of Pendulwn-Clocks. 
bearing the title Dusage des Quadrans" ou de V Horologe Pliy-i 
isique Universel, and which treats of nothing but free or detached 
pendulums ; it is in fact an extract from the Theory of Galileo.: 
The States-General, on receiving the propositions of Galileo^ 
appointed Commissioners to examine them, presented him with 
a golden chain, as a tokeri of their regard, and promised greater 
Rewards, if the invention should be found to succeed. Thd 
negociations, however, were interrupted by the successive deaths 
of all the Commissioners, and finally put a stop to by his o'v^m 
death, which happened in 1641. 
I conclude, then, that those who appeal to the correspondeiiCe’ 
of Galileo, have either not examined the letters, or been decei- 
ved by the twofold circumstance of his employing a pendulum^ 
and calling it by the name of Oruoh ; and that at least from 
1636 to 1639, Galileo had not yet either accomplished or indi- 
cated the application of the pendulum to regulate the motion of 
clockwork. 
( To he concluded in next JVtimber.) 
Art. II. — Observations on the Countries qf Congo and Lo- 
ango^ as in 1T90» By Mr Maxwell, Author of the Letters 
to Mungo Park, &c. &c. (Concluded from Vol. VI. p. 62.) 
Canors.— At Cape Lopez aiid Jabon, the canoes are 
formed out of single trees of red-wood. They are flat-bottom- 
ed and wall-sided.. I have seen some of them seventy feet long,’ 
six broad, and four deep, capable of holding a considerable 
number of people. I am told of one belonging to King Passe- 
all, at Cape Lopez, that holds two hundred men. 
Houses. — The construction of these, though simple, is very 
ingenious. The body of the house consists of four parts, the 
ends and sides, each made separately of bulrush-stems. The 
bulrushes, which are about an inch in diameter, are first cut 
of the proper length, and laid parallel to one another upon the 
ground ; they are then secured in this position by transverse 
branches of bamboo at the ends and in the middle, three on 
VOL.VT. NO. 12. APRIL 1822, 
p 
