This comparative account sadly exhibited the deserted state of a country very similar to Ireland in its natural dimensions. The interior or central parts of Iceland are not inhabited, and are but little known to the traveller.

The author, after describing the general aspect of the island, and its total want of trees, added a brief description of Mount Hecla, and its three somewhat conical summits. As the poets of Grecian antiquity had dedicated one of the tops of the Bifid Parnassus to Apollo, and the second to Bacchus, so he conceived the Skalds or Bards of Iceland ought to have assigned the first summit of the Trifid Hecla to Odin, the second to Frea (Friga), and the third to Thor.

According to the recent survey and measurement of Prof. Björn Gunnlaugsson, the altitude of the highest top of Hecla is 4961 Danish feet, or somewhat above 5100 English feet. A brief description by a late traveller of the view from one of its summits was given.

The author alluded to the wonderful Geysers, and other boiling springs, which after certain intervals spout jets of water and steam high into the air, and proved that some of them had existed for at least six centuries and a half.

Then followed an account of the climate in summer and winter; the aurora borealis, and other meteorological phænomena; also of the continuance in June and July of sunshine during the night, and of the want of it in the day through the corresponding period in December and January.

An enumeration of some of the chief volcanic products and minerals was made; and the poverty of vegetation, the few wild animals, and those which are domesticated, were noticed.

Next, concerning the ethnology of the Icelanders. These were characterized as a plain, but well-made, not very robust race, of good height, with reddish hair and blue eyes. They are short-lived, content, and moral, although much addicted to drinking. They are naturally lazy, phlegmatic, and not very hospitable. Professing Lutheran tenets, they are religious, fond of their native land, and well-educated. Crimes are very rare. Owing to the severity of the climate, they are warmly clad; both sexes wearing old-fashioned garments of a coarse dark cloth, Wadmal. Thẹ houses, or rather huts of the lower class, are low and miserable, and from the scarcity of timber, are mostly built of lava. They are very filthy and want fresh air. Fuel is scarce; peat, as well as the remains of fish and birds, are its substitutes.

Their diet consists of salt fish, fermented milk, rancid butter; also train oil is much esteemed. Salted mutton is used, and fresh fish in summer. Wheaten bread is scarcely ever to be had; sometimes barley cakes are eaten, but the usual bread of the peasantry is made from the poor flour of the Iceland Lichen (Cetraria Islandica). In summer travelling is effected on horses; in winter in sledges, which are the only carriages known.

The occupations of the Icelanders are chiefly breeding horses, cattle and sheep; fishing for cod and seals, and in certain rivers for salmon; salting and drying fish and mutton. Much attention is given to the care of Eider ducks, their down being a most valuable export. Little is done in commerce as yet, except by the Danish merchants. The other principal exports are dried salt fish, fish roe, pickled mutton, skins, fur, wool, feathers, train oil, and tallow. Brandy and salt, with most of the other necessaries of life, are imported; so are manufactured goods.

Nearly all the lower classes can read and write; and in every hut is found the Bible. During their long winter, the Icelanders spend much time in reading, at which season both sexes knit and weave. Small plots of ground are here and there cultivated for gardens, in which some common vegetables are with difficulty grown; there are no corn-fields; only meadows and pastures in the valleys adjoining upon lakes and streams.

The Icelanders have several diseases, which are very fatal*, and vast numbers of the children die when infants.

Mr. Hogg made mention of the Icelandic language, which is the original Norwegian, or Norse, scarcely at all altered by length of time, or contact with other nations. It belongs to the Scandinavian branch of the great Teutonic family of many ethnologists; or, according to Jacob Grimm, it forms a dialect of his fourth division of the Germanic language. The author is more inclined to esteem it, with Rask and later authorities, a sister language, rather than a mere cognate dialect of * Dr. Latham observed (after the paper was read), that, according to Dr. Schleisner, the temperature of the blood of the Icelander is sensibly higher than that of any other European.

the German. It is characterized by the absence of aspirates and gutturals, and thus possesses a softer sound and pronunciation.

