■discoveries in Africa. Sept. c. 



DiscovEraEs in the interior -farts of Africa. 



i HE afsociation instituted for promoting discoveries 

 in the interior parts of Africa, of whose labours some 

 accounts w£re given in the Bee, vol. i. p. 15 and 96, 

 continue v/ith unremitting ardour in their pursuits.; 

 and have lately printed, for the use of the subscribers 

 only, an account •of a continuation of their discove- 



herc described. I had once occasion to observe a circumstance of this 

 sort mySelf, respecting eels, which being curious, and nothing of the same 



^s>rt taken notice of in any natural history of that animal I have seen, 



. J iliall hrie/ly state for the satisfaction of the reader. 



MlCRATIONOF EELS. 



Having occasion to be once on a visit at a friend's house on Dce-s'de 

 in Aberdeenfhire, I often delighted to walk by the banks of the river "o 

 mark the phenomena that occurred. I soon observed something like a 

 long black string moving along the edge of the river in flioal water. Up- 

 on closer inspection I discovered that this was a ftoal of young eels, 

 so closely joined together, as to appetr, on a supeificial view, one continu- 

 ed body, movirg briilcly up against the stream. To avoid tlie retarc*- 

 ment they experienced from the force of the ciirrentthey kept close along 

 the water's edge the whole way, following all the bendings and s'rtuasicics 

 of the river. Where they were embiycd, and in still water, the ihoal di- 

 lated in breadth, so as to be some imes near a foot broad, but when 

 they turned a cape, where the current was strong, they v.ere forced to oc- 

 cupy lefs space, and prefs close to the fhore, struggling very hard till they 

 pafsed it. 



This flioal continued to move on v/ithout interruption n'ght and d ly 

 for several weeks. Their progrefs might be at the rate of about one mile 

 in the hour. It was easy to catch as many of the animals as you pleased, 

 though they were very active and n'mble. They were eels perfectly 

 formed in every respect, but not exceedirg two inches in length. I con . 

 ceive that the (honl did not contain, on an average, lefs than from twelve 

 to twenty in breadth, to that the number that pafsed, on the whole, du- 

 ring their progrefs, must have been very great. Whence ^hey came or 

 whether they went I know not. The place I remaiked them at was 

 iix miles from the sea. And I am told the s me phenomenon takes 

 place there every year about the same season. Edit, 



