404 Scientific Intelligence. 
chane, the chief town in the Marootzee country, containing 
about 16,000 inhabitants, with several large towns in the vicini- 
ty. These are much more civilised than any of the nations 
nearer the colony of the Cape. They smelt and work in iron 
and copper ; paint the walls of their houses in the inside ; work 
very well in pottery ; have a regular government, which is mo- 
narchical ; and speak the same language as at Lattakoo, as do 
many nations beyond them to the north : They abound in cattle, 
and have an extensive cultivation. I think Kurreechane lies in the 
24th degree of South Lat. New Lattakoo lies near the source 
of the Krooman River. On my return from Kurreechane, I 
went down the Krooman, which runs to the westward, and 
found several towns on its banks. Though a considerable 
stream, I found it lost itself at the side of the Great Southern 
Zahara Desert. I travelled two days 1 journey into that desert, 
to a group of hills in which is the town of Tureehey, where the 
King of the Matslaroo nation resides. The houses resembled 
those of Lattakoo : they live by cattle and cultivating the ground. 
I found in the desert two or three small kraals or towns of the 
Cavanna nation. I think Kurreechane was about 300 miles to 
the NE. of New Lattakoo, and Tureehey about 100 miles to 
the west. These appear trifling distances to mail-coach travel- 
lers, in countries where there are both roads and bridges, but in 
countries where there are neither, it requires much time and ex- 
ertion. At Botany Bay, or Port Jackson, for the first thirty 
years, they only penetrated seventy miles into the interior to the 
Blue Mountains ; and even yet, they have not got much above 
a hundred, which proves the difficulty. After we have a mis- 
sion established at Kurreechane, much of the terra incognita be- 
yond will soon be made known to Europeans ; and I believe, 
with some wise men, that only in that way will the interior of 
Africa be made known to Europeans : the hazard is very great 
in going far beyond where reports of white men have reached, for 
every thing you have is desired by the savages, and there is no 
law to protect you. 11 
: --i ' ,.:-s .. /r l ■ ? - Y\ i , . r*- ' . ■ v ' i r " ! 
21. Eruption of Carbonised Wood at New Madrid.— During 
the earthquake which destroyed New Madrid on the 6th of 
January 1812, and which was felt two hundred miles around, 
Mr Bringier happened to be passing in its neighbourhood, 
