quay at Greenwich Hospital, in the hall of which a monument is about to be raised to the memory of Franklin and his associates. The name of Bellot is cut in large letters on the shaft of the obelisk, so as to be visible from the Thames, and a bronze tablet has been affixed to the opposite side of the pedestal, bearing the following appropriate inscription: To the intrepid young of the French Navy, shared the fate and the glory of that Illustrious Navigator. (From his British admirers), The Lords of the Admiralty have awarded the £10,000, offered for the first discovery of traces of Sir John Franklin, to Dr Rae and his companions. MINOR MATTERS OF THE MONTH. In this category we must string together several little matters of information, and so forth, which, while they deserve to be recorded in our pages, scarcely admit of being referred to under separate headings. In the first place, we have to state that Vesuvius, which, a little earlier than this, last year, burst out in such a violent state of eruption, appears to be getting uneasy again. Accounts from Naples represent it as having made itself very conspicuous of late, by throwing up two huge columns of smoke-a phenomenon, of course, which gives very significant intimation of the agitation that is going on beneath. The present eruption appears to be a continuation of the small one which began in December last, ever since which time copious volumes of smoke have been thrown up, and sometimes ashes and glowing lava. It seems not improbable that tourists in Italy this summer may have a repetition of the spectacle which excited so much attention last year. There is something artistic and apropos in the transition from an eruption of Mount Vesuvius to the origin of redherrings, and we next call attention, therefore, to a tradition current in Yarmouth, not many years since, thereanent the latter subject. Roast pig, as all the world knows, was 'discovered' by the accidental burning of a hut containing a young porker, just of a fit age for the table; your savoury bloater, it would seem, had an equally accidental origin. A Yarmouth fisherman, as the story goes, had hung up some salted herrings in his hut, and forgotten them. They happened to hang where they were exposed to the smoke from the good man's wood-fire; and some days afterwards, being struck by their altered appearance, he determined to see how one of them tasted. The result was so satisfactory, that he hastened to King John, who was then lying near Norwich, to make him a present of the remainder; and the herrings were esteemed such a delicacy by the monarch, that he then and there expressed his determination to grant a charter of incorporation to the town from which they were brought. If any one be disposed to cavil at the veraciousness of this fragment of history, let him be confounded by the fact, that the first charter of Yarmouth was granted by King John. It is with a feeling of regret we announce that Chiswick, the scene, in days gone by, of so many and such attractive exhibitions of fruit and flowers, is no longer to be associated with delights of that description. The effort made by the Horticultural Society to raise £5000 for the purpose of retaining their garden has proved a failure. Little more than twothirds of the required sum has been subscribed, most of that having been given on the condition of the whole amount being raised; and at a recent meeting of the society, a resolution was passed, empowering the council to dispose of the property at Chiswick, and, if necessary, to relinquish the garden altogether. This is in part the result of the very successful floral fêtes at the Crystal Palace. In former years, the exhibitions of this kind at Chiswick were a source of considerable profit, but of late they have entailed heavy expenses on the Horticultural Society, which has thus been driven to the adoption of the resolution we have announced, and which but too plainly writes 'Ichabod' over the gates of the once favourite resort. The long connection of Professor Owen with the Royal College of Surgeons has at length been brought to a close, by his resignation of the office of Conservator of the Hunterian Museum and Professor of Comparative Anatomy, to enter upon his new sphere of duty as Superintendent of the Natural History Department at the British Museum. The appointment of the learned professor to this latter office is a very decided instance of putting 'the right man in the right place;' and we may reasonably hope that, before long, he will devise some means of rendering our vast collection of objects in natural history somewhat more available for popular instruction than it is at present. A curious case lately occurred in Berlin, in which the decision of one of the courts of law turned on a rather recondite point in natural history. It seems that in the Prussian capital, in order to preserve, as far as possible, the race of nightingales from being exterminated by bird-catchers, a tax of three dollars is imposed upon each of these birds that may be confined in a cage. Not long since, a Berlin citizen was prosecuted for non-payment of this tax upon an encaged bird, which charmed the neighbourhood with his warblings. The citizen, however, pleaded not guilty, on the ground that his bird was not a real nightingale; in proof of which he summoned M. Lichenstein, a professor of natural history in the city. On being called forward, the learned professor declared that the plea was just; that real thoroughbred nightingales do not come further north than a given latitude; and consequently, that, unless the bird in question had been imported from the southern side of that latitude, it must be a hybrid and pseudo, and hence no true and genuine bulbul. On this evidence