568 EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM MR. GOULD. 



difference in size in the same precipitate, but also by the 

 angular and irregular forms which they present when dried 

 up. — Id. 



A valuable collection brought together in Borneo for the 

 Dutch government, but whose acquisition was refused by the 

 latter, has been bought by the government of Belgium, and 

 the city of Brussels, for 30,000 fr. It contains eight skele- 

 tons and skins of the orang-utang, skeletons of the rhinoce- 

 ros, tiger, bear, &c, a stuffed crocodile, 30 ft. long, several 

 fossil remains, and 1200 birds. The share of the government 

 has been distributed among the universities of Liege, Lou- 

 vain, Brussels, and such towns as possess Museums, for 

 instance, Tournay. — Id. 



Of the Ushar or Abuk, (Asclepias procera) of the Senaar. 

 — Dr. Max Koch, a Bavarian traveller, gives the following 

 description in one of his letters. It is a tree with broad 

 leaves of a very bright green, and peculiar to the Sennaar. 

 The seeds of it are enveloped in a fine silk, wherefore it is 

 also called Asheyr (silk-tree.) In the plain of Gohr the na- 

 tives use that substance for the matches of their guns. The 

 milk-like sap which oozes from the young twigs, is collected 

 and sent to Jerusalem, where the druggists prescribe it 

 against inveterate colds. The flower is poisonous. A 

 French physician in Dongola was poisoned with it in coffee, 

 with which the dried and powdered flowers had been mixed. 

 — Id. 



Extract of a Letter from Mr. Gould, the Ornithologist, 

 dated June 30, City of Adelaide, South Australia. — " I wish 

 it were in my power to give you a faithful picture of this 

 famed city of two years standing. People live in tents, and 

 customs are so different from what they have been used to, 

 that I really wonder how they reconcile themselves to their 

 new mode of life. On the whole, however, I think South 

 Australia may be considered as flourishing, and its condition 

 will ultimately be prosperous. 



The Zoology here, from what I have already seen, is likely 

 to be of a most interesting description, totally different in its 

 nature from that of Sydney, but probably approaching nearer 

 in its character to the productions found beyond the Liver- 

 pool range, or what is more properly called the interior of 

 New South Wales." — J. Gould. — Addressed to Mr. Prince, 

 Broad Street, Golden Square. 



