of the Tacagzzc, where it attains enormous dimensions.
The diameter of its trunk is out of all proportion to the height of
the tree, lacing from twenty to thirty feet, with a height of fifty to
sixty feet. 'J'he wood is soft and s])ongy, antl of no particular value;
but the bark is ulill/.ed in various ways, sucli as cord and net-making,
and in the manufacture of cloths, &c. There is only one other
sj)ecies known, A. Oregorii, a native of N. J'",. Australia.

Cotton is fre([uently seen in cultivated ground ; but I have not
been able to ascertain whether it is made use of by the natives,
tliough most likely it is to a certain extent. Dwarf prickly shrubs
of Zygophylle;c and C"a])i)aride;e are conunon on sandy soil and
volcanic liills. JVlenispermace;e and Anonaccx present nothing
particularly worUiy of notice, which brings us to the end of our
epitome.

From the foregoing notes and extracts a tolerable idea of the
Idora of Abyssinia may be formed ; but in a sketch, necessarily
short and fragmentary, much of interest has been omitted. The
details of the preparation of vegetable substances, cither for food
or medicine, and for the manufacture of various articles, would have
occupied too much s])ace in a paper de\oted t<j the general
aspect of things.

Jonr7ial of Travel and Natural History 319

FERNS OF KILIMAND/AFO.*

AVALUABLIC paper on the gcograijliical (lislribulion of
ferns was contributed last year to the Linna3an Society by
Mr Jjaker of Kcw. 'i"he little jjamjjhlet, whose title we have ];laced
at the head of this notice, treats of the same subject at some length
in its introduction, and our first intention was to delay noticing
it until we could pass both under review at the same time.

On perusing Dr Kuhn's j^aper, however, we think it will be
better to discus's it at once, for his general data differ so materially
from those of Mr Baker, that the one cannot be used to throw light
upon the other : we must make our selection between them, and
cleave to the one and reject the other. We cannot follow both
Kuhn and Baker.

The total number of species admitted by Mr I'aker is 2229, that
by Ur Kuhn is 3334,t leaving a difference between the two of no
less than 1105, or a third of the whole. If this difference were
uniform in all the tribes and families, we might, by apj>lying a
correction of a third, keep the j)rojKjrtion the same, and make some
comparison between the results of each ; but it is not so, no two
tribes differing in the same proportion. The difference between
them, for example, is, on the whole a third; on the IIynieno]jhylla-
cea2, a fourth; on the Gleicheniaceaj, a half; on the Osmundaceoc,
a tenth ; and on the Schizaeea), an eleventh — always in favour of
Dr Kuhn's numbers. There are, therefore, no termini haOiles for
reconciling the two; and, as it is imjjossible that both can be right
— perhaps impossible that either can be right — we shall content
ourselves with endeavouring to ascertain which comes nearest to
the true amount.

Mr Baker has attained his results chiefly from the actual ex-
amination of species in the Kew Herbarium (the richest in ferns
in the world), so that his results are mainly derived from actual
examination of the specimens themselves, and, if errors exist in
regard to the admission or rejection of species, they are at least

* Filiccs DcckcniaiKc, Auctor. Max. Kuhn, Lcipsig (1867).

+ The entire number of Comiophytes given l^y \)x Kulni is 3825, hut lliis
inchulcs the Equisetaccic, Ihc I.ycopodiaccic, aii'l the Kliizocar[)e.''.-, aniouiitiiif,'
to 491.

3 20 Jourjial of Travel and Natural History

applied on the same principle to all, and do not disturb the general
proportion.

Dr Kuhn, on the contrary, has made up his lists from all kinds
of sources ; collections examined, and lists made up by himself;
catalogues published by some authors, monographs and Floras by
others, and isolated notices and descriptions of species; and with the
infoniiation drawn from these heterogeneous sources, modified and
corrected according to his own estimate of what was likely, or what
had been suggested by others.

It may, however, be worth while for the use of others, to point
out one or two objections which occur to us, to the mode in which
he has tabulated his statistics. The plan he has adopted is to
tabulate the species according to the continents of our modern
maps ; not into regions whose limits have been determined by
the affinity of their productions. The continent of Europe, for
example, is not the same Europe as that of the student of
geographical distribution ; in his Europe the north of Africa is
included. Neither does the continent of Asia of our maps corre-
spond with his continent of Asia. His continent goes no further
south than the Himmalayan range — all south of that comes into
another region — the Indo-Malayan, and so on. Dr. Kuhn (the
subject of the body of his book being African ferns) naturally
gives a table of the numbers of African species found else-
where— viz., in Asia, in Europe, in America, &c. But, when he
simply records a species as found in Asia of the maps, he leaves the
student of geographical distribution in the dark on the most impor-
tant point — whether it is found north of the Himmalayan range or
south of it. The inferences to be deduced from its occurrence in
the one being widely different from those from its occurrence in the
other. If its Asian habitat means Kamschatka, we should infer
that the species was of veiy antient origin, and that its range
once probably extended all over the world, for everything is
against any recent union or continuity of Africa and Kamschatka.
Whereas, if its Asian habitat meant India or Java, it would suggest
its common occurrence there and in Africa as the result of a former
continuity of these regions, there being other grounds for beUeving
this to have been the case.

The body of the essay consists of a list of the ferns, with
descriptions of the new ones collected by Kersten and Linck,
the botanists who accompanied Baron Van Der Decken in his
disastrous expedition into the interior of Eastern Africa ; and

Fl r/is of KiIiiiia?idjaro 321

were obtained from the Seychelle Islands, the small island of
Nossi-bey, near the west coast of Madagascar, Comoro Island,
'anguebar Island, and the neighbourhood of Mombas and Osi,
towns on the east coast of Africa, and from Kilimandjaro itself.

After the claims of that lofty mountain to a crown of eternal
snow had been indicated by Krapf, they were impugned by geo-
graphers, and so much ridiculed by Mr Cooley and others, that
it led to a strong desire for the exploration of the geography and
natural history of that region. It was that which led to Baron
Van Der Decken's fatal expedition. He solved the problem, and
finally established the real existence of perpetual snow on a moun-
tain in the heart of Africa, but at the price of his own life —
another sacrifice to the bloody Moloch of African discovery.

Knowing that the country he explored offered an immense field
for every kind of natural history exploration, and that he was ac-
companied by collectors and all the appareil of science, natura-
lists have looked forward with peculiar interest to the publication
of the results of the expedition. The present is one of the first
publications of its botanical results (so far as we know, actually the
first), and we confess that it has not quite come up to our perhaps
somewhat unreasonable or exaggerated expectations.

The total number of ferns recorded by Dr Kuhn, as brought
home from the whole voyage, is 44, of which, however, only 1 2 are
from Kilimandjaro.

Now, if there is a spot in all Africa in which a priori ferns might
be expected to occur in great quantity, it is the neighbourhood of
Kilimandjaro, the conditions of the climate (moisture and heat)
being there unusually favourable to the growth of this kind of vege-
tation. As every one knows, too, ferns are more easily collected
and preserved than any other class of plants, a single day being
often sufficient to dry them, where a week or a fortnight would be
required for phanerogamous plants. We are therefore somewhat
inclined to surmise that less attention had perhaps been directed
to this than to the other classes of plants.

In estimating the actual Flora of the district, however, from the
collections received from the expedition, we must ever bear in mind
the hurry and distraction with which such expeditions are conducted,
where men walk with their lives pinned to their sleeves, and have to
keep their eyes more occupied in searching for an ambush of blacks
than a cluster of ferns. This is no doubt the chief cause of the appa-
rent smallness of the collection, and is probably also the explanation

322 Journal of Travel and Natural History

why even those specimens which have been brought home appear
to have arrived in a fragmentary state, two of the new species being
described from specimens without fruit, and more of them from
fragments of fronds without root, stem, or apex.

The species (twelve in number) which Dr Kuhn records from
Kihmandjaro are : —

Acrostichum Deckenii, Kuhn, nov. sp. ; Pteris arguta, Ait. ; P.
aquihna, Linn., var. lanuginosa, Bory. ; Asplenium anisophyllum,
Kze ; A. Sandersoni, Hook. ; A. protensum, Schrad. ; A. con-
tiguum, Klf. ; A. Linckii, Kuhn, nov. sp. ; Aspidium Kilmanense,
Kuhn, nov. sp. ; A. squamisetum. Hook. ; A. unitum, Mett. ;
Polypodium lanceolatum, Linn., var. latifolia, Schldl. Of these, ex-
cluding the three supposed novelties, one species, Pteris aquilina,
is one of the most widely diffused of plants or animals. The plant
which Dr Kuhn regards as Pteris arguta is the P. flabellata of
Thunberg, which inhabits Cape Colony, Bourbon, Ascension
Island, and West Tropical Africa, and is considered as distinct
from the south-west European and Canarian Parguta by some
authors. Polypodium lanceolatum belts the world in the tropics,
and passes a little beyond them in a southern direction in both
hemispheres. Aspidium unitum is like the last, but reaches into
temperate regions both north and south of the tropics. Asplenium
contiguum was before known only in temperate Asia, and the
others, except A. anisophyllum, which is known also in America,
are exclusively African ; Aspidium squamisetum being the only
one that is exclusively tropical, the others being common to the
tropics and the Cape.

For this instalment of the Flora of Kilimandjaro, small though
it be, the scientific world will be grateful, knowing the toils, pri-
vations, and difficulties under which they have been collected ;
risks which have been too palpably brought home to us in the
present instance, by the loss of the life of the deeply lamented
Van Der Deck en.

Journal of Travel ami Natural History

Ci)rrc5pn"bcnc^.

Letter to Dx Hooker /ww Dr R. O. Cunningham, Naturalist to the Sur-
veying Expedition at the Straits of Magellan.

H.M.S. "Nassau,"
Sandypoint, Strait of Magelh/EUs.
N'oveniber 26, 1867.

" I am very glad, indeed, to hear that the plants have arrived in a satisfactory
condition, for I was feeling rather anxious about them. I only fear that the
Zoological specimens may not fall into such good hands, and, in consequence,
that they may have come to grief before I get a chance at working at them. I
will keep in mind what you say regarding a diligent collection of the Strait
grasses and Cyperacece ; and, as I hope we shall spend a few days at Port
Famine this season, I will do my best to get hold of King's plants. I hope to
have no difficulty in procuring seeds of the Fagi at the end of the season, and
saving and sending them home in the way you recommend ; and I will keep a
sharp look-out for seeds of all kinds.

Regarding the Fuegians, I am afraid we are not likely to have opportunities
of intercourse with the eastern ones, who appear to be a distinct race from the
western, but I have little doubt we will have many interviews with the latter in
the western part of the Straits, and perhaps in Smyth's Channel, where we will
probably be for some months this year. I think I mentioned in my September
letter that I had jDrocured at Tijuca a female land- or fresh-water crab, with
fully developed young ones attached to the abdomen or tail-flap, in the position
of the ova. I have been thinking over this circumstance since then, and it
appears to me that this goes far to prove that this species of crab either under-
goes no metamorphosis in the young state, or else that the changes take place
while the young animal is still attached to the parent. I believe our British
Cray fish undergoes no metamorphosis, but I have not been able to find out
from the books I have with me whether the same holds good with any of the
short-tailed Decapods. We remained at Rio de Janeiro till the 14th of October,
and I took many long walks about the neighbourhood ; and, I think, added
considerably to my knowledge of the plants and animals of the country. I
collected specimens of all the ferns I could find, and if they are in a state of
respectable preservation when we go north again, I will send them to you with
the next relay of Strait plants, and you can dispose of them as you think fit. I
had a pleasant excursion one day with Captain Majme and Dr Campbell to
Paqueta, one of the numerous islands near the head of the harbour. The vege-
tation of the island was very rich and varied. On a flat space of sandy ground
a Eugenia, with oval leaves and ribbed red juicy fruits, was abundant. The
Brazilians call it Pitayo, and are very fond of the fruit ; but I must say I
think it extremely bad, possessing a sickly sweetish taste, followed by a flavour
of coal tar. Along the beach I found several bivalves (a species of Donax, one
of the most abundant) and Gasteropods ; and on a boulder in the water a large
handsome gray Aplysia, which emitted a fine purple fluid on being handled.
One day our screw was got up for the purpose of cleaning it. I found it
covered with two species of zoophytes (one of them a small Corjaie or Tubu-
laria), in the midst of which minute Ci"ustacea (among which a Caprella was
specially abundant), small fish, and Molluscs clustered. It was rather curious,
that though the metal was everywhere covered with the polypidoms of the
zoophytes, not a trace of plant life was present. One thing that perplexed me
a good deal in the course of several of my walks was the perpetual dripping of

3 24 JoiiDtal of Travel and Natural History

drops of water that took place from the leaves of some Legiiminosre (Acacias,
or some other closely allied form). The phenomenon was first mentioned to
me by a very intelligent U. S. Lieutenant, and I frequently noticed it after-
wards in the course of a walk, shaded with trees, leading into the Corcovada
mountains. I could not satisfy myself whether it was due to the action of
insects, or was a natural property of the plant. One day I took a walk along
the sea-beach, behind Botafogo, outside the harbour, and was greatly amused
watching the movements of a crab of the genus Ocypode, which I saw for the
first time. Numbers of these animals were reposing on the dry sand, about
twenty yards from the water's edge, and, on being approached, ran rapidly down
to the water. So swiftly did they progress that it was impossible to overtake
them, even running at full speed, and I only succeeded in capturing one
specimen with the aid of two lieutenants of the 'Narcissus,' who were with
me, by getting between it and the sea and surrounding it. Another day, Grey
brought me a very fine long-spined Echinus from the island of Willegatgnarand ;
and on another occasion, I got several curious Crustacea in Five Fathom Bay,
including examples of the genera Hepatus Lupa and Hippa. One thing that
struck me in my excursions (which seems to have astonished nearly all who
have travelled in tropical countries), was the operations of leaf-cutting ants
of various species. The ingenuity displayed in the work of spoliation, and the
enormous loads transported by single individuals, was most surprising. In
some instances I observed armies of ants marching up the stems of large-leaved
trees and shrubs, and cutting througli the petioles with their jaws, so as to let
the entire leaves fall to the ground, where they were sawn up into loads.

"As I have already stated, we left Rio about the middle of October, and we
arrived at Monte Video on the evening of the 21st, having experienced a
pampero, but having made a good passage, all things considered. The day after
our arrival I took a walk along the coast, outside the town, and noticed a con-
siderable number of plants in flower, that I observed in similar circumstances
last year. Thus, there were a yellow Medicago, several yellow and white Com-
positre, a small Malva, a purple Echium, an Echinocactus, a small Gna-
phalium, &c. The beautiful white Petunia, noticed last year, whitened the
rocks and the grass around them, and a beautiful rosy-purple Oxalis clustered
in their clefts in many places. On the beach the only living thing, to all ap-
pearance, was a small crab, which was abundant in pools in the rocks, and I
found numerous valves of a Cerati-solen in the sand. On the following day I
went up to Buenos Ayres with Captain Mayne, my principal object being to
call on Burmeister, and see the Museum under his charge. We left the Monte
in the afternoon, and arrived at Buenos Ayres next morning. Here we remained
for five days, and I enjoyed my stay very much. The city was so much more
English looking than anything I had seen since I left home, and there are loads
of hospitable English inhabitants. I went to the Museum twice, and saw
Burmeister both times, being much interested by the interviews I had with him,
not to speak of being a good deal amused by one of the most eccentric speci-
mens of a scientific man that it has been my lot to come across. His knowledge
of zoology, particularly as regards the Annulosa, is evidently very extensive,
and, as I daresay as you are aware, since his residence in South America, he
has paid a large amount of attention to its characteristic tertiary fossil Mam-
malia. Of these the Museum possesses some magnificent specimens. Those of
the Glyptodon are, I should say, much finer than tliose in the British Museum
or College of Surgeons, and there are some noble examples of Toxodon,
Mylodon, Machairodus, &c. There is also a fine collection of the recent .South
American lidentata. He shewed me llie new Chlamyphorus, which he described
two or three years ago, and pointed out to me a very curious difference between
the conformation of the pelvic bones in it, and that which obtains in the only
other species of the genus (C. truncatus), which was described long ago (if my
memory serves me right, by Yarrell in the ' Zoological Transactions'). He also
shewed me a very curious monstrous Armadillo, j^ossessing two jiairs of hind
legs. The most curious thing al)out it is, tliat the animal is a full-grown one.
Another specimen that he evidently takes great pride in is tiie trachea of a dol-
phin, which possesses three equal sized bronchi, and tiie trace of a fourth. We

Correspondence t^z'^

remained at Monte Video for a couple of days, after our return from Buenos
Ayres, and on one of these I called on Mr Lettson, our Consul-General, who
is an accomplished mineralogist, and possesses an extensive knowledge of
general science. He shewed me some veiy fine examples of the minerals of the
country, and gave me a good specimen of amethyst-coloured quartz. The
' Narcissus,' which was at Rio along with us, left a week before us, and spent
a few days at Maldonado, meeting us again at Monte Video. One of the
Lieutenants gave me a few Maldonado plants, which he had kindly collected
for me. Among them is a fem, which is very like Osmunda regalis. I got a
single frond of the same plant at Tijuca. We left the outer roads of Monte
Video early on the morning of the 1st of this moiith, with a favourable wind,
which, however, did not last long, being succeeded by a dead calm, and tjiat
being followed by the severest gale we have experienced since we left England.
You will be able to judge of the extent of the rolling of our craft when I tell
you that the indicator of the instrument which we have for registering the
amount she rolls, was jammed hard up frequently, and several yards of
the upper part of our starboard bulwarks were driven in. I forget whether
I told you that my cabin is on deck, attached to the chart-room, and during
one night I was frequently roused by seas crashing against the door, and on
the roof of it. On the evening of the 5th, when it was nearly dead calm,
we put over a towing net, and by this means I procured a minute Velella, and
some small Amphipodous Crustacea. The calm continued during the night,
and next morning some small lanthince, and various exquisite Acalephee,
for the most part Ctenophora, and among them several Beroes, were procured.
The motion of the ciliated plates in the water was most beautiful. Some of the
Beroes were colourless, while in others the plate-bearing ribs were of a beautiful
rosy tint. A beautiful Acaleph also occurred, which seemed to be a Physsophora,
and later in the day a few Isopods were met with. On the 7th, when we were
150 miles off the land, a land bird about the size of a thrush (I believe a species
of starling or Icterus) flew round about the ship for a while. On the 8th, when
we were still 150 miles off the land, numerous moths and sphinges made their
appearance on board, and a little gi"ey and brown warbler visited us and fed
upon them. On the morning of the loth the towing net yielded a few cirripeds
of the genus Lepas, attached to air vessels of Macrocystis,a few minute Pteropoda,
and three Coleoptera, two of them land and one a fresh-water species. On the
evening of the iitb, a Cetacean, about twelve feet long (probably a species of
Delphinus), appeared close astern, and followed the ship for some time, diving
about in the neighbourhood of the towing net. We had a succession of fine
bright days, with but little wind, so that as we sailed most of the way we made
slow progress. We got under steam on the evening of the 1 6th, and on the
afternoon of the next day Cape Virgins was sighted, which caused a good deal
of interest. A little outside the entrance of the Strait we recognised old friends
in a cormorant and a penguin ; and on approaching Dungeness Spit we witnessed
a most extraordinary sight. On the shelving beach, close to the water, were
about a dozen sea lions (Otaria jubata), and further up upon it not less than be-
tween fifty and sixty were congregated together. It was most curious to watch
the movements of these huge unwieldy monsters, as they reared up their heads,
displaying their manes to full advantage, and floundered rapidly down the steep
beach into the water, and there splashed about. A great flock of cormorants
were also sitting packed close together on the Spit, and several specimens of the
Sheath-bill (Chionis alba), a bird we did not see last year, flew near the ship.
A party of us intended to have landed next morning, with the intention of making
the acquaintance of the sea lions, but the weather unfortunately proving unpro-
pitious, we were obliged to abandon the idea. We weighed between eight and
nine, and proceeded on our way into the Strait, the Patagonian shore, as of old,
exhibiting beautiful lights and shadows. It blew very fresh during the greatei;
part of the day, and we anchored in Gregory Bay in the e\'ening. We weighed
again early next morning, and reached Sandy Point soon after eight o'clock, and
here we have been Mnce. The weather has been very fine on the whole, and I
had a busy time of it last week, being on shore in general from half-past nine
till between five and six, and putting away specimens in the evening. As we