the court duly considered, and dismissed the charge. Mr A. Poey of Havannah has recently published a table of Cyclonic Hurricanes, which have occurred in the West Indies and the Atlantic Ocean, from which it would appear that the months in which these phenomena are most frequent are July, August, September, and October. Mr Poey adds his testimony to what is now known as the 'law of storms:'-'Although nothing is known of the causes which produce hurricanes or gales in any part of the world, yet it has now been proved, by the examination and careful analysis of perhaps more than a thousand logs, and of some hundreds of storms, that wind, in hurricanes and common gales on both sides of the equator, has two motions; and that it turns or blows round a focus or centre in a more or less circular form, and at the same time has a straight or curved motion forward.' On the 25th August an exhibition will be opened at Brussels, under the direction of the Belgian Government, of articles and appliances calculated to improve the physical and intellectual condition of the working classes. The exhibition will comprise models of buildings, articles of food and preparations of food, clothing, household furniture, tools, and implements of trade, educational apparatus, and everything calculated to ameliorate the condition of those engaged in industrial pursuits. Contributions to the exhibition are expected from most of the nations of Western Europe, and it is intended to make the exhibition the foundation of a permanent museum. One other notice, and we must bring this list of 'minor matters' to a close; this last matter, however, being more of a monster than a minor. Our readers have no doubt heard of the famous Wellingtonia gigantia, the lately discovered vegetable colossus of California. It is one of the rarities brought to light by Mr Lobb, the well-known scientific traveller, who goes botanising all over the world, in the service of Messrs Veitch & Son, the eminent nurserymen of Exeter and King's Road, Chelsea. Mr Lobb fell in with a group of them in 1853, while exploring in a solitary district 5000 feet above the level of the sea, on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada, the group consisting in all of about ninety trees, some of which attained to the very respectable altitude of from 260 to 320 feet. The giants were coniferous trees, and of a species before unknown. Mr Lobb was very naturally a little exhilarated by his discovery, and sent home specimens of the branches bearing foliage and cones, together with a drawing of the entire tree. Sir W. J. Hooker subsequently published a lithograph of the tree, and gave a full account of it in the Botanical Magazine;' so that the circumstance of the discovery and the district where it was made was speedily known. Profiting by this information, certain of our go-ahead cousins across the Atlantic proceeded to the spot indicated, stripped off the bark from one of the monsters, and have now made their appearance with it in London, to profit by the wonder-loving propensity of the British public. The various portions of the bark are put together in their proper order, and supported by a framework within, give one a very imposing notion of this giant of the Californian hills. Immense bills placarded about the town call attention to the Mammoth Tree,' and the worthy individual sitting at the receipt of customs at the Adelaide Gallery is already very familiar with the British shilling. THE ORANG-UTAN AT HOME IN THE WOODS. Our readers having made the acquaintance of a baby orang in our last 'Notes,' will not be indisposed, perhaps, to listen to Mr Wallace again, for a minute or two, while he talks to us, in another communication from Borneo, of the habits of the animal when it has grown to maturity, and is still at large in its native woods. The account is all the more valuable from its being almost the only one we have, drawn from the personal observations of an experienced naturalist; and we can hardly doubt but that the most general of general readers will be pleased to have an authentic account of this semi-fabulous inmate of the forest depths. Mr Wallace confirms the native account that there are two distinct species of the orang in Borneo; though the habits of both, he states, are precisely similar: The mias, as the Dyaks and Malays name the animal, frequents those districts only which are so low and level as to be swampy, and are at the same time covered with a lofty virgin forest. In the midst of these plains are isolated mountains, on many of which the Dyaks have settled, and planted numerous fruit-trees, that are much sought after by the mias, which traverses these hills in all directions, but always returns to the swamps at night. . . . It is probably the vast extent of unbroken and equally lofty forest which is the principal attraction to the mias. These forests are its open country, the places best adapted to its mode of life, where it can roam, in every direction, with as much facility as the Indian in the prairie, or the Arab in the desert. It is a singular and most interesting sight to watch a mias making his way leisurely through the forest. He walks deliberately along the branches in the same erect attitude which the great length of his arms and the shortness of his legs give him choosing a place where the boughs of an adjoining tree intermingle, he seizes the smaller twigs, pulls them towards him, grasps them, together with those of the tree he is on, and thus forming a kind of bridge, swings himself onward, and seizing hold of a thick branch with his long arms, is in an instant walking along to the opposite side of the tree. He never jumps or springs, or even appears to hurry himself, and yet Tem moves as quickly as a