GEOLOGY. 371 



of a man's hat, and like a rock of a yellow color taken from the earth." 

 " From its appearance, I supposed it would break into pieces ; but it resisted 

 the repeated blows of a sledge hammer of fifteen pounds weight, and I could 

 not separate it by breaking, as the hardest blows only flattened it." " It 

 was by these means we found out it was malleable." " The huge bulk was 

 put in the fire and blown to, until it became sufficiently hot to be cut." 

 " It was divided into many parts, and some of the same bulk was actually 

 ore, not malleable at all." 



" It has a very craggy appearance, with many cells in it." 

 " Where the ore is to be had, or the distance that the ore in question came 

 from, is about four to six days' travel." "I have none now, but will, with 

 Divine help, get some as soon as possible." 



EARTHQUAKES AT SEA. 



A recent meeting of the French Academy, reports from two masters of 

 merchantmen were read, stating that on the 30th of December, 1856, the 

 vessel of one was rudely shaken as by a shock of earthquake, in 10 south 

 latitude and 21 35' west longitude, and that of the other when under the 

 equator, at 20 west longitude. The first vessel experienced several other 

 shocks, though slighter, accompanied by a rumbling noise until four o'clock 

 in the afternoon ; the second only experienced one shock. The weather was 

 perfectly calm at the time, the sea tranquil, and the temperature remained 

 unchanged. After the reports had been repeated, M. Elie Beaumont, the 

 geologist, remarked that it had long been supposed, from preceding observa- 

 tions, that a volcano existed in the Atlantic, at about the latitude and longi- 

 tude mentioned, and that it was no doubt an explosion of it which had 

 caused the sea-captains to imagine there had been an earthquake. 



VOLCANOES IX CENTRAL ASIA. 



A late number of the Journal of the Geographical Society of Berlin con- 

 tains an article by M. ScmenofF, a Russian traveller, concerning a volcano 

 discovered by him in Mantchoo Tartary. It has been generally observed 

 that volcanoes, both in the old world and the new, are situated near the 

 coasts; from which it has been inferred that the proximity of the sea exer- 

 cises material influence on their eruptions. Chinese records, indeed, mention 

 the large inland mountain chain of Thian-Shan as possessing volcanoes, but 

 the only part of this chain hitherto ascertained as such is the Bo-Shan, the 

 last eruption of which occurred in the seventh century. M. Semcnoff throws 

 a new light on the subject by producing evidence of the existence of a vol- 

 cano in the district of Ujun-IIoldongi, in Mantchoo Tartary, fifteen versts 

 (nine and a half miles) north of the village of Tomolshin-on-the-Nemcr, and 

 twenty-five versts from the town of Mergcn. In January, 1721, an eruption 

 occurred there immediately after an earthquake, lasted nine months, and 

 formed a crater eight hundred feet in height, the lava extending over a sur- 

 face comprised within a radius of forty versts. In M;iy, 1722, a new erup- 

 tion occurred at a distance of thirty versts north-east of the former, and 



