240 Notes and Memoranda. 



ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.— March 10. 



Cambodia. — At the present moment, when the French appear 

 likely to be about to establish their empire permanently in Cochin- 

 China, any information about the little-known countries of Farther 

 India must be regarded not only as valuable contributions to geo- 

 graphical science, but as worthy of general interest. The province 

 of Cambodia, lying between Siam and Assam, was, in the end of 

 last century, the subject of constant wars between the peoples of 

 those kingdoms. In 1860 the French landed, and in 1861 took 

 Saigon. They have since been endeavouring to establish a footing 

 in Cochin-China. 



M. Mouhot, a French traveller, has recently passed through 

 Cambodia, up the Me-Kong, near to the frontier of Laos, and visited 

 the savage and independent tribes which live between these two 

 countries and Cochin-China. These Steings he considers to be the 

 aboriginal inhabitants of the peninsula. During his journey, M. 

 Mouhot discovered two active volcanoes on the north shores of the 

 Gulf of Siam, and everywhere in the mountains to the north the 

 evidences of volcanic action. He refers to the products of the 

 country, which are cotton, iron, coal, gold, silver, and copper, be- 

 sides valuable woods. In an extension of his journey across the 

 lake of Touli-Sap, and through the provinces of Ongeor and Bat- 

 tambong, M. Mouhot discovered and examined some splendid ruins 

 and a monument, the temple of Ongeor the Great. He has sent 

 home drawings and descriptions of these ruins. ' Many of the 

 buildings were constructed of large stones, elaborately carved and 

 covered with designs of imaginary animals, as well as of beasts of 

 burden. These temples were found in a district completely em- 

 bedded in the forest, and in such a state of ruin that trees were found 

 growing upon the roofs. The inscriptions, from their antiquity, 

 were not intelligible to the natives ; yet they so nearly resemble the 

 Siamese character, that it is probable they will soon be deciphered. 



NOTES AND MEMORANDA. 



Influence of Water on Volcanic Action.— In a paper read before the 

 French Academy, on "Volcanic effects corresponding with geological epochs" 

 (Comptes Rendus, January 27, 1862), M. Pissis remarks that it is generally 

 believed, in those districts of South America which are most subject to earth- 

 quakes, that these disturbances occur during the rainy season, and up to the 

 period of drought. During twelve years of his own residence on the spot this 

 theory has held good, and the years of most violent rain were distinguished by a 

 greater number of earthquakes ; and he adds, that if we consider that during the 

 wet season the Andes are covered with a dense bed of snow, which is perpetually 

 melting from contact with the soil, it will be obvious that an extensive infiltration 

 must take place ; so if there exist any fissures communicating with the interior, 

 large quantities of water may be brought into contact with incandescent matte)', 

 and thus occasion very powerful disturbances. 



Comparative Fusibility of Iron.— MM. Minary and Resal state that the 

 fusibility of iron augments with the proportion of oxygen which it contains : thus, 

 in placing side by side, in a blast furnace, two crucibles containing iron shavings 

 of the best quality, but adding to the second a certain proportion of oxide of iron 



