The following is the method alluded to: inconvenience always attending the first adoption of new systems. may be gained by it; an advantage which will amply repay the in writing. It will be immediately seen that considerable space concise means of expressing fully the meaning of whole sentences FIGURES to denote the Force of the Wind. O CALM. 1 LIGHT AIR, 3 GENTLE BREEZE, 9 STRONG GALE, 11 STORM, 12 HURRICANE, If the above mode were adopted, the state of the wind might be regularly marked, in a narrow column, on the log-board every hour. LETTERS to denote the State of the Weather. b BLUE SKY; whether clear or hazy atmosphere. C CLOUDS; detached passing clouds. d DRIZZLING RAIN. f FOGGY-f Thick fog. g GLOOMY dark weather. h HAIL. O OVERCAST; or the whole sky covered with thick clouds. P PASSING temporary SHOWERS. By the combination of these letters, all the ordinary phenomena We had intended inserting a complete leaf of the log-book of a ship at sea; but the abbreviations we have adopted are sufficient to shew their application, without the detail of her proceedings. In the foregoing, the force of the wind, and the state of the weather, is expressed every hour, which is not done according to the ordinary method; and there is ample space left for other observations connected with the appearances of weed, obtaining soundings, communication with vessels, and the particulars of making and shortening sail, besides a variety of other remarks which repeatedly occur. Our limited space prevents us from enlarging on this subject; but we shall conclude it with observing, that it is now adopted by several ships at present employed, and we hope to see it become generally used in his Majesty's Navy. VII. THE TRAVELS AND RESEARCHES OF ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT: being a condensed Narrative of his Journeys in the Equinoctial Regions of America, and in Asiatic Russia; together with Analyses of his more important Investigations. By W. MACGILLIVRAY, A. M. Edinburgh. Oliver and Boyd. 1832. A WORK, describing the travels of the celebrated Humboldt, must be an acquisition in almost any shape. It would not be easy to find among those of its class, a narrative more interesting or instructive than this, which contains so much valuable information on central America, conveyed in the pleasing style of this eminent philosopher. A period of about thirty years has elapsed since these travels were performed, and about half that time since they appeared in English. Little, comparatively speaking, has been added since to our knowledge of a country which presents one of the richest fields on the face of the globe, for the researches of the traveller. M. Bonpland, the companion of Humboldt, we believe, is now on the point of returning from that country; and we hear of a commercial expedition from our own capital, to penetrate up the Amazons by steam, which cannot fail to be attended with the most valuable acquisitions in a mercantile as well as a scientific point of view. It is now some time since Lieut. Maw advocated such an undertaking, and, we trust, that the projected expedition will not fail to derive the full benefit of the experience which he gained in his passage down this most majestic of rivers. But our purpose is with the work before us, and we have selected the following extract relating to Cumana, as illustrative of the manner in which the subject has been treated: "The city of Cumana, the capital of New Andalusia, is a mile distant from the landing-place, and in proceeding towards it, our travellers crossed a large sandy plain, which separates the suburb inhabited by the Guayqueria Indians from the seashore. "Crossing the Indian suburb, the streets of which were very neat, they were conducted by the captain of the Pizarro to the governor of the province, Don Vicente Emparan, who received them with frankness; expressed his satisfaction at the resolution which they had taken of remaining for some time in New Andalusia; shewed them cottons dyed with native plants, and furniture made of indigenous wood; and surprised them with questions indicative of scientific attainments. On disembarking their instruments, they had the pleasure of finding that none of them had been damaged. They hired a spacious house in a situation favourable for astronomical observations, in which they enjoyed an agreeable coolness when the breeze arose, the windows being without glass, or even the paper panes which are often substituted for it at Cumana. "The soil around Cumana is composed of gypsum and calcareous breccia, and is supposed at a remote period to have been covered by the sea. The neighbourhood of the city is remarkable for the woods of cactus which are spread over the arid lands. Some of these plants were thirty or forty feet high, covered with lichens, and divided into branches in the form of a candelabrum. When the large species grow in groups, they form a thicket which, while it is almost impenetrable, is extremely dangerous on account of the poisonous serpents that frequent it. "The fortress of St. Antonio, which is built on a calcareous hill, commands the town, and forms a picturesque object to vessels entering the port. On the south-western slope of the same rock are the ruins of the castle of St. Mary, from the site of which there is a fine view of the Gulf, together with the island of Margaretta and the small isles of Caraccas, Picuita, and Boracha, which present the most singular appearances from the effect of mirage. "The city of Cumana, properly speaking, occupies the ground that lies between the castle of St. Antonio and the small rivers Manzanares and Santa Catalina. It has no remarkable buildings, on account of the violent earthquakes to which it is subject. The suburbs are almost as populous as the town itself, and are three in number: namely, Serritos, St. Francis, and that of the Guayquerias. The latter is inhabited by a tribe of civilized Indians, who, for upwards of a century, have adopted the Castilian language. The whole population in 1802 was about eighteen or nineteen thousand. "The plains which surround the city have a parched and dusty aspect. The hill on which the fort of St. Antonio stands is also bare, and composed of calcareous breccia, containing marine shells. Southward, in the distance, is a vast curtain of inaccessible mountains, also of limestone. These