326 Journal of Travel and Natural History

are a month earlier than we were last year I find some plants, that had nearly
passed over as regards then" flowering then, in full flower at present, and others
that were out then have not begini to flower now. The morning of the 19th,
when I first landed, was a delightful one, with that quiet sweetness that one
often sees in spring mornings at home. The woods of the Antartic beech were
in their fresh green, and the Magellanic thrush and a small warbler were singing
deliciously. The Berberis impetrifolia rendered the ground yellow in many
places, with its prostrate stems crowded with blossoms, which diffused a faint
pleasant fragrance, and in the neighbourhood of the settlement, Taraxacum, a
yellow-flowered Ranunculus, Cerastium arvense, a small prostrate Geranium, a
Saxifraga, which I presume to be S. exarata, and a few Graminacerc, were in full
flower and very plentiful. Continuing my walk, I found the Magellanic Ribes
flowering plentifully, as well as Berberis buxifolia and Primula farinosa, v. Ma-
gellanica. I was much attracted by the beauty of the last, which had almost
ceased flowering last year. Its colour varies much, as it occurs under the
shade of bushes, such as Chilobothrium, or grows in more open places. In
the former case the flowers are often of that rather deep shade of purple
which one sees in Verbenas, while in the latter it is often nearly pure white.
The same day I got numerous specimens of Anemone decapetala, and one
or two Cruciferje. A small copper butterfly, very like our small copper, and a
little dark brown one, were flying about ; but, to condense my experiences, I
may mention that a few blossoms are beginning to appear on Chilobothrium,
and Calceolaria plantaginea, Valeriana lapathifolia, &c., are in bud. Geum
Magellanicum, which is very common here, has not even pushed up its flower
stem. Valeriana carnosa is in full flower, as is also a yellow Viola, which I
imagine to be V. Magellanica. A minute Rumex, which looks like our R.
acetosella, is out, and a larger curl-leaved one, growing a little above high-
water mark, is in bud. Sisyrinchium filifolium is rapidly coming out. Carda-
mine geranifolia is fully out in the woods, and I have got beautiful specimens
of a purple variety of Oxalis enneaphylla, which, however, appear to be con-
fined to a limited space of ground. None of the Senecios are in flower as yet,
a solitary specimen of one, a good deal like S. Falklandicus, excepted. Very
few grasses are in flower yet ; but I have got good specimens of all that I could
lay hands on. I have got at least one plant that I did not get last year ;
one or two that I got in other localities, such as Asplenium Magellanicum, and
Hippurus (the latter I have found abundantly in marshes, but not in flower),
and better specimens of a good many plants that I got here last year. Berberis
ilicifolia is magnificent in some places in the woods. Its flowers have a redder
tinge than those in the specimens figured in the copy of the 'Flora Antartica'
beside me.

' ' As to birds, gulls, steamer ducks, geese, and the large ibis, are plentiful. This
is the breeding season of these birds, and I have at present a number of eggs in
my cabin, brought from Elizabeth Island by the emissaries of the governor of
Sandy Point. I have got a fresh-v/ater Gasteropod, and a few Coleoptera, that
I did not get last year, and a splendid specimen of a Cnistacean of the genus
Lithodes, which I only got imperfect specimens of last year. This is a genus
which has interested me for some time. We have a British species which
occurs now and then in the Firth of Forth. In it, as well as in all the fin'eign
species that I have had an ojiporlunity of examining, the plates of the abdomen
or tail flap are symmetrically arranged in the male, asymmetrically in the
female.

" We expect to leave the place to-morrow, and will probably go out to finish
sounding the Sarmiento Bank at the entrance of the Strait. We go to the Falk-
land Isles about the middle of January for su]iplies, and till after that I fear I
will not be able to accomplish much, for we \\\\\ be chiefly engaged in sounding
Ihc deeper parts of various of the bays, and there will consequently be few
opportunities of landing. Should anything occur to make it worth while doing
so, I will write to you again from the Falklands ; but if there is nothing worth
mentioning, I will not write again till we go to Chiloc in the beginning of
April. " Robert O. Cunningham."

Jourttal of Travel and Natural History 327

^isccUaup.

Geology of Central North Araerica.* — Last year the Union
Pacific Railway Company, Eastern Division, made an important survey for an
extension of their line from the Smoky River, Kansas, to the Rio Grande, and
with a liberal appreciation of the value of scientific discovery, they attached
one or two naturalists and geologists to the surveying party. The head of this
scientific department was the well-known naturalist of Philadelphia, Dr J. L.
Leconte, and he has just published a summary of the Geological Obsei^vations
made during the expedition, under the title given below. This is little more
than a business report for the use of the Company and practical men, Dr
Leconte considering that science will be better sei-ved by the more detailed
results being published in another form at a later time ; but, while his "Notes"
are chiefly of this nature, he gives at the conclusion a brief sketch of the general
inferences which may be drawn from the facts observed, from which the reader
may judge of the philosophic spirit in which the inquiry has been conducted,
and of the interest which will attach to a more deliberate and complete account
of his observations. Dr Leconte's summary of the Geologico-Historical con-
clusions is as follows : — " 1st, That the development of the present structure
and surface of the continent from the Rio Grande, eastward to Kansas, has
been by a series of gradual and extended elevations from the south to the north,
lifting large tracts of land above the surface of the ocean, and connecting the
islands of the Palaeozoic age into a mass of land gradually growing towards
the north and east. 2d, That the greater part of this elevation in the south
took place at the end of the lower Cretaceous period, and was accompanied with
upheavals of one or more mountain chains ; that similar phenomena occurred
further north, at the end of the Cretaceous or in the early tertiaiy. 3d, That after
the first and during the middle Cretaceous period, the continent was developed
further by the formation of a great peninsula, running eastward, contracting the
inter-continental Cretaceous ocean, and preparing it for the division into two gulfs,
which was finally accomplished at the end of the middle Cretaceous. 4th, As
a i-esult of this division of the inter-continental ocean, the fauna of the two
gulfs became quite different in the latter Cretaceous period ; so that but few of
the fossils of that time are common to the Missouri basin, and the regions south
of the Arkansas. 5th, During this gradual progress of the continent towards
the east and north, circumstances favourable to the accumulation of beds of
lignite occurred successively at different places, giving rise to independent
basins : those of the Rio Grande belonging to the lower Cretaceous, those of the
Raton (as shewn by the Inoceramus) to the middle Cretaceous, those of the

* Notes on the Geology of the Survey for the Extension of the Union Pacific
Railway, Eastern Division, from the Smoky Hill, River Kansas, to the Rio
Grande. By John L. Leconte, M.D. Philadelphia, 1868.

328 Journal of Travel and Natural Hi si or y

Denver region to the latest Cretaceous or oldest tertiary ; but being in either
case older than those of the Missouri, or Great Lignite beds of Dr Hayden,
which are probably Miocene, and which thus continue the sequence as far norlli
as observations have been made." — (P. 65.)

Mode of Capturing Hsemonia Equiseti. — The following in-
cidental notice of the mode of securing good and early specimens of species of
Hffimonia and Donacia, is from Dr Marmottan's account of the excursion of the
Entomological Society of France into the Vosges and Alsace, in 1866 : — " We
did not wish to leave Strasburg without taking the Hasmonia equiseti, a species
which is not rare, but which the singularity of its ways makes it difficult to find
With our colleague M. Gerber, and the pastor Blind, who was kind enough to
act as our guide, we got into a small boat and left the town, going up the course
of the 111. About two kilometres from Strasburg we fell into the true fluvial
meadows, composed of Potamogeton natans and fluitans. Formed of long
slender and .flexible blades, which come to the surface of the water to bloom,
these plants thrust into the bed of the river claws or roots, which sustain them
firmly and prevent them from being dragged away by the current. It is these
roots, in the form of claws, which it is indispensable to have, because it is there
that the Ha;monia is found. It is necessary to arm one's self with patience and
courage, because it is not an easy thing to procure the Potamogeton
with its roots ; the stalks are so very brittle, that the plant is broken before
you can disengage the claws, and you only bring to the surface the leaves of the
plant, which are entirely useless. It is necessary to plunge one's arm as deep
as possible into the river, seize a bundle of stalks and pull them gently, giving
them slight shocks. When you are fortunate enough to get a plant with its
stalks and roots complete, you find agglomerated around the latter little groups
of cocoons, of a reddish brown, exactly like the pupse of the Diptera ; these
are the cocoons of the Hasmonia. On opening these impermeable envelopes,
you find the insect surrounded with a slight envelope of air. It was a little too
soon to make such a hunt, so we only found a few perfect insects ; the gi-eater part
of the cocoons only contained chrysalids. Other cocoons, exactly like those of
the Hsemonia, but larger, and adhering equally to the claws of the Potamogeton,
contained the Donacia bidens." — Annal. Soc. Ent. Fr., 1867, p. 671.

"White Mammals. — Does any white mammal exist wild any^vliere
except in Arctic or Boreal regions ? Dr J. E. Gray has lately described a
white marmoset as a new species. It is in the Zoological Society's Gardens,
Regent's Park, and has been received from tropical South America. To all
appearance it differs in no respect from the common marmoset except in colour.
It was suggested that it might be an albino, but the eyes are not red but hazel,
and Dr Gray regards it as a distinct species. Red eyes, however, are not an
invariable concomitant of alljinism. In domestication, white varieties (as of
horses, dogs, &c. ), without red eyes, are common, and the same may occur
with wild species ; but we do not remember to have heard or read of any entirely
white mammal from the tropical or temperate regions, while varieties or albinos
of other species do occur.

Joui-nal of Travel and Natural History 329

DR FALCONER AND HIS LABOURS IN INDIA:-

IN the annals of science there are but few who have had a greater
share in original discovery than the late Dr Falconer, and
there are certainly none who, with the same advantages, have left
so little on record by which posterity might decide on the true
value of their labours. With the exception of several brilliant
essays, scattered through various publications in Europe and India,
and especially with the exception of a fragment of the magnificent
work on the ancient Siwalik Fauna of India, he left nothing behind
worthy of his high ability and his enormous knowledge. As a
speaker, he had few rivals in brilliancy of debate and vigour of
repartee, and his influence in the Societies to which he belonged
will not pass away with the present generation. In undertaking
to edit Dr Falconer's papers, Dr Murchison has been confronted
with very great difficulties. The immense quantity of crude
scientific matter accumulated in Europe and Asia had to be re-
duced to some sort of order, and the notes taken at various times
during thirty years had to be compared and revised. The scientific
memoirs already printed, or existing only in manuscript, had to be
modified to agree with the change in the views of the author, con-
sequent on a more widely extended experience. The vigorous
and critical " intellect which would have erased the errors of first
impressions, and moulded scattered observations into one harmoni-
ous whole," was gone. The editor had to decide whether they
should be printed, or remain hidden from the sun for ever. In
choosing the former of these alternatives, he has thrown open to
paleontologists a mine in which they will seek treasure for many a
long year to come. We propose to discuss that portion of the
work which relates to Dr Falconer's labours in palaeontology and
botany in India.

In the beginning of 183 1, Dr Falconer was ordered to the
station at Meerut, in the north-western provinces, where he per-
formed his first and last military duty, during twenty-six years of
service, in taking charge of a detachment of invalids proceeding to

* " PalzEontological Memoirs and Notes of the late Hugh Falconer, A.M.,
M.D." Compiled and Edited by Charles Murchison, M.D. 2 vols. 8vo.
Hardwick, London, 1868.

TRAVEL Z

330 Journal of Travel and Natural History

the sanatorium of Landour, in the Himmalayahs. This led him to
pass through Suharunpoor, where there was a botanical garden
under the charge of Dr Royle, with whom he became very inti-
mate, and whom he finally succeeded in 1832. For this important
post he was eminently fitted by his previous studies, and by the
pecuHar versatility of his mind. The locality itself was most ad-
mirably adapted for the study of botany and natural history, it
being situated between the Jumna and Ganges, outside the belt of
the Terai forest, twenty-five miles distant from the Siwalik hills, and
within sight of the Himmalayahs. The rivers, plains, forests, and
hills teemed with life of almost every form ; and the varying alti-
tudes caused Alpine vegetation to thrive on the hill tops, and to
pass insensibly into the products of the tropics on the plains. In
this remote station, inhabited at the time by only six European
families, and far away from all the appliances necessary for scientific
investigation, the young superintendent, then only twenty-three
years old, was thrown altogether on his own resources. It was very
hard to get philosophical instruments from Europe, and if once
broken there were no workshops where they could be repaired.
He was obliged, therefore, to have them made by the cunning
hands of the native workman under his own eyes, or to forego
them altogether. He was equal to the occasion. At one time he
might be seen superintending the construction of a glass tube for a
barometer, to be used in mountain explorations, out of broken
tumblers, distilling mercury out of cinnabar bought in the native
market, turning a reservoir for it out of boxwood, and standing
over a native blacksmith as he cast and graduated a brass scale,
and thus he obtained an instrument amply sufficient for his needs.
At another time, when the supply of salad oil ran short, he devised
a very good substitute out of the juice of some native tree. Pre-
vented from following up his favourite study of osteology by the
absence of means of comparison, he ransacked the plains, forests,
and rivers in the neighbourhood, and soon formed a very fine
museum of comparative osteology. This spirit of indomitable
perseverance he carried into everything he undertook.

He had not been settled in his new duties more than a few
months before he began to explore the geology of the sub-Himma-
layahs, a work for which he was prepared by his former training
under Professor Jameson. He restricted to them the term Siwalik,
and defined their range to be from the Indus to the Brahmapootra,
in a direction parallel to the Himmalayahs. Between the Jumna and

Fakoner and /i is Labours in India 331

the Ganges they are about eight miles in horizontal breadth, and
they there attain their greatest height of 2000 feet above the plains
at their base, or 3000 feet above the sea.

"They rise at once against the plains with an abrupt mural front ; they are
serrated across their direction, forming a succession of scarcely parallel ridges,
with a steep face on one side and a slope on the other. The strata are inclined
at an angle of from 25° to 30°, they are of recent tertiary or alluvial formation,
and consists of friable sandstone or gravelly conglomerate, agglutinated by a
calcareous cement containing subordinate beds of clay. The upper strata are
entirely gravel. Beyond these plains lies the valley of Deyra, 1200 or 1400
feet above the sea, and then the great chain of the Himmalayahs." — (Vol. i., p. 19.)

Hitherto they had been considered by Captain Herbert to be
of the same age as the New Red Sandstone. The discovery of
beds of lignite and dicotyledonous wood by Lieutenant Cautley,
coupled with the mineralogical characters of the strata, led Dr
Falconer to infer that they belonged to the miocene group of
rocks, and that they are closely analogous to the molasse of
Switzerland.

We shall do well if we sift the ground for this conclusion,
which has been accepted by the whole of the scientific world
without question. One reason which he assigns is altogether
inscrutable ; because there is broken gravel on the northern
flanks of the Siwalik hills, therefore they are of miocene age,
which is equivalent to saying that because the gravel, on which
London stands, rests on the London clay, therefore the latter
belongs to the oxfordian zone. Nor, indeed, are the other two
reasons of much greater weight. Lignites and fossil woods are
not confined to the molasse of Switzerland, but are to be found in
nearly all the older rocks dating back from the pliocene of
Auvergne. The mineral character is of little or no value in the
correlation of widely remote areas of deposit. All arenaceous
rocks are more or less alike, the only difference between the older
and the newer being the greater consolidation of the former, re-
sulting from the pressure of a heavier mass of superincumbent
rock. While a river is depositing in one place gravel, it forms a
sand-bank in another, and is carrying out fine sediment to sea to
compose beds of clay. There seems, therefore, to us no solid
reason to be deduced from the mineralogical character or fossil
botany of the Siwalik hills that they correspond geologically with
the miocenes of Europe. Nor, indeed, is this latter view corro-
borated by the subsequent discovery of a large fossil fauna.

Captain Cautley in 1827 had made a collection of bones from

332 Jotinml of Triwcl and N'atiii-al History

the Siwalik hills, which, on being submitted to Dr Falconer,
proved to belong to crocodiles and turtles. The first discovery
of fossils, therefore, in the formation was due to the former, while
their determination was due to the palaeontological skill of the
latter. In 1834 Dr Falconer discovered a fossil tortoise in the
Limli pass, and immediately after Captain Cautley followed up the
search in the Kalowala, and obtained a large number of mammals
by means of blasting. In the same year, also, there were new
labourers in the field. Lieutenants Baker and Durant began
working the great ossiferous deposit near the valley of Murkunda
and below Nahun, the former having his attention drawn to the
locality by the present of part of the tusk and tooth of an ele-
phant by the Rajah of Nahun. Dr Falconer was immediately on
the spot, and obtained upwards of three hundred specimens of
fossil bones within six hours. From that time the two original
discoverers gradually accumulated an enormous quantity of mam-
malian fossils, sufficient to fill two hundred and sixty packing-
cases for transmission to Europe. From time to time they
published memoirs on the most important of the extinct species in
the "Geological Transactions," the "Asiatic Researches," and the
"Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal." In Europe the dis-
covery attracted much attention, and was deemed by the Geological
Society of such high value that the Wollaston medal for 1837 was
awarded, in duplicate, to Dr Falconer and Captain Cautley.

Up to this time the ancient forms of life that dwelt in India
before the establishment of the present species, had been altogether
unknown. Now they were brought vividly before us. On the
ancient plains of India, drained by the streams that deposited the
Siwalik rocks, there lived a mastodon*, four species of elephant, of a
type altogether unknown at the present day, two closely allied to
the animal now living in India, and one of the type that is now con-

* Mastodon sivalensis. Elephas hysudricus. E. cliftii, E. planefrons, E.
insigiiis, E. ganesa, E. bombifrons. Hippopotamus sivalensis. Merycopo-
tamus dissimilis. Sus giganteus, 8. hysudricus. Rhinoceros plalyrliinus, K.
pakvindicus, R. sivalensis. Chalicotherium sivalense. Equus sivalensis.
Ilipparion (Ilippotherium) antelopinum. Canielus sivalensis. Camelopartlalis
sivalensis. Sivatherium giganteum. Antelope pala.>indicus, A. gyricornis.
Bison sivalensis, Bos occipitalis. Hemibos triquitriccras. Amphibos acuti-
cornis, A. elatus, A. antelopinus. Machairodus sivalensis. Eelis cristata.
IIya.na sivalensis. Hyamarctos sivalensis. Ursus camis? Enhydriodon sivalensis.
Si-nmiipithecus Lntcllus? Pithecus satyrus. Crocodilus l)onibifrons. C. cras-
sidens, C. Icptodus, C. gangeticus. Colossochelys Atlas. Emys tccla. Trionyx.

Falconer and his Labours in India 333

fined to Africa. There were also camels of more gigantic stature
than any still living. Giraffes, horses, and hipparions, small animals
closely allied to the horse, but possessed of three hoofs on each
foot, three species of rhinoceros, two of which are closely allied
to the species now living in India and Sumatra, and a remarkable
herbivore, the Chalicotherium, lived on the foliage. Tliere were
also many kinds of extinct oxen, and two of antelope to feed on the
grass; and the strangest of all known mammals, the great Sivathe-
rium, that fed probably on a mixed diet of grass and foliage. Stranger
than a dream, or one of Albert Durer's demons, was its form. Pos-
sessed of four horns, like the Antelope quadricornis of Hindostan,
it had the trunk of a tapir, the stature of an elephant, and the
teeth of an ox. Two kinds of wild boar, one of gigantic size, fed
on the wild fruits and tubers that grew in the forests, and a hippo-
potamus of an extinct species dwelt in the rivers. These herbivores
were also kept in check by a corresponding development of the
carnivora. There was the great sabre-toothed lion, the tiger, a
bear, an animal allied to the ratel, an otter, fox, and hyaena.
Four species of monkey lived in the trees, one closely resembling the
orang-outang, and another indistinguishable from the small Hoonu-
man. The reptiles, also, were not unrepresented. There was the com-
mon Crocodilus bombifrons of the Ganges, and the common gavial,
as well as two extinct species — a small tortoise still living in the
neighbourhood, and a most gigantic member of the same genus,
twenty-two feet long and six feet high, the Colossochelys Atlas. Such
is the fauna of ancient India revealed by the genius of Dr Falconer.
At what time in the history of the earth did it live ? Dr Falconer
himself oscillated between a belief, derived apparently from the
mineral character of the rock, that it belonged to the miocene age,-''
and an inference drawn from the study of the fossil mammalia,
that it lived through a vast and unbroken period of time, equivalent
to that which elapsed between the miocenes and pleistocenes, or
recent deposits of Europe.

