174 Miscellaneous Scientific Proceedings 



Buenos Ayres, and those watered by the Parana and Uraguay, has 

 rectified some remarkable errors, particularly that which assigned to 

 the Lake Ibera, from east to west, four times its real length. He 

 has also ascertained, in a satisfactory manner, the course of a part 

 of the rivers Colorado and Negro. The committee also speak 

 favourably of the voyage of circumnavigation of the Russian ships 

 Moller and Seniavin, commanded by Captains Starikowitch and 

 Liitke. The latter, in particular, has discovered new islands in the 

 archipelago of the Carolinas, particularly the island of Pounipet, in- 

 habited by a race of blacks analogous to that which peoples the 

 coast of New Guinea ; whereas all the islands of the archipelago, 

 previously known, are peopled by the copper-coloured race which 

 forms the intermediate link between the Malays and the Polynesians 

 properly so called. The prize, however, (consisting of a gold medal 

 of five hundred francs,) is adjudged to Captain Graah, of the Danish 

 navy, for his exploring voyage along the eastern coast of Greenland, 

 to which he penetrated by sea, and discovered a people who, from a 

 remote age, have been deprived of all communication with Europe, 

 and whose language was nearly unintelligible to the Greenland inter- 

 preters who accompanied him. They retained some vestiges of the 

 Christian religion. The eastern coast of Greenland was previously 

 very little known. Between Cape Farewell 59 42' latitude, and 

 Cape Barclay 69 lat., very few points were known ; the coast was 

 supposed to proceed in a north-easterly direction, but Captain 

 Graah has ascertained that its direction is nearly north. Greenland 

 was discovered about the year 982, by Eric Rauda, and the Nor- 

 wegians, in the succeeding ages, sent missionaries there, but the 

 colony appears to have entirely dropped into oblivion about the 

 fifteenth century ; and though it was vaguely said that a people 

 differing from the Esquimaux in habits and physiognomy existed 

 somewhere, it was reserved for Captain Graah to ascertain their 

 existence with certainty, and make their situation known to Europe. 

 Captain Graah's Journal will shortly be published, and will probably 

 throw much valuable light on the real direction and position of the 

 toast of Greenland. 



ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF ST. PETERSBURGH. 



Meteorological Phenomena. On the 9th of February last, a 

 communication was made of a singular phenomenon, observed at 

 Oremburg, on the 1st December. During the whole day a heavy 

 rain fell, although the thermometer remained steady at freezing 

 point : about midnight three loud claps of thunder were heard in a 

 north-westerly direction ; the next day there was a fall of snow, ac- 

 companied by a multitude of little gnats, the motions of which were 

 similar to those of the flea. The day after the atmosphere cleared 

 up, and the thermometer descended ten degrees below zero. At 

 the same meeting a letter from the Governor of Oremburg was read, 

 stating that on the 7th of January, between six and eight in the 

 evening, the moon, which was nearly new, appeared surrounded 



