104 Geographical Collections. 



Danger ifi the Carimata Passage. — Lavender's Shoal was discovered oh 

 17th May, 1830, by Captain T. Lavender, of the ship Roman, bound from 

 Canton to New York. He passed it at 2 p. m. bearing east about a quarter 

 of a mile distant, in soundings from twenty to twenty-six fathoms. It was 

 found to extend about three quarters of a mile north and south, but it is not 

 more than 200 yards in breadth, having breakers along the eastern side, 

 where the depth did not appear to exceed two or three feet. When the 

 Cirencester sand-bank was visible from the fore-yard, bearing about 

 N. by W. to N. by W. ^ W., the shoal bore S. by W. two or three miles, 

 and it is situated in lat. 3* 25^' S. ; long. 109° 2' ^.—AsMic Journal. 



Mr Holman, the Blind Traveller This gentleman, after visiting Ceylon, 



Madras, and other parts of India, where he experienced the utmost attention, 

 left Calcutta, (where he remained only a few days, during which Lord 

 William Bentinck treated him with great courtesy and kindness,) in August, 

 for China. On his return from China, he proposes to visit Ni^w South 

 Wales, and to continue his travels for two years longer Ibid. ' 



Rocks off the Island oj" Ascension. — The corporation of the Trinity House 

 have issued a notice, dated on the 3d September, respecting the rocks off 

 the Island of Ascension, which have been found, by a late actual survey, to 

 bear as follows, viz. : — At the 12 feet rock, Tartar stairs bear by compass 

 S. E. ^ E. distant a quarter of a mile. At the 15 feet rock, Tartar stairs 

 bear by compass E. S. E. distant nearly half a mile ; a large coppered buoy 

 is now placed on the N. W. point of the reef, which extends from the foot 

 of the fort along shore to S. W. bay. No ship should go within the buoy, 

 or come nearer to the reef than ten fathoms water, owing to the tiery iong^ 

 swell which breaks the whole way to the shore Ibid. "' /''f'^ yJ^^J '- , 



Messrs Cowie and Green's Papers. — It is gratifying to learn that there iS 

 every likelihood of the papers of Messrs Cowie and Green, the gentlemen 

 who perished during an expedition to Delagoa Bay, in Southern Africa, in 

 1828-9, being eventually published. The MSS. abound with details of na- 

 tural history as well as geography. ' ^ ' ' '''"''^';' "" ":" "\ \ 



^ O O 1 .? •^ill.I-J'KJrO ,hog-7/df'.jJxd :■ , 



Route from India by Egypt. — Mr Waghorn has r^ttW1itedfrmn"It«fiai''TM8 

 enterprizing officer has ascertained that the route by Trieste, Alexandria, 

 and the Red Sea, to Bombay, is, with certain precautions, perfectly 

 practicable ; and that the navigation of the Red Sea presents no danger nor 

 difficulty. — Asiatic Journal. 



Botanic Gardens, Petersburg. — M. Louis Riedel, the botanist attached 

 to the scientific expedition of M. Langsdorff to Brazil, has brought home 

 from Rio- Janeiro upwards of one thousand living plants ; some of them are 

 very rare ; and many are not to be found in any other botanical collection 

 in Europe. — Revue Encyc. Nov. 1830. 



Varna. — M. Teplakoff, who has been employed on archaeological in- 

 vestigations in Bulgaria, under the auspices of the Russian government, 

 asserts that he has obtained indisputable proof that Varna is the site of the 

 ancient Odessosj and he conjectures that the present citadel formed its 

 acropolis. ' - ■ ; ' ' ' 