"The evidence," he writes, "from the vertebrate animals is of a double
character ; half of them are so like the fauna we have in India that they might
pass for the creatures of yesterday, while the other half represents the characters
of the middle and older tertiaries of Europe. That they belong to the vertebrate
series which immediately preceded the existing race of animals is hardly sus-
ceptible of doubt, from the admixture of existing reptiles." — (P. 27.)

In Europe, and especially in the south, some of the forms of life

* Vol. i., p. 21 ; ii., pp. 557, 639, 642.

334 Journal of Travel and Natural History

are represented in miocene deposits. Thus the sabre-toothed hon
is found at Eppelsheim; an arboreal ape, the giraffe, camel, and
innumerable antelopes lie buried in the plains of Marathon ; the
hipparion in France, Germany, Britain, and the Spanish Penin-
sula. The needs of their existence demanded a tropical climate
throughout that vast area. In Europe from that time up to the
glacial epoch the climate gradually grew colder, and with each
successive lowering of temperature a new group of animals made
its appearance, driving before it the former inhabitants that A\ere
fitted for warmer conditions of life, and leaving behind their fossil
bones to mark the geological age of the deposits in which they are
found. Thus the sole survivors out of the forms of life found in
the miocenes of Europe are now to be sought in the tropical
regions of Africa, whither they have been driven by the change in
the European climate. No changes of this kind have taken place
in India. The climate of the Siwalik hills is as hot now, if not
hotter, than during the lifetime of the extinct Indian mammalia.

"Instead of numerous sub-divisions of the tertiary period with successive
faunas, facts tend to the conchision that India had one long term and one pro-
tracted fauna which lived through a period corresponding to several terms of the
tertiary period in Europe." — (Vol. i., p. 28.)

This, in our opinion, is the true explanation of the mixed cha-
racter of the Siwalik fauna. To assume with Sir Charles Lyell*
and M, Gaudryt that it corresponds with that of Europe in the
miocene, is to abandon the course of reasoning by which we have
hitherto been accustomed to correlate the remains of life imbedded
in deposits far removed from one another. The first step in any
palaeontological inquiry is to master the fauna and flora living at
the present time in the country in which the fossils occur, and then
to calculate the age of the latter in direct proportion to the cor-
respondence between them and the existing forms of life. If there
be many species in common then the fossils are of comparatively
small antiquity, while, on the other hand, if there be no agreement
whatever they are relegated to a period infinitely remote from the
present. All the tertiary mammalia that have yet been found
have been classified in accordance with this method. Thus the
gigantic extinct sloths of America are still represented by the
small one living in the same area, and they are considered, thcrc-

* Elements of Geology, 6lh edit., p. 273.

+ " Animaux Fossiles ct Geologic dc rAlliipie." I'ar. M. Gaudry, Tart i.

Animaux Fossiles." 410, Taris 1867.

Falcojier and his Labours in India 335

fore, to belong to the present order of things. The great extinct
kangaroo of AustraHa is represented by one of smaller size, iden-
tical in every respect save its smaller stature, and therefore it is
assumed to have lived at no very remote geological epoch, and
because both these animals stand in the same relation to the fauna
still living in South America and Australia, they belong approxi-
matively to the same geological epoch. In no case are the fossil
mammalia found in Europe looked upon as the tests of age in the
comparison of fossils from other areas. There is no reason why
the classification of the Siwalik fauna should be conducted on other
principles than these, because a few of the animals are common
also to the miocenes of Europe. There is, indeed, this great and
important difference between them, that while in India several of
the Siwalik species are still alive, in Europe all have become
utterly extinct. It would be as fair to term the marsupial fauna of
the Australian caves liassic, because it is represented in part in
the secondary formation of Europe, as to consider that of the
Siwalik hills miocene because of its affinities with the miocene
animals of France, Germany, and Britain. A careful analysis of
of the evidence leads us to the conclusion that the Siwalik fauna
began to live in the miocene, and that it lived on uninterruptedly
to the present day in the same area — the true miocene forms, found
also in Europe, being gradually eliminated by the competition of
others better fitted for the struggle of life.

How comes it to pass that the Siwalik fauna should be locked
up in the bosom of hills as high as Snowdon. In answering this
question, Dr. Falconer has lighted on a most important fact for the
physical geographers. The rocks of which they are composed are
made up of sandstones and clays similar in character to those which
are now being swept down by the rivers of the district, and they
contain fluviatile shells of existing species. They are, therefore,
indisputably detritus brought down by ancient rivers, and the en-
tombed animals are merely waifs and strays swept down by the
floods. The only hypothesis which will at once satisfy their
enormous thickness of 2000 feet and more, and their great extent
of 272 miles is, that they were deposited in the debouchment of a
river. The occurrence, also, of elephants, camels, giraffes, and
other large animals shews that the river passed through great plains,
for none of them are dwellers in mountains. We have, therefore, a
great fluviatile deposit in an estuary, which would imply that it was
near the level of the sea, now elevated ^000 feet above it. The

336 Journal of Travel and N'atiiral History

twists, faults, and contortions, point out that the cause was the
exertion of subterranean force, and as the rocks abut against the
Himmalayahs it would seem highly probable that the latter have
been bodily lifted to that height since the Siwalik animals were
buried in 2000 feet of rock. To suppose that a thin strip of
country at their base could be elevated without their participa-
tion in the movement would be contrary to all analogy.

Dr Falconer cites additional testimony from another quarter
to the truth of this inference. The remains of rhinoceros
have been found in the Hioondes Steppe, in Central Thibet,
15,000 feet above the sea level, on the north side of the
Himmalayahs. The tract is a dreary plain, shrubless, treeless, and
houseless, supporting a few furze bushes and a sprinkling of the
most arctic vegetation ; the climate is one of polar severity. It is
certain, he acutely argues, that no rhinoceros of the present day
could endure such conditions of life as would result from the
present climate, and that even were it fitted to endure the severity
of the weather, it could not live on the short grass growing at that
altitude, because the incisive teeth, or nippers, are so defective as
to prevent it browsing in the same way as the horse, sheep, or ox.

" The Siberian rhinoceros' remains are found on the shores of the frozen
ocean, under conditions of climate more severe than those of Thibet ; and it
has been sliewn by Lyell how these remains miglit have found their way, by
changes in the physical geography of Siberia, by transportation on ice-blocks,
and by periodical migrations. But these conditions will not apply to the
Hioondes ; the rhinoceros could neither have migrated to its mountain-locked
plain, from the side of Hindostan, by the passes where men and goats can
scarcely find their way, save by the artificial aid of scaffoldings, nor is it apparent
how the bones could have been transported to their present resting-place from
a higher tract.

"The only explanation of the case that suggests itself, which appears ad-
missible, is a depression of the plain of the Hioondes to a much lower level,
and to clothe it in a vegetation resembling that of India now, which on the
supposition that the rhinoceros was not a migratory visitor, but a permanent
resident of Thibet, and clothed in a warm fur, is perhaps the utmost limit that
could be conceded for its habitat. The plain of the Hioondes would require to
have been not higher than 7000 or Sooo feet above the level of the sea. The
mean level of the Hioondes, which is known at Dhapa to be i5iOCX3 feet, and
estimated to be not much less than 17,000 feet near Manasarovara, maybe
considered as 16,000 feet. To reduce it, therefore, to the circumstances above
inferred, would involve the consequence that the northern face of the Himma-
layahs, anil (as elevating movements are nowhere l;nii\\n to be cunfnicd to
narrow belts) prijbajjly a considerable portion of the chain itself, have been
elevated 7000 to 8000 feet since the tract was tenanted by a species of
rhinoceros." — (P. 180.)

Falconer cuni /lis Labours in India 337

He then proceeds to inquire whether any cHmatal change has
been going on in the Himmalayahs within the historic period.

"Roads of communication, "writes Mr Trail, "through the Himmalayahs, unite
the passes from east to west, but they are passable during a few days only in
each year, and are considered at all times dangerous by the Bhoteahs themselves.
Roads of this description formerly used are now impracticable, owing to the
increase of snow. The interior of the Himmalayah, except at the passes and
])aths in question, is inaccessible, and appears to be daily becoming more so,
from the gradual extension of the zone of perpetual snow. The Bhoteahs bear
universal testimony to the fact of such extension, and point out ridges now
never free from snow, which within the memory of man were clothed with
forests, and afforded periodical pasture for sheep ; they even state that the
avalanches detached from the lofty peaks occasionally present pieces of wood in
their centre." — (P. 183.)

This evidence of Mr Trail's, as to the climatal change, is all the
more valuable because it was given incidentally in a report on the
regions of the Thibet passes, without reference to any scientific
theory. It is corroborated also by the independent testimony of
Mr Edgeworth, recorded in one of Dr Falconer's note-books :

" On the Vishnoo Gunga, between Bhadra Nath and Pundoo kesur, there is
an artificial mound at a place called Kutlean Kotee, which the Puharees say is
the remains of a large hill city, that became deserted in consequence of the
increased cold, or descent of the snow zone. Charcoal and remains of pottery
are found in it. There is a current tradition that formerly there was a straight
path between Bhadra Nath and Kedar Nath, which has become impassable, so
that a detour of several days is necessary. There was formerly a pass up the
Bhillung river which led into Thibet. It was last crossed more than fifty years
ago during the first Goorka invasion ; since then an attempt was made to cross it,
but the party, of whom Edgeworth's informant was one, were struck with snow
blindness, and nearly lost, so that they had to return." — (P. 185.)

It is clear, therefore, that a great and appreciable change of
climate is taking place, from the testimony of these two inde-
pendent observers. The zone of perpetual snow is descending
upon tracts in Thibet where the forests grew; for otherwise it is
impossible to understand how wood could be entangled in a
glacier in any other way. Passes which were open within the
memory of man have been blocked up by the accumulation of
snow and ice, and the inhabitants driven out of a hill city by the
increase of the cold. Now, these facts admit only two interpreta-
tions ; either the snow line is descending, or the mountains them-
selves are being gradually lifted up into the zone of everlasting
snow. So far as we know the variation in the limit of perpetual
snow, it merely amounts to that of the mean temperature, which

338 Jonrtial of Travel and N^aiural History

in this particular region is merely a few degrees ; and in the Andes
also it was found by Baron Humboldt not to exceed 30 fathoms
from year to year. It is, therefore, highly improbable that the
descent of the snow line in the Thibetan Himmalayahs is caused by
the lowering of the zone of perpetual snow, and thus we are
driven to the second alternative, that the mean altitude of the
plain of congelation being nearly constant, the mountains are
being gradually elevated, so that portions formerly enjoying
temperate climate now lie buried under an accumulation of ice
and snow.

" The instance of the enveloped timber would admit of two explanations —
either that it belonged to the age when the Himmalayah mountains had their
elevation increased by the Siwalik and Thibet upheavements, or that the tract
on which it grew had been subsequently raised up into the zone of congelation.
That these mountains, before their summits attained their present elevation,
were clothed with forests high upon the tract which is now covered with
perpetual snow, is but consonant with the course of nature to suppose ; and
wood once enveloped in a snow bed would retain a freshness unimpaired for
countless ages. We might, therefore, in a piece of green wood which descended
from the higher peaks in an avalanche, light upon a remain which had a con-
temporaneous existence with the sivatherium in Hindostan, or the rhinoceros
in Thibet ; and it would be a matter of extreme, if not insurmountable difficulty,
to determine to what period of the interval between these upheavements and
the present time its envelopment in the snow should be referred." — (P. 184.)

In this way, by a chain of proof, perfect in its kind, Dr Falconer
has demonstrated that the Himmalayahs have been elevated several
thousand feet since the time that the Siwalik animals roamed over
the plains of India, and the rhinoceros lived in Thibet ; and
secondly, that the elevatory force is still being exerted. He has,
however, omitted to notice the evidence that the Himmalayahs were
much higher in comparatively modern times than they are now.
The old moraines, and other traces of glaciers far below the point
at which they are now found, attracted his attention, and have
subsequently been explored by Dr Hooker* and Captain Goodwin
Austen, t At the time the glaciers extended much lower than they
do now, the mountains must have been much higher. On the
assumption that the snow line is very nearly constant, there is proof,
then, that the Himmalayahs, like the mountains of Wales and
Scotland, have been subject to oscillation of level in comparatively
modern times.

* Hooker, Himalayah Journals, vol i., p. 21S, vol ii., \>. 273.
"I" Journal Geographical Society, vol. xxxiv.

Falconer a/id /lis Labours in India 339

One important conclusion as to the geological date as to the
main elevation of the Himmalayahs flows naturally from Dr
Falconer's premises. In the Siwalik fauna there were some
animals that are common to the later miocenes of Europe. The
Hipparion, for example, in miocene times ranged through Russia,
Germany, and France, into Spain and Greece, and is found among the
Avaifs and strays that compose the red crag of Suffolk. There could
therefore in those days have been no geographical barriers to the
migration of species, if India be taken as the centre northwards
and westwards, if Europe to the south and east. In other words,
the chain of mountains passing from the Himmalayahs through
Herat and Tehran, and sweeping round the south of the Caspian
to join the Caucasus, could not have presented an unbroken
barrier to the migration of animals from Europe to India, or vice
versa in the miocene epoch. According to Professor Brandt, of
St Petersburg, the Steppes of Siberia were inhabited by the
mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, and reindeer, while the pleiocene
mammalia were living in Europe ; and that as the climate of both
Siberia and Euroj^e grew colder, the Siberian fauna gradually
advanced to the south and west, until the maximum of cold was
reached in the glacial epoch of Europe. But whether this be
accepted as true or not, there can be no doubt about the tropical
animals of miocene Europe and Southern Russia having been
supplanted by those belonging to a type now confined to a
temperate or comparatively warm climate ; or that these again
were obliged to give way before the invasion of a grew of animals
little fitted to endure the severity of an arctic winter. Had there
been no geographical barriers, some of these animals, which without
exception are confined to the Europeo-Asiatic continent, north of
the Himmalayahs, would have found their way to the temperate
zone on their southern flanks. There is not even one species that
can be considered common to the pleio and pleistocene fauna
north of the Himmalayahs and that of the Siwalik hills ; and, there-
fore, the presumption amounts almost to a certainty that they were
elevated sufficiently high at the close of the miocene epoch, to
prevent the invasion of the animals coming from the north; and
that they insulated the Indian mammalia as completely as the
Straits of Macassar insulate the Australasian fauna.

Before we pass on to the consideration of Dr Falconer's botanical
works, there is a theory which he advances respecting the date of

34° Journal of 1 ravel ami Natural History

the extinction of the great tortoise of the Siwahk hills that merits
our attention.

"Are there," he asks, " any indications as to when this gigantic tortoise
became extinct ? or are there grounds for entertaining tlie opinion that it may
have descended to the human period? Any a priori improbability that an
animal so hugely disproportionate to existing species shoidd have lived down to
be a contemporary with man, is destroyed by the fact that other species of
chelonians, which were coeval with the colossochelys in the same fauna, have
reached to the present time, and what is true in this respect of one species in a
tribe may be equally tnie of every other placed under the same circumstances.
We have as yet no direct evidence to the point from remains dug out of recent
alluvial deposits, nor is there any historical testimony confirming it, but there
are traditions connected v/ith the cosmogonic speculations of almost all eastern
nations, having reference to a tortoise of such gigantic size, as to be associated
in their fabulous accounts with the elephant. Was this tortoise a mere creature
of the imagination? or was the idea of it drawn from a reality like the colos-
sochelys?"— (P. 560).

In the story of Garuda, the carrier of Vishnu, the tortoise is
brought very prominently forward. Garuda, while pursuing his
journey,

" Met his father, Kushyupa, who directed him to appease his hunger at a
certain lake where an elephant and tortoise were fighting. The body of the
tortoise was eighty miles long, the elephant one hundred and sixty." — (P. 368.)

In the Pythagorean and Hindoo mythology, also, the world is
supported on the back of a tortoise. Hence Dr Falconer argues
that the idea of the gigantic size of the tortoise could only have
been founded on some basis of fact ; that is to say, that this giant
form was known by tradition to the fathers of the Aryan race. In
New Zealand there is evidence that the gigantic extinct moa lived
during the human period, and there is every probability of the
ccpiornis having co-existed with man in Madagascar. Why, there-
fore, should not the gigantic tortoise have lived along with man in
the plains below the Himmalayahs? Two crocodiles and one small
tortoise have survived all the great physical changes that have taken
place — why not this also? We cannot agree A\ith Dr Falconer
that there are fair grounds for this mode of argument. Could not
the idea of monstrous size be derived from the discovery of the
fossil colossochelys ? In Fcrishta's Indian History the bones of
giants are mentioned as occurring in the hills in which the Sutlej
takes its origin. It is clear, therefore, that the fossils had attracted
notice at an early period. It seems most probable to us that a
native living in the Siwalik area must be acc^uainted with the little

Falconer and his Labours i/i India 341

tortoise now living in the neighbourhood, and that if he met with
a gigantic carapace, sucli as that now in the British Museum, he
could not help ascribing it to a giant individual of the same kind.
In that case the mythological account would certainly spring from
the occurrence of the fossil, and in no case could be taken as proof
of the existence of the reptile at the time that our Aryan fathers
dwelt in India. The evidence which he adduces in favour of the
extinct Indian hippopotamus having lived to be a contemporary
with man is of a totally different character.

" I was informed," he writes in a note by Rajah Radhakanta Dera, the
eminent Indian scholar and author of the Sanscrit Encyclopedea, " that the
hippopotamus of India is referred to under different names of great antiquity,
significant of Jala Hasti, 'water elephants,' or living in the water. This infer-
ence is confirmed by the opinion of Henry Colebrooke, and H. H. Wilson."
— (Vol. ii., p. I So.) ,

While Dr Falconer was making these remarkable discoveries, he
did not neglect his duties as superintendent of the Botanic Garden
at Suharunpoor. He undertook many scientific expeditions, and
brought back enormous quantities of rare plants. But the most
important service that he rendered to India was the share he took
in the introduction and cultivation of tea into the Bengal Presi-
dency. In 1834 he drew up an elaborate report for the Committee
on Tea Culture, in which he stated his belief, " first, that the tea
plant may be successfully planted in India ; secondly, that in the
Himmalayahs, near the parallel of 30, it may be cultivated with
great success, and that the most favourable ground for a trial is a
tract on the outer ridges, extending from 3000 feet above the
sea, or the points where the cold winds cease, up to the limits
of winter snow." '■' The merit of the original suggestion to the
government, that the tea plant might be successfully cultivated in
the Himmalayahs, is due to Dr Royle, who preceded Dr Falconer
at Suharunpoor. He made it the subject of a special report in
i82 7,t and brought it before the notice of the Governor-General,
Lord William Bentinck, in 183 1.| In 1833 he pointed out
the locality in which it might be grown in the Himmalayahs.
" There is considerable prospect of success in the cultivation of
the tea plant, for the different elevations allow of almost every
variety of climate being selected, and the geographical distribution

* Journ. As. Soc, Bengal, vol. iii. , p. 17S.

•f Royle on the Productive Resources of India. Lond. 1840, p. 258.

X Journ. As. Soc, Calcutta, Feb. 1832.

