Europe: — a popular Physical Sketch. 521 



north, but gently sloping to the south, and chiefly consist- 

 ing of limestone. The highest peaks are Tschadyrdagh 

 5058, and Babugan-Jaila 5038 feet. The summit is partly 

 covered with pines, farther down with beech and oak forests. 

 In the valleys inclined towards the south, which are flanked 

 by the mountains toward the north, the climate is very mild, 

 and here are found the laurel, the wild olive-tree, the Jig- 

 tree, the manna ash, and other plants belonging to the 

 southern countries of Europe, and not only the vine is cul- 

 tivated, yielding excellent wine, but also Jigs, almonds, and 

 even the cotton plant and the olive thrive, although the 

 latter produces but an inferior description of oil. In Crimea 

 also the camel is kept as a domesticated animal. By a num- 

 ber of mountain chains, pursuing a serpentine line from E. to 

 W. and interrupted in one place only, the southern Europe 

 is separated from the northern : Balkan, the Alps, and 

 Pyrenees form this line. 



Balkan and the Dinarian mountains. Of the former our 

 information is very imperfect ; it is only known as a huge 

 and lofty chain between the Danube plain and the Grecian 

 Peninsula, following a course from E. to W. from the Black 

 sea to the Adriatic, a distance of about 320 miles. Orbelos, 

 the highest elevation, is computed to be 9600 feet. 



[To be continued.] 



Self-Calculating Sextant. By Alexander Jack, 30^ Re- 

 giment Bengal Native Infantry. 



The attention of the scientific portion of the public is 

 solicited to the validity of the principles on which the Self- 

 calculating* Sextant is constructed. 



* The name requires explanation. A common Sextant affords data 

 for calculation. So also does our proposed instrument ; at the same 

 time making, we trust, a step in advance, it saves the trouble of calcula- 

 tion, announcing, in the plainest terms, the elevation and distance, with 

 promptitude and fidelity. 



