— 
1809.] © 
as a man’s fist; some weighing 3, 34, and 
even 4 pounds. Numbers of che coun- 
try-people are wounded ; several shep- 
herds are killed, and great numbers. of 
cattle killed and wounded. he desola- 
tion is general throughouta tract of forty- 
two miles. ‘The progress of the column 
of ice along the moufitain, opposite to 
Aix, exhibited the most terrific, and at the 
same time imposing spectacle that can 
possibly be conceived. 
After the extraordinary tide ‘observed 
on the 4th of July last, in the whole gulf 
of Spezzia, and which is called by the 
Italians terremoto di mare, (sea-earth- 
quake) the whole course of the tides 
there was totally deranged for the seven 
or eight succeeding days.’ The ebb and 
flood were sensibly perceived at intervals 
of a quarter of an hour, half an hour, and 
an hour, during that whole space of time. 
A sloop within sight of Leghorn, was 
overtaken the same day by this tide 
which in a moment rendered the sea, be- 
fore quite calm, extremely rough. The 
cause of this phenomenon is supposed to 
have some connection with the earth- 
quakes, which the western part of Italy 
has so frequently experienced for some 
years; fresh shocks of which were felt by 
the towns and vallies,of Suze and Pigne- 
rol, on the 2d and 3d of July last. It 
cannot be doubted, that earthquakes and 
volcanic eruptions, frequently convulse 
the bottom of the sea, without occasion- 
ing the mischief which they produce on 
Jand, and without its being possible for 
them to be observed, even by navigators. 
The Italian expression for this phenome- 
non, would therefore be perfectly cor- 
rect, and founded upon the laws and ef- 
fects of nature. 
At alate meeting of the Academy of 
Sciences, Literature, and Fine Arts, of 
Turin, M. Boisarelli, chemist, presented 
two specimens of artificial cotton thread, 
made by Messrs. Copps and Parodi, of 
Genoa. He likewise stated that stock- 
ings, cloth, and wicks for candies, had 
been made of this cotton, but the latter 
gave only an indifferent light; a defect 
‘which he ascribed to the maceration, of 
the material in alkalies, and which wash- . 
ing in water was expected to correct. 
- The academy was satisfied of the resem- 
blance of the specimens to cotton; and 
_ Dr. Rizzetti, having observed that, by 
treating tow of hemp with different 
agents, it might be reduced to.a simi- 
lar substance, he was commissioned to 
‘make the necessary experiments at the 
expence of the academy, 
Literary and Philosophical Intelligence. 
Als 
AFRICA. 
A letter, dated Cape of Good Hope, 
May 21, 1809, gives the following inte- 
resting particulars :—f* About ten months 
ago, Lieutenant Donovan, of the 63d. 
regiment, Assistant-Surgeon Cowan, and 
twelve Hottentots, left the Cape, with 
the intention of travelling, if possible, as 
faras Mosambique. This undertaking, 
if it be accomplished, will far exceed any 
African travels that have hitherto. been 
performed, as the regions through which 
they pass are utterly unknown to ‘any 
European. Last week, letters, dated 
about two months ago, were received 
from these gentlemen, at which time 
they had penetrated to lat. 24° S. long. 
28° E. According to the information 
which they had coliected, in about twelve 
or fourteen days lounger travelling to the 
N. EL. they should arrive at a place, to 
which white people were in the habit of 
going from Mosambique ; so that there is 
great reason to -hope this arduous enter- 
prize may be successfully achieved. The 
country which they were then in was 
fertile. The only discovery of material 
importance, which they appear to have 
made, at the time their letters were writ~ 
ten, was, that they had found wild ca. 
mels, animals not before known to be- 
inhabitants of South Africa. This unex- 
pected discovery may eventualiy prove 
of the highest utility to this colony, in 
many parts of which, for several succeed- 
ing days, a traveller cannot meet with 
water; and, from the burdens which ca~ 
mels are capable of bearing, they may 
probably supersede, in a great degree, 
the use of waggons, each of which re- 
quires from eight or ten to sixteen or 
eighteen ‘bullocks to drag them over the 
sandy or stuny roads, in the vicinity of 
the Cape.” From this account it appears, 
that the travellers had proceeded in a 
diagonal line, and in a north-easterly di- 
rection, from 34° S, lat. and 23° FE. 
long.(the situation of the Cape) to 24° 5, 
lat. and 28° E. long, that is, 10° to the 
northward, and 5° to the eastward; and 
that, as Mosambique is situated in 409 
i. long. and 15° S. lat. they had still to 
traverse 9° of latitude, and 13° of longi~ 
tude, so that their journey was not then 
nearly half completed. . 
On the 10th of April last, the first 
stone of a new town, which is to be 
called Kingston in Africa, was laid ber 
the governor of Sierra Léone, on the 
banks of a stream, denominated Hog- 
Brook. The situation, about five miles 
directly inland, appears to be favetrable, 
, on 
PA 