342 Journal of Tnwel and Natural History

of this plant is sufficiently extended, and the natural sites suffi-
ciently varied to warrant its being beneficially cultivated. * Dr
Nathaniel Wallich also, the eminent botanist, seems to have
arrived at the same conclusion independently of Dr Royle, and in
1832 brought in the cultivation of tea in the Himmalayahs before
a committee of the House of Commons, on the affairs of India.
The recommendation of these two eminent botanists resulted in
the appointment of the Tea Committee by the Bengal government,
to whom Dr Falconer gave his report, and by whose express
direction he conducted the first experiments ; and thus Avhile the
merit of the original suggestion was owing to Drs Royle and
Wallich, that of practically carrying out the idea was due to Dr
Falconer. Subsequently, in the years 1849-50, Mr Fortune
brought over large numbers of tea plants in Wardian cases from
China, which reached their destination in the Himmalayahs in good
condition.

This seems to us the share that each had in laying the founda-
tion of a vast and important branch of industry in Northern India.

Dr Falconer also gave his attention to botanical notices in
Greek and Latin works. In 1840 he wrote an elaborate paper t
on the Costus of Dioscorides, in which he proved that it was the
root of a new plant, Aucklandia, belonging to the compositae grow-
ing on the mountains which surround Cashmere. He advocated
its introduction into the Himmalayahs, within the British domin-
ions, where it would form a valuable adjunct to the wealth of the
hill people.

In 1842 he returned to Europe, with his health shattered by in-
cessant exposure in a tropical climate, and began the classification
and arrangement of the Siwalik fossils, presented by himself and
Captain Cautley to the British Museum, and that of the Hon.
East India Company. After spending two years in the arrange-
ment of his material, he undertook his great work, the "Fauna
Antiqua Sivalensis," with every facility given him that could ensure
his success. The Court of Directors gave him full pay, and the
government made a grant of ;,^iooo, for the preparation of
the fossils for exhibition in the Palaeontological gallery of the
British Museum. He estimated the time necessary for the com-
pletion of his work to be six years, and within three had made

* Productive Resources of India, p. 259.
■}• Trans. Linncan Sec, vol. xix., p. 23.

Falconer and /lis Labours in India 343

such progress, that the plates belonging to nine parts out of the
twelve were published. There was, however, no letterpress, with
the exception of a short introduction. In this respect he made a
fatal mistake. Instead of concentrating his energies on his sub-
ject, he entered upon collateral questions, which had no direct
bearing upon it. He worked from a centre to a circumference.
For example, he did not set before his eyes the description of the
elephants and mastodons of the Siwalik hills, but those of the
whole world — a task that was almost endless. His materials con-
sequently increased so rapidly that he was quite overwhelmed.
Problems were continually arising which he felt bound to solve,
and pilgrimages had to be made to different museums in Europe,
that accuracy might be ensured ; and thus it happened that in
1847, when he was compelled to resume his duties in India, he
had not written one line of his letterpress.

On the retirement of the late Dr Nathaniel Wallich, Dr Falconer
was appointed superintendent of the Botanic Garden in Calcutta,
and Professor of Botany in the Medical College in 1847. His
new duties necessitated his surrender of the pursuit of Palaeon-
tology. The development of the vegetable productions of Bengal
received his undivided attention. In 1848 he published a valuable
memorandum,'" on the necessity of preserving timber trees, and on
the supply of firewood, and in the following year made a formal
report to the government on the Tenasserim teak forests. He
shewed that the growing scarcity of teak, which was more than
doubled in price between 181 5 and 1840, was caused by the
absence of forest laws, and neglect in planting young trees. The
forests had been let out to contractors, who were intent on present
gain, and careless of the needs of the future. He advocated the
adoption of rigorous forest laws, and the appointment of a conser-
vator with considerable powers, and insisted that a certain number
of young trees should be planted for every old tree cut down.
This report was acted upon, and has borne fruit in the preserva-
tion of the teak forests. His services also in the introduction of
fruit trees from America were most valuable. In 1850 1 the
Government of Bengal, acting on .his recommendation, purchased
a number of young trees from America, that had been preserved
in ice, consisting of pears, apples, cherries, peaches, plums, cur-

* Joum. Agric. Hort., Soc. of India, vol. vi. , p. 163.

•f- Joiim. Agric. and Hort., Soc. of India, vol. vii. p. 172.

344 Falconer aiid his Labours in India

rants, and gooseberries. They were naturalised in the Himma-
layahs, and formed a most vakiable addition to the fruit trees
which he had obtained in his journeys in Cashmere.

The cultivation of cinchona in India is a matter almost of
national importance, for in the year 1857 the annual cost of
quinine to the Government was ;^i 2,000, and, according to an
estimate made by Mr Markham, the expenditure on this medicine
by the Government druggists amounted in 1857 to ^54,520,
and to ^^40,696 in 1858-9. * On the question of the share that
Dr Falconer had in the successful introduction of this most
valuable plant into India, we are at issue with his biographer.
Dr Falconer, he writes, was instrumental in introducing the culti-
vation of the cinchona bark into our Indian Empire, t and he
quotes in proof a paper on the quinine — yielding cinchonas, and
their introduction into India, written by Dr Falconer in February
1852, and the fact that he had himself seen plants of Cinchona
calisaya in the Botanic Garden at Calcutta in 1853.

" Dr Falconer was not at the time cognisant of Weddell's accurate determina-
tion of the species of cinchona, but he recommended a trial of them in India,
and indicated the hilly regions in Bengal and the Neilgherries in Southern India
as the most promising situations for experimental nurseries. The subject was
taken up some years afterwards, the bark -yielding cinchonas were then intro-
duced from South America, and they are now thriving and promising to be a
new source of wealth in India. "J

This claim to the merit of Dr Falconer's having been instrumental
in the cultivation of so valuable a tree in India cannot be enter-
tained for a moment. It is undoubtedly true that in 1853 there
were cinchona plants in the garden at Calcutta, but all mention
of their subsequent fate and of the way by which they arrived in
India is omitted, and the reader is left to infer that the present
flourishing state of the cinchona plantations is due to Dr Falconer.
The six plants in question " were contributed by the Horticultural
Societies of Edinburgh and London, raised by seeds sent home by
Dr Weddell from Bolivia, were taken to Calcutta by Mr Fortune ;
they arrived in good order, but all died through gross carelessness
in their removal to Darjeeling."|| So far, then, from being instru-
mental in introducing them, Dr Falconer is responsible only for
their neglect. Nor, indeed, did the idea that they might be suc-

* Markhan, Travels in Peru and India, 11.64.

+ I5iographical Sketch, xl. J Ihiii., xxxix.

II Markliani's 'I'ravels in Pitu and India, p. 63.

Journal of Travel and Natural History 345

cessfully cultivated in India originate with him, but with Dr Royle.
The latter advocated their introduction in 1839. The first official
proposal was made in a despatch from the Governor-General,
dated the 27th March 1852, or a month after Dr Falconer's paper
was read in Calcutta. It was referred to Dr Royle, who recom-
mended that the attempt should be made by the government.
This resulted in the Foreign Office being requested to obtain seeds
and plants through the Consuls in South America in October 1852.
In obedience to his instructions, Mr Cope, the Consul-General at
Quito, sent a box of seeds and plants from Cuenca and Loxa to
England, all of which died. Dr Royle was not disheartened by
this failure. In 1853 he drew up a second report, and in 1856 he
made a final attempt to induce the East India Company to obtain
plants and seeds from South America. In 1859 Mr Markham
was appointed by the Government to proceed to South America,
and under his untiring zeal the cinchona plants were selected and
transported to India in Wardian cases, and finally naturalized in
their new home on the slopes of the Himmalayahs.*

Dr Royle died without seeing his efforts, which extended over
more than fifteen years, crowned with complete success. The
idea originated with him, and by his perseverance assumed a
practical form, and would have been carried out under his auspices
had he been alive. The only merit that can, therefore, with any
fairness be ascribed to Dr Falconer is, that he read a paper on the
subject in India, which, most probably, was brought before the
notice of the Governor-General. To ascribe to the latter a greater
share in the naturalization of so important a tree in Northern
India is to detract from the merit of Dr Royle, whose energy laid
the foundation of the present successful cultivation in the Indian
Empire of several of the more valuable articles of commerce.

In this outline of Dr Falconer's labour in two very distinct
branches of investigation, we cannot fail to notice the width and
versatility of his mind, which, in some respects, resembled that of
the great author of Kosmos. In the power of grappling with the
problems offered by the then very obscure fossils of India he has
not yet been surpassed. In the share that he took in developing
the vegetable resources of the Indian Empire he has earned a place
by the side of Dr Wallich and Dr Royle among our national
benefactors.

• Markham, op. cit.

TRAVEL A A

34^ Journal of Travel and Natural History

EXCURSIONS IN THE SOUTH OF CHINA.

By Lieut. Oliver, Royal Artillery.
NO. I. — A VISIT TO SHAO-K'iNG-FU AND THE MARBLE ROCKS.

ON December the 5th, i860, Baron Gros, the French pleni-
potentiary arrived at Canton from the North, with the
copy of the treaty of Tientsin in his portmanteau, and the next
morning peace was proclaimed to the city in all due form. How
glad the European garrison on the heights were to learn the news
need not be said, for they had been long cooped up within a
small compass, with few amusements and sickness rife in the can-
tonments ; so that it was a great relief to every one to hear that
now all restriction to excursions into the country was removed ;
and shortly after a small party, of which I formed one, determined
to pay a long contemplated visit to Shao-K'ing-(Fu), the antient
capital of the two Kwangs, distant from Canton about 80 miles up
the Si-Kiang or West River.

As this was to be an expedition by water, the first thing was
to hire a boat in which we could travel comfortably, and we soon
arranged for the hire of a faitan or fast boat, for an eight days' journey
to Shao-K'ing-(Fu) and back. As trade and communication are
chiefly carried on throughout China by means of water, all sorts of
travelling boats are built for the purpose. The one hired on this oc-
casion was called the Old Dragon (an appropriate name as far as the
adjective went), which was a fine flat-bottomed barge, 70 feet in
length, and with great beam in proportion, with one mast stepped
well forward, and the customary high stern, with its accompanying
huge sweep used for both sculling and steering. All our prepara-
tions having been completed we were towed across the river,
here called Starling Reach, to the Fatee creek, one of those
numerous tidal streams that permeate the vast delta of Kwangtung
(Canton), through which the local mariners know various short
cuts, and our faitan slowly threaded its way through the narrow
water-way barely left open between the innumerable crafts, junks,
faitans, sampans, and rafts, which frequent the populous suburbs
on either bank. It was about noon, under a blazing sun, that we
passed Houequa's garden on Gough Island, one of the noted show
places about Canton. All about here is a waterside population,

Excursions in the South of China 347

mostly occupied in junk building and boat making, and very
good boats they can build, too — if they only have a copy they can
equal it in every respect. ''^^

Passing the suburbs, the houses gradually became less nume-
rous, and soon paddy fields and lychee trees (Euphorbia litchi)
intervened. A good towing path led along the entire route on each
side, and our crew, who had hitherto been poling the faitan along,
now stripped naked, passed broad belts across their shoulders,
attached to a towing rope of twisted rattan, which was made
fast to our mast, and, jumping ashore, they pulled us along at a
considerable pace. The whole of the country is here quite flat,
and at this time of the year, before the rice is planted, quite dry.
Here and there were a. few bushes at the water's edge, and a clump
of bamboos. The rustic natives were mostly employed in plough-
ing up the ground, using the uncouth water buffalo (Bubalus
buffelus) for draught. Here and there a sampan appeared, with
its occupants fishing or collecting the spawn for sale in the Fatshan
market. It w^as a hot lazy spring afternoon, and after the bustle
and noise of the western suburbs, the quiet rural scenery presented
a pleasant contrast. In the distance were two or three little white
villages, peeping from their overshadowing banyans, nearly all of
them marked by small pagodas or towers. On turning a sudden
corner to the south, we saw a collection of vessels at anchor be-
tween two villages, Ng-Kai-How and Yun-kin-Chung. The waving of
numerous flaunting banners, and the show of gaily-painted wicker
shields and long pikes or spears, together with the clanging of the
brazen gongs and the rattle of tom-toms, gave sufficient notice to
us that this was a fleet of braves on their way west to subdue the
Tsepings, who were devastating the country above Shao-K'ing. On
account of the presence of these noisy swashbucklers, our crew
would not land as they had intended, but, afraid of " squeeze
pigeon," if not of downright robbery, from the military mandarins,
made all haste to pass by such unscrupulous neighbours. The
Mongol soldiery appeared to be closely packed on board the junks,
but if one judged rightly, the amount of flags displayed was greatly
in excess of the number of combatant warriors. There were twenty
vessels in the fleet, each holding from sixty to seventy braves — in
all, they were about twelve hundred men of all ranks, besides

* We had a capital four-oared " funny " built for us by one of these builders
on an English model, equal to one of Searle's best.

3 48 Journal of Travel and Natural History

officers. They crowded the sides of their junks to see the foreign
white-faced devils pass them, and saluted us with rough jests and
remarks upon our personal appearance, the reverse of compli-
mentary. As the setting sun was nearing the horizon, a pleasant
breeze sprang up, and it was most pleasant to sit on the deck
watching the river-banks and looking out for fresh novelties, as
each bend of the river was turned, whilst, our sail being hoisted, we
glided onward with easy and almost imperceptible motion. Some
conspicuous red mandarin poles soon denoted the neighbourhood
of a populous town, and we then passed Upper and Lower Kup-
Kow, an aristocratic locality, at some distance from the south river
bank, whilst in front of us lay the great manufacturing commercial
entrepot, the city of Fatshan. Although the breeze was favour-
able, we did not reach the canal which traverses this busy town
until after sunset. Business hours were over, and most of the
upper and middle-class citizens were sitting enjoying the evening
air with their wives and children in open summer houses and
verandahs overlooking the water. As long as it was light, the
quays, windows, and terraces were crowded with eager spectators,
who quickly assembled to see the unusual sight of European
travellers passing through their town.

It soon grew dark, lights began to illumine the windows,
glazed with their oyster-shells, and quaint lanterns were shewn at
the various hongs. The clang of gongs and drums was heard from
a neighbouring joss-house, and from the flower-boats resounded
the high notes of the singing girls, accompanied by lutes, clarionets,
and other stringed and reed instruments ; the universally popular
" Jasmine flower " melody being often distinguishable. At seven
P.M. we came to anchor in mid-stream, just beyond the city, the
boatmen not being at all sure of what treatment we might receive
at the hands of the patriotic citizens of Fatshan. Next morning
we were on the move at 3 a.m., and we landed with our guns
about six o'clock at a place called Tsz-Tong. Here was a fine
broad-towing path, on an elevated solid bund or dyke, running
alongside the river as a defence against inundations. The course
of the stream is very tortuous, and the country still flat and dry,
with large patches of sugar cane, dry paddy fields, and acres for
miles together of mulberry bushes and cotton. A considerable
(luantity of silk is produced in this neighbourhood and further
south. Several miles to the north of us were sandstone hills of no

Excursions in the Souf/i of CJiina. 349

great height, evidently friable, as they were much scarped by water
action. We were not idle with our guns, and bagged some com-
mon snipe (Gallinago stenura) and quail (Coturnix communis), with
pigeons ; by the water were plenty of egrets (Ardea egrettoides),
divers (Podiceps minor), and various kingfishers (Halcyon fuscus,
H. pileata, and Ceryle rudis). All this time our boat was
rapidly going ahead of us, aided by light breezes, and we had to
put on the steam in order to come up with her, especially as our
morning walk suggested breakfast. We passed through the village
of Kee-Shek, and saw nearly opposite another called Shay-ung-Kow,
and a large island covered with wheat fields. We did not catch
the boat until it came into the shore at Seong-Tung, v/here we
halted and bought fish and eggs for a ridiculously small amount
of cash (small copper coin with a square hole in centre). Food,
indeed, is remarkably abundant throughout this part of China ;
our usual fare was chicken, curry, and rice, with fish. The rising
tide warned us not to delay, and taking advantage of it we let the
boat proceed, following ourselves on foot this time on the southern
bank. The soil here is of a red and yellow tenacious clay, and
numerous brick-kilns were conspicuous. Mulberry bushes still
abounded ; across the river we could see a remarkable peak called
the Lion's head. Before noon we passed close to a village called
Ma-sha embossomed in bamboo, litchi, and banyan trees, with
fields of mustard and sugar-cane. The villagers here turned out
and seemed disposed to give us some trouble, but they did not
proceed to take any active hostile measures beyond making use of
menacing gestures and insulting cries, which fell harmless on our
barbarian ears. On our way we visited some primitive sugar-mills,
the roller being worked round a pivot in a wooden shallow saucer
by the ubiquitous buffalo ; the juice when cooked is turned out in
flat cakes, with an appearance not unlike cakes of toffy. When
the sun was at its highest we retreated from its glare into the
shelter of our faitan, and Avere nearly all dozing when our approach
to the large commercial town of Sy-nam was announced, and we
went on deck to see this important mart, famed for its iron-ware
and other manufactured goods. Its population is estimated at
20,000 inhabitants. On the west of the town, on some friable
sandstone cliffs, undermined and caverned by the river, were some
strong batteries with brass guns in the embrasures commanding
the river approach to the town. These same crumbling sand cliffs
were extensively honeycombed by numerous crowded burrows of

35° Toiirnal of Travel and Natural History

sand-martins (Cotyle sinensis and C. riparia), which seems to breed
here. The river was covered with small ferry boats and sampans,
whilst numerous trading junks were loading at the Avharfs for the
North river trade, and large rafts were floating down stream from
the upper districts about Wu-chu-fu, where timber is plentiful.
On some of these large timber rafts are whole villages of the
lumber-men, and the rafts are so constructed as to be divisible, in
order to pass narrow creeks or sharp bends on their passage.

We could see in front of us, about three miles distant, the tall
white pagoda of San-shui, and within an hour and a-half after
leaving Sy-nam we reached the landing-place for San-shui, the
town itself lying inland about two miles. San means three and
shui water, the name being caused by the junction of the North
and West rivers, forming the Canton River, taking place here.
Our distance from Canton- was now forty-five miles. The town is
walled, and is the chief town of the district.

On Wednesday the 13th March, by 7 a.m., we were passing
Tsing-Kee, with its large square tower, denoting a government
pawnbroking establishment. As soon as we had cleared this
place, we had our usual matutinal swim, and then a walk along
the paddy-fields. Far a-head were now to be seen distant ranges
of hills and mountains, whilst the country about us grew more un-
dulating, shewing that we had reached the antient coast-line, having
left the rich alluvial districts which mark the Cantonese delta.

Villages are frequent on both banks, and thickly populated,
nearly all having good schools attached to them, and every child
above tender years was able to read, and most to write. Ni-Tawng
and Poo-e-Shui were the next villages of importance ; the latter
remarkable for its large modern college, founded in the first
year of the reign of the late Emperor Hien-Fung. On the north
bank and opposite are large examination halls, marked by a forest
of mandarin poles ; also, a large depot for salt. In the back-
ground were the Nam-wan-Shan, or " hills of the southern bay,"
averaging some fifteen hundred feet elevation. On the shores
here were noble specimens of the shady banyan tree (Ficus Indicus)
and in the sun on the banks were numerous lizards, among them
the Tachydromus sexlineatus and others. We examined some
large fish-tanks at Sha-Wan, in which were preserved the Li-in,*
a fish far superior to our carp, and growing over ten pounds
weight

* The Li-in = The Gouramier (Osphroncmus olfax).

Excursions in the South of China.

