stated as the projector of that great and useful work, and that Sir James was employed to furnish the descriptions of the plants; it being found by Mr. Sowerby (after writing a part of the first volume himself) that to make drawings, and engrave all the native plants of the British empire, was as much as he could expect to attain in a reasonable period; and the accomplishment of the work fully proved that it required the persevering industry of twenty years for its completion.

Perhaps I ought to apologise for occupying your time with that which may be generally known among your scientific readers; still, as many persons will be induced to peruse a publication which presents the works of nature in so pleasing a manner, but who may be unacquainted with English botany, I have taken the liberty of bringing this subject to your remembrance, that you may give it publicity in your pages, should you feel so disposed, in order that the great merits of the late Mr. Sowerby may not be overlooked, while we are paying homage to the distinguished talents of Sir James Smith. I am, Sir, &c.— B. London, May 14. 1828.

Cond.

To be aware of the extraordinary talents and great industry of the late Mr. Sowerby, and of the present family of this name, we have only to imagine the works on natural history published in Britain during the last fifty years deprived of their graphic illustrations. There is scarcely a botanical or zoological work of the present day which does not depend principally on this family for its most attractive features: none is more indebted to it than this Magazine. More loveable than wise.. My dear Sir, We all know how common it is for a long argument to end in both parties discovering that they had been of the same opinion from the first, and the difference had arisen from the use of some inappropriate term, or from a different conception of certain words. A. observes that his friend B. is a very pleasant old gentleman. "Not so old, neither," replies B., senior; " you are greatly mistaken there." Both parties have precisely the same idea of the number of years B. has lived; but the father and son have different notions of the word old. So, it is very probable that I differ in words only with your correspondent Conchilla. Of the two," says this lady, "I would have my fair countrywomen loveable rather than wise." As this is a matter in which the whole sex are concerned, I must beg leave to protest against setting loveability in opposition to wisdom. The happiness of a woman is so much in the power of her affections, that to be loveable is of the first importance to her. I am far from undervaluing the greatest of all charms-this charm composed of a thousand others, each adding lustre to the rest; on the contrary, I object that Conchilla does it less than justice, in depriving it of that by which it chiefly exists. Surely, she who is most wise, will be likely to be the most loveable. A very silly woman is seldom very attractive; and a truly loveable one, however mediocre or uncultivated her understanding may be considered, can scarcely be destitute of wisdom. There are some women, whose natural sweetness is such, that they seem, as a friend once observed to me, to have attained the result of wisdom, without going through the process. Sweetness of temper, alone, is an attraction truly loveable; and is not sweetness of temper an intuitive wisdom? Yet, in proportion as she is wise, how many attaching qualities may unite with sweetness of temper, to render a woman loveable!

It has been observed to me, that the word learned would have been better than wise; and, had the phrase been so worded, I should have acquiesced in silence, without presuming to offer objection or comment. It is not improbable that such was the interpretation intended by the writer; in the careless phraseology of conversation, learning and wisdom are so frequently confounded, that it is by no means unlikely that a hasty pen should pass on without staying to discriminate between them. I would readily agree with Conchilla, that it were better a woman should be loveable than learned; but

I would say also, that as learning will not necessarily render her less amiable, if she have inclination and leisure, there is no reason why she should not be both learned and loveable; and to this remark, I suspect, it will be wise in Conchilla to assent.

Some other passages in the Magazine would tempt me to remark upon them; but lest, by my own showing, I should prove myself to be the most unloveable of women, as being utterly destitute of wisdom, I will here conclude, remaining, Sir, yours, &c. · Anglica. Saturday, May 31.

Deciduous Scale on the Bills of Birds.— Mr. Yarrel has the credit of having first brought into notice the fact, that the bills of birds are, before they are hatched, strengthened by a deciduous scale, which enables them to perforate and burst the shell. (Jennings's Ornithologia, p. 63.) This circumstance, however, has been long known to rural housewives; for, as soon as the chickens are hatched, the first care bestowed upon them is, displacing the scale with the nail of the thumb, to enable the young to pick up their food.-J.M.

