: 
190 Miscellanies. 
might permit. The Peacock, commanded by Lieut. Hudson, attended 
by the schooner Flying Fish, departed at the same time, on a similar voy- 
age, but by a different route. No tidings concerning their success have yet 
reached us. The Vincennes, under command of Lieut. Craven, is to be 
employed during their absence, in surveying in the vicinity of Orange 
Harbor. The Relief, having on board several members of the scientific 
corps, was dispatched for a like period, on a cruise through the straits of 
Magellan, but in making the attempt to enter by the Cockburn Channel, 
she encountered a succession of violent winds, and about the last of 
March, narrowly escaped shipwreck in a storm near Noir Island. On 
this occasion the Relief lost four anchors. For this reason she did not 
continue the cruise, but sailed for Valparaiso, where she arrived on the 
15th April, 1839. Throughout the squadron, health and harmony have 
prevailed, among both officers and men. 
8. Cold Bokkeveld Metcorites.—Our last number contained a brief ac- 
count of the fall of a large meteorite at Cold Bokkeveld, near the Cape of 
Good Hope, October 13, 1838. By notices in the Lond. and Ed. Phil. 
Mag. May, 1839, it appears that instead of a single meteoric mass, great 
numbers of stones were thrown down, and according to one statement 
they were scattered in one line of direction throughout the space of 150 
miles. The explosion was “louder and more appalling than the strongest 
artillery, causing the air to vibrate for upwards of 80 miles in every direc- 
tion.” The following analysis by Sir M. Faraday, of a piece of one 0} 
these meteorites forwarded to Sir J. F. W. Herschel, was communicat 
by the latter to the Royal Society, at its session of March 21, 1839.~"~ 
“The stone is stated as being soft, porous and hygrometric ; having, 
when dry, the specific gravity of 2.94 ; and possessing a very small degree 
of magnetic power irregularly dispersed through it. One hundred parts 
of the stone, in its natural state, were found to consist of the following 
constituents, namely : 
Water, - - - 6.50 Alumina, - - - 522 _ 
Sulphur, - - - 424 is ae 1.64 
Silica, - 28.90 Oxide of Nickel, 82 
Protox. of Iron, 33.22 Oxide of Chromium, .70 
Magnesia, - - 19.20 Cobalt and Soda, a trace. 
9. Meteoric Iron from Potosi—H. M. Juben, a lieutenant in the 
French Navy, among other minerals which had been presented to him, 
brought from Peru a piece of meteoric iron found near Potosi in Bolivia j 
was stated to him to be meteoric iron of great purity ; it is cavernous, being 
filled with vacuities, most of which are irregular, but some have the 10 
of a rhombic dodecahedron ; some of them also are filled with a greenish 
vitreous substance similar to the Olivine of Pallas. No traces Ww 