351

In the middle of the river here is the large flat island of Kwang-li,
forming a triangle, with its two sides to the north. The channel
on the south side is the shallowest, but gave 3^ fathoms. The
mountains now frowned close above us, and in vain the eye sought
for a gap through which the broad volume of the Si-Kiang could
pass. However, the river narrowed rapidly as we ascended it,
and when we had left the white fort sixteen miles behind us, we
could perceive a magnificent but narrow gorge gradually opening
to our admiring gaze. The river here, narrowed suddenly from
1000 to 200 or 300 yards, winds swiftly through a vast rent in the

Fig. I. — Entrance to River, &c.

mountain chain, whose dark precipices rise perpendicularly on
either side several hundred feet above us. The wooded summits
culminate on the south side in a peak 2800 feet elevation, and on
the north in one of 1800 feet. We entered this pass at 1.45 p.m.,
barely able to stem the current, whilst above us hovered some large
kites (Milvus melanotis) that frequent this locality. The mountain
pass is called the Antelope Pass or Hibiscus Gap, sometimes the
Shiu-Hing-Hup. At its eastern entrance is the village and custom-
house of How-li. In the pass itself we sounded, and repeatedly
found no bottom at 12;^ fathoms, even close to the edge of the
beetling rocks. The naked sides of the cliffs were caverned and

352 Journal of Travel and Natural History

hollowed by the waters many feet above us, testifying to the effects
of the furious summer freshets, known and dreaded even at Can-
ton under the name of the " Western floods,"

There are narrow paths cut along ledges on the face of the cliffs
to enable the crews to tow their vessels against the strong eddies
and currents in the pass. Along them are here and there little
shrines placed to record the loss by wreck or flood of some hap-
less mariner. The place is romantic in the extreme, and naturally
the imaginative Chinese people it with fabulous monsters as well
as with piratical bandits, who are, perhaps, not so fabulous. It
took us two hours to pass through this rocky chasm, four miles in
length. The western extremity is here marked by a small pagoda,
on a conical peak 300 feet above the sea.

The sun seemed to shine brighter when we had left this dismal
pass of Shiu-Hing-Hup, and at our exit was disclosed a cheerful
view of the extensive valley of Shao-K'ing, bounded by a fine am-
phitheatre of mountains, with no less than seven pagodas of various
sizes in sight at once.

What the origin or meaning of these many-storeyed monuments
may be no one seems to know. They are sometimes accounted
for by the Chinese as symbolical of the all-pervading Fung-Shuei,
a superstitious genius which animates the cardinal points, hills,
water, and weather, including the general prosperity of the neigh-
bourhood.

A lofty pagoda on a high hill is supposed to bring good luck
and advancement to all who dwell within its sight and influence.
Although Shao-K'ing boasts of so many of them, I am afraid their
influence has greatly diminished. When a merchant has com-
pleted a great speculation with success, or when his argosies have
returned laden with wealth, he sometimes erects one of these follies
to commemorate the event.

Below the suburbs of Shao-K'ing extensive fisheries were passed,
with large dip nets, bag and stake nets. These nets are in the
river close to the banks. Beyond these, about six miles above the
Antelope Pass, begin the suburbs of the town, which we reached
at five in the evening. These suburbs are built on tall piles similar
to those at Sy-nam, and boast of two remarkably handsome and
antient pagodas, both of which have numerous shrubs and creepers
growing out of them, and are generally moss- and grass-grown.
The town itself lies at a little distance back, and is protected by a
high solid embankment against all fear of inundation. Irrigation
is provided for by means of well-constructed culverts and sluices.

Excursions in the South of China 353

Like all district towns, Shao-K'ing is tolerably defended by stout
brick walls and bastioned gates, now in a slightly ruinous con-
dition. It was six o'clock or more before we made fast to the
shore, but the sun had set and the town gates were closed, so that
entrance to the town was denied. However, we were permitted to
send in our cards and letters of introduction to the Mandarin.

The extremity of our journey by water was now attained, and
we had travelled 75 geographical miles in all from Canton. Of
course, we could have come up much quicker, but we preferred
seeing the country by daylight, and walking along the shore for
observation and sporting, to travelling by night. The regular
passage boats take only from thirty to forty hours to do this dis-
tance in, according as the wind and tide are favourable or not.

Thursday the 14th March, whilst dressing for a state visit to
the chief magistrate of Shao-K'ing, we sent to hire some palanquins
and bearers, who arrived when we were at breakfast; their price
having been suddenly raised, we learnt on inquiry that some officials
had been extorting "squeeze money" from them. We had pre-
arranged the hour for our reception, and started at half-past nine
in eight palanquins, along the bund, and through the suburbs,
entering the city walls by the south gate. The city seemed in a
ruinous condition, but there were remains of antient grandeur in
the moss-covered ruins of many antique yamuns, temples, and ances-
tral halls, the finest being those on the site of the Viceroy's Palace
in olden days, all well shaded by long-lived banyans. The prin-
cipal streets alone seemed to be thickly populated, and in them
crowds of curious citizens assembled to see us pass by, being kept
back from pressing on us by an escort of Mongol braves, sent to
meet us for that purpose. Besides numerous silk shops, chow-
chow houses, and opium divans, were armourers and bow-makers.
The yamun which we entered was similar to most of the third-
rate yamuns of Canton. Various retainers ushered us through
detatched open halls, where official business is transacted, into a
more comfortably furnished apartment, where we were most
courteously received by the venerable magistrate, who, after the
endless chin-chinning, an indispensable preliminary, begged us to
be seated, and regaled us with tea, accompanied by melon pips,
whilst a tray, not unlike a large Pope Joan board, was brought,
the various partitions being filled with sweetmeats and preserves.
He had heard that peace had been proclaimed, but it had not
been published publicly yet to the townspeople. On hearing that
some of his subordinates had been squeezing our bearers, he

354

Jonnial of Travel and Natural History

assured us that they should be bastinadoed with spHt bamboos.
He begged us to excuse any impertinent conduct from the ignorant
townspeople, and warned us that we might be pelted or maltreated
unless he sent an escort of soldiers to guard us. He insisted
very kindly on our accepting the guard, who would also act as
guides to us about the vicinity, and we found them very useful in
carrying our sketch-books, shot belts, &c.

On leaving the yamun we made our exit from the city by the
north gate, and crossing a stone bridge over the moat found the
narrow path leading into the country, bordered by some smaller
suburban villas and cottages, with well cared for gardens around
them, with clusters of lychees, plantains, papayes (Carica papaya),

Fig. 2. — Marble Mountains.

plum and guavas (Psidium sinense), water-melons (Cucumis cit-
rullus), &c. Beyond, in the open country, were fields of cotton, the
ground-nut (Arachis hypogea), from which they express a valuable
oil, with indigo, Cassia, castor-oil, and various peas, as dhol,
(Cajanus florus) gram (Cicer arietum), yams, and sweet potatoes,
cocos, and a large portion preparing for rice planting — the whole
of this extensive plain around Shao-K'ing being as highly cultivated
as a market garden. The villagers were employed in harrowing,
the harrows being drawn by the ubiquitous buffalo, and mostly tended

Excursions in the Soiiih of China 355

by women. The plain is bounded by a high range of mountains,
mostly wooded, and any slight undulating eminences are covered
with innumerable horse-shoe or omega-shaped graves, the ceme-
teries of departed generations. In the midst of this alluvial de-
posit, at about three miles from Shao-K'ing, rise seven abrupt and
detached rocks of red-veined marble, with remarkable peaked
summits, averaging about 200 feet above the level of the plain,
their distant outline reminding one irresistibly of the Needle
Rocks intensely exaggerated. They present features of more
than ordinary interest, not only to the geologist, but also to the
antiquarian, and are famous throughout the two Kwangs, for their
wonderful caverns, whilst the monastic retreats, perched in
seemingly inaccessible hollows and ledges on their precipitous
sides, are objects of pilgrimage and veneration for many miles
away ; and various superstitious legends are related in connexion
with the far-famed Marble Rocks of the seven stars (Sam-Seen-
Koon).

"We ascended by a laborious climb up narrow paths to the
summit of the easternmost rock, which is the highest and largest
of them all, and obtained an extensive view for our trouble, the
fantastic peaks of the neighbouring rocks forming a picturesque
foreground. There are two Budhist chapels on this rock, besides
some residences for the monks. In the lowest chapel was an
elaborate image of Budha, representing that deity with forty-eight
arms. The faces of the rocks are overgrown with bushes and
small trees with creepers and ferns growing in the crevices.
Every here and there are seats and benches, with colossal inscrip-
tions cut in the solid stone, dating from the dynasties of Yong-
Ching, Kang-Kee, and Keen-lung. The trees and rocks were
full of the feathered tribes, such as titmice (Parus minor), plenty of
the Chinese starlings (Acridotheres siamensis), chattering with great
noise, rollers (Eurystomus orientalis), and others. We now de-
scended, and walked along the foot of the rocks, where are some large
ponds in which the art of pisciculture is carried on by the Budhist
monks with great economy and success. They buy the fish spawn
in jars at the market, and hatch the ova in the shallow paddy fields,
which are arranged in terraces connecting one with another, so that
the young fry can be shifted as may seem necessary. They fatten
up their fish in stews, producing magnificent specimens of carp.
Throughout the whole of China fish is remarkably cheap. We
now examined the great cave and temple of Kon-Yum-Ngam.

356 Journal of Travel and Natural History

This cave has evidently been formed by the action of a subter-
ranean river, which has thoroughly undermined the whole rock.
There are two entrances, one through a low fissure on the south
side, and the principal one on the north side, leading through an
upper grotto, in which the stalactites have been tastefully left to
form a natural canopy, whilst the stalagmites have been carved
into quaint figures of warriors, altars, figures of Budha, immense
candelabra, and vases forming a crystal joss-house, ornamented
with the customary banners, votive tablets, burning joss-stick, and
other accessories.

From the grotto, at the entrance, a descent of forty well-paved
steps brought us into the great cavern, which was but dimly illu-
mined by our torches of twisted bamboo, and the vast vaulted roof
remained in mysterious darkness until we fired some Chinese
rockets up vertically, which lighted up the lofty roofs and crystallized
stalactites 120 feet above our heads. In every direction were
branching caverns, one of which we explored, but were stopped
soon by deep pools in the bed of a former torrent. Most of the
others were quite full of water. By lighting bonfires of dried grass
behind some of the screens of transparent rock, where pillars of
stalagmite and stalactite were joined in one, marvellously charming
effects were produced.

The whole rock seemed hollow ; when we discharged our guns
with some blank ammunition the reports reverberated like thunder,
the echoes dying away in hoarse murmurs in the distant bowels of
the mountain. Very grand certainly, and heightened by some
crystals from above becoming detached by the vibration, and
tumbling about our ears, scattering, as they struck any rocky pro-
jections, with a myriad of scintillations. Our attention was now
drawn to a hollow rock, forming a natural stone drum. In shape
it was something like a mushroom. On being struck smartly, it
vibrated with a hollow sound — a very Chinese Memnon, and to
which superstition has attached many supernatural abilities. We
put a large bundle of Chinese crackers underneath it, which, being,
ignited, gave us a startling volley of cracks and bangs, which
severely tested the vibratory powers of the marble drum. The
noise was indeed deafening, frightening numerous bats from their
hidden retreats. The figures of the monks in their long robes, our
half naked coolies, and the braves in their picturesque attire, lighted
up by the glare of the torchlight, with the savage depths of the
cavern as a background, formed a subject for the brush of a Rem-
brandt.

Exctirsions in the South of China 357

\i\ the cool of the evening we retraced our steps to Shao-K'ing,
and by sunset left the landing-place of Shao-K'ing on our home-
ward voyage, reaching the Pass of Shin-Hing-Hup at dusk. The
entrance to the gorge looked most dismal and uninviting, so that
our boatmen were anxious to anchor outside the narrow passage
until daylight, but we insisted on their proceeding in spite of their
hideous tales of Lally Lus and other horrors. So we went on
through the dreary pass, all being still and quiet as the grave, only
disturbed by the occasional flight of the night-herons (Nycticorax
griseus) and the distant cry of the short-eared owls (Otus brachy-
otus), which frequent these rocks. We were soon fast asleep, and
were about half-way through the defile, when we were suddenly
awakened by a collision with another boat, and the cry of Lally Lus
from our boatmen, who came tumbling below in extreme terror.
We jumped up on deck, and soon saw that the crew of the other
boat, against which we had bumped, was as frightened of us as our
men were of them, and had also rushed below, and were busy get-
ting out their long pikes, so we had only to shove the boats apart,
and retire to our slumbers, after a hearty laugh at our disturbance.
By midnight we had arrived at the custom-house of How-li, and
made fast to some salt junks lying close to the shore here.

On the 15th of March, on arising in the morning we found our-
selves the objects of interest to all the crews of the various craft
lying off the custom-house (established for levying the war tax).
The vessels bound up the river formed a convoy loaded with salt,
and those from the upper waters, bound downwards with indigo,
oil, paddy, firewood, silk and tea. There is only a small village
at How-li, where necessaries can be procured for victualling the
passage boats, and we here hired a guide to take a few of our
party up to the wooded mountains of Ting-Hu-Shan to visit the
famous monastery which reposes under its shadows. The re-
mainder of our party crossed over to To-Ki to shoot snipe, which
abound in that locality. Our guide, by name Teen-Tuk, with two
boys, Ayow and Asam, led us inland to the north-west, about five
miles across flat open fields, in which the skylarks (Alauda coelivox)
were carolling under the sunshine. The country is diversified by
small hamlets, ponds, and marshes, full of waterfowl, gallinules, &c.
We followed the course of a shallow stream tumbling over
its rocky bed, tracing it up a long valley, on each side of
which arose lofty hills, here and there scarped perpendicularly with
huge boulders and moraines, lying scattered on the slopes at their

358 Journal of Travel and Auitural History

base. Above were dense woods rising high among the mists that
hung about the summits. The atmosphere turned chilly, and we
soon lost sight of the sun, the Scotch mist turning into rain
as we ascended, and we entered a ravine in which a well-repaired
paved pathway of rather steep gradient led through " the groves
of the pleasant mists " on " the mountain of the golden lake," the
said lake being a mysteriously deep tarn among these hills. The
blending of the sub-tropical vegetation with the foliage of trees,
due to increased elevation, presented us with varied yet exquisite
forest scenery. Among the trees flitted the Ying-Ko or ring parro-
quets (Palseornis Rosa), the sole Chinese representative of this
tribe, whilst little stripped squirrels (Sciurus tristriatus) leapt nimbly
from bough to bough, whilst the call of the pheasant and the tap-
ping of the woodpecker (Picus chloris) would frequently be heard
mingled with the song of the Hwa-mei (Leucodioptron sinense),
which the Chinamen are so fond of domesticating for fighting
purposes as well as song. The timber trees were loaded and
entangled with numerous vines, bauhinias and other lianas, whilst
various orchids, ferns, lycopodiums, and pendent lichens orna-
mented the stems of fallen timber.

Through occasional breaks in the dense foliage of the trees
we could see hanging woods and rocks towering far above us, with
here and there a summer-house or shrine, to which neat zig-zag
paths led in various directions. After reaching a level of about
1200 feet above the river, we found the monastery of Tek-Chime,
with its fine new temple and hospitable brotherhood. The superior
of the establishment received us with flowery Chinese compliments
and played the part of host most graciously. It appears that the
old temple had been burnt down by the rebels in 1S59, so that
they had been obliged to build a new one, the Hing-Wun-Tz, and
now they heard that the rebels were again approaching. They
shewed us an immense bell, just new from the foundry, of some
2000 catties weight ; they must have had great trouble to convey
it up these heights. The monks here are not allowed to eat flesh,
but are restricted to fish and vegetable food ; they gave us some
capital rice and mushrooms, the latter being novelties to us ; they
had many handsome and rare plants, cultivated with great care,
roses and chrysanthemums, of which the owners were very proud,
besides dwarfed trees, fantastically trained shrubs, with odd sports
and grafts, which Chinese amateurs take such pleasure in.

We returned to our boat in the afternoon, and later in the even-

Excursions in the South of Cliina 359

ing pulled across the river to examine the mines on the southern
side of the Shin-Hing-Hup. These mines or quarries consist of
pits eight hundred feet deep, from which a valuable black
stone (cannel coal ?) is produced. It is a black stone almost
like jet, takes a considerable polish, and is used for inkstands
and palettes ; the surrounding rock appeared to be coarse grit rock
and beds of solid dark slate. The echoes here were very amusing,
high notes being repeated distinctly several times in succession.
The quarries were not being worked, as the mandarins had
demanded an excessive royalty on the produce. Late in the
evening we dropped down stream with the tide to Lo-un-Chun,
a village opposite to Kwangli island, and nearer to the Teng-fu
mountain than How-li.

On Saturday, i6th March, we started at 7 a.m., and took the
same route to the Tek-Chime monastery, reaching it in two hours
and a half Here we provided ourselves with some stout poles to
climb the upper heights, and procured a guide. After three hours'
hard climbing, during which the woods became gradually thinner,
and, finally, disappeared, we halted at a spot, beyond which our
guide declared that he had never been. However, we pushed on
until we reached the summit, but the thick clouds breaking for a
few minutes disclosed a much higher peak than that on which we
were at (4000 feet), and separated from us by a vast chasm, at the
bottom of which lay far below us the Enchanted Golden Lake.
We were much disappointed at not having reached the highest
summit, but there was nothing for it but to descend via the charming
deep tarn, the spare waters of which were carried off by a series
of cascades and waterfalls, by following which we arrived in due
time at the foot of the mountain under torrents of rain, and were
heartily glad to regain the shelter of our boat.

The next day (Sunday) we passed Sy-nam and reached Fat-
shan, where we spent all Monday morning returning to the mono-
tonous duty at Canton the same evening.

360 Journal of Travel a?id Natural History

THE RECENT EARTHQUAKE AT HAWAII^

HAVING had an opportunity of seeing the effects of the late
volcanic concussions and eruptions in South Hawaii,
I send you a short description of what I observed. Unfortunately
I arrived too late on the spot to see the eruption itself which
only lasted four days; but I had good opportunities to investi-
gate the effects produced.

Kilanea had been occasionally active ever since October of last
year. Instead of one or two there were seven lakes in constant
ebullition, and volumes of steam and gases were thrown off con-
stantly. The lava would often overflow the banks of the lakes,
and cover a great portion of the area of the large crater.

On the 27th of March the first shock was felt over all Southern
Hawaii, the region of Mowna Roa. On the 28th one hundred and
fifty shocks were counted. On the early morning of the 29th
lava was seen flowing on the summit of Mowna Roa, according to
native report, and also on the night following, but not at any time
after. The earthquakes continued, many very severe, to the num-
ber of two hundred in twenty-four hours, up to April 2, while the
fire in Kilanea seemed to rest.

On April 2, at 4 p.m., a most terrific shock occurred, which was
felt here in Honolulu, and laid prostrate, or threw off their founda-
tion, all walls and most houses in Kau. All the fissures described
in my report were produced then, amongst which that most extra-
ordinary one which split the side of the mountain, and sent down
to the level plain an enormous mass of dirt and water, the mud
flow of Kapapala.

The great stellated fissures in Kataka, through which, five days
later, the lava broke, must also have been first opened by this
shock. Immediately after it the sea receded, and soon returned
in an enormous wave, forty to fifty feet high, which ran over the
tops of the cocoanut palms, and swept away every village on the
southern coast, destroying about sixty lives, and disabling many a
poor fellow. Fifteen or twenty times the sea receded, and returned
again before it resumed its equilibrium. As we learn from Cali-

* Letter from Dr liildcbraiulc, Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, to Dr Hooker,
F.KS.

The Recent Earthquake 361

fornia papers, the great wave reached California and Oregon five hours
later; but, strange to say, here at Honolulu it was hardly noticed;
nay, even in the northern part of Hawaii it has been quite insignificant.
During the four days following this great shock, more than two
thousand were counted in Kau ; in Kapapala the ground was in
incessant motion, swaying to and fro like the sea, so that people
became sea-sick. On the night between the 3d and 4th three
shocks occurred between 12 and 2 a.m., v/hichwere distinctly per-
ceived by me at Honolulu, and which about Kilauea are said to have
nearly equalled that of the 2d. Thus matters continued until the
7th, when at 6 p.m. the lava burst out of the great star-shaped
fissures in Kahaka, reached the sea in three hours, and continued
to run until the nth, when it suddenly ceased. The earthquakes
became less in intensity and frequency at once, but they continued
to be felt until the middle of June.

