oaa —

AN ACCOUNT OF THE PROGRESS

GEOGEAPHT

THE YE^R 1885

J, KIXG GOODRICH.

FROM THE SMITHSONIAN REPORT FOB 1883.

WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OPPIOB.
1886.

GEOGRAPHY.

By J. King Goodkioh.

GENERAL NOTES.
The attention of the geographical world has been drawn away from
the poles and centered upon the equatorial regions during the short
period which has elapsed since the last report of the progress in geog
raphy was written. As a summary of the work done, the address of
the Marquis of Lome, president of the Eoyal Geographical Society of
Great Britain, at the opening of the session of 1885-'86, may be very
properly alluded to at this point and commended as a careful and satis
factory epitome of what is of most interest.
While lacking much of the harrowing element that was so distress
ingly conspicuous in the records of the " Jeannette" and Greely Arctic
expeditions, and which appealed so strongly to our sympathy, the cur
rent record is by no means wanting in evidences of danger and disaster.
The Aberdeen meeting of the Geography Section of the British Asso
ciation commenced on the 9th of September. The leading feature of
this year's meeting was the prominence given to Indian subjects. Out
of a total of thirty-four papers read, as many as eleven referred to the
geography of India and the regions immediately adjoining it. Geo
graphical education attracted much attention, and the report of Mr.
Keltic upon this subject elicited prolonged discussion. The importance
of this branch of education is becoming more marked every day ; com
munications on the subject have frequently appeared in the leading
journals, which devote columns specially to geography. In order to
test the condition of education in Denmark, the Government decided at
the beginning of the year to have a test examination among the recruits
•of the army and navy, on the Belgian principle. The result of this ex
amination appears to have been very discreditable to education in Den
mark, and particularly to that in geography. One of the examiners,
the Eev. J. L. Bang, of Langaa, has given some particulars of the re
sults, from which we quote : " The regiment selected was the Life Guards,
the crack regiment of the Danish army, the recruits (282 in number)
being, drawn from every part of the country. Questions such as how
many ells (the Danish measure) go to a mile, and the size of an acre of
3

4 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1885.
land, were answered by a very few only. But as regards geography the
answers were far worse. In answer to the question, 'What is the cap
ital of Sweden?' Paris, Trondhjem, St. Petersburg, Amsterdam, Lon
don, Madrid, Copenhagen, and even Constantinople were given." It is
by no means certain that a similar examination in this country would
develop results very much more satisfactory.
Dr. Eichard Lehmann, professor of geography in Munster University,
has issued the first part of a work, which will extend to about 400 pages,.
on apparatus and methods in geographical teaching. Dr. Lehmann has
given much attention to the subject of geographical education, and has
himself, as teacher and Privatdocent in Halle, had great experience in
teaching the subject, so that his work when completed is sure to prove
of real service.
An exhibition of maps, atlases, reliefs, globes, and other apparatus
used in geographical education, collected from the principal establish
ments and institutions in England and on the continent of Europe, was
opened in London on the 9th of December, 1885, by the president of the
Eoyal Geographical Society, the Marquis of Lome, and will continue
to the 31st of January, 1886. The programme includes lectures and
discussions, and the attendance and interest confirm the judgment of the
promoters of the scheme.
The geographical subject proposed this year by the French Academy
of Inscriptions for the Prix Bordin is "A critical examination of the
geography of Strabo." According to the terms laid down by the Acad
emy, competitors are (1) to give the history of the text of the work; (2)
to characterize the language of Strabo with reference to that of con
temporary Greek writers, such as Diodorus Siculus, and Dionysius of
Halicarnassus; (3) to distinguish the information collected by direct ob
servation of places and that 'drawn by him from his predecessors; (4)
to express definite conclusions on his critical method in using various
documents. The papers should be in the hands of the secretary of
the institute not later than December 31, 1886.
It was stated in the early part of the year that the King of the Bel
gians was conferring with M. Martinie, president of the French Geo
graphical Society, on the subject of the formation of an International
Geographical Society. Though nothing definite seems to have come of
this conference, it is to be hoped that such a society will be formed.
One of the best arguments in its favor is that through its instrumen
tality combined action could be had on the system of orthography for
native names of places. Taking into consideration the present want of
such a system, and the consequent confusion and variety that exist in
the mode of spelling in English maps, the council of the Eoyal Geo
graphical Society has adopted the following rules for such geographical
names as are not (in the countries to which they belong) written in the
Eoman character. The rules are identical with those adopted for the

GEOGRAPHY. 0
Admiralty charts, and will henceforth be used in all publications of the
society. 1. No change will be made in the orthography of foreign names in
countries which use Eoman letters: thus Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch,
&c., names will be spelt as by the respective nations.
2. Neither will any change be made in the spelling of such names in
languages which are not written in Eoman character as have become
by long usage familiar to English readers ; thus Calcutta, Cutch, Cele
bes, Mecca, &c., will be retained in their present form.
3. The true sound of the word as locally pronounced will be taken as
the basis of the spelling.
4. An approximation, however, to the sound is alone aimed at. A
system which would attempt to represent the more delicate inflections
of sound and accent would be so complicated as only to defeat itself.
Those who desire a more accurate pronunciation of the written name
must learn it on the spot by a study of local accent and peculiarities.
5. The broad features of the system are that vowels are pronounced
as in Italian, and consonants as in English.
6. One accent only is used, the acute, to denote the syllable on which
stress is laid. This is very important, as the sounds of many names are
entirely altered by the misplacement of this stress.
7. Every letter is pronounced. When two vowels come together each
one is sounded, though the result when spoken quickly is sometimes
scarcely to be distinguished from a single sound, as in ai, au, ei.
8. [East] Indian names are accepted as spelt in Hunter's Gazetteer.
On the 11th of September occurred the centenary of the foundation
of the well-known geographical establishment of Justus Perthes, of Gotha.
The committee of the Geography Section of the British Association,
which was in session at Aberdeen at the time, sent a telegram of hearty
congratulation and good wishes for the future to the head of the estab
lishment. All the professors of geography at the German universities
united in presenting to the firm a beautifully illuminated address, ex
pressing their sense of the services rendered to geography by the firm
during its long career. A handsome quarto volume has also been issued
from Gotha for pi ivate circulation, giving a very interesting sketch of the
progress of the establishment under its various heads, brief biographies of
the famous cartographers connected with it, and notes on the various
great works in geography which it has produced. The work contains nu
merous portraits both of the partners and cartographers of the past. The
founder of the firm was Johann Georg Justus Perthes, who was born at
Eudolstadt, September 11, 1749, his father being physician to the Prince
of Eudolstadt. ' When the firm was first established in Gotha in 1785,
its publications were of a general character. In 1809 the great Hand-
Atlas uber alle leJcannte Lander des Urdbodens, by Professor Heusin-
ger, of Dresden, was published, with twenty-four maps in copper plate.
Under the second chief of the firm, Wilhelm Perthes, 1816-'53, the