This dialect of the Scandinavian remained unchanged, whilst that of the Danes having altered much, it could no longer be termed Dönsk Tunga, 'Danish tongue,' as the language which prevailed throughout the North and in Iceland was at first called. It then came under the appellation of Norræna Tunga, the Northern tongue,' or Norse, that afterwards designated more especially the Norwegian dialect. The latter continued the same for a long time, while that of Sweden soon altered. In the ninth century the Norwegian colonists took into Iceland their language, where it continued in its purity for ages. But the ancient dialect in Norway at length experienced a great alteration in consequence of the union of the country with Denmark, and thus Norwegian and Danish soon assimilated and became the same.

Consequently, the original Norwegian, which still continued to be used in Iceland, obtained a new and more fit title, viz. Islenzka Tunga, the Icelandic tongue.' Indeed, this identical language is now so little altered, that the lower class of Icelanders still read and understand the Sagas and ancient Eddaic poems.

The author said, "want of time forbade him from adding any particulars concerning the structure or grammatical peculiarities of the Islenzka Tunga : " he therefore concluded by giving some examples of Icelandic words, for the purpose of showing how similar they are to the corresponding vulgar words still spoken by our common people in this part of the north of England. These had most likely been introduced by the Nordmenn-or Northmen of Scandinavia under the general term of Danes-when they spoke the same original Norwegian as the Icelanders do, during their invasions in the ninth and tenth centuries of this portion of Northumbria.

According to Adelung (Mithridates, vol. ii. p. 305), Von Troil, in his 'Letters from Iceland,' has reckoned four principal dialects (hauptmundarten) of the Icelandic. These, however, the author apprehended, only present very slight differences, except in the sea-ports where many Danish words are used, inasmuch as the same pronunciation prevails throughout the island, and is found to be, even among the lower class, nearly identical.

"

Mr. Hogg illustrated his observations by pointing out the localities mentioned on two recent and beautiful maps of Iceland from the collection of Icelandic maps in the possession of the Royal Geographical Society of London. These are entitled 'Uppdrattr Islands," and were executed under the direction of Mr. O. N. Olsen from the measurements of Mr. Björn Gunnlaugsson, Professor of Mathematics at the College of Bessastadt in Iceland. They were published in 1844 and 1849 by the Islenzka Bókmentafèlag, or Icelandic Literary Society at Copenhagen.

Notes on a Journey to the Balkan, or Mount Hamus, from Constantinople. By Lieut. Gen. JOCHMUS. Drawn up and communicated by JOHN HOGG, M.A., F.R.S., L.S., R.G.S. &c., For. Sec. R.S.L.

Previous to the reading of this communication, Mr. Hogg stated, that the author is Lieut.-General Jochmus, a native of Hamburg, long an officer in the army of the Sultan, and afterwards Minister for Foreign Affairs of the administrator of the Ger manic Empire. It describes a journey to the Balkan from Constantinople, which was undertaken in October 1847; but the notes were written in that capital in January 1848. Time did not allow of the full reading of this valuable communication, and therefore Mr. J. Hogg was only able to submit to the Section certain passages from the "Notes" themselves, but he gave a preliminary sketch of the route pursued by the author, and of the principal objects of his journey.

Many defiles and passes of the noble Balkan range, the Mount Hæmus of antiquity, so named, probably, from aiμos, a wooded district, and now called in Turkish Emineh Dagh, which rises to about 6000 feet above the sea, were correctly described, particularly that portion which extends from Burgas on the Black Sea to Tirnova, the capital of Bulgaria; also along the coast of that sea to Varna, the former Odessus, and thence through the territory of the ancient Triballians to Silistria (Durosterum) on the right bank of the Danube.

The General was enabled to determine some portions of the Balkan which were either before uncertain, or altogether unknown, and likewise to correct in several places the great Austrian staff map. Indeed, he has shown that there are no less than thirteen practicable defiles, besides many cross-roads, between the pass of Ke

zanlik and Cape Emineh, and not five only, as Von Hammer enumerates. And he observed that 'the most extraordinary fact is that Marshal Diebitsch, as well as Darius, crossed the Hamus by roads unknown to that most learned historian of the Turkish empire."

