Natural History . 171 



than those of the bulb and seeds. It has long been a matter 

 of great doubt as to what the basis of the celebrated Eau Medi- 

 ciiiale really is, but it is now pretty certain that a tincture of 

 the flowers of colchicum autumnale constitutes that noted nos- 

 trum. 



13. Return of Captain Laing from the SoUma Territory, in 

 Africa. We are happy to have it in our power to state, that Capt. 

 Lamg, of the Royal African Colonial Regiment, to whom the 

 readers of the Quarterly Journal are indebted for the narrative 

 of Mahomed Misrah's Journey from Egypt to the Western 

 Coast of Africa, published in our XXVIIth Number, has re- 

 turned to Sierra Leone, from a residence of some months in 

 the Solima territory, to which he proceeded in April last, by per- 

 mission of Sir Charles Macarthy, and on the invitation of the 

 Kmg. 



The country, thus visited for the first time by an European 

 possesses a peculiar geographical interest, as the source of the 

 mysterious Niger : we understand that the elevation above the 

 sea, as well as the latitude and longitude of the hill of Soma, 

 from whence it derives its origin, have been satisfactorily as- 

 certained by Captain Laing, and that his observations and 

 journal are on their way to England. 



The information which Captain Laing has obtained, cannot 

 fail in other respects also to be both important and interestine 

 as the Solimas are a numerous and powerful nation of the in- 

 terior, of whom scarcely more than the name was known until 

 three years ago, when an army of 10,000 men appeared in the 

 Mandingo country, to terminate a dispute between two chiefs 

 of that nation, the weaker of whom had appealed to the King 

 of Solima; it was upon this occasion that Captain (then Lieute- 

 nant) Laing was despatched by the government of Sierra Leone 

 on a mission to Yaradee, brother of the king, and commanding 

 the army, whose confidence and good opinion he succeeded in 

 gaining, which led to the present visit. 



We are happy to learn that Captain Laing's health has been 

 improved by travelling in the interior, which has hitherto been 

 deemed so dangerous to Europeans ; and that his further expe- 

 rience has confirmed the belief which he expressed in the com- 

 munication to which we have referred, that no material diffi- 

 culty would be experienced in the route from Sierra Leone, 

 through Sankara, to the Niger at Nafi. 



