218 NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
aggravate the withering effect of summer, are used annually to set 
on fire, in order to dry the seeds of the Helianthus, which is part 
of their provender against winter. 
“The Bishop and Priests of the Mission of Santa Barbara pre- 
sented us with a curious pile, shaped like a bee-hive, and made of 
' the seeds of a Pine, all baked and ready for eating: it was 
meant as a specimen of the food and the ingenuity of the native 
Californians."—(Can the seeds be those of the ‘Nut Pine,’ of 
Frémont’s Report of an Exploring Expedition through North 
California, &e., the Pinus monophylla, Torr. and Frém., frequently 
eaten in the mountains, as those of the Stone Pine are in Italy, 
and the Chili Pine in South America P—Ep.) 
NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
Journal of the INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO and EASTERN ASIA. 
Singapore, 1847. 
We hail with extreme pleasure the appearance of a scientific 
and literary Journal on the glorious countries above-mentioned, 
and we trust it will meet with that encouragement it so richly 
deserves, if we may judge from the nature of the articles in the 
six numbers (including a supplementary one to No. 5.) now 
before us. The first part commences with a Preface, exhibiting 
the want of a publication of the sort: then follow a Prospectus 
and plan of the Journal. The first Memoir is one that will be 
read with deep interest for its graphic delineations of scenery, and 
the mass of information brought within the compass of twenty 
pages: “On the present condition of the Indian Archipelago. 
This, we presume, is by the Editor, whose name, we regret, 18 not 
given; for the name of such a writer could not fail to impart confi- 
dence in the character of the Journal. Some extracts, bearing : " 
upon the Natural History and features of the Malay Archipelago — | 
shall appear in an early number of our present volume. 
