6oo 



NATURE 



[October 22, 1891 



successively dealt with. Among the remaining contents of the 

 number are papers on the following subjects : meteorological 

 photography, by A. W. Clayden ; on the variations of the 

 rainfall at Cherra Poonjee, in the Khasi Hills, Assam (plate), 

 by H. F, Blanford, F.R.S. ; some remarkable features in the 

 winter of 1890-91 (four illustrations), by Y. J. Brodie ; the rain- 

 fall of February 1891, by H. S. Wallis ; "South-east Frosts," 

 with special reference to the frost of 1890-91, by the Rev. 

 F. W. Stow. 



In the latest record of the proceedings of the Philosophical 

 Society, Philadelphia, Dr. Daniel G. Brinton gives some 

 vocabularies from the Musquito Coast. He obtained them from 

 the Rev. W. Siebarger, a missionary of the United Brethren, now 

 resident in that region. The most important of the vocabularies 

 is a list of words from the language of the Ramas tribe, the only 

 specimen of their tongue Dr. Brinton has ever secured. These 

 people live on a small island in Blomfield lagoon. There are at 

 present about 250 of them. All of them have been converted 

 to Christianity, and, with the exception of a few very old 

 persons, are able to speak and read English. Their native 

 language is rapidly disappearing, and in a few years, probably, 

 no one will use it fluently and correctly. They are large and 

 strongly built, and are described as submissive and teachable. 

 Their language has always been regarded as wholly different 

 from that of the Musquito Indians, who occupy the adjacent 

 mainland ; and this is shown to be correct by the specimen sent to 

 Dr. Brinton, It bears no relation, he says, to any other tongue 

 along the Musquito Coast. It does not, however, stand alone, 

 constituting an independent stock, but is clearly a branch, not 

 very remote, of a family of languages once spoken near Chiriqui 

 lagoon, and thence across— or nearly across — to the Pacific. 



The Penang Administration Report for 1890 contains some in- 

 teresting observations on the little-known aborigines of the Malay 

 Peninsula. Observations made during the course of the year go 

 to show that the Sakai (as distinguished from the Semang, or 

 Pangan, as the Negrito tribes are called by the Malays of Perak 

 and Pahang respectively) are far more numerous than was for- 

 merly supposed, and the President is of opinion that there may 

 be more than 5000 men, women, and children in the district of 

 Ulu Pahang alone. The country on both sides of the mountain 

 range, which forms the watershed of the Jelai, Selom, Bidor, 

 and Kampar rivers, is thickly inhabited by Sakai, who, although 

 one or two large villages exist, live for the most part in groups 

 of from two to three families. These Sakai are divided into 

 two distinct tribes, called by themselves Sen-oi and Tenn-be 

 respectively, the former being the more civilized and more ac- 

 cessible tribe, while the latter are but little known to the Malays. 

 Both the Tem-be and Sen-oi dialects, however, resemble one 

 another so closely that it would seem to be evident that they 

 originally sprang from the same source. Words to express any 

 numerals higher than three are not found in the dialect of either 

 tribe. 



The mareograph in the harbour of Pola, according to Lieut. 

 Gratzl {Met. Zeitsch.), often shows, in addition to the ordinary 

 tidal curve, certain more or less regular oscillations, generally 

 with a period of about 15 minutes (some with one of 7 minutes). 

 These appear to be of the nature of seiches, and to be caused by 

 squalls, which drive water from the open sea into the partly 

 inclosed basin of the harbour, where it rises as a wave, retires, 

 rises again to a less height (as only part of the surplus water 

 escapes), and so on. Thus, in the evening of July 6, 1890, 

 after a stiff west-north-west squall, there were eight pronounced 

 oscillations, the strongest showing about 1*4 inch difference of 

 level in 16 minutes. In another case, the harbour level rose 

 higher than it had done for 15 years. The latter squall (a 

 strong south-west one) affected also the Trieste mareograph, 



NO. II 47. VOL. 44] 



which showed nine wide oscillations with a mean period of 

 I hour 46 minutes. Lieut. Gratzl suggests observations as to 

 whether sudden impulses of "bora" against the Italian coast 

 might not heap up the water there, so that a return wave might 

 affect the Austrian mareographs ; also whether certain sudden 

 currents which injure fishermen's nets in the Dalmatian canals 

 may not be connected with those waves. 



A CAT bom with only two legs (the fore-legs being absent 

 from the shoulder-blades) has been recently described by Prof. 

 Leon of Jassy {Naturw. Rundsch ). It is healthy, and goes 

 about easily, the body in normal position. When startled, or 

 watching anything, it raises itself to the attitude of a kangaroo, 

 using the tail as a support. This animal has twice borne 

 kittens ; in both cases two, one of which had four feet, the 

 other only two. 



We learn from Dr. Woeikof's notes of a journey in the 

 Caucasus published in the Russian Izvestia, that the Russian 

 Ministry of Ways and Communications has issued a very in- 

 teresting work on the snow-slips of the Kazbek glaciers, accom- 

 panied by an atlas of maps and plans. Careful measurements 

 of the variations in the position of the lowest end of the 

 Devdorak glacier since 1878 have been made, and the results 

 are given in the atlas. A house has been recently built close 

 to the glacier, and it is connected by a road ( available for horses) 

 with the villages beneath. An experienced guide, who is 

 bound to accompany the men of science and tourists who may 

 intend to visit the glacier, stays in the house. 



A KIND of artificial honey which has lately been produced 

 seems likely to become a formidable rival of natural honey. It 

 is called " sugar honey," and consists of water, sugar, a small 

 proportion of mineral salts, and a free acid ; and the taste and 

 smell resemble those of the genuine article. Herr T. Weigle 

 brought the subject before a recent meeting of the Bavarian 

 Association of the Representatives of Applied Chemistry, and 

 there is a paragraph about it in the current number of the 

 Board of Trade Journal. 



Rats at Aden appear to have a vigorous appetite, and to 

 adopt 'remarkable ways of gratifying it. Captain R. Light, 

 writing on the subject from Aden to the Journal of the Bombay 

 Natural History Society, says the rats in his house — which is 

 overrun with them — demoli.-h skins, braces, whips, &c. ; and 

 one night he awoke, feeling a rat gnawing at his toes. This 

 happened in spite of a dog (a good ratter) being in the room. 

 Captain Light was lately watching his pony being shod, and 

 noticed the hoof apparently cut away all round the coronet, 

 wherever it was soft. He accused the " nalband " of doing this 

 in addition to the usual rasping of the hoof to suit the shoe. 

 The "syce" said that the rats had done it, and that they came at 

 night and ate away not only the pony's hoofs but those of the 

 goat and kid, and that these animals were greatly tormented by 

 the rats. Captain Light examined the hoofs, and found beyond 

 doubt that such was the case, the marks of the teeth being 

 plain ; moreover, he found that the horns of the kid, which had 

 been about half an inch high, were eaten flush with the head. 

 Next morning, too, a large rat was discovered in the bedding^ 

 under the horse. It had evidently been killed by a kick from 

 him. 



Two new methods of preparing azoimide, N3H, the hydride 

 of nitrogen isolated last year by Prof. Curtius, of Kiel, have 

 been discovered. As announced at the time in Nature (vol. 

 xliii. p. 21), Prof. Curtius prepared this remarkable compound 

 by reacting with his previously isolated hydrazine hydrate, 

 N2H4.H2O, upon hippuric acid, converting the hydrazine de- 

 rivative thus obtained into its nitroso-derivative, and decompos- 

 ing an alkaline solution of the latter with sulphuric acid. An 

 aqueous solution of azoimide was obtained upon distilling the 