Translation and derivation of Technical Terms.—I take the liberty of saying that the practice you have adopted of translating the technical terms, and giving their derivation, is a very unpleasant one to the reader, and rather distracts him than otherwise. The translations, derivations, and accentuations might, I think with advantage, occupy, as a glossary, the last page of the Numbers.-A. Berwick, May 31.

We hardly expected to be blamed for the very great trouble we take, and the expense that we incur with the printer, in giving the derivations complained of; but perhaps it is good for us to be chastened, for too much labour is as bad as too little. We acknowledge the unpleasantness complained of, but thought, and still think, the translations and derivations likely to have the best chance of being remembered when given where they occur; but perhaps they are not worth remembering, and if other readers are of the same opinion as A., we shall relinquish the practice. We mean to introduce all the important translations and derivations of technical terms, and scientific names given, into the general index at the end of each volume, where they will remain for future reference, as we do not intend to give (often at least) the translations and derivations of the same words twice. Cond.

The Perennial Calendar for various parts of Europe. By noticing more particularly the wild plants, their affinities to birds and insects will be at length perceived; and we might have (what I have often wished to see) a calendar by which the flowering of a plant should acquaint us with the appearance of a bird, and the appearance of an insect tell us the flowering of a plant. Undoubtedly there will be less trouble in generalising, by having, as you propose, a select number of plants and animals marked out the same for each station; but if facts and useful observations are to be gathered, do not confine the observer to these; let each, in addition, insert what is most applicable to his own locality, and interesting facts may then be obtained from each station. It is astonishing how many curious circumstances in natural history have been noticed and forgotten, for want of a register to record them. This being no longer the case, it is to be hoped that every naturalist will produce his store, that whatever is valuable may be gathered before it is too late. Would it not also be generally useful to have a list of the less common wild plants of each station? We look into our Flòras, and perceive the habitat of a rare plant put down in a place probably 150 miles from us, while perhaps it is lurking in our own vicinity all the while. To the traveller, to the botanist, and to the young enquirer, how useful would such lists be! - Edwin Lees. Worcester, May 8. 1828.

THE MAGAZINE

OF

NATURAL HISTORY.

SEPTEMBER, 1828.

ART. I. Some Account of an Ascent and Barometrical Measurement of Wha-ra-rai, a Mountain in the Island of Owhyhee; extracted from the MS. Journal of Archibald Menzies, Esq. F.L.S. Communicated by Mr. MENZIES.

WHILST His Majesty's ship, the Discovery, commanded by Captain Vancouver, lay in Karakakooa Bay, in January, 1794, I was very desirous of employing my time in examining the mountains and interior parts of the island, to collect plants, seeds, and other natural productions. For this purpose I consulted with Ta-maiha-maiha, king of the island, to obtain his permission; and he not only complied with my request, but very obligingly promised that I should be attended by a chief, who would have sufficient power to protect me from any ill treatment, and provide for whatever provisions and attendance I should require in my excursions. He then wished to know what part of the island I meant to visit, when I told him that I proposed first to ascend, if possible, a considerable mountain, of a conic form, called Wha-ra-rai, situated a little to the southward of Toe-hah Bay. He then fixed on a chief named Harou, who had the charge of his own plantation at the village of Hanua-oora, near the foot of that mountain, to which place he advised me to go by water in one of his canoes, and there I should be supplied with every thing necessary for my journey. Harou being at this time alongside of the ship, he called him in, and gave him a most solemn charge of me, and every thing I should carry with me; declaring that if I should have occasion to prefer any complaint against him on my return, he should suffer for it most severely.

The business being thus settled, Mr. Swaine, one of the lieutenants, and two or three gentlemen of the quarter-deck, volunteered to accompany me; as did also a Mr. Howel, an VOL. I.- No. 3.

P

American gentleman, who had lately arrived here from China, with an intent to remain some time at these islands; and I was very happy in having the pleasure of their society.

