'B$ Geographical Collections. 



on a footing of equality with Europeans, and their emancipation may be regarded 

 as nearly effected. Marriage is permitted between men of colour and Europeans ; 

 they carry on trade and commerce under equal rights with the latter ; their best 

 mechanics are men of colour ; a great number of them are clerks in the counting- 

 houses, and many even occupy public situations. Amongst others may be named 

 M. Decastro, one of the richest merchants of St. Thomas, and adjutant-governor. 

 The black proprietors of some sugar plantations have European managers in theii 

 service. It is attempted also to do away with, by degrees, the right of property 

 over negroes not yet emancipated. When at a sale a negro offers a price for his 

 liberty, it is considered at Santa Cruz as a dishonourable act to ask a higher sum, 

 aiid many have thus gained their freedom at a very low rate. — Revue des deux 

 Mondes, Tom. II. 



M. Virlei's Travels in Greece.— M. Virlet, one of the members of the French 

 scientific commission in the Morea, arrived at Smyrna in April last, after having 

 visited Constantinople and its environs, the Troade, and the Thracian isles. Dur- 

 ing his travels he had gathered a rich harvest of minerals, and made an extensive 

 collection of the fishes of the Bosphorus, as well as of the plants which he had met 

 with ; besides which he had a collection of different kinds of pottery, intended fot 

 the porcelain manufactory of Sevres. He was to return directly into the Morea 

 to complete his mission, by visiting the Cyclades and the Sporades. Some inte- 

 resting geological results, respecting the origin and formation of the Thracian 

 Bosphorus, and of the Straits of Dardanelles, are amongst the advantages to be 

 expected from M. Virlet's travels. — Courrier de Smyrne, April 18. 1830. 



Dr. Parrofs Expedition to Mount Ararat. — In our first volume, p. 59. we 

 noticed the departure of a scientific expedition from Dorpat, under the direction 

 of Dr. Parrot, and charged with the examination of the country around Mount 

 Ararat. The results of the expedition are not yet fully known ; but the follow- 

 ing information is contained in a late number of the Bulletin de la Soc. de Gtog. 



After many fruitless attempts. Dr. Parrot arrived at the summit of Ararat, 

 and measured the height of this celebrated mountain. He found it to be 16,200 

 feet in elevation, which makes it 1500 feet higher than Mont Blanc. Dr. Parrot 

 caused a barometric levelling to be taken by M. Behaghel, one of his compa- 

 nions, of the whole route from Tiflis to Ararat, as well as of that which leads, 

 from this city, by Imerethi and Mingrelia, to the Kalch redoubt, on the banks of 

 the Black Sea ; but his observations are not yet calculated. This traveller de- 

 scribes the western summit, which is the most elevated part of Ararat, as being a 

 plain of about 150 paces in circumference ; eastwards it communicates, by a low 

 plateau, with the other summit, which is not so high ; at above 1200 feet of ele- 

 vation, every thing is covered with ice and snow. 



The instruments which Dr. Parrot had with him, consisted of a pendulum appa- 

 ratus, a magnetic inclinatorium of ten inches, barometers, a surveying apparatus, 

 &c In point of astronomical instruments, the expedition was provided with a 

 Reichenbach's theodolite of eight inches, an Arnold's chronometer, and one of 

 Maynie's, a Dollond telescope of three feet, and a Trongleton's sextant. 



Dr. Parrot was accompanied, as we before mentioned, by MM. Behaghel, a mi- 

 neralogist, Schiemann, a zoologist, and Hehn, a botanist,-r_all three students in 

 the university of Dorpat. 



For three months the travellers were prevented from pursuing the principal 

 object of their expedition, by the plague which prevailed in the district of Erivan*. 

 They employed this time in making observations in natural history at Tiflis and 

 in the neighbourhood ; and they also made an excursion to the mountains of 

 Kakheti. They terminated their travels at Little Ararat, whose summit they 

 also attained, and whose height they estimated at about 1200 feet French. On 

 their return to Russia, MM. Parrot and Behaghel performed a barometric level- 