General Jochmus likewise establishes several ancient localities where Darius halted with his army. At Bunarhissar, near the Kuchuk Balkan, he unsuccessfully searched for the ancient inscription with the letters like "nails," mentioned by Herodotus (Melp. c. 91), and which Abdallah Aga described to him as being "in ancient Syrian or Assyrian (Eski Souriani)," and which he "maintained having seen in the Tekeh every day for upwards of the eight years which he passed there as a Dervish." But he seems to have been more fortunate in finding the clear streams of the Tearus, near the latter town, and which have been incorrectly named Teara Sugi, or Teara's Waters,' by Von Hammer. He has identified the ancient river Artiscus of Herodotus with that now named Teke, near the new Bulgarian colony of Dewlet Agatch, in the former territory of the Odryssæ.

Mr. Hogg said it was one of the chief objects of the author to ascertain the line of march and operations of Darius through this country, and he dwelt on the following passage: "Darius crossed the Bosphorus on a bridge of boats connecting the two continent at the site of the present new Castles of Asia and Europe (see Gibbon, and Herod. Melp. c. 87), encamped successively at the sources of the Tearus (Bunarhissar), and on the banks of the Teke, or Artiscus (at Dewlet Agatch), and following the direction of Burgas and Achioly, and subjecting the sea-towns, he passed afterwards the Balkan by the defiles parallel to the sea-coast from Mesivria to Jowan Dervish, moving from south to north, by the same roads which were chosen by Generals Roth and Rüdiger, and by Marshal Diebitsch himself, who proceeded from north to south in 1829. The Russians also in 1828, and Darius about 2300 years before them, passed the Danube at that part of the river where it begins to branch off' (Melp. c. 89), that is, near the modern Issatscha."

The route to the Great Balkan, the true Hæmus range, which General Jochmus, looking to the nature of the country, supposes that Alexander the Great took in his march from Amphipolis to the Danube, he has fixed, where Alexander must, either at Bogasdéré, or at the entrance of the neighbouring valley Charamdéré, at the foot of one of the wildest gorges of the Balkan, have fought the battle with the Thracians, as is recorded by Arrian (lib. i. c. 1). The aspect of those defiles, the steepness of the mountains in parts of that ascent of the Balkan, and the distance from Amphipolis, caused the author to arrive at that conclusion.

But as to the site of the battle between Alexander and the Triballians, which occurred about 335 B.C., the General, exploring the country to the west of Varna on the Black Sea, says, “the Parawadi river runs nearly parallel to the Hamus and to the Danube, and considering that from Varna, as well as from Parawadi, the distance to Silistria is computed at twenty-four hours, or three days' march, there can be no doubt but that the Parawadi river is the Lyginos described by Arrian as 'distat id ab Istro, si quis Æmum versus proficiscatur, itinere tridui.' The Lyginos is not stated by the historian to flow into the Ister or Danube, as the great Austrian map and other authorities have made it, "at Dshibra Palanka, between Nicopoli and Widdin, opposite to some islands. It is this collateral circumstance of the islands at the mouth of the Dshibra Palanka river which most likely caused the error, for Arrian speaks of an island of the Lyginos."

From an examination of the district adjoining upon the two lakes of Devno to the west of Varna, General Jochmus is persuaded that the isthmus between those lakes, a little west of Buyuk Aladin, is the ground of Alexander's action, it being "formed into an island by the two principal outlets of the Parawadi, or Lyginos river, which traverses" both the lakes.

