625 
servant and coachman, with datura stra- 
monium. On recoyering my reason, I 
found I had been robbed of every thing. 
Without a single letter, I found myself in a 
wretched soli inn, on the limits of 
Wallachia, in the midst of a woody coun- 
try; the roads covered with soldiers, and 
the immense forest infested with great 
crowds of robbers.”” This gentleman, in 
an account of his extended travels, makes 
some geological observations, particularly 
with respect to fossils, that contradict Cu- 
vier’s theory. 
In an excursion from Plainfield, Con- 
necticut, towards Savoy, Massachusetts, a 
-rocking-stone was examined in the vicinity 
of the latter place. It is of granite, ve- 
nerable with the mosses and lichens of the 
country. It may be moved with ease (even 
by the wind, it is said), and without much 
noise, so as to describe an arc of about five 
inches. The rock on which it rests is a 
coarse granite, curiously contorted, and 
' apparently stratified at an angle of 45° W. 
The rocking-stone is about twelve tons 
weight ; it lies on the very summit of the 
ledge, and seems to touch in three points, 
nearly in a right line across the strata. 
There is, it is confidently stated, another 
rocking-stone in New Marlborough, Berk- 
shire county. At Lanesborough, is a very 
remarkable limestone rock, about twenty- 
six feet long and eighteen broad, lying on 
another rock of the same kind, for about 
two feet and a half, and having no support 
at either end, but appearing ready to slide 
off, and crush the beholder. It therefore 
looks. like a magnificent rocking-stone ; 
but it is immoveable. 
The territory of Florida, between the 
25th and 31st degrees of north latitude, 
extending over about 40,000 square miles, 
has been little explored, and regarded as 
wholly alluvial—a land of morasses and 
sands; but the more recent examinations 
of intelligent travellers have ascertained 
that it embraces extensive and eleyated 
secondary districts, combining features of 
peculiar geological interest; while the 
zoological varieties are not less pleasing. 
The few white settlers who have passed 
two seasons in Alachna have retained their 
health, notwithstanding some were from 
northern climates. Emigration has reeently 
been considerable. The Seminole Indians 
do not appear to have a form of worship, 
but they believe in a Supreme Being. 
According to their tradition, the world was 
«created by the Great Spirit—he formed 
three men, an Indian, a white and a black 
-man; the Indian was the most perfect: 
they were called into his presence, and 
directed to select their employments—the 
Indian.chose a bow and arrow, the white 
a book, and the black a spade. They had 
-heard of our Saviour, but supposed he had 
‘een put.to death by the Spaniard. 
Dr. Dwight speaks of “‘a rock which is 
said to have moyed a considerable distance 
Supplementary Varieties. 
from the spot where it anciently stood. A 
man of unquestioned reputation, long resi- 
dent near the spot, declared that, forty 
years since, the top of this rock, at the 
ordinary height of the water, was at least 
two feet below its surface, and fifteen or 
twenty rods (or sixteen and a half poles) 
further from the causeway than when we 
saw it—the shore has unquestionably re- 
mained as it then was. The top of the rock 
is now at least two feet above the water. 
This height it is declared to have gained 
imperceptibly, year by year, for many years, 
advancing towards the shore, and standing 
continually in water more and more shal- 
low. The water is, evidently, of the same 
depth, now, as formerly—as is proved by 
the appearance of the stone. When we 
came to the rock, which was standing 
where the water was scarce knee-deep, we 
found a serpentine channel behind it, about 
fifteen’ rods in length, towards the deeper 
water, some two or three feet below the 
common leyel of the bottom, on its borders.” 
This remarkable circumstance is attributed 
to the operation of the ice, which clings firmly 
to the rock, and, as it expands from the 
middle of the pond towards the shore, 
carries the rock with it. And this being, 
the case reiteratedly, it is easy to see that, 
in several years, a rock might make a very’ 
perceptible progress.-—dmer. Jour. 
Dr. Dwight speaks of New England, 
where the ice on the rivers and lakes 
forms to the thickness of three feet; which 
accounts for the increased quickness with 
which the rock now moyes—as, heretofore, | 
only the thickest ice-formations could 
reach it. 
Self-taught Sculptor.—Mr. H. Auger, of 
Newhaven, by profession a wood-carver, 
has, without ever having had an opportunity 
of seeing a genuine bust, originated this 
pleasing art in America, by executing two 
pieces, one a bust of Franklin, the other of 
Apollo, in a manner which is highly ex- 
tolled —and solely by his own “unaided 
efforts. : 
At Vernon, Connecticut, on the 28th 
May 1824, the lightning fell upon a tree, 
standing about 200 yards from a house: it 
left few marks in its course down the tree, 
but tore up the earth at the tree-foot, with- 
out producing other effects visible near the 
tree. It seems to have passed ten or fifteen. 
inches deep under the sod, which, in some 
places, appeared a little raised along the _ 
line of its supposed course of fifty feet, 
when the fluid appears to have divided into. 
three portions, and, having thrown up the 
stones and earth in various directions, to 
have dispersed without material mischief. 
The project of uniting the Atlantic and 
Pacific Oceans, alluded to. in the Monthly 
Magazine for May last, p. 362, is to be 
carried into execution without delay. 
Discovery Ships.—A New Brunswick 
paper of the 16th December says—“‘ The 
Discovery Ships were among the ice, near — 
Cape 
. 
ss 
