232 Geological Society. 



formed part of the sea-store of the Royal George, or of one of 

 the cables used by Mr. Tracey in an attempt to raise the ship soon 

 after she was lost. A piece of 2-^ -inch cable-laid cordage, made 

 from the yarns of this junk, bore 21 cwt. 3qrs. 71bs. ; a piece of 

 similar cable, from yarn spun in 1830, bore only 20 cwt. 1 qr. Tibs. ; 

 but another manufactured from yarn spun in 1838, bore 23 cwt. 

 1 qr. 7 lbs. 



The paper contained various details respecting the construction 

 and measurement of the Royal George, and of the different descrip- 

 tions of timber used in building the ship. Appended to the Me- 

 moir was also a catalogue of twenty-three specimens sent for exhi- 

 bition, a portion of each of which was presented to the Society's 

 Museum. 



A letter, dated November, 1839, was afterwards read, addressed to 

 Dr. Mantell by Mr. C. HuUmandel, " On the Subsidence of the 

 Coast near Puzzuoli." 



In 1813, Mr. HuUmandel resided during four months in the Ca- 

 puchin Convent, which is situated at the entrance of Puzzuoli, and 

 on the seaward side of the road towards Naples. The oldest friar, 

 styled it molto reverende, then ninety-three years of age, informed 

 Mr. HuUmandel, that when he was a young man, the road towards 

 Naples passed between the convent and the sea, but that from the 

 gradual subsiding of the soil it had been obliged to be changed to 

 its present course. During Mr. Hullmandel's residence, the refec- 

 torv and the entrance-gate were from six to twelve inches under 

 water, whenever strong westerly winds prevailed. Thirty years 

 previously such an occurrence never took place. The small wharf 

 at Puzzuoli was also constantly under water during westerly winds. 

 Mr. HuUmandel therefore infers, that as it is not probable the archi- 

 tect of the convent would have so placed the ground-floor as to ex- 

 pose it to inundations, or the builder of the wharf would have so 

 constructed a landing-place as to render it liable to be overflowed ; 

 — a gradual subsidence of the soil has been going on for many 

 years, and that this change tends to corroborate the opinion re- 

 specting the diff'erences of relative level which have taken place 

 in the Temple of Jupiter Serapis. 



A notice was next read, " On part of Borneo Proper ;" by G. Tra- 

 descant Lay, Esq. Communicated by the President. 



The country visible in the background, on approaching the 

 estuary into which the river of Borneo flows, is of variable, though 

 nowhere of considerable elevation. Towards the east, however, is 

 a remarkable range of mountainous ridges, rising one above an- 

 other like steps, and trending, the author supposes, towards Kini- 

 balu, the most lofty point in the island. 



Borneo Proper consists, as far as Mr. Lay's observations extended, 

 of sandstone ; but near the mouth of the river is a little island on 

 which coal is found, and called by the natives Pulu-cheomin, or 

 Mirror island, in allusion, it is supposed, to the brightness of the coal. 



