134 Remarks on the Level of the Molasse in the Eastern Alps. 
number, betook themselves to their national dances, which they ac- 
companied with discharges of musketry, in testimony of their joy at 
our safe arrival. These Indians belong to the Pani tribe. 
After recruiting our strength, we set off with M. de Ville for the 
Amazon, where I shall wait for M. D’Osery till the 1st of January. 
The loss of our scientific instruments has deprived us of those 
highly interesting observations which we might have made upon the 
river ; yet we shall give a report on a series of barometrical obserya- 
tions, pursued even during our most disastrous days, and which will 
present curious enough results, demonstrating the extraordinary ra- 
pidity of the fall of the rivers that descend from the Cordillera, an 
itinerary of the river, much geographical information and beautiful 
collections for the museum of natural history, 
Be pleased, Mr Minister, to accept the assurance of profound re- 
spect with which I am, Xe. F. Dz CastELNAUv. 
MISSION OF SARAYACU, 1Oth October 1846. 
Remarks on the Level of the Molasse in the Eastern Alps, and 
other Geological Topics. Communicated in a Letter to 
ROBERT CHAMBERS, Esq. F.R.S.E., &e. &e. 
VIENNA, 25th November 1849. 
K. K. Neues Munzgebaude. 
D5AR Sir,—lI take the liberty of answering your interest- 
ing letter of the Sth of June, having, in the mean time, con- 
ceived a theory, which, if correct, may become of some im- 
portance in your researches. I have here translated a first 
short notice, published in the Journal of the Friends of Science 
at Vienna (vol. vi., August 1849.) Perhaps you may think 
it proper to appear in one of your Journals. 
Tam glad to hear an Englishman complaining of the ex- 
clusiveness with which paleontology is cultivated, to the de- 
detriment of real geology, for I myself am devoting my par- 
ticular attention to the latter, leaving shells to others; and 
this summer, in particular, I flatter myself to have made a 
great step in metamorphism, and to have found the general 
key to it. I have now read your paper on the Rhone Valley, 
and was sorry to see the question stated in that light, after 
having been elucidated in its chief points by Necker, De 
Saussure, and Alphonse Favre, who have shewn that the 