When I was at KapajDala we counted nineteen in twenty-four
hours, and a very severe one I experienced when near the great
fissure which had caused the mud-flow. Most interesting is the
relation of the activity and subsidence of the lava in Kilauea to
the whole series of volcanic phenomena, as you find it described in
my report to the Gazette. Undoubtedly the great reservoir of lava,
which comes to light in Kilauea, had been filling up to its utmost,
and large quanties of steam and gases had accumulated in it,
which found a fitful vent in one of the lava lakes, "the blow hole."
This ceased to blow about two weeks before the first earthquake, in
consequence of which the confined gases were brought to an extreme
degree of tension, which first produced the simple vibrations, and at
last, on April 2, the enormous fissures of the superincumbent crust.
It is remarkable that the fissures then caused belong to two systems,
two of the principal ones tending from Kilauea westward, and two
from the summit of Mowna Roa crater of Mokuaweoweo, south and
seaward. The two systems intersected each other within the
length of the Kahaka lava stream to that of the mud-flow, at the
place of the eruption in Kahaka, elevated about 3590 feet
above the sea. I presume that the great shock of April 2
established a communication between the lava reservoirs of Kilauea
and Mowna Roa, and that in consequence of it the lava of Kilauea
emptied itself in that of Mowna Roa, and was ejected through the
fissure belonging to the latter. The lava resembles in many re-
spects that of the eruption of 1840, which came from Kilauea; is
as rich in olivin, and as light and porous. The lavas of Mowna

TRAVEL. B B

362 Joiirtial of Travel and Natural History

Roa are all heavy and compact, and some as much so as tiuo
basalt. Most remarkable in the present eruption was the enormous
mass of an exceedingly light brownish friable pumice, ejected before
and during the same.

The incandescent matter of it filled the air like so many stars,
and came down so slowly and leisurely, cooling in the descent,
that people did not know what to make of it, and were hardly
aware of them when they fell down on their bodies.

Another peculiarity was the amount of steam and gas thrown
off. On Hawaii, people could not see objects at forty paces dis-
tant, and the gas (suljDhurous acid) was so irritating to the lungs
that it caused universal cough and dyspnoea. On the 9th, and for
five days after, the sky in Honolulu was so hazy that the sun ap-
peared like a blood-red round disk, and the hills, five miles off,
were invisible. Ships that were a thousand miles off at sea, to the
south and north-east, had the foggy haze for a day or two.

The extraordinary liquidity of the lava was another remarkable
phenomena. It was over a distance of fifteen miles, down a slope
of not more than six degrees, in less than four hours. Captain
Brown, on whose estate the eruption broke out, and who, with
his family, had to fly for dear life, says that it ran at the rate of
ten miles an hour. His residence was buried under the lava.

Join-nal of Iravcl and Natural History 363

COLLING WOOD'S RAMBLES IN THE CHINA SEA*

DR COLLINGWOOD is what is popularly called "a sea-
beast man." Although a botanist and a zoologist and
possessed of a good knowledge of most branches of Natural His-
tory, his peculiar passion is Marine Zoology. In all the wonder-
ful and outre creations, which render the aquarium so attractive,
he is specially at home. It is not to be wondered at, therefore,
that he should have eagerly availed himself of an opportunity to
visit the shores and waters of the China Seas, nor that in his ac-
count of his voyage the denizens of the waters should occupy
a larger portion of its natural history than the inhabitants of
their shores.

We can hardly imagine anything more attractive to a student
of Marine Zoology than such an expedition. The China Sea has
been less explored scientifically than most other parts of the tropi-
cal seas, and there was not only the prospect of new discoveries
but the certainty of an ample harvest of rare, beautiful, and little
known species. Dr Collingwood thus glowingly describes one
out of many of his experiences of this kind : —

" On the 1st of August we anchored at the edge of an extensive coral reef
marked on the charts as Fiery-Cross Reef from the circumstance of the ship
' Fiery-Cross ' having been wrecked thereon. The surface of the sea was
perfectly smooth and glass-like, so that at the depth of 60 or 70 feet we could
see the anchor lying at the bottom, among blocks of coal, as distinctly as if it
had been but 6 feet from the surface. Never to be forgotten is my first ramble
over this coral reef on such an afternoon. Taking a boat with a couple of
rowers I left the ship and steered in search of the shallowest portions of the
coral-strewn sea. A short row brought us upon a two-fathom patch, over
which I allowed the boat to drift slowly, and leaning over the side and looking
down into the mirror-like sea I could admire at leisure the wonderful sight, un-
disturbed as it was by the slightest ripple. Glorious masses of living coral
strewed the bottom ; immense globular madrepores ; vast overhanging mush-
room-shaped expansions ; complicated ramifications of interweaving branches,
mingled with smaller and more delicate species ; round finger-shaped horn-like
and umbrella-form lay in wondrous confusion — and these painted with every
shade of delicate and brilliant colouring — grass green, deep blue, bright yellow,
pure white, rich buff, and more sober brown, altogether forming a kaleidoscopic

* Rambles of a Naturalist on the Shores and Waters of the China Sea. By
Cuthbert Collingwood, M.A. London i858.

364 Journal of Travel and Natural History

effect of form and colour unequalled by anything I had ever beheld. Here and
there was a large clam shell — chama — wedged in between masses of coral, the
gaping zigzag mouth covered with the projecting mantle of the deepest Prussian
blue ; beds of dark purple long-spined Echini, and the thick black bodies of
sea cucumbers — Holotharese — varied the aspect of the sea bottom. In and out
of these coral groves, like gorgeous birds in a forest of trees, swarmed the most
beautifully coloured and grotesque fishes, some of them intense blue, others
bright red, others yellow, black, salmon coloured, and every colour of the rain-
bow, curiously barred and banded and bearded, swarming everywhere in little
shoals which usually included the same species, though every moment new
species more striking than the last came into view. Some, like the little yellow
Chaetodons, roamed about singly ; others in large shoals ; some were of consider-
able size and seemed to suck in the little ones like motes in the water ; and, in
an interval a small shark about lO feet long, swam leisurely along.

On this reef he made a curious observation, which seems to us
to indicate that some sea-anemones have the power of paralyzing or
fascinating fishes without actual contact. Dr Collingwood thinks
otherwise, and that it is a case of parasitism, that the fish lives and
takes refuge in the stomach of the sea-anemone ; but his own ac-
count of the incident seems opposed to this. In any view the
observation is curious :

"By far the most remarkable circumstance I met with on the Fiery Cross
Reef was tlie discovery of some actinece of enormous size, and of habits no less
novel than striking. I oliierved in a shallow spot a large and beautiful con-
voluted mass of a light blue colour, which, situated as it was in the midst of
coloured corals, I at first supposed to be also a coral. Its singular appearance,
however, induced me to feel it, when the peculiar tenaceous touch of a sea
anemone made me rapidly withdraw my hand, to which adhered some shre.ls of
its blue tentacles. I then perceived that it was an immense actinea, which,
when expanded, measured fully two feet in diameter. The tentacles were
small, simple, very numerous, and of a deep blue colour ; and the margin of the
tentacular ridge was broad, and rounded, and folded in tliiclc convolutions,
which concealed the entrance to the digestive cavity.

" While standing in tlie water breast-high admiring the splendid zoophyte, I
noticed a very pretty little fish which hovered in the water close by, and nearly
over tbe anemone. This fish was six inches long, the head bright orange, and
the body vertically banded with broad rings of opaque white and orange alter-
nately, three bands of each. As the fish remained stationary and did not appear
to be alarmed at my movements, I made several attempts to catch it, but it
always eluded my efforts. Not darting away, however, as might be expected,
but always returning presently to the same spot. Wandering about in search
of shells and animals, I visited from time to time the place where the anemone
was fixed, and each time, in spite of all my disturbance of it, I found }he little
fish there also. This singular persistence of the fish to tlie same spot and to
the close vicinity of tlie great anemone, aroused in me strong suspicions of the
existence of some connexion between them.

CoUingtvood's Ra7nbles in the China Seas 365

' These suspicions were subsequently verified ; for on the reefs of Pulo
Pappan, near the island of Labuan, in company with Mr Low, we met with
more than one specimen of this gigantic sea anemone, and the fish, so unmis-
takeable in its appearance when once seen, again in its neighbourhood* Raking
about with a stick in the body of the anemone no less than six fishes of the
same species and of various sizes were by degrees dislodged from the cavity of
the zoophyte, not swimming away and escaping immediately but easily secured
on their exit by means of a small hand-net. Thus the connexion existing be-
tween this fish and the anemone was demonstrated, though what is the nature
and object of that connexion yet remains to be proved.

"There are at least two species of these anemone-inhabiting fish, and a
second species of the same genus differs from that just described in having black
and cream-coloured vertical bands instead of orange and white. Such a fish I
have seen; evidently related to the first-mentioned, living in a tub which did
duty for an aquarium, in the possession of Rlr Low at Labuan, which had been
obtained from what was probably a second species of fish-sheltering anemone.
This fish was remarkably lively and amusing, and of a disposition I can only
describe as knowing, and lived in good health in this tub for several months — a
proof that the connexion between these animals, whatever its nature, is not ab-
solutely essential for the fish at least " — (p. 152).

Greatly to its detriment we do not doubt — as surely as the
residence of an oyster in the stomach of a gastronome would be to
it. This is not a case of parasitism on the exterior of the body,
nor of a parasite specially framed to spend its life in its interior,
nor of an animal taking occasional refuge under the wing of another
like the Pinnotheres pisum within the valves of the horse mussel.
A Holothuria, from the same seas, of which a figure is given in the
"Voyage of the Astrolabe" (Holothuria ananas), is said to shelter
a fish in this manner, and we doubt not for a similar purpose.
The notodelphs and other small crustaceans, which are said to
take refuge in the sac of some Ascidians is another parallel case.
Some years since * we argued that these small animals were not
guests taking refuge with a host, but victims to its appetite. We
found in the sac of Ascidea virginea that although many of the noto-
delphs were swimming about quite lively, others were lying dead
against its walls, and others were half digested, and we accounted
for the circumstance of any being alive by the large size of the sac
and the small size of the notodelphs. It might be some time
before they were seized or entangled in the ciliated meshes of its
walls. We think the case of Dr Collingwood's sea-anemone and
banded fish quite parallel to the ascidians and the notodelphs.
The fish were being devoured by the anemone, and the proof of

Murray in Proc. Royal Soc, Edin. 1858.

366 Journal of Travel and Natural History

it is that those fishes which he routed out from the interior of its
gape were languid and easily caught. The process of digestion
had begun upon them, but they had not yet been deprived of life.
This is our explanation of the circumstance; but there remains the
curious fact of the fish hovering like a fascinated bird over the
mouth of its devourer, and returning to the spot again and again
after being driven ofi" by Dr CoUingwood. The distance at which
Dr CoUingwood describes the fish to have been from the tentacles
of the anemone, independent of the fish swimming away and re-
turning, would seem conclusive against its having been touched by
the acontia or cnidae of the zoophyte, which might otherwise have
accounted for the stupefaction of the fish. Mr Gosse, in one of
his books, mentions an instance in which a little fish swimming
about in health and vigour died in a few minutes in great agony
through the momentary contact of its lip with one of the emitted
acontia of Sagartia parasitica ; and the effects of the acontias of
different species may be different, and more especially may be
more powerful in larger species from troj^ical seas.

Dr M'Donnell at one time thought electricity might have some-
thing to do with producing the stinging effects of these acontia ;
he no doubt subsequently abandoned that hypothesis ; but the
probability of that agency being concerned in the matter should
still be kept in view.

Apropos to animal electricity we observe that Dr CoUingwood
quotes an instance reported to him of the occurrence of electricity
in a snake.

' ' A circumstance was told me by the colonial chaplain, Rev. J. Moreton,
which, although it may seem apocryphal, I am unwilling to pass over altogether
in silence. He found on one occasion, outside the verandah, a snake about five
feet long, of a reddish colour, but not mottled like a boa. It had had its head
crashed, that being the usual way in which the natives destroy snakes, though
it is not always immediately fatal to them, for they will crawl after such an in-
jury. Mr Moreton told me that he took the snake in question by the tail by
his thumb and finger, and instantly felt a strong electric shock, which ran up
his arms to both his shoulders, so that he dropped the snake in alarm. Although
much surprised at the circumstance, not being a naturalist, he neglected to take
any means to preserve the reptile. " (p. 173).

The nudibranchs of these seas, like the sea anemones, startle the
beholder with their gorgeous and bizarre colouring. The annexed
plate (fig. 1.) shews the form of some of the most striking of these;
but it is unnecessary to say that tJ^eir beauty is entirely lost for

CoUimwooci's Rambles in the Clwia Seas

367

want of colour. The upper one on the left, marked as from
Kelung, is cream-coloured, edged with orange, and marbled with

vermilion markings. That below it, from Haitan Straits, has a
chrome margin, and is spotted with deep crimson. The next to

368 Journal of Travel and Nahiral History

the right, from Makung Harbour, is deep blue, spotted with yellow,
and with the tentacles and branchiae of bright vermilion. The
next from Labuan is striated with delicate alternate hues of broA\Ti
and yellow. The long, 5;mooth one from Labuan is reddish, pass-
ing into a brilliant amethystine head, and edged with opaque
white, the tentacles and dorsal branchise orange. The last on the
right, from Fiery Cross Reef, is described as reaching nearly eight
inches in length, of an olive-green colour, and covered with slimy
bosses and tubercules, which rendered it a most unsightly object.
Most, if not all of these, are undescribed.

It would require more space than we can give to follow Dr
Collingwood through the numerous other marine animals touched
on by him — crabs, molluscs, fishes, star-fishes, annelides, hy-
drozoa, forminifera, &c. The marine zoologist will find much
to interest him. A valuable paper, which had been already pub-
lished in one of our scientific periodicals, on the luminosity of the
sea, is incorporated with the narrative. In it the various kinds of
phosphorescence are defined and traced to their origin, the number
of divisions being five, viz.: — i. Sparks or points of light; 2. a
soft liquid, general and wide spread efililgence ; 3. moon-shaped
patches of steady light ; 4. instantaneous recurrent flashes ; 5.
milky sea. All these are traced to animal life of some kind or
other, and his explanation of the phenomena is as follows : —

" Ever since, many years ago, I became acquainted with INlr Groves' ' Re-
searches upon the Corelation of Physical Forces,' I have looked upon that in-
genious theory as the rational explanation of animal luminosity. Light, heat,
electricity, magnetism, motion, and chemical force, are all interchangeable, and
each may manifest itself in the form of the other ; but although these are called
the physical forces, who can say that they are not organic forces also ? One of
them, which long since would have been regarded as eminently inorganic, is
now fully recognised as an organic force produced by vital organs, and regulated
by the will of the animal exhibiting it. I allude of course to electricity, an
agent which is possessed by several fishes, and we know not by what other
animals, a force which is produced directly through the agency of neiTOUS power,
for the regulation of which a special cerebral lobe is recognised. If this ner\-e
force or vitality can display iiself in the form of electricity, why should it not
do so also in the fonn of light? In the more highly organised luminous
animals, as in Lampyris (the glow-worm), in which nervous centres exist, there
is a special organ for the development of light, doubtless regulated by some part
of the nervous system. KiJllikcr, in his examination of the luminous property
of that insect, came to the conclusion that there was neither combustion nor
phosphonis in the case, but that it was the product of a nervous apparatus, and
dependent upon the will of the animal. In others the contractility of muscular

CoUingwood' s Ranibks in the China Seas 369

tissue or of sarcode substance, which contractility is itself a vital act, seems
sufficient to produce the phenomena in question." (pp. 407, 408.)

The nature of the phenomenon treated by Dr CoUingwood is a
very difficult one, and we should have liked to have had the views
of such an intelligent naturalist a little more developed as to the
modus operandi by which the luminous result is attained. No one
will dispute the position he has entrenched himself in, that if all
forces producing physical phenomena are corelated and convertible,
it may be due to any of them. But what we should have liked to
know his opinion upon is, which of them is in operation in any
particular case. They may all or any of them be mixed up with
it, but taking the phenomenon at a particular stage, what is its
then nature. When we see the ocean apparently on fire, is the
light real fire or is it not ? Are the animals which give it out
burning or not ? Is it slow combustion by chemical action, or is
it a phenomenon of electricity ? It comes very much to this — Is
there more than one source of light? Fire-light used to be
thought different from sun-light. We now know that they are
the same. Our own opinion is that there is only one source of
light, and that is chemical action — in other words combustion.
Combustion, indeed, is usually understood to be only another
word for oxydization. Hence, where there is no oxygen, it would
follow that there can be no combustion, and some examples of
phosphorescent and fluorescent light seem to exist under com-
bustions where there can be no oxydization. The light in such
instances may nevertheless be due to the presence of oxygen in
such small quantities as to escape our detection, or that light may
be produced by some analogous phase of chemical action where
something else takes the part and performs the duty of oxygen ;
and it seems not unreasonable to ascribe the phenomenon to one
or other of them until we have better data on which to go.

Leaving such recondite physiological questions, let us turn to
some of the other more palpable and material subjects noticed by
Dr CoUingwood. The woodcut, fig. 2, is a representation which
he gives of the curious forms produced by the degradation of
sandstone rocks, on the south side of Kelung harbour, in For-
mosa. We should have been disposed to refer the appearance to
the action of the weather, but Dr CoUingwood ascribes it to
aqueous action. He says : —

"The effect of aqueous action upon the sandstone rocks are veiy conspicuous in
some parts of Kelung harbour. Near the cave before mentioned, and im-

37°

Joiirnal of Travel and Natural History

mediately upon the verge of high water, is a tall isolated sandstone rock, having
precisely the appearance of an old ruined castle, and appropriately named Ruin
Rock, which forms an excellent land-mark by which to anchor a ship. The
harder layers of sandstone having defied the effects of weather, and the spray
which is dashed up during the north-east monsoon, to which the harbour is
exposed, the softer portions have at the same time been more or less excavated,
leaving a mimic resemblance of the ruined chambers of a three-storied building.

■■w "■''

But the most curious and extensive effects of the direct action of the sea are to
be found at the entrance of the harbour on either side. That on the north side
is called Image Point on the chart, but the south side is even more remarkable,
and no less deserves this name, while the effects are on a larger scale." (p. 89.)

To what formation these sandstone rocks belong Dr CoUihg-
wood could not determine, btit they are part of a carboniferous

Collingwood^s Rambles in the China Seas

371

series, which he thinks is probably of recent origin. Over them
lies a bed of coal, which is worked for economic purposes, and
which would be of immense value were it all equal to our British
coal. But although tolerably good for domestic purposes, it does
not answer for steam vessels. In fact, it would appear that it is
almost as cheap to take out coal from England as to buy this
coal on the spot, the quantity required to produce^the same heat
being so much greater of this Formosan coal.

Dr Collingwood visited another bed of coal in Borneo, which
cropped out from beneath a thick layer of vegetable mould. He
speaks of it as indifferent looking, and it would rather appear that
although plenty of coal is to be found in that region, it is probably
all tertiary, and although useful for domestic purposes not likely
to be of much value to our shipping.

T^'^^^

Fig- 3-

While in Borneo he passed some time at Sarawak. The accom-
panying cut (fig. 3) shews the picturesque character of the Malay
houses there. He also took a trip up one of the rivers among the
Dyaks, and visited one of the stalactitic caverns which are known
to exist there. It is known that some of these caves are ossiferous,
and probably in no part of the world is there a more interesting
field for palaeontological discovery than in them. It might help
to clear up the curious problem, why such an extensive country
as Borneo should be almost entirely destitute of larger mammals.
Dr Collingwood puts it thus : —

" It has been remarked that large quadrupeds bear no proportion to the
luxuriance of vegetation of the tropics, and the greatest herbivorous animals

372 Journal of Travel and Natural History

abound most where the soil and climatal conditions do not encourage the
greatest development of vegetation. Thus it is in Boi-neo, where, although the
countiy is a vast forest under an equatorial sun, large animals are rarely met
with." — (p. 216.)