6 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1885.
Gotha establishment rapidly assumed the special geographical and car
tographical character it has ever since possessed. Under him the first
part of the celebrated hand atlas of Adolf Stieler was published in 1817,
which since then has continued to be issued in an unbroken series of
editions. To Wilhelm succeeded in 1853 Bernhard Perthes, who, how
ever, was cut off in 1857, leaving a posthumous son, the present head
of the Gotha establishment. The successive chiefs gathered round them
in successive years all the best geographical talent in Germany, includ
ing such names as those of Stieler, Berghaus, Sydow, Spruner, Bret.
schneider, Peter mann, Behm, Wagner, Supan, Hassenstein. Through
the GeograpUsche Mittheilungen established by Petermann, the Go
tha establishment has gradually become the receptacle for geographical
information from all parts of the earth, information which is being con
stantly put on record and given to the world in the form of those ac
curate and beautiful maps with which all geographers are familiar. It
is to be hoped that long continued prosperity is in store for a house
which has done such admirable service in the past to geographical sci
ence. The recent colonial acquisitions by the various European nations has
called forth a number of excellent papers on the subject. Among the
best is that of Colonel Sir Charles H. Nugent, K. C. B., which was
published in a recent issue of the .Journal of the Eoyal United Service
Institution. According to the latest statistics, England has 65 square
miles of colony to the square mile of her own area; Holland, 54;
Portugal, 20 ; Denmark, 6'30 ; France, 1-90 ; and Spain, 0-86 square
miles. The area of the British colonies is nearly 8,000,000 square miles,
rather less than the area of the Eussian Empire, including Siberia and
Central Asia ; but if the area of the native feudatory states in India
be added, amounting to 509,284 square miles, over which England exer
cises as great control as Eussia does over much of the territory under
its sway, together with that of the United Kingdom itself, 120,757
square miles, then the area of the British Empire exceeds that of the
Eussian Empire ; and it covers within a fraction of one-sixth of the
whole land area of the globe. The recently absorbed territory of the
ex-King Thebaw is not included in this epitome.
Two new prizes have been added to those which the Geographical
Society of Paris is now in a position to award. One is that of M. J. B.
Morot, who bequeathed a sum of 2,000 francs, the interest of which is to
be given annually to the French navigator or traveller who should in
the course of the year have approached nearest to the North Pole ; and
the other that of M. Felix Fournier, who left 50,000 francs to found an
annual prize " with the object of rewarding the best geographical work,
either maps or books, published during the year." While the former
will hardly be considered a special incentive to braving the hardships
of Arctic travel, the latter will undoubtedly stimulate to extra effort.
The war ministers of France, Germany, and Italy have recently been

GEOGRAPHY. 7
attentively examining geographical maps in relief, constructed on a
system of which M. de Mendouca, a Portuguese councilor of state, presi
dent of the Banco Lusitano, possesses the patent and is the promulgator.
These relief maps are stated to combine the advantages generally ad
mitted to be possessed by relief maps and the convenience and accuracy
of maps on flat surfaces. This new method rapidly produces by a chem
ical and mechanical process plane maps with the curves and altitudes
in relief, so represented as to correspond absolutely with the elevations
established by accurate observations. These maps are drawn on com
paratively thin paper ; can be rolled up and placed in the narrowest
case, so that they are very light and portable, and are not injured by
water. The editor of Science, under date of December 4, 1885, called attention
to a curious instance of persistency of error in map-making. Many
years ago an army expedition traversed the White Eiver region of Colo
rado, going from Fort Bridger, Wyoming, to old Port Massachusetts,
Colorado. In this neighborhood are "bad lands," eroded into curious
forms, which naturally suggest a ruined city ; the commander of the
expedition gave the locality the name of Goblin City, which name ap
peared on his map. The map-makers, in their haste to fill up the blanks
in this unsettled region, jumped to the conclusion that this was a veri
table settlement, and gave it a place on their maps — a place which it
has ever since retained. Not only have the commercial map-makers,
almost without exception, fallen into this error, but such authorities as
the United States Engineer Office and General Land Offlce have adopted
it. The name has however been gradually changed from Goblin to
Goldin, and thence to Golden City ; while more than one enterprising
map-maker — reasoning probably that a city cannot exist without means
of communicating with other settlements, has constructed on paper a
road down the White Eiver to it. It is scarcely necessary to add that
there is not and never was a city in this neighborhood. Continuing his
very apposite comments on careless map-making, the same editor, in a
more recent issue, is inclined to think that if demand begets supply,
there must be a very limited demand for good maps in this country.
And any geographer who has had occasion to use trade maps of com
paratively new regions must frequently have been sadly embarrassed
by the apparent carelessness in compiling them.
HeinrichEntz and August Mer have recently independently studied
the voyage of Hanno, the Carthaginian. Both agree that its termina
tion was at the island of Fernando Po, in the Bight of Biafra, called by
Hanno the Isle of Gorillas. The colony of Thymaterion is identified by
them, as by most authors, with the town of Mazaghan, and the promon
tory of Solo6 with Cape Cantin. The river Lixus is regarded' by Mer
as the Senegal, for weighty reasons, though Entz and others have
favored the Wadi Draa, much farther south. Hanno's island of Cern6
was probably Goree, and his Western Horn (or Bay) was the Bight of

8 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1885.
Benin. Much weight attaches to the opinion of M. Mer, who is a retired
maval oflflcer of forty years' experience, including three years of cruis
ing between the equator and Gibraltar, on the west coast of Africa.
A catalogue of the printed maps, plans, and charts in the British
UMuseum has been prepared by Professor Douglas, and will be issued
in two large volumes. AFRICA.
F. S. Arnot has sent to the Eoyal Geographical Society a sketch map
of his route from Shoshong to Bih6. He followed the Zambesi from
3iis point of crossing, a little above Victoria Falls, to Lialui, from which
lie proceeded west-northwest to the great plateau on which Bih6 is
situated. The route from Benguela to the mission village of Bih^ has been ap
proximately surveyed by the Eev. William E. Pay. The sketch maps
cover an area 60 miles wide, extending over four degrees of longitude.
'The first human habitations met with are at the eastern foot of the
coast range.
According to J. M. Cook, who has recently returned from Dongola,
it appears that the cataracts of the Nile are not correctly placed upon
the map. The so-called third cataract at Hannek is no cataract at all,
-only a very small rapid . Between the second and so-called third cataract
four or five catjiracts occur, and these explain the delay in the concen
tration of the British troops at Dongola. From Sarras to Sakarmatta
,(74 miles) the rise was 450 feet.
The map of Africa, on a scale of 27 geographical miles to the inch, in
¦course of publication by the French D(§pot de la Guerre, will consist of
-sixty sheets. Twenty-four of these have been published, 18 of West and
"Central Africa, 6 of South Africa and Cape Colony. Sheet number 9
shows the Canaries and the sterile country called by Dr. Barth " Tiris
<el Ferar," or the country of deep wells. Sheet No. 10 gives the western
lialf of the Sahara, and shows the routes of travellers, with many notes
•on the inhabitants, nature of the country, and position of the oases and
¦wells; and Sheet No. 11 has a portion of the Ahaggar region, of which
little is really known, and the better-known Terab oasis.
M. Giraud has finally been compelled to desis t from his attempted
"explorations. His men deserted him, retaining the French flag and
C!hassep6t rifles, and turned highwaymen on their way back to Zanzi-
Ijar, where they were cast into prison by the French consul.
The results of Dr. von Wilhelm Joest's circumnavigation of Africa
:are of ethnographic rather than geographic interest, since he scarcely left
the coast at all, and when he did penetrate into the interior it was in
such well-known places as the Orange Free State and Zululand. Still,
what he did was well done, and several advantageous map corrections
¦can be made from his notes.
A work of interest to the philologist, geographer, and ;i uthropologist
is that of l'Abb6 Pierre Bouche on the Slave Coast and Dahomey.

