256 M. Kovanko’s General View of the Environs of Pekin. 
the manufacture of bricks. The pieces thus prepared and 
dried are used as coal ; they produce little heat, and the fire 
must be constantly fed with fresh doses. This fuel is only 
made use of among the indigent classes. 
Russian Linear Measures. 
The Sagéne, or Russian toise, is divided into 7 feet, or into 3 archines, 
The foot, ee Boe a into 12 inches, 
URE ATICHS jen phe aan ne into 10 lines, 
The archine or ell, Ne nae into 16 vershoks, 
The vershok, 4$ th into 3, 4, 3, 
The verst, or mile, is 500 sagenes in length, and is equal to 1.067 French 
kilométres. A verst is nearly ? of an English mile, or exactly 6 
furlongs, 67 yards. 
Weights. 
The Russian pound is divided into 96 zolotniks, 
The zolotnik wee ... into 96 doleis or parts. 
The poud consists of —... 40 pounds, 
The berkovetz ace es 10 pouds. 
Coins. 
The silver rouble is worth 4 francs (French), 
The copec is the ;3, part of the rouble, worth 0.04 centimes, 
The paper rouble varies according to the exchange, from 110 to 115 
centimes, 
The copper copec, the 335 part of a paper rouble, is consequently worth 
1 cent ¥, or 1 cent }, according to the course of exchange. 
The Chinese li is equal to 274} sagénes of Russia. 
On the Cultivation of the Sugar-Cane in Spain. By Tuomas 
Srewart Trartr, M.D., F.R.S.E. (Communicated by the 
Author.) Read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 
The cultivation of the sugar-cane is now generally allowed 
to have been introduced into Arabia, Egypt, and the western 
parts of Asia, from India.* 
* Since this essay was written, I have seen the able and laborious memoir 
of Ritter on this curious subject, which completely establishes this point. 
It appeared in the Royal Transactions of Berlin for 1839. 