The fact, as regards Borneo, certainly is as here stated ; but we
cannot agree with the generaUzation as to some connexion or
relation exi^jpg or being to be expected between the amount of
vegetation and the presence or absence of larger mammals in any
land. The two things have nothing whatever to do with each
other, and the presence or absence of every kind of animal solely
depends upon whether the land in question at its appearance
above the sea was in connexion with or near to some other land
where such animals existed, so as to allow of its being peopled by
emigration or dispersal from it. The special puzzle with regard
to Borneo is, that while it is abundantly peopled with arboreal and
aquatic mammals, such as bats, monkeys, squirrels, otters, and
tapirs, there is an almost entire absence of animals which re-
quire solid ground for the sole of their foot to rest on. A semi-
arboreal tree cat or leopard, and a small light-footed deer is the
nearest approach to a truly terrestrial animal. With diese
exceptions, and even these^ perhaps, can scarcely be truly called
exceptions, there is nothing mammalian on Borneo which
could not live on a half-drowned land. If we suppose Borneo
formerly entirely flat, as the greater part of it still is, and
united to Java, and then sunk until it became level with the
sea, like some parts of New Guinea at this moment, where
there are groves of mangroves growing on the flat muddy
beaches, extending backwards for several miles into the interior,
before the solid land is reached, we should have a land covered
with timber, in which all the arboreal and semi-aquatic species
might live for long ages, but In which the larger animals of
Java, such as the elephant and rhinoceros, could not possi-
bly survive. The elephant no doubt now occurs in Borneo,
but, as is rightly said by Dr Collingwood, it is not aboriginal
but introduced. The date and history of the introduction
is perfectly well known. It was by the Sultan Of Sooloo,
who received some elephants as a present from our own East
India Company, and finding them troublesome and expensive
to keep, turned them loose in Borneo, where they have bred and
multiplied. From time to time it has been said that the rhinoceros
also occurs in Borneo, but no well-authenticated instance of it has

Collingwood's Rambles in the China Seas 373

ever been recorded, and the belief among naturalists is almost
unanimous that it does not exist in Borneo. Dr John Edward
Gray indeed has, during the last season, given Borneo as the
habitat of a new species of rhinoceros, which he has described in
a paper read to the Zoological Society. But neither the species
nor the locality will stand much scrutiny. It would appear that
Dr Gray has lately had occasion to examine in detail some of the
skulls of larger mammals which are stored in the British Museum,
and on comparing the series, he has found some which do not
quite correspond with the rest, and instead of considering these,
as has hitherto been the custom, as abnormal specimens or
variations from the type, he has arrived at the conclusion that
they are distinct species. Thus in comparing the skulls of the
tapirs, he found one marked "Tapirus Americanus, from South
America," in which he thinks the " position of the internal nostril
on the palate," is so different from that of the common South
American tapirs, as at once to separate it from them, and he has
consequently described it as a new species " not yet observed in
the hving state," and given it the name of Tapirus Laurillardei.

Next, dealing with the rhinoceroses in the same way, and in-
crease of appetite apparently growing by what it feeds on, he has
doubled the dose this time. He gives us two new species of
rhinoceros also " not yet observed in the living state," which he
has described under the names of Rhinoceros Ploweri and Rhino-
ceros nasalis from skulls in the British Museum — the former from
Sumatra and the other from Borneo. As to the value of these
new species this is not the place to give an opinion. When we
mention that Professor Owen considers Dr Gray's characters as
merely individual variations, we imagine that few of our
readers will require one ; but as to the locality of Borneo
it is of importance to the present question, and, being a
matter of fact and not of opinion, there can be little difficulty in
settling it. The locality is given by Dr Gray broadly and dis-
tinctly in his diagnosis simply as " Borneo " without query or
qualification j but on looking to the particulars of where it came
from and how it came (which it is but justice to Dr Gray to say
he always gives with scrupulous fidelity so far as they appear to
him to be relevant), we find to our surprise that he has no
warrant at all for saying that the species is from Borneo. No one
has told him that the skull belonged to a Bornean animal. It
turns out to be a mere inference on his part. — "The skull was

374 Journal of Travel and Natural History

purchased of a dealer, who said that he received it direct from
Borneo." Even the dealer does not say it is a Bornean specimen.
We all know how a collector gathers from all quarters as he moves
along, and when his store is large enough, ships them home from
the last port he comes to. Are all that have been so accumulated
to be held as having been natives of the port of shipment ? Because
this skull was shipped from Borneo does it follow that it was killed
in Borneo ? In these seas the communication is so frequent and
easy between the different islands, that special caution in ascribing
a locality is necessary; and as if to warn Dr Gray from the blunder
he was falling into, he found another skull in the British Museum
collection, marked from Java, possessing exactly the same abnor-
malities as he gives as the characters of his supposed Bornean
species.

Dr Gray gets over this difficulty by the conjecture that the
locality Java may possibly be a mistake for Borneo. " It was
purchased of a dealer, and has been marked R. Sondaicus Cuvier
Java, by some previous possessor. The habitat may depend on
the person having decided it to be R. Sondaicus."

Had the facts been reversed, and the skull been labelled
" Borneo," we might have accepted the conjecture that Java was
meant, seeing that that would only be reconciling the facts to all
that we previously knew on the subject. But Dr Gray's proposition
asks us to run counter to all our previous knowledge, merely for
the sake of supporting his new quasi Bornean species — one of
whose chief titles to confidence depends on its being a native of
the new locality. We have no desire to prejudge the question.
The rhinoceros may be a native of Borneo — the skull said to have
been received direct from Borneo may have been so received, and
the animal that bore it may have been killed in Borneo, and it nuiy
have been by omission that it was not stated to have been killed
there — the skull labelled Java may have been so labelled by
mistake, and may have come from Borneo — Dr Gray's new species,
Rhinoceros nasalis, may be a good species " not yet observed in
the living state" — and variations in the nasal bones may furnish
sufficient characters by which to discriminate species ; but we
think until some or all of these possibilities shall have been proved
to be facts, it would be rash to conclude that the rhinoceros is a
native of Borneo.

Leaving the larger species out of view, Borneo possesses many
remarkable mammals. One of the most interesting of these is the

Collingwood's Raviblcs in the China Seas 375

Galeopithecus Philippensis, which although not confined to Borneo
is abundant there. It is particularly interesting, from the mixed
affinities which seem to be combined in it. It may be described
as a mixture of the monkey and the squirrel, and its habits bear
out the suspicion of the affinities which its form suggests.
Although placed by systematists next to or among the quadrumana,
it has in many of what may be called its minor characters, strong
sciurine elements. We shall contrast its mode of flying from tree
to tree, as narrated by Dr Collingwood, with a short account of a
similar propensity of the flying squirrel in North America given
by Sir Charles Lyell in his tour through America; and we think the
reader will feel disposed after reading them to allow a greater share
of the squirrel element to be present in the Galeopithecus than he
had perhaps previously been disposed to admit.
First hear' Dr Collingwood : —

" Sitting in the verandah of Mr Martin's house about sunset, I had an
opportunity of observing the habits of the flying squirrel (Galeopithecus) the
Kerbong of the Malays. The animal came streaming through the air from a
distant clump of trees, its flank membranes extended, and its long tail stretched
out behind, and with a graceful sailing motion at length arrived at a tall tree
trunk which had been left in the midst of the cleared jungle, on the lower part
of which it alighted. The animal then began to ascend the trunk in a spiral
direction, running a little way at a time and then stopping. Having reached
the branches it selected one, along which it crept until it had reached the
extremity, when it suddenly launched itself into the air, and glided away on
outstretched wings in the direction of another tall tree, about 150 yards distant,
gradually descending as it proceeded, and finally alighting upon the lower third
of the tnmk. Again it crept up the branches, and again it cast itself off,
making this time for a more distant tree, when it was lost to view in the jungle.
At the same moment another Galeopithecus arrived at the first-mentioned tree,
which standing alone, offered a good mark and a convenient resting place for
• these singular animals. This one repeated the same process, only going in the
opposite direction. Eveiy evening at the same hour, these animals, probably
the same individuals, might be seen making use of the same trees in their flight
so that it was easy to say when they had alighted anywhere what would be
their next flight. Having reached the highest part of the tree, they sailed
steadily away to the next, with grace and swiftness, in a gradually falling line,
with no apparent movement of their flank membranes, but with the evident
power of accurately guiding their flight to the next stage in their progi^ess,
which may thus be described as a vertical zigzag." (p. 211.)

The notice of the habits of the North American squirrel, by Sir
Charles Lyell, to which we refer, is as follows : —

" After travelling so much in the woods, I had never got sight of more than
three or four species, owing, T am informed, to their nocturnal habits. I

376 Journal of Travel and Natural History

regretted that I had not yet seen the flying squirrel in motion, and was surprised
to hear tliat Dr Buchanan had observed about a hundred of them every
evening for several weeks, near Philadelphia, on two tall oaks, in the autumn
when acorns and chestnuts were abundant, and when they had spare time to
play. They were amusing themselves by passing from one tree to another,
throwing themselves off from the top of one of the oaks and descending at a
considerable angle to near the base of the other ; then inclining the head
upwards just before reaching the ground, so as to turn and alight on the tnmk,
which they immediately climb up to repeat the same manreuvre. In this way
there was an almost continuous flight of them crossing each other in the air
between the two trees. " — {A Second Visit to the United States, by Sir Charles
Lyell, p. 303.)

Before leaving the zoology of Dr Collingwood's book, we shall
just quote one suggestion for the obtaining of small birds : —

"The Klings" (a race from the Coromandel Coast of India, of whom con-
siderable numbers are settled about Singapore) "here have a mode of obtaining
small birds which might prove useful to the practical ornithologist. I have
more than once seen one of them beneath a Banyah, armed with a straight tube
or sumpitan about six feet long, and a piece of soft clay, from which having
broken off a morsel, he rolled it into a little ball between his hands, then placing
it in the tube and taking aim at a small bird ringing in the branches above, he
noiselessly blew the pellet, and dowm fell the bird to the ground, stunned, or
it might be killed. A little practice, one would imagine, would enable a per-
former to play upon this instrument, not wantonly, we would hope, but for the
purpose of procuring small birds when they are required for j^reservation without
injuring the plumage. " (p. 267.)

We can endorse Dr Collingwood's suggestion, and say, from
personal trial of the South American blow-pipe, that a moderate
degree of skill is not difficult to attain.

Dr CoUingwood saw the diamond mines, or rather diamond
washings, in Borneo. For the most part diamonds are of small
size, but of a brilliant water, although large ones have been occa-
sionally met with. The largest Bornean diamond belongs to the
Sultan of Matan, and is valued at ^^269,738, weighing as uncut
367 carats. In the sand and gravel of the river bed, at depths
averaging from 6 to 18 feet below the surface, and in strata some-
times several feet thick, the diamonds are sought for with varying
success by a large number of Malays, who sinks shafts at a distance
of 20 feet apart in the shallow parts of the river. They construct
huge pyramidal frames of large and strong bamboos, about three
yards square at the base, and by means of heavy stones they sink
them upon their claims, so that they may not be carried away by
the stream, and at the same time shall point out clearly the work-
ing place of each party. Their next important stock in trade

Colli /ig7cioo(fs Rambles in the China Seas 377

consists of a number of large shallow round wooden bowls. Filling
a bowl with gravel from the river bed, they (standing in the
water) hold the bowl, just skimming the surface, and give the con-
tents a rotatory motion, cautiously and skilfully allowing the
muddy and lighter sandy particles to flow over with the water,
until nothing is left at the bottom of the dish but the larger and
heavier sandy and gravelly substances, which are then carefully
examined for the diamonds.

We have left ourselves scarcely any space to speak of Dr Col-
lingwood's observations on the vegetable products of the countries

Fig. 4. — Water Spout in Cliina Seas.

he visited. The most important part of these is perhaps his
notices of what is doing commercially in the cultivation of the
different useful plants, such as coffee, cotton, cocoa-nut, sago palm,
pepper, sugar, nutmeg, gamboge, gambir, &c. He has noted the
advance making in the cultivation of these with an observant eye —
and those interested in them will find some useful incidental infor-
mation. Of purely botanical information there is not a great
deal. The follomng observation on the behaviour of the sensitive
plant, although not new any way, may interest the general reader:

"One of the commonest roadside plants of Singapore is the sensitive plant
(Mimosa sensitiva), which grows in profusion in waste places, and on banks by
the wayside. It is a very low spreading plant, of sufifruticose habit, seldom
TRAVEL, C C

378 Journal of Jravd and NaUiral History

rising higher than the grass among which it grows, or more than six inches
from the ground, but covering large spots, which are distinguished from the
rough herbage by its neat regixlar foliage. It seems to be almost constantly in
flower, for in October, November, and May, I noticed numbers of the little
round tufts characteristic of this acacia (mimosa), and of a pale flesh colour.
The manner in which the aspect of such a little bush is altered by a touch is
very remarkable. Brush your foot over the luxuriant little plant as you pass
by, and the whole bush seems to disappear, and you look back for it almost in
vain ; the leaves have all closed up, and the stems become depressed, and
nothing is left but a few withered sticks on the grass. Try to pluck a sprig
and it fades between your fingers ; so that it is very difficult to gather and
examine it in an expanded condition. But if you will carefully take between
the finger and thumb the pulvinus or swelled base of the leaf stalk where the
little thorns are situated, without touching any other part, and pinch it hard
before attempting to break off the sprig, the pinnae will remain expanded
relax your hold, however, and they will immediately begin to close up." —
(P. 257.)

The natural physical phenomena of the world were not over-
looked by Dr Collingwood, and we cannot better indicate his
attention to them than by closing our views with an engraving of
a waterspout (see p. 377), copied from a sketch carefully taken by
himself, and which tells its own tale better than any words
could do.

Journal of Travel and Natural Hstory 379

A FORTNIGHTS STAY ON LOS FARALLONES*

IN the month of May 185 1, when California was still in its in-
fancy as a state of the American Union, I was a resident of
San Francisco. One morning the captain of a British ship, then
in the harbour, with whom I had some acquaintance, came to me
with an excited face, and said he wished to propose a specula-
tion.

" Well, Captain, you know we are all ready for anything that
will pay ; let us hear what it is."

" Yes ; but first you must promise that if you do not go in your-
self, you will not say anything about it."

Having given the required assurance, he said, " You know what
a price eggs are."

I laughed, and admitted that I knew what I had to pay for a
boiled egg for breakfast.

The captain nodded, and looked wise, then drew from his pocket
a large green egg, beautifully spotted, streaked, and speckled with
black.

" Look at that. I know where we can get a shipload of them
for the picking up, and if you will provide a small vessel, I will
take her to the spot, and with the assistance of my brother and
one or two others, load her in a week."

" That is all very well, Captain, but when we have got the eggs
to San Francisco, what can we do with them — who will buy that
kind of egg ? "

" Oh," laughed the Captain, rubbing his hands in great glee,
"never fear but we shall sell them fast enough. I got the infor-
mation from a townsman of my own, who owns a whaleboat here.
He has already tiied the spec himself, and sold his cargo to the
restaurant folks for omelette eggs at a dollar a dozen."

Omelette eggs were already pretty well known in San Francisco,
for, owing to the great scarcity of poultry, eggs had been imported
from the coast of Mexico, Peru, and Chili — aye, and even from
Boston, packed in various ingenious manners, but, nevertheless,

* The Farallones are a group of rocks near the mouth of the Bay of San
Francisco.

380 Journal of Travel dud Natural History

arriving in such a condition that they could hardly be called fresh
eggs, yet still, when disguised with onions and " fines herbes,"
were available to the restaurateur for omelettes.

My friend the Captain, then informed me that the egg he
shewed me was a murr's egg, and that these birds were then laying
in thousands upon thousands on the " Farallones," a small group
of islands rising abruptly out of the sea, some twenty-five miles
west from San Francisco.

In those early days of San Francisco, we were all full of life and
energy and love of adventure, and the prospect of a week's bird's
nesting on this gigantic scale promised amusement as well as
profit, so I first had the egg boiled to ascertain its merits, and on
finding that it was as good as a fresh duck's egg, and infinitely
preferable to the " omelette eggs " already mentioned, agreed to
provide a small schooner for the expedition, and determined to
form one of the party myself.

The Egg Company was limited to the Captain, his brother,
another sea captain, a young friend of mine, and myself, and the
crew consisted of the captain's cabin boy.

We took some provisions and a keg of fresh water on board, and
sailed with the evening's tide. There was but little wind, and we
did not sight the " Farallones " until the next morning.

Leaving the eggs out of the question, the rocks were worth
coming to see for themselves alone. From the midst of the waters,
a mass of rock rising in the centre, like a gigantic steeple or light-
house. On the shelving rocks, sloping towards the sea, thousands
of birds, their white breasts looking like a large bed of flowers; to
the right of the principal island, and only separated from it by a
very narrow strait, another huge, hump-backed rock, literally
covered with birds, while the air was filled with shrieking sea-gulls.
We had difficulty in finding a safe landing-place, but finally dis-
covered a little narrow sandy cove, with a whaleboat in it — the
whaleboat of our captain's friend. Here, then, we anchored ; and
landing in the ship's boat, each provided with a basket, com-
menced operations. We were soon busily employed amongst
the eggs, and found them in such profusion, that it was clear we
should easily load the little schooner. But the interest of the trip
did not end there. We had the island to explore, and make
acquaintance with its population.

We found that there were three men on the island, all on the
same eirand as ourselves, one of whom was our captain's friend of

A Fortnights Stay on Los Farallones 381

the whaleboat. There were three or four rude huts built of
rough stone, by Russian whalers, who formerly frequented the
island for the sake of the seals and sea lions, which were said to
have been at one time abundant there. These huts must have
been long abandoned, for the floor was overgrown with grass, and
of the roof there was very little left. During our stay one of our
party shot a seal, the skin of which must have been of consider-
able value, as the fur was beautiful, but that was the only one we
saw. The sea lions, however, were plentiful enough, and were
fond of reposing on some flat ledges of rock, and basking in the
sun with their young calves. I am aware that the sea lion is
only a local name for these animals, but I do not know the
correct name. They are in shape like a seal, but are destitute of
fur. They are clothed with coarse yellow hair, not unlike pig's
bristles, and their length is ten to twelve feet. One of the whaling
party killed one of these sea lions, and, wishing to present the
skin to the infant Museum in California, I got permission to
appropriate it, and began to skin it with the assistance of one or
two others of our party. We quickly had the uppermost side laid
bare, but an unforeseen difficulty prevented our completing the
task. The united strength of our whole party was insufficient to
turn the beast over, so we were obliged to abandon the skin.
We captured, however, two little calves, and put them alive on
board the schooner ; pretty little creatures, with fawn-like eyes.

We had been nearly a week on the island, and the hold of the
vessel was more than half full of eggs, when a gale of wind arose,
and the captain fearing a storm, thought we should pass the night
more comfortably in one of the huts, instead of sleeping on boards
as we had always hitherto done. We cast the other anchor, and
moored the vessel as securely as we could. We then brought our
keg of water and a day's provisions on shore, and made ourselves
as comfortable as circumstances would allow.

The next morning the captain went out early, and in about a
quarter of an hour returned with a very dismal countenance,
saying,

"Well, here's a pretty go.'

"What's the matter. Captain?"

"Why, she's gone !"

" Who's gone ? "

"Why, the schooner to be sure, "eggs and all."

There was a dead silence for a minute, and we looked at

382 Journal of Travel and Natural History

each other with bewildered countenances, until our position
struck one of us from the ridiculous point of view, and he burst
into a loud laugh, which was infectious, and became general.
There was not much to laugh at, however, for we were really
castaways on a desert island. True, there was plenty to eat for
the gathering, although not much variety, but our supply of water
was very small, and we had not yet discovered any spring on the
island. What was to be done was the next question. The
whaleboat was our only means of escape, so the two seafaring
men volunteered to row to San Francisco, as soon as the storm
abated, and bring another vessel, whilst, in the meantime, we
who remained were to gather a fresh cargo. There was no diffi-
culty in getting the loan of the whaleboat, and our captains took
their departure.

We did not find our solitude at all unpleasant, and became every
day more pleased with the place and its inhabitants. I watched
with interest the habits and peculiarities of the different birds.

The murr (as our captain called it) is the foolish guillemot. It
lays its solitary egg on the bare rock, without any attempt at
building a nest, not even a stick or a straw, but is not the less
careful and attached to them, of which we saw plenty of instances.
The sea gulls were flying round in great numbers, and the
moment they saw an egg without the protection of the mother
they pounced upon it, flew off with it to a little distance, dropped
it on the rocks to break the shell, and immediately gobbled up
the contents..

