Natural History Society of Mauritius. 137 



southern Zahara, and traditions are extant among the 

 Bechuanas, having made predatory excursions to tribes situated 

 both to the north and eastward, and having in one instance 

 attacked a nation denominated by them Mampoor, or the 

 northern edge, where they came to a great water, where this 

 inhabitants saved themselves and herds by retiring to an island. 

 Water-melons are stated to be most abundant all over this 

 desert range, and the rains are said to fall there when the days 

 are longest. 



(To be continued.) 



Abstract of the Third Annual lieport of the Natural 

 History Society of the Mauritius. 



[Read at its Sitting, on the 24th August 1832^ and at the South 

 African Institution.] 



After noticing various circumstances which had produced 

 an interruption in the meetings of the Society, the Report 

 expresses the regret of the Members at the loss which the 

 Society had sustained by the death or departure of their asso- 

 ciates. It especially deplores, in eloquent terms, the decease 

 of the amiable and accomplished Mrs. Telfair, whose pencil 

 had benefited science, by preserving for publication, in the 

 works of botanists, the exact forms and fleeting tints of the rare 

 and interesting specimens of their science. It mentions, among 

 other objects of regret, the departure of Mr. Bojer, and the 

 cessation of the class of Natural History in the Royal College, 

 which was conducted by him. After pointing out the donations 

 it had received, and noticing the correspondence it had carried 

 on, the Report affords the following detail of the works of the 

 Society : — 



Geology. 



The correspondence of Mr. Sauzier with the Secretary, de- 

 scribes the different phenomena which had preceded or accom- 

 panied the eruption of the volcano of Bourbon in 1831. A 

 stream of lava from it had, on the '25th July, reached the sea 

 in three branches, having cut off the communication by one of 

 the leading roads, and opened for itself a passage through the 

 forest. At Bois-blanc a scene of great interest was presented 

 in this operation, by the overthrow of the large old trees, 

 which, in a blaze from the root to the summit, fell in different 

 directions on the glowing waves of the lava, where they were at 

 once reduced to ashes, throwing off a mass of dense and suffo- 

 cating smoke. At the end of ten days it was possible to pass 

 over the surface of the lava upon a cooled but blistered crust, 

 under which the melted lava was still flowing. 



