Dec. 1, 1870] 

NATURE 93 

side was to the wind. The spout appeared to be rapidly skim- 
ming the surface of the river, the water rising like spray round 
it, and having a spiral appearance along the shaft. The phe- 
nomenon was not accompanied by noise or thunder and lightning. 
WE have received the reports of the Mining Surveyors and 
Registrars, Victoria, for the quarter ending 30th June, 1870. In 
some instances steady improvement is reported, but there are 
also numerous complaints of a considerable falling off in the 
yield of gold. The total number of miners employed in the 
colony during the quarter was 60,267. Of these, 28,227 Euro- 
peans and 15,478 Chinese were employed as alluvial miners, 
16,500 Europeans and 62 Chinese as quartz miners. In alluvial 
mining 399 steam-engires of 9,657 aggregate horse-power were 
used in winding, pumping, &c. ; and in quartz mining 701 steam- 
engines, of 13,283 aggregate horse-power. The approximate 
value of the mining plant was 2,144,727/. 1,0214 square miles 
of auriferous ground were actually worked upon, and 2,782 
distinct quartz reefs were actually proved to be auriferous. The 
Mining Surveyors and Registrars are unable to obtain perfectly 
full information respecting the quantities of quartz, &c., crushed 
or operated upon ; but the following is a summary of the leading 
facts which they detail :—The total quantity of quartz crushed 
was 223,285 toms I4 cwt. 36,909 tons 7 cwt. of quartz 
tailings, cement, and mullock were crushed, and 868 tons 15 cwt. 
2 qrs. of pyrites and blanketings were operated on. The average 
yield of gold per ton from quartz was 9 dwt. 11-38 gr. ; from 
quartz tailings, cement, and mullock, 3 dwt. 0.39 gr. ; from 
pyrites and blanketings, 2 oz. 6 dwt. 13°37 gr. The total yield 
of gold from quartz was 105,775 oz. 18 dwt. 19 gr. ; from quartz 
tailings, cement, and mullock, 5,566 oz. 9 dwt. I gr. ; from 
pyrites and blanketings, 2,022 oz, 7 dwt. 18 gr. Appended to 
the reports is’a careful geological map of portion of the Durham 
Lead, with a paper on the subject by Mr. Reginald A. F. Murray. 
Mr. Murray describes the physical and geological aspects of the 
district traversed by the Durham Lead, discusses the question 
whether it is or is not the main outlet of the Golden Point 
Gutter, and gives a brief account of the claims lying within the 
portion of the lead immediately under consideration. 
IF we may judge from its last annual report, the proceedings 
of the Bombay Geographical Society are not much enlivened by 
the efforts of its members. During the entire session not a single 
member had favoured the Society with any original communica- 
tion. For some time the Society has been considering the pro- 
priety of getting compiled an Anglo-Vernacular Index of Indian 
Geographical names. The scheme would supply a want that has 
long been felt, but it does not appear to have received much en- 
couragement from the authorities, to whom an appeal for aid in 
the matter was addressed. The ‘‘ Transactions” of the Society 
for the year ending December 1869, are made up of some in- 
teresting notes on Annesley Bay, by Mr. Edwin Dawes, and a 
brief paper by Mr. J. U. Yajnik, on the Hot Springs of Lasun- 
dra, in the Kaira Zilla. 
ANOTHER proof of the desirability of earnest experiments in 
the widespread cultivation of economic plants is shown in the 
success which has attended the introduction of tobacco in some 
of our own colonies. Samples of Latakia tobacco grown in 
Jamaica have been submitted for approval in London, and re- 
ported upon favourably ; and from India we hear that the seeds 
of the best varieties are being distributed in the districts most 
suited to the cultivation of the plants. From Natal, a sample 
has just been received, and submitted to an eminent firm of 
tobacco brokers in the City, who report that it is a very near ap- 
proach to what colonial tobacco should be. It is of good sub- 
stance, and of a fair light brown colour, and would, if carefully 
packed, in all probability fetch a price of from 5¢/. to 5d. per lb. 

in bond, and would meet with a ready sale to a rather large extent 
in the London market. The principal requirements of a good 
tobacco are brightness of colour and dryness of condition, the 
latter being most essential in consequence of the high rate of 
duty. Green and imperfect leaves should be excluded; and 
great care should be taken in packing, so as not to injure or 
crush the leaves. An important point in the curing of tobacco 
is to ensure its burning well, and holding fire. A good oppor- 
tunity presents itself at the present time for the introduction 
into our markets of colonial tobacco, owing to the general 
scarcity both of the continental supplies and of other kinds 
usually substituted for the American product in the manufacture 
of cut tobaccos. 
As an instance of the rapidity with which introduced plants 
spread, when soil and climate are congenial to their habits, we 
may point to the Euphorbia prostrata, Ait, a little annual weed 
in Jamaica and Trinidad, which became introduced by chance 
about ten years since into a garden in Madeira, situated some 
400 feet above the sea; from this spot it has rapidly spread down 
the steep road to the town ;-while up the other hills, separated by 
deep ravines from that down which it came, it has scarcely crawled 
at all, a downward course apparently being far easier for it than an 
upward.one. It has, however, slowly crept up another hill at the 
rate of about ten feet a year. The seeds, which are described as 
ecarunculate, with sharply tetragonal palze, transversely keeled, 
are well adapted for sticking to the clothes of travellers, and 
to be carried about, so that we might well expect the plant to 
crop up in all directions. Mr. Lowe says that it is now to be 
found everywhere in Funchal below 500 feet. 
THE pods of the Ground Nut (Arachis hyfogea) are frequently 
to be seen in the windows of small shops in the poor neighbour- 
hoods of our large towns, where they are chiefly purchased by 
children, and are known to them as ‘‘monkey nuts.” Their chief 
use, however, is for the expression from the seeds of a light 
coloured bland oil, said to be extensively used for mixing with, 
olive oil; and we have even heard of the seeds being parched 
and used as a substitute for coffee, but we now read that in 
America they are used for making chocolate (so called) ; for this 
purpose they are beaten up in a mortar and the mass compressed 
into cakes, and it is said to form a most agreeable chocolate 
without a particle of true cocoa. More than this, the Americans 
prepare the seeds as a dessert sweetmeat by parching them and 
beating them up with sugar., 
THE disasters of a ship have made the Peruvians acquainted 
with the situation of a new guano island in the Southseas. This 
is called ‘* Baker’s Island,” in 12° N. lat. and 176° E. long. It 
has some smaller islands near, and is surrounded by coral reefs, 
on which thirty wrecks have been counted. The island has been 
taken possession of bya North American company, and is peopled 
by three Americans, of whom one is the governor, and about a 
hundred Kanakas. The cargo of the English barque Borneo, 
bound to London, consisted of a yellowish earth, which the 
Peruvians say has no smell of ammonia, but may sell at a profit 
to mix with Peruvian guano, 
Tue Boston FYournal of Chemistry says that large factories 
have been established in New Orleans, Buffalo, and Brooklyn, 
or making grape sugar from corn. The latter is steeped in weak 
soda lye, for the purpose of softening the husk and gluten; and 
is then ground wet, and run through revolving sieves to separate 
impurities. It is afterwards made to flow through ways or troughs, 
in which the starch gradually settles as a white powder. The 
wash water is run into a large cistern, and allowed to fermen} 
and produce a weak vinegar. The starch from the troughs is 
put wet into the mash-tub, and treated with water containing 
one per cent, of sulphuric acid, for eight hours. The acid 's 
neutralised with chalk or carbonate of lime, and the liquid 