GEOGRAPHY. 9
The African travellers Juncken and Casati have arrived at Lado, an
Egyptian military station on the Bahr-el-Jebel. They were exploring
the Nyam-Nyam district, between the tributaries of the Nile and the
Upper Congo, and as nothing had been heard of them for a long time,
it was feared the Mahdi had cut off their retreat.
Mr. Henry E. O'Neill has taken great pains to ascertain the longitude
of Blantyre, and his results have been accepted by the Eoyal Geographi
cal Society. After careful computation, and making choice of such ob
servations as from their nature were best calculated to eliminate pos
sible errors of observation, the longitude of Blantyre has been fixed at
35° 3' 34" east of Greenwich, thus differing 7' 24" from the previously
accepted position, which was 34° 56' 30" east. Blantyre is now reck
oned as a secondary meridian. Mr. O'Neill ou his journey from Quilli-
mane to Blantyre availed himself of the opportunity afforded by an en
forced delay on the banks of the Zambesi to study the action of that river.
He is led to speculate on the probable change in the physical and po
litical geography of that part of Africa which will result from a continu
ation of the wearing away of the banks of the Zambesi ; for if a perma
nent connection be established between the Zambesi and Quaqua, and a
large proportion of the volume of water now carried to the sea by the
Kongone Eiver and other smaller branches to the southward enters the
<3uillimane Eiver, the effect will undoubtedly be to block the southerly
channels by the precipitation nearer shore of the earth particles carried
down by the river. And ou the other hand the Quillimane Eiver would
be deepened by the greater " scouring " force of the larger volume of
water carried down by it. The connection mentioned is now made in
termittently over the low flat country between the Zambesi and Qua
qua at high water. Mr. O'Neill draws attention to the neglected port
of Nakala, in Fernao Veloso Bay, north of Mozambique. It has numer
ous good anchorages, and offers magnificent conditions for the founding
of a colony. Nakala is a deep inlet forming a southern prolongation of
Eernao Veloso "Bay.
M. Coillard, accompanied by M. Middleton, has accomplished his
journey up the valley of the Zambesi to visit Akufuna, the King of the
Ba-rotse, and has been received with great kindness. The authority of
the King is not very great ; his minister Mataga appears to be master of
everything, but he has had several rebellions to put down.
In the July portion of Petermann's Mittheilungen, Professor Eatzel
seeks to show how misleading it is to color the map of Africa with def
inite political boundaries. His paper is accompanied by a double map
of Africa. In one part the continent is colored according to the pre
vailing occupation, in the second according to the people who form
states. For the purpose of gaining information for France as to what was
occurring in the vicinity of her Algerine possessions, M. Charles de
J'oucauld accomplished a most remarkable journey of exploration in

10 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOE 1885.
Morocco during 1883 and 1884. Having renounced his future prospects
in the military career, he disguised himself in the costume of a Jew, in
spite of the antipathy of the natives to persons of that religion. This
particular disguise enabled him to conceal his barometer and sextant
and make his observations under the long veil with which the Jew
covers himself during prayer. Deprived of all comforts, without
servants, without an animal upon which to ride, without tent or
bed, and almost without baggage, he travelled and worked during
eleven months among these people who had more than once before
unmasked similar attempts and inflicted upon the unfortunate in
dividual the punishment which the crime appeared to them to de
serve, viz, death. To the 7,600 miles of road marked out with
but few determinations of latitude and still fewer points of longi
tude, which cartographers had at their disposal in 1883, M. de Fou
cauld added 1,400 miles of new ground besides revising and perfecting
in the course of his journey the work of his predecessors. Hi.-i travels
occupied from the 20th of June, 1883, to the. 23d of May, 1884. He
traversed the great Atlas range at several new points, of which he had
determined the altitude, besides having journeyed for 185 miles along
the base of the range, rectifying and simplifying by fresh information
the orography of the country. Thanks to him, we now know that from
31 miles on the north and 103 miles on the south this commanding
range is flanked by parallel lines of elevation, which, as far as our maps
were concerned, is quite a revelation. We learn from M. de Foucauld
that there is in the north a chain of mountains about 185 miles in length,
which bears the names of Djebel-Ait-Seri and Djebel-Beni-Uaghain. In
the south there is, first of all, the Little Atlas (the Anti- Atlas on the
map of Lenz), and still farther south the strange outline of the Djebel-
Bani range, the name of which we know from the Eabbi Mardoch^e,
and which Lenz crossed, but without identifying it. This journey, ex
tending over five days to the south of Meknas, was accomplished by ^NI.
de Foucauld in the midst of wariike peoples and marauding tribes.
In the month of December, 1883, the traveller touched the Uadi Dhra'a
to the south of Tattas. « This river," he says, " the bed of which is
nearly 2J miles in breadth, is absolutely dry, except during the melting
of the snow and the seasons of continuous rain." Later on he again
saw the river farther to the northeast, in the district of ]Mezquita,
" where this same river, broad and with uninterrupted stream, flows
through plantations of date palms." The itinerary of M. de Foucauld
places that part of the course of the Uadi Dhra'a, as indicated on Dr.
EohlPs map, quite one degree farther west. This important cotrec-
tion should be utilized to revise the itinerary of tlie German traveller.
Finally, the accurate information obtained literally revolutionizes our
previous geographical and political knowledge of Morocco.
The death of King Mtesa is confirmed, but it is believed that his son

GEOGRAPHY. 1 1
will prove more friendly to civilization than the father. Miramba is also-
dead. Dr. A. Fischer's brochure, Mehr Licht^ im dunlceln Weltteil, reviewed
in the November issue of the Proceedings of the Eoyal Geographical
Society, contains a large amount of statistical information, through
the midst of which much valuable geographical knowledge is inter
woven. Lieut. Victor Giraud, of the French navy, has given us (see Proceed
ings Eoyal Geographical Society, September) a delineation of Lake Bang-
weolo, which differs widely from that first published by Dr. Livingston,
as a comparison of his sketch with the society's map of Eastern Equa
torial Africa will show. We are indebted to the same officer for having
traced the Luapula from where it issues from the lake, as far as Moero
Mkata. Equally interesting is the information brought home by Herr
Eeichard from the copper country of Katanga and the Kingdom of Msiri,
regions hitherto known to us only from the vague reports of Portuguese
traders or natives. Lieutenant Giraud left Daro-es- Satam on the 19th
of December, 1882. Crossing in succession U-zaramo, Khutu, U-sagara,.
U-hehe, U-bena, and the Livingston Mountains, by routes differing in
many places from those followed by his predecessors, he reached the north
ern extremity of Lake Nyassa, and thence ascended to Kiwanda on the
" Stevenson road." He then turned off toward the southwest and trav
elling over a wide plain, entered U-emba, the country of B-emba, whose
chief is Kitim Kuru, by far the most powerful ruler whom the explorer
met with. On reaching Zapana, Lieutenant Giraud sent his caravan on to
Kazembe's town, whilst proceeding himself to the shores of Lake Bang-
weolo. The lake, according to this explorer, consists of a sheet of open
water in the north, apparently nowhere more than 20 feet in d^pth, and
of a vast swamp. Kisi, the most elevated island, only rises to a height
of 80 feet. The Luapula leaves the lake at Kawende Point. The river
there is about 300 feet wide and 15 feet deep, its course being well de
fined between walls of gigantic rushes. After about' a fortnight spent
on the river and in forcing his way through a lagoon at the back of it,.
Lieutenant Giraud's progress was stopped by an "army" sent against
him by Mere-Mere, chief of Ba-ussi. He was compelled to surrender ; but
after remaining a prisoner for some time he succeeded in escaping, mad©
his way through the country of the hostile Wa-Kisinga, and following
the Luapula for some distance, he at length rejoined his caravan in
Kazembe's town. Eventually he reached lende on the Taganyika.
Dr. Bohm and Herr Eeichard left the Belgian station of Mpala, on
the Tanganyika, on the 1st of September, 1883, and on September 27
they reached the Luapula, where that river is 500 feet wide, but not
navigable, owing to rapids. They crossed into the kingdom of a power
ful chief, named Msiri, who subjected them to vexatious annoyances,
and prevented their progress until at last Dr. Bohm died on March 27,
1884, after ten days' suffering. Soon afterward Herr Eeichard was per-

12' SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1885.
mitted to start for Katanga, which he reached on May 27, and visited
the two copper mines, which he found to be exceedingly rich. His at
tempt to trace the Lufira to its source was frustrated by the hostile
attitude of the Wa-ramba, and he was compelled to turn back on June
2, when within a few days only of his goal. Owing to the hostile atti
tude of Msiri, and the annoyance consequent thereon, the valuable col
lections made by Dr. Bohm had to be abandoned. On November 6,
1884, the Luapula was crossed once more, and after another long march
through a hostile country the hospitable station of Mpala was reached
again on November 30, 1884. According to Herr Eeichard the Lualaba
is the real head-stream of the Congo. Where he saw that river, a short
distance above the Upembe Lake, it is 1,000 to 1,500 feet wide, and the
natives assert that it can be navigated as far as Manymma. The Lua
pula, on the other hand, has a width of only 500 feet, and forms numer
ous rapids in its course through the Mitumba Mountains. The Lufira,
where crossed, was only 150 to 200 feet wide. It forms two waterfalls,
one in the salt plain of Muacha, and another, Juo, at the head of the
gorge through the Viano Mountains. The Juo falls are 80 feet high,
the breadth of the river being 330 feet.
The two Portuguese explorers. Captain Capello and Commander Iveus,
who started last year upon an expedition across Africa, eventually
reached Cape Town after a most adventurous journey. They subse
quently left for Mossamedes, and returned to Europe via the Congo.
They reached Lisbon on the 17th of September, where they were re
ceived by the King, and welcomed by an enthusiastic demonstration of
their countrymen. They have traversed a region which no European
had ever set foot in. Leaving Mossamedes in March, 1884, with an es
cort of one hundred and twenty men recruited along the coast between
that place and St. Paul de Loando, they reached Quillimane, upon the
eastern coast, to the south of Mozambique, in May, 1885, after having
discovered the watershed whence the rivers of Central Africa flow north
and east towards the sea. They travelled over 4,500 miles of territory,
3,000 miles of which were previously unexplored, and they are said to
have discovered the sources of the Lualaba, an affluent of the Congo
(which has been so frequently referred to in recent geographical discus
sions), as well as those of the Luapula and Chambeze, the upper waters
of the Congo. They also visited the copper region of the Yaranganga
district, situated between the Lualaba and the Luapula Eivers. Messrs.
Capello and Ivens found the tse-tse fly very abundant; sixteen of the
party died from their bites, without counting cattle and hunting dogs.
They lost, all told, sixty-two men in fifteen months, and were almost
exhausted when they reached Fete. (See Proceedings of Eoyal Geo
graphical Society, December, 1885.)
Mr. J. T. Last left England on the 2d of September, on his way to
Zanzibar, where he will equip his party for the expedition in which he is
engaged under the auspices of the Eoyal Geographical Society. He will

GEOGRAPHY. 13
proceed to the confluence ol the Eovuma and Lujendi Eivers, fix the
longitude of the junction, and will then establish himself awhile in the
Namuli Hills. After a study of that region, Mr. Last will enter the
valley of the Likuga, follow it to the coast, and then follow the coast
to Quillimane or Angoche.
In a report to the British foreign office, by Mr. Laurence Goodrich,
Her Britannic Majesty's acting consul for the Nyasse district, dated Ban-
daw6. Lake Nyassa, June 1, 1885, he describes a recent visit to the
country on the west of the lake. He refers principally to the territory
of Muazi, which was visited by Livingston. During his stay at Kasungo,
Muazi's town, 130 miles SSW. of Bandaw^, the chief died and was
succeeded by his nephew Katam6. Mr. Goodrich was well received there,
the natives having that respect for the English which is always to be found
where Livingston has been the only previous white visitor. The chief
object of the visit was to inquire into and endeavor to wean the chiefs
from encouraging the slave trade. The country he passed through be
tween Bandaw6 and Kasungo he found entirely uninhabited, though
abounding in game of all kinds. Kasungo is situated in the center of a
large treeless plain, 2,258 feet above the level of Lake Nyassa, the houses
being built around a curious conical-shaped hill 900 feet above the plain.
The chiefs interviewed were anxious to see English traders settled in
the country. Muazi's country is known as the Marumba country, and
the people are Wanyasse. Here a very large stock of ivory is to be
bought — according to Mr. Goodrich, Katam6 offered to sell him a hun
dred tusks. The soil (he states) is good, and adapted for wheat grow
ing; cattle thrive admirably, and the tsetse fly does not exist in the
district. The plain around the base of Mount Kasungo is 4,000 feet
above the sea, which altitude should insure a climate suited to Euro
peans. The natives appear to be simple and peace-loving.
Dr. Hannington, Bishop of Equatorial Africa, started with Mr. Taylor
early in June to explore a route, different from that followed by Mr.
Joseph Thomson, via Chagga and the Massai country to the eastern
shores of Victoria Nyanza. He is of the opinion that if this route be
once opened all the caravans for Mombasa to the interior would adopt
it, and there would be a great saving of time a^d distance. The bishop
has attached himself to a Swahali caravan. He hopes to touch Lake
Naivasha and emerge at Sendega in Lower Kavirondo . When last heard
from he was working his way through the unknown region between
Mlima-njaro and Victoria Nyanza, and hoped to be at Eubaga by the
end of the year. Since then an unconfirmed rumor has been received
to the effect that he had been taken a prisoner by the King of the Mo-
banza, (?) who threatened to put him to death. If successful, the bishop
will accomplish a work of great geographic as well as humanitarian
value. Sir John Kirk was consulted, and approved of the scheme.
Dr. Oscar Lenz's work on TimbuTctu appeared early in the year. Since
then the Imperial Geographical Society of Vienna has received good

14 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOE 1885.
news from the doctor's present African exploring expedition, which had
passed through Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, and gone on to the
Cameroons, the ultimate object being to explore the watershed between
the Nile and Congo from the west.
M. Leon Guiral has sent to the Geographical Society at Paris a de
scription of the west coast of Africa, about the mouths of the San Benito
or Eyo and the Dote, 7J miles farther south. The Eyo is a mile in width
at its mouth. Banks of rocks bar the entrance, but the left arm is
navigable for vessels drawing two meters of watfer. The banks are
marshy. M. Guiral ascended it about 30 kilometers to Iniger, where
there are falls. It has several tributaries, some of them navigable for
canoes. The Dote is a river of little importance, with marshy banks,
and is about a meter deep and 40 meters wide along the lower part of its
course. It can be ascended in a canoe for about 21 miles. The com
merce of the district concentrates in the village on the right bank from
which it takes its name. (See Proceedings of Eoyal Geographical So
ciety, December, 1885.)
In the Proceedings of the Eoyal Geographical Society for February,
1885, is a long and learned article upon "European Territorial Claims
on the Coast of the Eed Sea and its Southern Approaches," by Sir E.
W. Eawson, than whom, perhaps, no one is better fitted to discuss this
subject, which is of great historical as well as geographical importance.
Mr. E. H. Eichards, an American missionary, has journeyed from In-
hambane to the Limpopo, through a region which is at present a blank
on our maps. The Bombom Eiver forms the western boundary of the
Portuguese province, and drains a large area of western Inhambane, as
well as the eastern slope of the Makwakwa Eidge to the west. The
country west of this ridge is semi-deserted, in consequence of the raids
of Umzila's soldiers. From the Makwakwa Eidge to the Limpopo is
level land. The A ma-gwaza, or people of Umzila, inhabit or control the
country from the Zambesi to the Limpopo, and with the exception of
the Portuguese possessions of Chiluan and Inhambane, from the sea in
the east to the Matabele country on the west. In a second journey Mr.
Eichards, besides visiting a large and hitherto untravelled area, was
successful in reaching Baleni. He left Delagoa Bay on foot, attended
only by a Zulu convert and three porters. The Komati Eiver, 200 yards
wide, 30 feet deep, was crossed in a " dugout" canoe, and its course fol
lowed for several days ; the river was then left and a series of thirteen
lakes passed. Though there was no connecting stream at that season,
the natwes call this string of lakes the Liputa Eiver, but there are often
hills and bushy districts between the lakes. Emerging from the bush
close to the Limpopo Eiver, they found themselves at Baleni. Herds
of cattle were visible in every direction and clusters of small huts were
very numerous. Manjobo or Manjova, the ruling chief, has several
kraals on the west and one on the east side of the river, which here runs
through a low flat plain of indurated' alluvium as hard as marble. The

