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Naturgeschicldllche Reisen diirch Nord Africa, ^c. Natural 

 History Travels in Northern Africa and Western Asia, from 

 1820 to 1825; hyTiKs Hemprich and Ehrenberg, pw6- 

 lished by the latter. Historical part, with maps and views. 



In the preface, the author gives an account of the preparations 

 for the journey, and of the persons who were useful to him. The 

 height of INIount Sinai, as determined by thermometrical obser- 

 vations, is also given. The monastery is 5400 feet above the 

 Red Sea; the summit of Mount Sinai 7400 feet ; and the high- 

 est summit of the chain, St. Catherine's Mount, 8400 feet. It 

 is to be regretted that the travellers had no barometer with them. 

 The expedition occasioned the death of nine Europeans. 



In the first chapter, the author states that, in the Adriatic and 

 Mediterranean seas, their vessel was covered with insects carried 

 off by the wind. Blasts of this kind might account for the winged 

 insects discovered in an isolated state in secondary formations, as 

 at Solenhofen. Around Castelnuovo and Catlara in Dalmatia, 

 the mountains, of about 3000 feet high, or the Monte Negro, are 

 composed of grey compact limestone, with veins of calcareous spar, 

 and without fossils. M. Partsch considered them as Jura lime- 

 stone, while M. Ehrenberg thinks they belong to the alpine lime- 

 stone. At the base of these mountains, there are hills composed 

 of marl and sandstone, sometimes containing impressions, and 

 subordinate to the limestone. He does not agree with Partsch, 

 in thinking that the islands of the Adriatic have been produced 

 by the destruction of marly masses interposed between the lime- 

 stone beds. At Trieste, a formation of breccia is at present going 

 on under the sea. To the south of the Morea, the travellers felt 

 an earthquake on the 29th August 1 820, and afterwards saw at 

 a distance the snowy summit of Ida in Crete. In Dongola, there 

 is a bed of iron-ore capable of being worked. 



At the cisterns of El Matar, the coast is formed of low hills 

 of white limestone. The plain of El Matar is bordered to the 

 south by a chain of horizontal secondary limestone, which some- 

 times attains a height of about 500 feet. Hills come off from 

 them which descend to the west, towards the sea, and under the 

 sand of tlic coast. The Katabathmus Minor, or Akabctcs Sghire, 



