312 Africa. —W inter mn the North. 
AFRICA. 
Accounts from Sierra Leone to the middle of January state, 
that a deputation had arrived there from Almamy Abdal Kader, 
king of the Toulahas, at the head of which was a prince, and a 
Mahomedan priest accompanied by his wife. The priest came 
all the way from Egypt to the Mandingo nation, and had pro- 
cured important information of the geography of Oriental Africa; 
he had passed through Timbuctoo, and is of opinion that the 
Niger and the Nile are the same river. The kingdom of Tou- 
Jaha, with which an intercourse has thus been opened, is only a 
few days journey from the Niger. 
WINTER IN THE NORTH. 
Christiana, Feb. 20. 
We have had a most extraordinary winter; no snow, seldom 
frost at night, and generally several degrees of heat. In our 
country, where so much depends on winter, this may be consi- 
dered as a national calamity; in fact, we hear complaints on all 
sides. The inhabitants of the town suffer greatly, because they 
can receive no provisions, the prices of which daily rise. 
St. Petersburg, Feb. 20. 
We have the mildest spring weather. The ice mountains, the 
favourite amusement of the Russians in Lent, could not be erected 
as usual on the Neva, because the ice was not strong enough to 
bear the weight. 
A heavy rain fell at Beseroso on the 16th of December, a cir- 
cumstance unparalleled at that time of the year in so high a la- 
titude. 
St. Petersburg, March 20. 
Winter, which has this year formed one of the most extraor- 
dinary phenomena in the northern countries known in the phy- 
sical world, and of which modern history does not afford a pa- 
rallel instance, ought in consequence to be noticed in its annals. 
Our winters are generally very severe during four successive months, 
and they are, though more moderate, yet still severe two other 
months. ‘The total duration of our winter is about six months 
more or less; but that of the present year. has been but one 
month and a few days, The first snow fell on Christmas day, 
and it had generally disappeared in the beginning of February. 
Since then we have had a mild temperature, with some days rain, 
and on others snow. The general serenity of the atmosphere was 
however disturbed by violent tempests, and a wind from the south- 
west, which swelled the canals, and by the inundations threatened 
the lower part of the city with great danger. 
Winter corn has been much injured on the coasts of the Baltic 
and in White Russia, on account of the humidity of the soil, and 
the 