GEOGRAPHY. 15
liver banks are about two yards high, the stream being about 16 feet
deep and 200 J'ards wide. Manjobo's kraal on the east side is called
Emkontweni, " the place where the spear is stuck in the ground." The
kraal of the Chobbas, or Machappas, is on the Limpopo, about 12 miles
north of the Shangau Eiver, which enters the former from the eastward,
and is otherwise known as the Luize or Mitti Eiver. From a hill just
eastward of the Shangan, the plain of Baleni could be seen extending
NW. and SE. as far as the eye could reach, and about 25 miles in width.
In the rainy season the plain is an immense pool or lake, and all the
kraals are deserted for several months. The Shangan is salt, but good
water can be had by digging. The people call themselves Ama Shan-
gani, and all adults speak more or less Zulu, which is the language of
the " court." Thence to Inhambane, took nine days through a most
populous country. Bingwana, a kraal of about 5,000 inhabitants, is
about four days from Inhambane, on the river of the same name, a deep
but narrow stream abounding in sea-cows. The route was considerably
south of the one taken in 1884.
The Dutch exploring expedition into Portuguese West Africa has been
so unfortunate as to lose its leader, young Mr. D. D. Veth, who died
from disease on May 19, 1885, in camp on the banks of the Kala-Kanga
Eiver, between Benguella and Humpata.
In the October number of Petermann's Mittheilungen, is the first part
of an account of the journey of the Austrian explorers, Drs. Paulitschke
and von Hardegger, to Harar, by the former. It is accompanied by a
map of the districts traversed. The concluding papers appear in the
December number, in which will also be found an account and map of
Menge's second journey in Somali-land.
A fresh expedition in Somali-land has been undertaken by F. L. and
W. D. James, who write from Berbera that they intend to traverse the
Habr Gerhajis' country to Lebiholii, whence five days over the desert
will bring them to Ogaden.
The chief geographical societies in Germany have resolved to erect
a monument to the late Dr. Nachtigal, who died April 24, on board the
German gunboat "Mowe", off the west coast of Africa, on Cape Palmas,
where he lies buried. It is intended to have it so large that it will serve
as a landmark to seamen.
The work done by Lieutenant Wissmann, in his exploration of the
Kassai Eiver, the great southern tributary of the Congo, is second in
importance only to the discovery of the Congo itself. It will seriously
modify the conjectural geography of that portion of Africa. He found
the river to be of immense volume, and navigable from its junction with
the Lulua. He found the Sankuru and the Lubilash to be one river
which instead of flowing northward to the Congo, turns westward and
joins the Kassai. As it approaches the Congo the Kassai receives the
great Koango, and enters the main river by the Kwamouth, after re
ceiving the water of Lake Leopold. Thus the riv^r which on Stanley's

16 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1885.
last map joins the Congo west of Stanley Falls, cannot be the Lubilash,
and moreover must be of no great length. This discoveryof Lieutenant
Wissmann, along with that of the Mobangi by Mr. Grenfell, greatly in
creases the navigable waterway of the Congo system.
Besides much good detail work done by the Eev. G. Grenfell on the
Congo, he with Eev. T. J. Comber, has recently explored the Mobangi,
which enters the right bank of the Congo, forming a great delta, be
tween 26' and 42' south latitude, neariy opposite Equator Station, and
is probably its greatest tributary. Mr. Grenfell ascended the Mobangi
on a mean course of north by east from the equator to 4° 30' north lati
tude, and left it still an open waterway. At 4° 23' north, just below
the second rapids, he found it 673 yards wide ; at no point lower was
it less in width. Its mean depth is 25 feet, and its current not more than
80 to 100 feet per minute. From Mr. Grenfell's notes it would seem that
this river is navigable the whole way from the Congo to 4° 30' north, a
distance of probably 400 to 450 miles, taking account of the bends.
His opinion and that of his Congo colleagues seems to be that the Mo
bangi is probably the lower part of the Welle, a river whose course is
one of the unsolved problems of African geography ; but this opinion
is scarcely sustained by the . knowledge we now have of the region.
Arguing from analogy, we should conclude that the source of the Mo
bangi does not lie east of 20° east longitude, and applying the meas
urements to Stanley's map, the watershed falls just on the line thereon
suggested. The distance in a direct line from the ultimate point reached
by Mr. Grenfell to the last-known point on the Welle is 540 miles,
and to the source of the Welle some 900 miles. It appears then to be
practically impossible for this river (of less than the third of a mile in
width), to carry off the water of the Welle Basin; and Mr. Stanley's
suggestion, that the Bujere (wrongly called the Aruwimi) is the outlet'
of the Welle is rather strengthened than otherwise by this latest, and
certainly not least important, contribution to our knowledge of the
mighty Congo.
The Portuguese possess a tract of land on the northern bank of the
Congo, extending from Cape Lembo, south of Kabinda Bay, to Massabe,
and extending inland 30 or 40 miles so as to contain Kabinda, Molembo,
Landana, and Massab6.
The whole of the valley of the Kwilu, where the International Associa
tion had eighteen stations, is ceded to France. M. de Brazza, recently
retumed from Africa, reports most satisfactorily from the French Posses
sions on the Congo ; his reports are so late as October 13, 1885.
The limits of the new " Kingdom of the Congo," as recognized by the
Berlin Conference, appear to be as follows : On the Atlantic seaboard,
from Banana point to Gab6 (5° 45' south latitude), then by one parallel
of Gab6 to the meridian of Ponta da Lenha, by this meridian north to
the Chiloango, thence to the source of that river, thence to the Mtomba-
Mataca falls of the Congo, leaving to the French the station of Mboco,

GEOGRAPHY. 17
but reserving Mucumbi and Manyanga, thence along the Congo to its
confluence with the Bamba beyond the equator, where the boundary
running northwest remains to be determined. The southern frontier
follows the Congo from Banana to a point a little above Nokki, the south
bank belonging to Portugal, thence on the parallel of Nokki to the
Koango, along this river to about 9° south latitude, and thence in a
diagonal line across the continent to Lake Bangweolo. Eastward the
boundary coincides with the west coasts of Lakes Bangweolo, Tangan
yika, Muta-Nzighe, and Albert Nyanza. Within these limits the new
state will have an approximate area of 1,000,000 square miles, and a
population of probably 40,0U0,000, mostly of Bantu speech and Negro
or Negroid stock.
The council of the Eoyal Geographical Society, at its meeting of June
22, unauimou.sly passed a vote of congratulation to the King of the
Belgians on the success which has attended his work of exploration and
civilization in tropical Africa. The resolution was as follows : "That
the thanks of the council be conveyed to King Leopold II, the King of
the Belgians, for the interest taken by His Majesty in the exploration of
Africa, and respectful congratulations on the signal success which has
attended the schemes promoted by His Majesty's wisdom and munifi
cence." In acknowledging this communication officially. His Majesty
expressed his great satisfaction at knowing that his efforts to introduce
civilization into the heart of Africa are appreciated by such high and
competent authority.
Bulletin No. 3, 1885, of the Eoyal Geographical Society of Belgium,
contains a paper by the secretary on the Congo question, describing
the explorations made in the basin between 1485 and 1877, the founda
tion of the International Association, the creation of the Free State, and
finally a description of the basin.
Volume VIII, No. 2, of the Geographische Blatter, published by the
Bremen Geographical Society, contains a similar paper by Dr. Oppel,
dealing with the scientific and economical importance of this district.
The paper is divided into two main sections : (1) The discovery and in
vestigation of the Congo (a) between 1484 and 1872, (b) the systematic
explora;tion since 1872 ; (2) the extent and boundaries, geology, «&c., of
the Congo region. While surprisingly alike in general features, these
two papers are by no means coincident, since both show independent
thought and preparation, and indeed treat the same subject from quite
different standpoints.
Sdence for August 23, 1885, contains an excellent map of the Congo
Basin, reproduced by permission of Harper & Brothers.
Among the recent scientific missions ordered by the French minister
of public instruction is that under Lieutenant Palat, to explore the
route from Senegal to Algeria by Medina, Timbuctoo, Mabrouk, and
the Touat.
Spain has recently acquired considerable territory in Africa, com-