Every thing being ready, we set out on the morning of the 16th January, in company with Teamotoo, the chief of the district, and his wife, in a large double canoe, followed by Harou and our attendants in another; and, as we were passing the village of Kow-rowa, we were joined by Mr. Howel and his attendants in his own canoe. After this we proceeded to the northward close alongshore for about four or five miles from Karakakooa, when we entered a small cove surrounded by a scattered village belonging to Teamotoo. In this cove we saw the American schooner, which the natives had some time before captured with considerable cruelties. She was secured and housed over to preserve her from the weather, but we did not examine her condition closely, for fear of giving offence; we were told that she made a great deal of water, which they were obliged to pump out daily, otherwise that she would sink.

We met here a seaman, who had landed from an American vessel some time before, and now employed himself in making charcoal, and laying up a store of it for any vessel that might be in want of such an article for working the forge. This was a useful hint for the natives, not only for working their own iron with greater facility, but likewise as a new article of traffic, of which they eagerly availed themselves; for, on our coming into Karakakooa bay this time, we were quite surprised to see the natives bring alongside quantities of very good charcoal to dispose of. This man made choice of a delightful airy situation for his dwelling, which was kept neat and clean, and from which he had a commanding prospect of the cove and village underneath, of a large extent of country on both sides, and of the boundless ocean before him. We all dined with him on roasted pork, roasted fowls, and vegetables, in a very comfortable manner, as he had taught the natives who waited on him to cook and serve up his victuals in the English style. After dinner we entertained him with a glass of good grog, to which he said he had long been a stranger; this induced us to spare him a little of our stock of liquor at parting, when he earnestly requested us to send him some more, and likewise some tobacco, as soon as we returned to the vessels.

We here parted with our friend Teamotoo; and, on taking leave of us, he desired that, if our route should chance to pass through any of his plantations, we would demand whatever we wanted, and for this purpose he sent with us a person duly

authorised.

We again embarked, in the cool of the evening, with our conductor, in one of the king's large double canoes, and proceeded on to the northward till we reached Tai-ta-tooa Bay, in the bottom of which we landed at the village of Hanua-oora, under the noisy acclamations of a numerous group of men, women, and children, who expressed their joy by singing, dancing, and capering before us in such a frantic manner, that it was with great difficulty the chief could clear an avenue through them. He conducted us to a large house belonging to the king, which we were happy to find was within a tabooed space, so that we soon got clear of their teasing curiosity, and enjoyed our evening's repast and night's repose in quietness; but the chief himself was up most part of the night, preparing for our journey inland, which was to commence from this place; and, as it was likely we should be some days in the mountains, it was necessary to provide provisions of every kind, with a quantity of cloth and mats for our bedding at night, and men to carry the whole; so that the collecting and arranging of these matters was a weighty concern on Harou's mind.

As it was my intention to ascertain the height of the mountain we were going to ascend, I brought with me a kind of portable barometer, for which I was entirely indebted to the liberality of the late Colonel Gordon, at the Cape of Good Hope. That gentleman, when he understood that we had no portable barometer on board for ascertaining the height of any mountain that might be ascended during the voyage, presented me, in the most generous manner, with his own, which he had long been in the habit of using in the interior parts of Africa, and which had accompanied him in his interesting journeys through that country for many hundred leagues. The simplicity of its contrivance, and the ease with which it is carried and managed, may probably render it preferable, on such occasions, to a more expensive instrument, which, in ascending pathless rugged mountains, is so liable to be broken. I shall, therefore, subjoin a short description of it, and the manner of using it, leaving the reader to judge of the probable degree of accuracy of the observations made with it at different heights, both in this and in my subsequent journey to the summit of Mowna-roa.

It consists of a straight glass tube, about 3 ft. long, filled with mercury, which was doubly secured by a small stopper, and a piece of soft leather tied over the end of it; this tube, together with a brass scale of about the same length, divided and subdivided into inches and tenths, was placed in a small wooden case, lined with cloth, where the scale was made fast,