ridges are covered by majestic forests, extending along the sloping ground at their base to an open plain in the neighbourhood of Cumana, through which the river Manzanares winds its way to the sea, fringed with mimosas, erythrinas, ceibas, and other trees of gigantic growth. "This river, the temperature of which in the season of the floods descends as low as 71.6°, when that of the air is as high as 91°, is an inestimable benefit to the inhabitants; all of whom, even the women of the most opulent families, learn to swim. The mode of bathing is various. Our travellers frequented every evening a very respectable society in the suburb of the Guayquerias. In the beautiful moonlight, chairs were placed in the water, on which were seated the ladies and gentlemen, lightly clothed. The family and the strangers passed several hours in the river smoking cigars and chatting on the usual subjects of conversation, such as the extreme drought, the abundance of rain in the neighbouring districts, and the female luxury which prevails in Caraccas and Havannah. The company were not disturbed by the bavas, or small crocodiles, which are only three or four feet long, and are now extremely rare. Humboldt and his companions did not meet with any of them in the Manzanares; but they saw plenty of dolphins, which sometimes ascended the river at night, and frightened the bathers by spouting water from their nostrils. "The port of Cumana is capable of receiving all the navies of Europe; and the whole of the Gulf of Cariaco, which is forty-two miles long and from seven to nine miles broad, affords excellent anchorage. The hurricanes of the West Indies are never experienced on these coasts, where the sea is constantly smooth, or only slightly agitated by an easterly wind. The sky is often bright along the shores, while stormy clouds are seen to gather among the mountains. Thus, as at the foot of the Andes, on the western side of the continent, the extremes of clear weather and fogs, of drought and heavy rain, of absolute nakedness and perpetual verdure, present themselves on the coasts of New Andalusia. "The same analogy exists as to earthquakes, which are frequent and violent at Cumana. It is a generally received opinion, that the Gulf of Cariaco owed its existence to a rent of the continent, the rememberance of which was fresh in the minds of the natives at the time of Columbus' third voyage. In 1530, the coasts of Paria and Cumana were agitated by shocks; and towards the end of the sixteenth century, earthquakes and inundations very often occurred. On the 21st October, 1766, the city of Cumana was entirely destroyed in the space of a few minutes. The earth opened in several parts of the province, and emitted sulphureous waters. During the years 1766 and 1767, the inhabitants encamped in the streets, and they did not begin to rebuild their houses until the earthquakes took place only once in four weeks. These commotions had been preceded by a drought of fifteen months, and were accompanied and followed by torrents of rain which swelled the rivers. "On the 14th December 1797, more than four-fifths of the city were again entirely destroyed. Previous to this, the shocks had been horizontal oscillations; but the shaking now felt was that of an elevation of the ground, and was attended by a subterraneous noise, like the explosion of a mine at a great depth. The most violent concussion, however, was preceded by a slight undulating motion, so that the inhabitants had time to escape into the streets; and only a few perished, who had betaken themselves for safety to the churches. Half an hour before the catastrophe, a strong smell of sulphur was experienced near the hill of the convent of St. Francis; and on the same spot an internal noise, which seemed to pass from S.E. to N.W., was heard loudest. Flames appeared on the banks of the Manzanares and in the Gulf of Cariaco. In describing this frightful convulsion of nature, our author enters upon general views respecting earthquakes, of which a very brief account may be here given. "The great earthquakes which interrupt the long series of small shocks, do not appear to have any stated times at Cumana, as they have occurred at intervals of eighty, of a hundred, and sometimes even of less than thirty years; whereas, on the coasts of Peru,-at Lima, for example,—there is, without doubt, a certain degree of regularity in the periodical devastations thereby occasioned. "It has long been believed at Cumana, Acapulco, and Lima, that there exists a perceptible relation between earthquakes and the state of the atmosphere which precedes these phenomena. On the coasts of New Andalusia the people become uneasy when, in excessively hot weather and after long drought, the breeze suddenly ceases, and the sky, clear at the zenith, presents the appearance of a reddish vapour near the horizon. But these prognostics are very uncertain, and the dreaded evil has arrived in all kinds of weather. "Under the tropics, the regularity of the horary variations of the barometer is not disturbed on the days when violent shocks occur. In like manner, in the temperate zone the aurora borealis does not always modify the variations of the needle, or the intensity of the magnetic forces. "When the earth is opened and agitated, gaseous emanations occasionally escape in places considerably remote from unextinguished volcanoes. At Cumana, flames and sulphureous vapours spring from the arid soil, while in other parts of the same province it throws out water and petroleum. At Riobamba, a muddy inflammable mass called moya issues from crevices which close again, and forms elevated heaps. Flames and smoke were also seen to proceed from the rocks of Alvidras, near Lisbon, during the earthquake of 1755, by which that city was ravaged. But in the greater number of earthquakes it is probable that no elastic fluids escape from the ground, and when gases are evolved, they more frequently accompany or follow than precede the shocks. "The subterranean noise which so frequently attends earthquakes, is generally not proportionate to the strength of the shocks. At Cumana it always precedes them, while at Quito, and for some time past at Caraccas and in the West India Islands, a noise like the discharge of a battery was heard long after the agitation had ceased. The rolling of thunder in the bowels of the earth, which |