18 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1885.
prising the west coast of the Sahara between Cape Bogodor (20° 9' north)
and Cape Blanco (20° 45' north), both included ; and in the Gulf of
Guinea, the coast line from the Muni Eiver, which forms the northern
boundary of the French possessions on the Gaboon, to the Eio Compo
(0° 43' to 2° 41' north). Six stations have already been established on
the Sahara coast, and all points giving access to shipping will be per
manently occupied. Old treaties with the chiefs on the Eio Benito
have been renewed, with a view to prevent the threatened advance of
the French in that direction.
The conductor of the Cartographic Institute, Hamburg, Herr L.
Friedrichsen, writes thus concerning the limits of the German posses
sions in West Africa: "The Mahin district, on the Gulf of Benin, be
tween Lagos and the mouth of the Niger, settled by the Hamburg firm
of G. L. Gaiser, has not yet been placed under German protection. The
coast from Jaboo to Old Calabar will, in my opinion, be in future re
garded as under British protection, but has not hitherto been officialiy
placed under any European power. The frontier of the German Cam
eroon begins with the Ethiopian cataract on the Great Eiver, lying from
there in a southwesterly direction to the sources of the Eio del Eey,
following the right bank of this river to the coast, then the coast line
in a southeasterly direction to the river Behuwe, excluding the town and
neighborhood of Victoria as British, as well as the island of Malimba.
The latter, as well as the whole coast from the river Behuwe to Gumbe-
gumbe, is not described by me in the commissions of foreign oflQcials as
without a ruler, but as atract on which the actual raising of the German
flag is yet the subject of diplomatic treaty. The German protectorate
in Southwest Africa begins with 18° south latitude, not with Cape Frio."
Dr. Ballay, in an address on the new possessions of France in Africa,
sums up by saying that while the Ogow6 can never be rendered navi
gable, it can at least be made useful for bateaux. Its basin is naturally
fertile and rich in resources. On the other hand, the country extend
ing from this basin to the Congo is generally sterile. There is little to
hope for from this region, but it is the beginning of the practicable
route for reaching the trade of the upper region, which has inhabitants
of intelligence and thrift. The protectorate of France now extends
along the whole north coast of the Gulf of Tadjura as far as Bahr-Aseal,
and M. Caspari states that the relations of France with the Danakils
are cordial. Obock is at least a safe and easily accessible harbor, and
the abundance of water renders possible the cultivation of vegetables.
The fifth expedition of the Belgian International African Association,
which started with a view of connecting by a chain of stations the east
coast with the interior basin, has returned, the expense proving too
great to render the project profitable. The efforts of the association at
present will probably be confined to the Congo watershed.
Some Swedish merchants have purchased in the Massanja country^
in the Cameroons, some 20 square mUes of land, on which the 8 wed-

GEOGRAPHY. 19
ish flag was hoisted with proper honors some months ago. They state
that had they been so empowered by the Swedish Government, on land
ing two years ago, they could have taken possession of the country from
Boto, near Victoria, to Eio del Eey, one of the richest tracts of land on
the west coast of Africa. At present they trade at their own risk.
The Swedish Society of Anthropology and Geography has commis
sioned Baron Schwerin, professor of geography at the University of
Lund, to proceed to the Congo on a scientific expedition, the chief ob
jects being to make geographical, meteorological, botanical, and zoolog
ical studies in the new state, and to collect ethnographical objects.
Barons Nordenskjold and Dickson have lent the expedition a number of
valuable instruments.
The Bulletin of the Italian Geographical Society for September con
tains extracts from the unpublished journals of Pellegrino Matteucci,
the African traveller. These have been edited by DeUa Vedova, and
are illustrated by a map showing the itinerary, and also the routes of
Nachtigal and Eohlfs. Matteucci's journey, one of the most remarkable
on record, extending from the Eed Sea at Suakim to Lake Chad, and
thence to the Niger and the Gulf of Guinea, has hardly attracted the
attention it deserves, chiefly perhaps on account of the early death of
this promising and brilliant explorer.
The roll of geographical journals is increased by one. The Floren
tine section of the Italian African Society has been authorized by the
central council and treasurer to issue a bulletin. It is intended to be
partly eclectic, presenting geographical and especially African news to
its readers, and to be particularly the oflcial record of the proceedings
of the section. ASIA.
At the June meeting of the Geographical Society of Paris, Baron
Benoist-M6chin described a recent journey in the Merv oasis. This was
a continuation of previous communications to the society of the great
journey made by the baron and some companions from Peking, through
Kirin to Ninguto, and thence along the Tinmen to Vladivostock. The
journey the whole way was along the Corean frontier. From Vladivo
stock the travellers proceeded to Tomsk, thencd to Samarkand, through
Karshi to Bokhara, to the Amou-Darya at Charjni, down that river to
Petro-Alexandrovsk, thence to Khiva, and lastly across the Kara-Kura
to Mero, Sarakho, and Meshed. The detailed narrative (with maps) is
given in the bulletin of the society. At the same meeting M. de Saint-
Pol-Lias presented a map of the upper course of the Eed Eiver, pre
pared by the Anamites. Another map of importance is that of the
navigable water-ways of Southern India-China, prepared by M. Eueff,
who has established a company for navigating those waters.
Herr Glaser, the Arabian traveller, has returned to Arabia to resume
his explorations. This second journey is to be mainly geographical,