man can run along the ground beneath. When pursued or attacked, his object is to get to the loftiest tree near; he then climbs rapidly to the higher branches, breaking off quantities of the smaller boughs, apparently for the purminck denies that the orang breaks the pose of frightening his pursuers. branches to throw down when pursued; but I have myself several times observed it. It is true he does not throw them at a person, but casts them down vertically; for it is evident that a bough cannot be thrown to any distance from the top of a lofty tree. In one case a female mias, on a durian-tree, kept up for at least ten minutes a continuous shower of branches, and of the heavy spined fruits, as large as 32pounders, which most effectually kept us clear of the tree she was on. She could be seen breaking them off, and throwing them down, with every appearance of rage, uttering at intervals a loud pumping grunt, and evidently meaning mischief. When a mias is once up a lofty tree, there is no danger of his getting away, as he will not descend to the lower branches, which he must do to pass to another tree. As soon as he feels himself badly wounded, he makes a nest, which, if he completes, is so secure that he will never fall from it. I lost two miases that way, both dying on their nests, when I could not get any one to climb up or cut down the tree till the next day, when putrefaction had commenced. They choose a horizontal forked branch, and breaking off all the branches in its neighbourhood, lay them across one another, till a complete leafy bed is made, which quite hides them from below, and from which they will not move afterwards. Their tenacity of life is very great-from ten to a dozen shots in the body being required to kill them or make them fall. Every night the mias sleeps on a nest similar to that above described, but smaller, and generally placed on a small tree, not more than fifty or sixty feet from the ground. The same animal appears seldom to use these nests more than once or twice, and they are accordingly very abundant in places frequented by the mias. They feed all through the middle of the day, but seldom return to the same tree two days running. They seem not much alarmed at man, often staring down upon me for several minutes, and then moving away slowly to a short distance. After seeing one, I have often had to go a mile or more to fetch my gun, and in almost every case have found it, on my return, within a hundred yards of the place. I have never seen two adult animals together, but both males and females are sometimes accompanied by half-grown young ones, or two or three of the latter go in company. They very rarely descend to the ground, probably only in search of water. The females have but one young, which clings by the long ha of its mother's flanks, and so little impedes her motions, that in two cases I was not aware of its presence till both fell together. The food of the mias consists exclusively of fruits, with occasionally, when these are scarce, tender shoots and leaves. They seem to prefer them unripe, and many are intensely bitter, particularly the large red arillus of one fruit, which seems an especial favourite. In another case, they eat only the small seed of a large fruit, of which they destroy immense quantities. The durian (Durio zibethinus) is also a great favourite, and the mias destroys large quantities of this delicious fruit in places where it grows surrounded by lofty jungle, but will not pass over clearings to get at them. It seems wonderful how the animal can break open this fruit, the outer covering of which is so thick and tough, and densely covered with strong conical spines. It probably bites a few of these off first, and then making a small hole, tears the fruit open with its powerful fingers. It has been said that the huge canine teeth of the orang are for the purpose of defending himself against the tiger, bears, and other carnivorous animals of the east ern forests. Our observations and inqui ries as to the habits of the animal convince us, however, that no such explanation of this part of the animal's structure is at all satisfactory. The Dyaks seem unanimous in their statements, that the mias never either attacks or is attacked by any animal, with one exception, which is highly curious, and would hardly be credible, were it not confirmed by the testimony of several independent parties who have been eyewitnesses of the circumstance. The only animal the mias measures his strength with is the crocodile of those regions. The account of the natives is as follows:-When there is little fruit in the jungle, the mias goes to the river side to eat the fruits that grow there, and also the young shoots of some palm-trees which are found at the water's edge. The crocodile then sometimes tries to seize him, but he gets on the reptile's back, beats it with his hands and feet on the head and neck, and pulls open the jaws till he rips up the throat. The mias always kills the crocodile, for he is very strong. There is no animal in the jungle so strong as he. It was announced at one of the late meetings of the Geographical Society, that Mr Wallace had returned to Singapore from his expedition to Borneo, and was about to visit Celebes, when he hoped to explore portions of that island hitherto unknown, as well as others of the Molucca group. At the request of the Council of the Society, Mr Wallace has been furnished, through the kindness of Lord Clarendon, with letters of introduction from the Governments of Holland and Spain to the authorities of their different colonies in the East. A DAINTY DISH FROM THE TROPICS. A correspondent of the Society of Arts favours us with a communication from Honduras, which is calculated to make the mouths water of all genuine epicures. It promises us, in addition to some choice delicacies never before thought of as attainable here, an almost unlimited supply of highly improved turtle soup. The communication in which this tempting prospect is held out to us is quite in character with the good things on which it dilates-pleasantly blending facts in natural history with directions in the culinary art, and spiced throughout with a genial racy humour. It is an 'after-dinner' piece, written, one may well conjecture, under the kindly influence of that famous 'green fat,' with respect to which the writer is so playfully satirical at the expense of our civic functionaries. But our readers shall have the letter for themselves, and that it may be duly honoured, the compositor will be pleased to put it in good bold type, in full, as we send it. 