Further, the General has thus determined Alexander's line of march and exploits from Macedonia to the Danube. He thinks he proceeded "from Amphipolis (Emboli), leaves Philippi (ruins of Filibe) and Mount Orbelus on its left, crosses the Nesus (Carasu), and following the high road by the present Féréshik, Dimotika, Kirklissia and Aïdos, gets to the foot of Mount Hamus, where he arrives' on the tenth day.' Here he fights the action with the Thracians at Bogasdéré, or Charamdéré, forces these defiles, and crosses the Hamus (Balkan) by the main road to Parawadi, 'on the Lyginos.' From Parawadi, Alexander moves by the present

high road straight on to Silistria, but hearing of the retreat of the main body of the Triballians towards 'the island of the river (Lyginos), whence Alexander had departed the previous day,' he countermarches also in search of the enemy, whom he meets and defeats on the grounds between the two lakes of Devno. Thence he arrives' in three days' on the Danube (at Silistria), crosses that mighty river, defeats the Getæ *; repasses the Danube, and undertakes his expedition against the Agriani and Pæoni." (Arrian, Exped. lib. i. c. 1–5.) "It remains," continued the author, "to be observed, that whilst the Getæ, who in the time of the expedition of Darius against the Scythæ (Herod. lib. iv.) lived south of the Danube, are found by Alexander already on the left or northern bank of the river, in the fertile plains of Wallachia, the Triballians, on the contrary, hold the former territories of the Getæ as far south-east as Varna."

It is therefore seen that Alexander has passed in his march on Silistria the Kamshik at Koprikoï, and the Lyginos at Parawadi, at the same points chosen by Marshal Diebitsch in his reverse operation from Silistria, against the defiles of the Balkan after the battle of Kulerdja and the capture of Silistria. Arrived at Koprikoï, the Russian army strikes off to the east, and forces those passes of the Hæmus chosen by Darius, because it lay in the plan of the Russians, as it did formerly in those of the Persians, to occupy first the sea-towns,' before continuing their operations, -Darius from south to north, Marshal Diebitsch from north to south, Nature has so strongly marked the best amongst the difficult passes of the Hamus, that, at the distance of very many centuries, the three great commanders are found to operate by the same lines."

General Jochmus, returning to Varna from the isthmus between the upper and lower Devno lakes, his guide "indicated the grounds, north of the village of Jenishékoï, as the scene of the great battle of the 10th November 1444, A.D. Two tumuli were pointed out to him by the denomination of Sandshak Tépé, and Murad Tépé. They are about the centre of the line which Sultan Murad's army of 40,000 men must have occupied." The last named Tépé he holds "to be the spot where that Sultan had ordered the lance with the treaty to be exposed to the sight of his indignant army, and where King Wladislaw's head was planted by its side. The Sandshak Tépé is the neighbouring mound, where, according to the Turkish warcustom, the great imperial standard was displayed.”

The ground there, as laid down in a plan in Hellert's French translation of Von Hammer's 'History of the Ottoman Empire,' was found to be "altogether fictitious;" and it is a very incorrect representation of the "battle of Varna." The General then gives further details of this great battle, and describes the present condition of the fortifications of Varna. He also mentions the attack of the Russians in 1828.

General Jochmus made many remarks of a military nature respecting the chief positions, towns, and stations in this part of the Turkish dominions; and also many accurate personal observations on the routes and natural features of the Balkan, which contribute a valuable addition at this time to our present knowledge of that mountainous range. There are likewise interspersed throughout his communication many interesting accounts of the political condition and manners of the different races whom he visited.

Three neatly drawn and coloured plans illustrated the paper; the first, a map of the Great Balkan from Varna to Tirnova, and from Varna to Burgas on the Black Sea, with the names written in Turkish; the second, a "Sketch of the Ground near Varna, 1847," showing the lakes, sites of the battles, tumuli, &c.; and the third gave a "Sketch of the marches of Darius and Alexander to the Danube, and of the passage of the Balkan by Marshal Diebitsch."

On certain Localities not in Sweden occupied by Swedish Populations, and on certain Ethnological Questions connected with the Coasts of Livonia, Esthonia, Courland, and Gothland. By R. G. LATHAM, M.Ď.