20 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1885.
but archeology will also receive attention. Besides visits to Marib and
Nejdrau, Herr Glaser contemplates a long journey through the interior
from Hadramant to Omaun, and a second across South Arabia.
In Science, July 3, 1885, is an excellent epitome of an article on
*' Eoutes into the interior of Western China," which originally appeared
in Science et Nature. The two Chinese rivers (Sikiang, or Canton Eiver,
and Song Ka) must for the present be considered as impracticable for
¦commercial purposes, not precisely on account of the natural obstacles
to be overcome, but because for a long time the Celestial Empire will be
more or less impenetrable and dangerous for Europeans: and, on the
other hand, the course of the Me- Kong is too long and too hilly. The
routes which traverse the bed of the Brahmapootra and the valley of the
Irrawaddi present almost insuperable difficulties. The route of the
Salmen is most attractive, but it should not be forgotten that besides
its length it must cross two water sheds, one of which at least is very
difficult, and must ascend the Me-Kong for a very long distance. The
louteby the Eed Eiver remains: this is not particularly accessible; but
to establish communication with Yunnan and Szchuen some obstacles
must be surmounted, and this is the course which offers fewest of them.
Mr. Holt S.'Hallett has finished his reconnaissance for railway routes
in India-China, and the narrative of his journey, while not furnishing
anything absolutely new, serves to enlarge our knowledge of the geog
raphy of that interesting region.
The chief paper in the May issue of the Proceedings of the Eoyal
Geographical Society is upon the disputed question of the sources of
the Irrawaddi. As no one has yet followed the Sanpo from Thibet
downward, it is still unproved whether it enters the Irrawaddi or the
Brahmapootra. Mr. Eobert Gordon opposes the commonly received idea
by advocating the Irrawaddi view, and gives six substantial reasons for
his belief. General J. T. Walker, differing from Mr. Gordon, attacked
the weakest point in his paper, that in which he thinks that the Zayul
Chu may prove to be an affluent of the Irrawaddi.
Colonel Woodthorpe has just completed a journey through the Sing-
pho, or Sanpo country. He penetrated into the land of the Borkhamp-
tis, on the Northern Irrawaddi, where no traveller is believed to have
been since Lieutenant Wilcox's tour in 1828. The Irrawaddi is un-
navigable at Pedan.
A writer who has just travelled widely through Tonquin and Southern
China describes in a recent number of the BSpublique Frangaise the
route from Lao-Kai, on the Eed Eiver, to Meng-tsze in Yunnan. Pre
mising that the river from the mouth to Lao-Kai on the Tonquin border
is tolerably well known, he refers to the various routes for getting into
Southwestern China, but is far from enthusiastic about any of them,
although he thinks that France in Tonquin has as much chance of get
ting the China trade as any of her rivals in the south. The writer then
describes the toute along the river from Lao-Kai to Mauhao, the head

GEOGRAPHY. 21
of the Eed Eiver navigation. From this point the road to the plateau
of Yunnan is said to be mountainous and difficult in the extreme. The
article is of special value at this time, when the commercial geography
of Southeastern Asia promises so much of importance.
The journeys of Dr. Neis in Central Taos (more than 3,000 miles)
have resulted in a vast amount of information regarding the commercial
routes of the western basin of the Me-Koug, the anthropology and eth
nology of the Laos and the Khas, and the social, commercial, and politi
cal condition of the regions visited.
In a recent consular report from Siam, Mr. Archer gives an account
of his journey into the province of Kabin, which lies on the eastern
side of the Siamese delta, at the foot of the mountains separating the
Mimam Valley from the Me-Kong. He gives some very interesting notes
on the little-known Laos.
The Government of India has conferred the title of Eaj Bahadoor
and a grant in perpetuity of a rent-free village in Oude on Pundit Ki-
shen Singh Milwal, an employ^ of the survey department, who is well
known to all geographers for his explorations in Thibet, which have
been published over the initials "A. K."
Colonels Lockhart and Woodthorpe have been sent with a party to
Gilghit, and it is intended that full surveys of the region lying to the
northwest of Kashmir shall be executed. Several passes of no great
difficulty lead toward the Eussian possessions, which here approach
British India closely. This mission is expected to largely increase our
knowledge of the country toward the upper waters of the Oxus. Dan-
ileff, in examining this river, has found what he reports to be the point
of its ancient bifurcation into the Amu Daria and the Uzboi.
Sir Henry Eawlinson has added considerable to our knowledge of the
Badghis district, in Northern Afghanistan, north of the watershed of
the Herat Valley. The September issue of the Proceedings of the
Eoyal Geographical Society contains a map of the territory about the
Hari-Eud and Murghab Eivers, including the Badghis— the district
the possession of which is now in dispute between Eussia on the one
hand, and Afghanistan and England on the other. The American
Naturalist for December, 1885, contains an interesting account of this
section, and a concise history of the Carolines.
Up to July, 1885, the Afghan Frontier Commission had worked through
districts already explored more or less in recent times, either by the
Enssians or others. Since then comparatively new ground has been
broken, from which much of great geographical interest may be con
fidently expected. One very important matter has been accomplished,
i. e., the exact determination by Captain Gore of the longitude of the
great dome at Mashhad, longitude 59° 35' 62". 3, latitude 36° 17' 42".
The result shows an apparent error of only eleven seconds in longitude
at the end of a long line of more than 1,000 miles of survey from India.
Captain Talbst has started to carry on triangulation to the head of

22 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1885.
Hari End, with permission to proceed as far as Daulatyar. A native
surveyor has started southward across the many apparently parallel
ranges (quite unlike anything shown at present on our maps) between
the Upper Hari-Eud and Gaur, or Zarni. Another native surveyor has
started for the Upper Murghab and Ferozkohi country to survey the
direct routes to Mannana from Obeh, across the Band-i-Turkestan.
Lieut. Col. H. C. B. Tanner, S. C, deputy-superintendent of the survey
of India, in charge of Darjeeling and Nepaul boundary surveys, makes
some exceedingly interesting communications on the Himalayan snow
peaks. An account of M. Potanin's journey from Peking to Lang-tcheou, in
1884, was given in the Eussian Issvestia. The country between the Yel
low Eiver and Boro-balgasun is covered with sand, rarely moving sand
but barlchans fortified by a growth of shiapylc, a species of Artemesia,
with bushes of cavagana in the cavities between. Water is plentiful
The dry grounds between the sands are covered with steppe vegeta
tion, and sarrazin, millet, and hemp are grown there. The Orthous in
habitthis region. Boro-balgasun was once a town, but now contains only
a few huts within its ruined walls. At Edjin-Khoro, on the Tchamb-
Kak Eiver, are two tents, in which the bones of Zenghis Khan are said
to be preserved. After leaving Boro-balgasun, the expedition visited
the salt lake Baga-Shikye and passed over an almost uninhabited re
gion, with ruins of Mussulman villages, destroyed when the last insur
rection was put down. Lin-tcheou, on the Hoang-ho, is surrounded by
fruit gardens, and for 50 miles south of it numerous villages extend
along a canal which runs parallel to the Hoang-ho. This richness is of
recent origin, for the whole region bears traces of the desolation wrought
by the Chinese after the suppression of the insurrection of which the
town of Tsin-tsipou was the center. South of this town M. Potanin left
the Hoang-ho and crossed the series of flat ridges, which rise from 6,000
to 7,000 feet above the sea, and are covered with loess to a thickness of
200 to 300 feet. The sandstone of these hills contains some beds of
salt. The loess covers the whole country from Ping-yang-sia to Lang-
tcheou, which is a great city, picturesquely built on the right bank of
the Hoang-ho, at the foot of a mountain. The population is of Turkish
origin, and although it has assumed Chinese customs, it keeps its Mus
sulman religion. The latest news from this expedition was dated San-
chuan, January 25, 1885. It had gone up the Hoang-ho and event
ually reached the confluence of the Tchitai with the Yellow Eiver. M.
Berezovsky had left the Expedition and taken another route, via IToy-
syan. He proposes to join MM. Potanin and Skasi on their way to the
south. Colonel Prejevalsky has discovered three peaks, each over 20,000 feet
high, in the middle range of the Kuen-lun. He has given them the
names of Muscovite, Cplumbus, and Enigmatical. The most elevated
point of the first named is Mount Kremlin ; of the second Mount Djinri;