'I will mention a few things which might be preserved in Honduras, and which, I have no doubt, would find a ready market in England. First and foremost, then, there is the turtle that must not be overlooked. The turtle of Honduras attains to a very large size, and is extremely delicate and fat. In consequence of the number of coral reefs which run along the whole coast of Honduras, causing the water inside to be very shal low, the turtle feeding-grounds, on which a species of moss or grass grows, are very extensive, stretching for several hundred miles. The supply of turtle might be almost unlimited. Any one engaged in the preserving and exportation of this wholesome and nutritious food, would do well to proceed somewhat after this manner:-He would first contract with the turtlers for any ample supply of this testaceous fish, at so much a-pound-say one penny; he ought to get it at that price, considering that the shell would be weighed in. Having thus caught not his hare, as worthy Mrs Glass would say but his turtle, he would separate from it the green fat, the neck, the fins, and the breast, which is called the callipee. These are the only parts which are worth preserving. The fleshy portion he would be able to sell in the market for steaks at twopence per pound. The greater part of the flesh when boiled down becomes gelatinous. Those square pieces of turtle which float about in the soup in company with divers coloured balls at city feasts, and which lord mayors and aldermen, not to say recorders and common sergeants, in the innocence and simplicity of their hearts, put into their mouths as green fat, swallow as green fat, and digest as green fat, are really and truly nothing more nor less than bits of turtle glue, which Birch and other great culinary criminals impose upon them as the real Simon pure. Very likely they themselves are not better informed. But the true genuine unsophisticated fat is never found in a turtle after it has performed a sea voyage. "Lively" the animal may be, but fat, certainly not. It would be a mistake to attempt to manufacture and export the soup. The parts which I have above mentioned should simply be boiled down, and packed up in tins hermetically sealed. 'Another article which might be preserved and exported, and which I have no doubt would be highly prized by epicures in England, is the liver of the hiccatee. The hiccatee is the fresh-water turtle, or tortoise, and is, I believe, altogether unknown in Europe. It never approaches to anything like the size of the largest turtles. The weight of a hiccatee seldom exceeds twenty pounds. It has not got fins like a turtle, or, to be more correct, the sea-tortoise, but round webbed feet, each having five claws, like those of a duck. It is made for the land, therefore, as well as the water. It does not, however, make the former its home, and its feet are evidently intended merely to enable it, when one pool becomes dry, to travel in search of another. The hiccatee is generally caught in the dry season, when going "across the country" in search of water. The feet, when dressed, are gelatinous, but the sh is dry and fibrous. It is, however, the liver which renders this species of tortoise so highly estimable. It is a dark olive colour, and immensely large. If this were preserved in oil with truffles, it would be considered far superior to the goose's liver, of which the pâté de foie gras is made. The eggs of the iguana are another article deserving attention. One of these lizards sometimes contains as many as fourscore eggs. They are about the size of pigeons' eggs, with a very soft shell, which contains only a very small quantity of the albumen. The yolk, unlike the yolks of other eggs, does not become hard and dry when boiled, but is soft and melting as marrow. It would be a refreshing sight to see Alderman A., or Sheriff B., or any other civic dignitary, who has gone the round of all the dishes which native and foreign skill have been able to produce, and to whom a new combination would convey as much delight as a black tulip or a fresh dahlia would to a horticulturist, partaking, for the first time, of pâté de foie gras de Thiccatee, or a dish of the eggs of the iguana, garnished with anchovies. What I have mentioned are only a few of the very excellent things which might be preserved and sent to England, in exchange for Highland mutton, Scottish collops, and fresh salmon. I state these facts, and I can do no more. If those who are interested in them will not take the hint, it is not my fault.' Our readers will agree with us, that this is evidently a matter for M. Soyer to attend to; and now that the Guards are home again, and there is no longer an army before Sebastopol to cater for, our illustrious chef de cuisine will do well to seek the assistance of this genial Honduras epicure, and make arrangements for speedily supplying us with turtlesoup, &c. &c., for the million. |