Winter in South America.—-Volcano.— Currents inthe Ocean.313 
the cultivator has no: hopes of a good crop. The news from the 
interior of the empire of the effects of the winter, are equally un- 
favourable. In the southern provinces there, it had been colder 
than here, but it was unaccompanied with snow; and the thaw 
commenced in the middle of January. The Duna was clear of 
ice on the 2nd of March, and, what is unusual, the breaking up 
of the frost did no damage. The navigation is open at Riga, 
and an English vessel has already arrived in that port from Hull. 
In Siberia, where winter is constantly severe, the weather has 
been comparatively temperate ; warm winds have been prevalent 
at Tobolsk, and to the north-east. Above all, the snow is al- 
ready gone. At Bereson, one of the most northern cities in this 
country, it rained heavily on the 2Sth of December, a circumstance 
never before known by the oldest inhabitant. 
WINTER IN SOUTH AMERICA. 
Letters from Buenos Ayres, dated the 20th February, state 
that in the month of December last there fell such a quantity of 
snow, that the communication between that city and Lima was 
entirely interrupted. The cold that had been felt in the several 
countries of Southern America, is a most extraordinary pheno- 
menon, and the inhabitants of Peru and Chili consider it as an 
awful calamity. 
VOLCANO IN ICELAND. 
While the winter in the east of Europe has been remarkably 
mild, it set in early in Iceland with great rigour. Vast quanti- 
ties of snow fell, aud the northern and eastern coasts were wholly 
blocked up with floating ice. In the night of the 20th Decem- 
ber, the mountain Oefields Joke], to the south-east of Hecla, 
which has been at rest ever since 1612, began to emit fire, so 
that the ice with which it was covered suddenly burst with a 
dreadful crash, the earth trembled, and immense masses cf snow 
rolled from the summit of the mountain, a height of 5500 feet. 
Ever since, a large column of fire has been rising from the moun- 
tain, which threw out vast quantities of ashes and stones, some 
of the latter weighing from 50 to 80 pounds, being cast to the 
distance of a German mile (five English miles). The mountain 
continued to burn till the Ist of February, and smoked till the 
28d, but at that time the ice had again collected round the cra~ 
ter. The weather was very stormy during the eruptions, 
CURRENTS IN THE OCEAN. 
On the 6th of April, Mr. Hall, who occupies a farm situated 
on the south side of Milford Haven, picked up a bottle inclosing 
a paper, of which the following is a copy: 
No. 310.—The bottle which contains this card was thrown 
into the sea in lat. 49.54. north; long. 12, 20. west, at noon, 
Vol. 59, No. 288. April 1822, Rr on 
