96 Chronicles of Science. [Jan., 



added to our map, Point Somerset (named after the First Lord of the 

 Admiralty), at the extreme north of Cape York, which is itself the 

 northern portion of the continent, The new colony lies on a penin- 

 sula of the main land, immediately opposite Albany Island. It will 

 form an important station for the mails from Melbourne, Sydney, and 

 Brisbane, in their way northward, by way of Batavia, to meet the 

 China mail. The whole of the northern portion of this peninsula 

 promises to be fertile and salubrious to Europeans. The colony 

 itself, which includes the whole of Cape York, has been chosen espe- 

 cially with a view to the health of the inhabitants and officials. It is 

 open to the sea breezes, both from the Pacific and the Indian Oceans. 

 Both round the coast, and across the country by the Flinders, and 

 other streams, the settlements are creeping on to the Gulf of Carpen- 

 taria. The geology of the inland portion of the colony of Queensland 

 deservedly attracts much attention amongst the colonists. Mr. Coxen 

 has written a paper, read before the Philosophical Society in Bris- 

 bane, detailing the results of a very extensive and careful survey. 

 The principal formations are primary or secondary, and those of 

 most practical importance are either decomposed trap mixed with 

 calcareous sand over shales, making a most fertile soil, or carboniferous 

 strata, which latter are said to be very plentifully distributed. 



Central Africa having been so frequently discussed, and the subject 

 having received all the ventilation which it is possible to bring to 

 bear upon a subject where the inductions must be from so few in- 

 stances, it is refreshing to find oneself on new ground, and to traverse 

 with M. Vambery the districts of Central Asia. Old as the subject 

 is, it becomes new from its very antiquity. The last traveller who 

 has left us Englishmen an account of much of the ground that this 

 distinguished Hungarian has travelled over was Marco Paulo. Ruy 

 Gonzales de Clavijo, Sjjanish Ambassador to the Court of Tiniour Khan, 

 visited Samarcand in the zenith of its splendour, but at such personal 

 inconvenience that his narrative can hardly be expected to give us a fair 

 description of the place. Tiniour was so anxious to get the Spaniard to 

 his palace in time for a particular festival, that the latter was compelled 

 to travel at a pace which killed one of his companions, whilst he himself 

 was worn out. On his arrival, he, the abstemious Spaniard who never 

 touched wine, was compelled to be present at banquets from which 

 but few guests departed sober. Nevertheless he describes the city as 

 containing very fine buildings, besides many which, though not com- 

 pleted, gave great promise of splendour for the future. Very different 

 is M. Vambery 's account. His description has lately been published 

 by Mr. Murray, previously to which the main outline was read in the 

 form of a paper before the Society, and additions were made viva voce 

 to the written document by the gentleman himself, who overcame, for 

 the benefit of the meeting, his natural repugnance to speak a language 

 he was far more accustomed to read than to hear or pronounce. His 

 linguistic triumphs in Turkish, and Arabic, and other Oriental tongues, 

 demanded and received some indulgence from an English audience. 



The great desire of M. Arminius Vambery, like that of many of 

 his countrymen, was to throw some light upon the linguistic connec- 



