Trans. N.Y. Ac. Sci. 9S April iZ, 



Colberg, Prussia, accompanied by a letter from Dr. G. Berendt, 

 Professor of Geology in Berlin. Dr. Berendt states that the sand of 

 the Baltic coast of Prussia has the peculiarity under consideration in 

 many localities, but only transiently. Small tracts which squeak 

 under foot on one day fail to do so on the following day, and new 

 places are at times endowed with the acoustic properties. Hence, he 

 attributes the cause to a crust left by the retreating tide, which is only 

 temporarily coherent. Such phenomena occur on the Kurische 

 Nehrung and on the Samlandische Strande of East Prussia. He 

 rejects Meyn's views above reported. 



Sonorous sand occurs on the largest scale on Kauai, one of the Ha- 

 waiian Islands. The sand forms a dune loo feet high, and when dis- 

 turbed slides down the incline, producing a sound as of distant thun- 

 der. This sand has been examined, microscopically, by Dr. James 

 Blake, who found it to consist mainly of portions of calcareous sponges 

 and coral, all more or less perforated with minute holes, tubes, and 

 cavities. A small proportion of crystalline silicates, augite, nephe- 

 line, etc., is also present. Dr. Blake ascribes the sound to the rever- 

 berations excited by motion of particles within these minute cavities. 

 Through the kindness of Rev. JAS. W. Smith, M.D., of Kauai, we 

 have received samples of this sand, and through the Smithsonian 

 Institution larger samples of the same. These are now under further 

 examination. All but five per cent, proves to be soluble in cold dilute 

 acetic acid. 



IL SONOROUS SAND-HILLS OF ARABIA AND AFGHANISTAN. 



From a very early period travelers in Asia have heard rumors of 

 mysterious sounds issuing from sandy wastes and hills, which they 

 commonly regarded as fables. The Emperor Baber describes briefly 

 such a sand-hill as early as the 15th century. The first European to 

 publish an account of one of these localities was Dr. U. J. Seetzen, a 

 Russian traveler who visited in 1810 the since world-renowned Jebel 

 Nakous or Mt. of the Bell. This hill of sonorous sand is situated on 

 the Gulf of Suez, a few miles north of Tor. The speaker stated he 

 had collected for the first time the narratives of six several visitors to 

 this region, viz., of Dr. Seetzen in 1810, Mr. Gray in 1818, Ehren- 

 berg in 1823, Lieut. WELLSTEDTin 1830, Professor Henry A. Ward 

 in 1855, and Professor E. H. Palmer in 1868. On comparing carefully 

 the accounts given by these travelers, the speaker came to the conclu- 

 sion that they had visited three and perhaps four different localities with- 

 in a given region north of Tor and on the east shore of the Gulf of Suez. 

 The discrepancies as to distance of the place from the sea, its height 

 and its general character, are so great that they can be explained in no 



