yune 27, 1872] 



NATURE 



163 



and a large number in Mindanao, the number of 7,45 1,352 

 gives no correct idea of the real population' of the Philip- 

 pines. This is not known at all, and will not be known for a 

 long time to come. 



The number of 7,451,352 is composed in the following 

 manner : — 



4t 

 IS 

 21 



6 

 43 



9 

 28 

 81 

 43 

 29 



9 

 18 



Antique 131,880 



Basilan 6do 



Bataan 67,362 



Batangis 432,504 



Bulican 346,317 



Bohol 283,515 



Biirias 2,430 



Cagayan 114,396 



Calamianes 27,189 



Camarines North . . . 42,525 



,, Sojtii . . . 434,016 



Capiz 272,292 



Cavite i73,'93 



Cebu 427,356 



Cottabato 1,200 



Davao i,S6o 



Hoilo 648,408 



Hocos North 220,038 



,, Soutii 265,233 



Islas Batanes .... 12,000 



Islade Negros .... 255,873 



Isabela 47,067 



Laguna 216,435 



Lepanto 56,088 



Leyte ....... 285,495 



Manila 354,348 



Mashate y Tici ) . . . 17,190 



Mindoro 70,926 



Misamis 100,398 



Morong 73,oSo 



N. Ecija 167,325 



N. Vizcaya 21,471 



Pampauga 300,567 



Pangasinan 431,691 



Rorablon 34, '37 



Samar 250,062 



Surigas 73.770 



Tayabas 155,280 



Union . 133.452 



Zambales 109,044 



ZaniboiUga 14,574 



7,451.352* 933 

 The following division of the Philippine Islands is 

 proposed, but not yet introduced : — 



18 Provinces in 3 divisions 

 1st division. — Manila, Hoilo, Cebu, IIocos, Cagayan. 

 2nd division. — Pangasinan, Pampauga, Laguna, Cavite, Ba- 



tangas, Albay, N. Ecija. 



3rd division. — Bulacan, Camarin.:s, Capiz , Negros, Leyte, 



Marianas. 



The Islands of Mindanao, Basilan, Tolo (Soob), 

 Samales, and Balabac, will have a special government. 

 Adolf Bernh.vrd Mkyer 

 Manila, April 15 



♦ The M.-irlanas IsIjnJs beb 

 with 8,000 to 9,000 iohabitanls. 



: to ihe Gavirnm.-nt of ths Pinlippi 



MINERAL SPRING OF SI I AN A NEAR 

 TREBIZOND 



TH E mountainous and volcanic district, or, to speak 

 more correctly, belt, which skirts the northern coast 

 of Asia Minor, beginning from Amastri, one hundred and 

 fifty miles east of the Bosphorus, up to the Georgian 

 valley and the Russo-Caucasian frontier, abounds in 

 mineral springs, varying as to temperature and con- 

 stituents, but generally endowed with hygienic properties, 

 which are, to a certain extent, known and appreciated by 

 the natives of the land. But few of these springs have 

 been made the subject of scientific examination and 

 analysis ; so that the ingredients whence they derive their 

 value, where not discernible to the unassisted senses, 

 are in most cases matter of conjecture rather than of 

 demonstration. 



I a one instance, however, that of a remarkable mineral 

 source within this district, ths obligingness of a resident 

 Italian chemist, M. Marengo by name, has lately fur- 

 nished me with some scientific data, not indeed as com- 

 plete as might have been desired, yet enough for interesting 

 information. These I will now give, accompanied by my 

 own observ.itions made during frequent visits to the 

 locality in question. 



About six miles east of Trebizondon the sea-coast stands 

 the little fishing village of Covata, at the entrance of the 

 valley which, as also the stream that flows down it, bears 

 the same name. Following the valley some way inland 

 towards the mountains where it originates, we come on the 

 water-course and ravine of Shdna, falling into that of 

 Covata at nearly right angles, from east to west. " Shana " 

 is, like most names of places hereabouts, a word of Laz, 

 that is Mingrelian, origin, and signilies " heat." This 

 ravine is narrow and deep ; the rocks on either side are 

 volcanic, chiefly mottled tufa of dark grey substance, 

 speckled throughout with small black fragments of irre- 

 gular shape and size imbedded in it. Vegetation, 

 wherever the steepness of the slope allows it to take root, 

 is most luxuriant ; vines, olives, walnut trees, chesnut, 

 sycamore, maple, poplar, with a dense undergrowth of 

 alder and hazel. Down the bottom of the gorge flows a 

 small torrent, which joins the river of Covata not far from 

 its sea-mouth. 



. Tracking the narrow path which leads up to the Sh;'ina 

 gorge for about four hundred yards, we come on a sort of 

 widening-out, where a horizontal sheet of porous volcanic 

 rocks spreads to some distance alongside of, but slightly 

 elevated above, the course of the torrent. In the middle 

 of this rock-sheet has been formed, partly by nature, 

 partly by art, a small circular basin, nearly three feet in 

 diameter, and averaging a foot or rather more in depth. 

 This is constantly full of clear, limpid-looking water, 

 which wells up through several irregular clefts in the stone 

 bottom of the basin, and overflows it, the waste running 

 off down the ledge into the neighbouring torrent, and 

 leaving everywhere on its passage a thick bright-red de- 

 posit of oxide of iron, which stains the rocks, and even dis- 

 colours the main-stream to some distance. Through the 

 clefts just mentioned bubbles of carbonic acid gas rise in 

 sufficient abundance to give the water the appearance of 

 boiling ; but the temperature is normal. This water is 

 strongly impregnated with free carbonic acid ; its taste is 

 pungent a.nd ferruginous, with a distinct, but, so long as 

 it is fresh, a not unpleasant indication of sulphur. If it 

 is put into a bottle, corked, and exposed to the heat of the 

 sun, the expansion of the gas soon causes an explosion, 

 driving out the cork, and even bursting the bottle. 



Near this semi-artificial basin, and placed on a line 

 with it one after another in the axis of the valley, are tvvo 

 other natural rock-hollows, one of several feet in extent, 

 the other less ; whence the same description of ferru- 

 ginous water, mixed with bubbles of carbonic acid gas, 