One day I was watching this little game, when I saw a gull
hovering round a guillemot who was sitting on her egg. The gull
emboldened by success thought to take the egg from under her.
She drew back her neck, watched her opportunity, and with a
sudden dart of her sharp bill, stabbed her enemy to the heart.
I took up the dead bird, and found it had been pierced just under
the wing. We cooked the gull as we were getting tired of nothing
but eggs, eggs, eggs, for breakfast, dinner, and supper, and very good
eating it was, entirely free from the strong fishy taste that almost
invariably attaches to these birds, affording a curious exemplifica-
tion of the influence food has on the taste of tlie animals we eat.
Metn. — Egg-fed gulls are not fishy.

As another variety to our bill of fare, we found a bed of large
mussels on the rocks, poor stuff, but acceptable as a change.

Unfortunately our keg of water gave out ere long, and we could

A Fortiiighf s Stay on Los Far a Hones 383

only discover a very small spring of water, so thoroughly impreg-
nated with guano, that even after being boiled and allowed to
settle, it was very strong, although I conclude not unhealthy, as
none of us suffered any bad effects from its use. Besides the
guillemot, there were other birds laying on the island. First there
were the gulls, but they do not lay in the profuse and promis-
cuous manner of the guillemot. We had to search for their nests.
They were generally to be found in little cozy nooks, where the
detrition of the rocks had foniied miniature valleys. The nests
were neatly constructed of dry grass, and usually contained three
eggs, sometimes two, rarely four. These eggs were very different
from the others. Smaller than a hen's egg, of nearly the same
shape, of a light olive-brown colour, sprinkled profusely with streaks
of a darker shade, and with a very thin shell. As an article of
food we soon discovered their superiority, and during our sojourn
on the island used none but them.

Next, there were the puffins, or sea parrots, as our sailors
called them. They build their nests, or rather I should say they
lay their egg (they lay but one) in crevices, or holes in the rocks,
sometimes so far in as to be beyond reach. These puffins very
much resemble those which come to breed on the small islands off
the coast of Wales and Scotland (in which latter country they are
called coultemebs or Tammie Norries), but are more beautiful,
inasmuch as they are adorned by a long silky tuft of a golden
yellow, on each side of their head. The egg is white, and nearly
round. On one occasion I ventured to put my hand into a hole,
when the bird was on its nest, and got a terrible bite for my pains.
Their beak is very strong indeed, designed, I believe, for cracking
mussel shells, and admirably adapted for the purpose.

Then there were the shags, but they built their nests on the very
summit of the highest pinnacle in the island. This abode looked
inaccessible from below, but I scaled it without much difficulty,
and found on the top a platform, on which there were several
nests of these birds. The nests were very large, and shabbily con-
structed of sticks and sea-weeds. In one there was a brood of
young ones, fledged, and nearly ready for flight, or I might per-
haps better say, ready for sea. In the others there were eggs,
varying in number from five to seven, white, and not much larger
than a pigeon's egg : this struck me as strange, for the bird is much
bigger than the guillemot, whose egg is larger than a duck's.

I only took a specimen of the eggs, as they did not seem to be

384 Journal of Travel and Natural History

worth much, but I thought one of the young birds might do for
supper, so after a fight, in which he defended himself bravely, 1
got one by the neck, and carried him home, if I may be allowed
to call our temporary refuge by that sacred name. The bird was
tender enough, being young, but I am afraid his parents had reared
him on fish.

There was another bird that we frequently saw on the island,
but we never discovered its nest, if indeed it had any at that time.
The captains called it a sea pigeon : it somewhat resembled a
common pigeon in colour and shape, and in its red legs, but it was
more slender and web-footed.

We found several skeletons of the pelican, but saw none of the
living birds. I suspect they must be migratory, as I have often
seen the live birds in the bay of San Francisco. They are smaller
than the pelicanswe used to see in Wombwell's Menagerie, and
grey instead of yellow or white.

I think I have enumerated all the live stock we saw on the
island, with the exception of the common domestic cat, of which
there were dozens existing in a wild state, their ancestors having
no doubt been left by some whaling vessel.

A fortnight after our first arrival our captains returned with
another small vessel, in which we quickly stowed what cargo we
had collected, and immediately returned to San Francisco. We
counted out a little over 1000 dozen, and sold them all to one
man at a dollar a dozen.

W. Murray.

INDEX.

PAGE

Abyssinia, Baker's Nile Tributaries of 90

Balsam trees in . 367
,, Birds in, preponderance

of African forms . 157
,, British plants found in 310
,, Cereals found in . 31 1
,, Conifers in . . 813
Cotton in . . 318
Euphorbiaceas in . 314
,, Fig family in . 314
Fruits of . . 103
,, Geology of . . 154
,, Heuglin's Travels in, re-
viewed . . . 146
,, Journey through (Duf-

ton's), reviewed . 4a

,, Leguminosaj in . 316

Leopard in . . 155

Lion in . . 155

Malvaceae in . . 318

, , Mammals seen in, by Sir

S. Baker . . 98
,, Maps of . .69
Musa Ensete in . 313
Palms in . . 312
,, Plants in . . 161
,, Proportion of European
and African types
nearly equal in plants 160
Protaceae in . . 314
,, Relative proportion of
mammals of Euro-
pean and African
type . . 159
Scenery of . . 154
Shells of . . 166
Strychnos in . 316
Tiger possibly in . 156
Tobacco in . . 315
Umbelliferae . 316
Vegetable productions of 309
Vines in . . 317
Willow in . . 313
"Wobo" in . . 156
Adam's Wanderings of a Natural-
ist in India, reviewed . . 295
Adamsonia digitata, girth of 104
,, in Abyssinia 310
Agassiz in Brazil, noticed . 37
Aht nation . . . 289
American Naturalist . . 71
Angola, Pungo Andongo . 22
Animals and plants found in the hot
springs of Soda Creek, New Mexico 133

351
171
256
104
91

129

Antelope Pass
Ants in Brazil
Atlantic Islands, Ferns of
Asclepias gigantea
Atbara River

Atkins, Rev. J., Letter from
Hebrides .

New

PAGE

Avi-fauna of Soutli Africa 253

Aye-aye .... 191

Baboons digging for water . 98

,, instances of sagacity of . 99
Baggar . . . .180

Baird's review of American birds 116
Baker's geographical distribution

of ferns . . .319

Balanite's ^gyptiaca . . 104

Ben Chro, Loch Slapin, Skye . 20

Ben More, Mull, sketch of . 17

Bessonornis phrenecurus . 245
Birds bred last year in Zoological

Gardens , . 198
,, differences in diet of allied

species of . . 247
,, got by Lieutenant Oliver in

South China 349, 350, 355, 358
,, number of species in South

Africa . . . 238
preponderance of African

forms in Abyssinia . 159
,, of South Africa (Layard) re-
viewed . . .238
Birds'-nests a theory of, by A.

Wallace . . 73

, , reply to, by Editor . 137
, , reply to, by the Duke of

Argyll . . 267

Black Siberian wolf in Thibet . 135

Blow-pipe, use of . . 376

Blue Nile ... 91
Boissier's divisions of the Flora of

the East . . 112

Flora Orientalis, reviewed 118

Borneo, coal at . . . 371

,, diamonds in . . 376

,, peculiarities of its Fauna

and their causes . 372
,, question, whether rhinoce-
ros an inhabitant of . 373
Bothrop's Neuwiedii . . 260
Botletlie . . . .211
Botrjxhium, monograph of, in

Milde's Ferns of Europe . 289
Brayera anthelmintica . . 70-316
Brazil, drift in . . -39
,, glacial action in . 39
British Museum Entomological Col-
lections . . . 132
,, plants found in Abyssinia 310
Bucerus Abyssinicus . . 246
Burmeister at Buenos Ayres . 324
Brown on present state of science

west of the Rocky Mountains . 173

Brucea antedysenterica . . 317
Cand^ze— Letter on progress of

natural history in Belgium . 129

Cape-Robin . . . 245

Cape Verde, ferns of . . 556

Capybara trap . . . 264

386

Index

PAGE

Caprovis vignei . . . 303
Centetes ecaudatus (Madagascar

hedgehog) . . .189

Cerastes common in South Africa 224
Chapman's Travels in South Africa,

reviewed . , . 201

Chimouraree Lake . . 307

Cheiromys Madagascariensis . 191

China Sea, Collingwood's rambles in 363

,, South, birds got by Lieut.

Oliver 349, 350, 355, 358

,, ,, Oliver's excursions in 346

Chor Mountain . . . 303
Cinchona, introduction in India,

due to Dr Royle . . 844

Classification of ferns . . 258

Climatal changes in Himalayahs 337

Colius, affinities of . . 245
Coloration of the sea, &'c., by

microscopic algas . . 23-24

Colossochely's atlas . 333-34°

Cormorant rookery . . 197

Crocodile, habits of . . 297

,, in lakes in the Sahara 322

, , not in Tana Sea . 153

,, pond in Scinde . 297

Cryptoprocta ferox . . 188

Cussoo .... 316

Cynocephalus, habits of, at Pungo

Andongo . . . 31
Cypselus apus . . . 239
,, melba , . . 239
Dahlakian Archipelago . . 149
Deinotherium, microscopic struc-
ture of teeth of . . 274
Delpino on the apparatus for fecun-
dating phanerogamous plants
reviewed . . . 181
Deserts in South Africa . . 213
Diet, different, of allied birds . 247
Dinosaur, new ... 71
Djibarra . . . ' 316
Dogs in South Africa . . 223
Domed nests, Duke of Argyle's

explanation of . . . 286

Dufton's Abyssinia, reviewed . 41

Earthquakes at Hawaii . . 36
Electricity of aconitea of sea

anemones, discussed . . 366

Elephants, adventure with . 217
,, drink only every other

night . . 217
,, food . . . 2ig
,, hunting by ambush . 97
,, hurling trees , 218
,, lard makes good oint-
ment . . 219
., miscroscopic structure

of teeth of . . 273

,, narrow escape from . 206
,, tusk, portion of, found
in another elephant's

stomach . . 219

,, sagacity of . . 218

,, trees broken by . 218

PAGE

Elephants shaking trees for their

fruit . . 218

,, " Skaarms" destroyed by 218

,, strength of . . 218

,, trunk good to eat . 219

Entomologising in Brazil . 170

Equisetum, monograph of, in

Milde's Ferns of Europe . 259

Equus Chapmanni . . 222
Exceptions to Mr Wallace's birds'

nests theoiy ... 85

Falconer and his labours in India 324
Falconer, Hugh, fossils discovered

by . . 229

, , life and history of 228
,, Palceontogical

Memoirs of . 226

Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis . 231
,, of Madagascar (Pollen and

van Dam) . . 186

Fennec, near Lake N'Gami . 224

Ferns, geographical distribution of 319
Filices Deckeniana; (Kuhn's) reviewed 319
Fireflies, intermittent flashing of
light at Rio . . 167-168

,, in South Africa — queried 225^
Fishes met with in Abyssinia by Sir

S. Baker . . 100
,, in Tana Sea different from

those in Xile . . 153

Fleas, what do they live upon ? . 199
Flies in Brazil . . .172

Flora Orien talis (Boissier's) reviewed 118

Flying squirrel . . . 376

Formosa, coal at . . 371
Fowls, small, like bantams, in Ma-

kololo country . 224

,, in South Africa . . 224

French expedition to North Pole 71

Frogs, Indian, predatory habits of 199

Galeopithecus Philippensis . 379

Galidia elegans and concolor . t88
Geekie on the geological origin of

the present scenery of Scotland i
Genera Plantarum (Bentham and
Hooker's), reviewed by Professor

de Candolle ... 50

Geocolaptes olivaceus . . 242
Geographical relations of the reptilia

and batrachia of Sonora 137
,, science, present state

and prospects of. , 106
type-regions of the flora

of the Old World 124

Geology of Central North America 321

Geological structure of Abyssinia 154

,. ,, Scotland 3

Giraffe leg bones solid . . 99

not rare near Walvisch Bay 224
Greenland — Whymper's expedition to 70

Guinea-fowl in South Africa . 224
Hivmonia cquiseti, mode of cap-
turing . . . .328

Hamlet Clark's Letters home . 162

,, Clark — notice of his life 163

Index

387

PAGE

Hammerkoff . . . 250

Hamran sword-hunters . . 93

Hegleek .... 193
Heuglin's Reise-nach Abyssinien,

reviewed . . . 146
Henlopen Cape, kitchen middens

of ... . 136
Hildeorande, Dr, on recent earth-
quakes at Hawaii . . 360
Hirundo lunifrons . . 239
Hinialayahs, data of elevation of 339
still rising . . 337
Himalayan titmouse . . 39
Hippopotamus, Indian fossil . 341
,, value of different

teeth of . 273

Honolulu, notes from . . 136

Hobby-falcon at the Cape ground 240

Hornbill .... 246

Houriar .... 303
Howard, Frederick, letter from

North Coast of Australia . 192

Hyphantornis capitalis — nest of 251

Ibex .... 305

Icthyological faunas of the Amazons 38

Impeyan pheasant . . 304

Indian frogs, predaceous habits of 199
, , hippopotamus perhaps coeval

with man . . , 341
Indians of the western shores of
Vancouver's Island, by R.

Brown .... 288

Indicator, affinities of . . 243

,, minor . . 242
Insect migrations in South America

(Spruce) . . . 264
Insects, habits of, observed by

Clark, at Rio . . 168
Instances in support of MrWallace's

theory of bird's nests . . 78
Irrisor, affinities of . . 243
Jararaca, adventure with . 260
Jibara .... 160
Kalahari desert . . . 213
Kelung harbour, sandstone rocks at 370
Kilmandjaro, ferns of . . 319
Kitchen middens of Cape Hen-
lopen, age of . . . 134
Kolqual .... 314
Kuhn's Filices Deckenianae, re-
viewed . . . 319
Ladak .... 306
Lake Chimouraree . . 307
Layard's birds of South Africa . 238
Lates Niloticus . . . lol
Lemurs, habits of . .187
,, of Madagascar . 186
,, and opossums, resem-
blance in their habits 187
Leconte on the geology of Cen-
tral America . . . 327
Le Vaillant^s errors . 240
Limbs, symmetry and homology

in, C. Wyman . . 112

Lions, adventure with . . 209

,, man-eating . . 221

PAGE

Lions more daring when men

away from the villages . 221
Lochleven and Lomonds of Fife,

sketch of . . . 7

Madagascar bats . . 191
Magellan, Straits of, letters from

Dr Cuninghame . 64, 323
,, Straits of, letters from

Captain Mayne . 62, 196
,, relative proportion of
European and African types

in Abyssinia . . , 159

Manatee said to occurin TanaSea 151

Marble Mountains, caverns in 336

,, rocks of the Seven Stars 355

Marmot, red . . . 307
Mastodon, microscopic structure of

teeth of . . . 274
Mayne, Captain, letters from —

Straits of Magellan . . 62-196

Melon, two kinds from seeds of

same fruit . . . 223
Michella . . . .312
Mihero lakes in Sahara, crocodiles in 302

Milde's ferns of Europe, &c., reviewed 256

Monal .... 304

Mount Vesuviue, eruption of . 133

Mugger-peer crocodile pond . 297

Musa Ensete . . . 313

Nasicornia, list of species of . 338

Native Africans, adventure with . 203
Natural history, recent progress of,
in Holland — Van der

Hoeven on . . 127

,, in Belgium — Candezeon 127

Nesodon, species of . . 33S

Nesodontidae, species of . 338

Nest builders in South Africa . 251

N'Gami, lake . . . 210
Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia (Sir

Samuel Baker's), reviewed . 90
Nine-tusked elephant . 220, 265

Notes from Honolulu . . 135

Notodelphs and ascedians . 365

Nudibranchs of China Seas . 366

Numida mitrata . . . 252

Oliver's excursions in south of China 346
Osmunda, monograph of, in Milde's

Ferns of Europe . 259

regalis, distribution of 257

Palms in Abyssinia . . 312

Pangonia sp. . . . 102

Parasitic plants at Rio Janeiro . 167
Pedras Negrasof Pungo Andongo,

by Dr Welwitsch . . 22

Pheasant, Plack . . . 306

Philetairus socius . . 251

Phosphorescence of sea, causes of 368

Pill-rolling beetles . . 135

Pink topazes . . . 71

Pith hats . . . 133
Plants in Abyssinia — relative pro-
portion of European and African

forms nearly equal . . 160

Plocepasser Mahali, nests of . 251

Fodica Mosambicana . . 253

388

Index

PAGE

Podica personata . . 253

Pagodas of Shao-K'ing . . 352
Pollen and Van Dam's Fauna of

Madagascar (noticed) . . 1S6
Pungo Andongo, cultivated plants
of .... 30
,, indigenous flora of 28
,, Pedras Negras 22
. , seed of . . 23
Punjaub, salt ranges of . . 302
Purple water in the Tagus . 24
Quagga, new species of . . 222
Rats in Madagascar . . 189
Red Sea, age of . . . 149
,, depression of . . 150
Rhinoceros, black, eats the euphor-
bia with impunity 223
,, fossil . . 234
,, shedding their horns 70
,, shedding of horns (E.

Blyth) . . 130

,, in South Africa . 221
,, remains in Central

Thibet . . 336
,, whether an inhabitant

of Borneo or not . 373

Rhynchopetalum montanum . 160

Royan river ... 93

Sahara, crocodiles in lakes in . 302

Saxicolapileata . . . 245
St Abb's Head, cun-ed Silurian

strata in . . .14

Salt-pans in South Africa . 212

Sarawak, Malay houses at . 371
Scenes and Studies of Savage Life

(Sproats), reviewed . . 288

Science west of the Rocky Mountains 173

,, in Vancouver's Island, &c.
Scinde, geological changes in . 300-302
Sclater on Baird's review of Ameri-
can birds . . .116

Scopus umbretta, habits of . 250

Sciurus Madagascariensis . 191

ScuirofEigg ... 15

Scytonema chorographicum . 36
Shao-K'ing . . -353

Sea-lions . . . 197
Secretary birds, brittleness of their

bones .... 249

Senna in Abyssinia . . 504

Seroot fly ... 102

Serpentarius reptilivorus . 249

Siberian rhinoceros . . 336
Si Kiang river . . -351

PAGE

Sivalik beds, age of, and geological

history . . . 331

,, range . . . 330

Snake, electricity of . . 366

Snakes do not like great heat . 226
Social grosbeak . . .251

Songsters in South Africa . 265

South Africa, nest-builders in . 251
Species numerous in all mountain

regions, reason why . 155

Splitting the horns of young calves 266

Spiders in South Africa . . 222

,, silk of . . . 222

Sproat's Scenes and Studies of

Savage Life, reviewed . . 288

Steatornis Caripensis . . 139

Stockholm Museum . . 208
Straits of Magellan, survey of

62, 64, 196, 323

Strychnos in Abyssinia . . 316

Swainson's Books at Cape Town 241

Symmetry and homology in limbs 172

Synam .... 349

Tana Sea . . . 151
,, fishes in, different from

those in Nile . 153

,, no crocodiles in . 153
,, shells of . .160

Tangue (Centetes ecaudatus) . 189

Taranta Pass ... 48

Terminology of ferns (Milde's) . 295

Theodore, King of Abyssinia . 42

Tocasso .... 317

Trichina in pork, first discovery of 198

Umbre .... 250
Van der Hoeven, Professor, death of 198

Vegetables of Abyssinia . 104

Vermifuge, new ... 79
Victoria Falls . . .214
Visit to Shao-King-fu and the

marble rocks, of, by Lieut. 01iver3 46
Vultures in Ayssinia . . 100
,, heightof flight of differ-
ent species . . 100
, , scarce to the north-west

of Lake N'Gami . 224
Vulturidse of South Africa . 253
Wahlberg's death . . 208
Water-spout . . . 377
Whirlpool at the Royan junction 92
White mammals . . 328
Wyman on symmetry and homo-
logy in limbs, noticed . . 112
Zisyphus . . . .318

EDINBURGH : PKINTEU BY EDWARD RAVENSCROFT.

Date Due

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