34?2 Notices respecting New Books. 



that, they are not unfrequently disappointed of the objects in 

 view. When, however, they are successful, they carry the 

 fruits thereof to their temporary residence, and there, by the 

 assistance of a small piece of dried skin, remove all the earth 

 and other impurities, after which they either devour the re- 

 mainder, or else place them in a pot upon the fire and warm 

 it a little ; during which time they keep agitating the contents, 

 so as to prevent them from burning, &c. After a few minutes 

 of such treatment, they are considered as prepared and adapted 

 for food. In this state they are not unpalatable, and it is only 

 the knowledge of their nature that gives anything like a dis- 

 inclination to relish them. 



By the Bushmen, the food under consideration is highly 

 esteemed, and that and the ostrich egg are perhaps the most 

 admired articles of their subsistence. After what has been 

 stated as to the variety of articles employed in diet, it will 

 doubtless appear a little strange, that on many occasions they 

 are scarcely able to exist. Such evidently arises from the 

 scantiness with which the varieties alluded to are distributed, 

 particularly at certain seasons, as well as from the difficulty 

 with which many of them are obtained. It matters little, how- 

 ever, what the cause or causes are, as the fact is established, 

 and is what doubtless induces them to plunder both the colo- 

 nists and their various Hottentot neighbours. Lest, how- 

 ever, this remark should be construed as expressing my be- 

 lief, that unavoidable want is the only incentive to plunder, I 

 may observe, that I am quite convinced that laziness and a 

 love of animal food are very often what alone urge them to 

 thieving. [To be continued.] 



LVI. Notices respecting New Books. 



Illustrations of the Geology of Yorkshire ; or a Description of the Strata 

 and Organic Remains of the Yorkshire Coast : accompanied by a 

 Geological Map, Sections, and Plates of the Fossil Plants and Ani- 

 mals. By JOHN PHILLIPS, F.G.S., Keeper of the Museum of the 

 Yorkshire Philosophical Society, &c. York, 1829, 4 to. pp. 192. 

 Twenty-four Lithographs. 



GEOLOGY naturally divides itself into two branches, according 

 as its cultivators study the crystalline aggregates or the strati- 

 fied deposits which combine to form the crust of the earth ; and ac- 

 cordingly we have always had two distinct classes of geologists. For 

 the examination of Plutonic rocks, Mineralogy is required ; for the 

 Neptunian deposits we must refer to the sciences of Botany and Zoo- 

 logy. The most brilliant discoveries, the most striking and most 

 successful generalizations with respect to the structure of the earth, 

 which have yet been made, have originated in the study of or- 

 ganic 