A short pamphlet 'On the Remains of Swedish Nationality in Esthonia and Livonia,' by Aug. Sohlman (Om Lemningar af Svensk Nationalitet uti Estland och Lifland),

"According to Barbié du Bocage, near a place opposite to Silistria, where now is the village of Kornizel."

gives an account of certain Swedish populations in the islands, and along the shore, between Reval and Memel. In Rogö, Odinsholm, half Nuckö, half Worms, parts of Dagö, Runö, and a portion of the coast near Roslep, the population is Swedish both in language and appearance. In Nargö, the other half of Worms, half Nuckö, and a few spots on the opposite coast, there are Swedes and Esthonians mingled. In Mannö, Kynö, parts of Ösel, Moon, Dagö, and patches of the continent, the present population consists of Esthonians who have displaced Swedes. The earliest notice of these Swedes is in the laws of the town of Hapsal, A.D. 1294. Henry the Lett mentions Swedes in Reval. The local names are Swedish,-Stoorby, Söderby, Lyckholm, Kluttorp, Pärsåker, &c.; so are the personal,-Knuter, Mats, Lars, &c. Runic letters are used in their calendars. Thursday is an unlucky day to begin work on; Friday a lucky one for marrying, notions pointing to Freya and Thor. Superstitions and legends are numerous. Dialects not fewer than 5; privileges neither a few nor unimportant.

A colony of these Swedes from Dagö has been transplanted to the parts near Berislav, in the government of Cherson; their localities being Schlangendorf, Milhausendorf, Gamle Svenskby, and Klosterdorf. The date of this is recent; that of island occupations uncertain. Probably it belongs to the 9th, or 10th, or 11th centuries, i. e. the great epoch of the Scandinavian piracy.

Going beyond the details of these small localities to the ethnology of the neighbouring parts of the continent at large, we find that the displacements have been inordinately great. The Prussians and Lieflanders belong to Prussia and Livonia (Liefland) only as an Englishman does to Britain, and they are Prussians and Livonians only as Englishmen are Britons. They occupy countries that originally belonged to Liefs and Prussians, just as the Angles occupied countries which were originally British. The true and original Liefs (Livonians) were Finns, of the same branch with the present Esthonïans; indeed, a few true (Finns) Liefs exist, at the present time, in Livonia. The Livonians, however, commonly so called, are Letts, or Lithuanians. The true Prussians were Letts or Lithuanians; the present Prussians are Germans. How far, then, did the area of the Finn population akin to the Liefs and Esthonians originally extend? Certainly into Courland; possibly at a very early period (some centuries B.c.) to the mouth of the Elbe. And how far extended the Lithuanian area? Into West Prussia at least. If so, and if the westward extension of the Finns be real, the direction of the Lithuanic must have been from some part of the interior of Europe towards the coast. Did Lithuanian tribes cross the Baltic? The general tendency of opinion is to attribute all the commercial or piratical activity of the Baltic tribes to the Scandinavian branch of the Germans. The foundation of this doctrine is the name Goth. Few hesitate to consider the Goths of Gothland (isle and provinces), the Jutes of Jutland, and the Gothones (Guttones) of East Prussia as populations bearing a name essentially the same. Few doubt about this name being German, and applied to Germans. Yet this fact, upon which so much turns, is more than doubtful. a. No Germanic population can be shown to have borne a name like g-t, previous to its having occupied the country of some non-Germanic population, so-called; so that the Germans of the several Goth countries were Goths only as the Englishman is a Briton, i. e. not at all. b. The population to which the term g-t can be shown to have been most unequivocally and undoubtedly applied is Lithuanic (i. e. the old Prussian of the country of the Guttones, Gothones, or Gythones). Reduce the inferences derived from this erroneous assumption to their proper dimensions, and then consider the ethnology of Scandinavia. The two provinces of Gothland, the island Gothland, the Gothland (so to say) of the Guttones, must be placed in the same category. But the Guttones can no longer be made German, on the strength of their name. The evidence of their Germanic character is reduced to the single fact of their being found in the 'Germania' of Tacitus. This is not sufficient to stand against the preponderating facts in favour of their being Lithuanians or Prussians. The author believes that Scandinavia (in the first instance Finn) received two streams of occupancy and conquest; one Lithuanic for Gothland, &c., and one German, that spread from Norway southwards and eastwards. The chief proofs of this lie in the admitted facts of Scandinavian ethnology interpreted differently. There are numerous Lithuanic words in the Scandinavian language; there are the political and other peculiarities of the Goth-lands; there are elements common to the two mythologies,