GEOGRAPHY. 23
and of the third, the crown of Monomachus. The plateau skirting the
middle Kuen-lun has au average height of 4,000 feet. It appears from
a telegram from Colonel Prejevalsky, dated Osh, August 31, that this in
trepid explorer has again failed to penetrate into Thibet over the Keria
Mountains, in consequence of the strenuous opposition of the Chinese,
who barricaded all the available highways with stones and desljoyed the
bridges. The Invalide Russe publishes the following telegram from Col
onel Prejevalsky from Pishpet, but dated Karakol 2d (new style 14th)
November : " Our voyage has ended happily and with most encouraging
scientific results." (See Proceedings of the Eoyal Geographical Society
for December, 1885.)
Dr. Z61andt has finished his work on the Kirgiz, which will soon be
published by the West Siberian section of the Imperial Geographical
Society. A parliamentary blue book (Corea No. 3, 1885), lately published, con
tains the report of a journey made by Mr, Carles the vice-consul at Soul,
from that place to Phyong Kang, where some gold mines exist. The
review of this in Nature, August 27, shows that it contains much of
geographical interest.
Mr. Gardner, British consul at Newchwang, China, publishes with his
annual trade report this year (China, No. 6, 1885) a most interesting ac
count of his consular district, which embraces the whole of Manchuria.
The report corrects some of the errors existing on our maps, which are
far from accurate.
It is to be hoped that the many rumors of prospective activity in
railway building in China may be found to be well grounded. The
necessary surveys would be of incalculable service in correcting the
maps of the various provinces. These maps are mainly the work of the
¦early Jesuits, and though remarkable, when one considers the material
with which they worked, are still far from what they ought to be.
Port Hamilton, of which England took possession at the time when
hostilities with Eussia were imminent, consists of a group of small is
lands about 45 miles northeast of Quelpaert and about 30 miles off the
Corean coast, in the Brougham Channel, separating the peninsula from
Japan. The position of the group is 34° 1' 23", north latitude and 127°
17' 30" east longitude. England has since given up her claims.
Sibiriakoff, the wealthy Eussian merchant, weU known as the friend
and patron of Nordenskjold, has himself made an interesting journey
during the summer of 1884. The details of it have only recently been
made public, as news travels slowly in those regions. He ascended the
Petchora to Oraneto, then crossed the Ural to the Sigva, or Whitefish
Eiver, which joins the Sosva, an affluent of the Obi. The traveller
reached Shikurik September 21, and Tobolsk October 18, It is demon-
stratetl by this journey that a trade route by which goods can be car
ried in summer is practically open in' this direction, a matter of great
commercial importance to Siberia.

24 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1885.
An exploration to cover a period of five years is being organized by
Yadrintseff, under the auspices of the Eussian Geographical Society.
Its purpose is the investigation of the ethnology and social economy of
Siberia ; particular attention will be given to opportunities for extend
ing and correcting geographical knowledge.
The trans-Siberian railway has already finished its first section of 135
kilometers between Ekaterinburg and Kameshoff, and its early comple
tion to Tuimen is confidently expected. At each step in its advance
ment the geographical advantages to be derived from this commercial
enterprise will be more marked.
Preparations are being made for the expedition under Dr. Bunge and
Baron von Toll, which will start next spring for Ustyansk, for the ex
ploration of the New Siberian Islands, which since Anjou's journeys in
1821-'23 have only been visited by the unfortunate Jeannette people
for a few hours on their route to the mouth of the Lena.
The geographical effects of the Krakatoa eruption, while of great im
portance, are of too local a nature to be properly considered under
" progress in geography."
Great Britain has annexed the territory of the ex-King Thebaw to her
India possessions.
In the province of Adana, Asia Minor, not far from Tarsus, at a few
hours' travel from the sea, among the mountains, has recently been dis
covered a ruined town hitherto entirely unknown. The ruins he near
the route from S61ef-k6 to Karaman, by Mohara. Sarcophagi, almost
intact, and resembling those of Lycia, exist there and would seem
worthy of study.
Eussian geographical exploration of the Caucasus has begun. MM.
Djin and Dimick have traveled among its glaciers, climb ed its passes,
and given an account of their travels in Petermann's Mittheilungen.
Ushpa is estimated at 16,500 feet high, and Tetuuld at 15,500 feet or
thereabouts. It is stated that an accurate survey of the island of Yezo and the
neighboring islands (especially the Kuriles) is to be made by the Jap
anese naval department. It is anticipated that the work will occupy
four years.
The Zeitschrift of the Gesellschaft fur Erdkunde in Berlin (Vol. xx,
No. 3) is almost wholly filled with an account by Herr Schmidt of the
travels of the friar Eubruk, between 1253 and 1255, into the heart of
Central Asia and to the borders of China.
EUROPE.
The lectures given under the auspices of the Geographical Society of
Paris, in the spring of 1884, were so successful that they were resumed
this year. The names of some of the lecturers give us an idea of the
importance attached to the subject' of geography in Europe : Jansseu, de
Lapparent, Bouquet de la Grye, Dr. Hamy, Himly, Levasseur, Louis

GEOGRAPHY. 25
Sin^onin, Michel. It would be of the greatest benefit to this country if
a society co-ordinate with the Geographical Society of Paris, having its
headquarters at Washington, could arrange for a course of lectures by
some of the confreres in this country of the above-named gentlemen.
Under the title of CfFocplorador (the Explorer), a Portuguese journal
commenced its appearance with the first of the year at Lisbon. It ap
pears twice a month, and will chronicle the advance of science in all its
branches, but especially that of geography and travel.
In March appeared the first number of the Scottish Geographical Mag
azine, the organ of the new Scottish Geographical Society. It aims at
beiug much more than the organ of the society, however.
At the March meeting of the Geographical Society of Paris, Mr.
Charles Eabot described the results of the mission with which he was
charged by the minister of public instruction to explore Northern Fin
land and Eussian Lapland. He explained especially the valleys of the
Pasvig and Talom, as well as Lake Enara. It has hitherto always been
believed that the highest mountain in Sweden was Sulitjelma, on the
Norwegian frontier, in latitude 67° 16' north, and belonging as much to
Norway as to Sweden, the height of which is a little more than 6,000
feet. In 1884 the topographical surveyor of the province of Norrland.
found that another mountain, viz, Sarjekij^kko, 6,760 feet in Swedish
Lapland, was higher than Sulitjelma ; but now it has been discovered
that neither is this mountain the highest in Sweden. Bucht Svenonius
and Mr. Eabot state that the honor belongs to Kebnekaisse, latitude
68°, also in that province, the height of which has been ascertained to
be 6,940 feet above the level of the sea. In the same neighborhood is
Kaskasatjokko, 6,800 feet. The observations of Mr. Eabot in the
mountainous area of Store Baergefjeld, in Nordland, Arctic Norway,
represented on the best charts as occupied by an immense continuous
glacier field, show that it has been wholly misunderstood. There is no
primary glacier, but merely seven secondary glaciers, isolated in ravines^
and hardly passing beyond the stage of n6v6. Eabot afterward made
explorations in the Kola peninsula of Eussian Finland, determining the
existence of three distinct chains of mountains between the Polar and
White Seas, which reach a height of more than 3,000 feet. The country
has hitherto been charted as a sort of plain, broken merely by lakes and
low hills. The area between the ranges is level, and trees of good size
and form reach latitude 68° 50'; beyond they extend some distance,
but do not exteed 12 or 15 feet in height.
In the " Elementar larooarken " (classical schools) of Sweden, geog
raphy has hitherto been classed as an appendix to history, and at the
"Lektor" (candidate) examinations in history and geography, questions
are only asked about the former. At the congress of teachers held in
Stockholm last year, a resolution was adopted to the effect that geog
raphy ought to form a separate study of the school education.
A somewhat amusing quarrel has arisen between the parishes of

•2G SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1885.
Kjelvik and Maaso (Norway) about a point of considerable geographical
interest, viz, the proprietorship of the North Cape. It is caused by
the establishment on the celebrated promontory of a restaurant, the
taxes of which are claimed by both parishes. The cape has always
been considered to form the boundary between the two, without it be
ing stipulated to which it actually belonged.
The well-known rocky islet Munken (the Monk), which lies 3J miles
south of Sumbo, and formerly rose to a height of 70 feet above the sea,
has complet^y subsided. A considerable portion of it had crumbled
away last year, but it is now no higher than the low surrounding rocks,
so that even in tolerably fine weather the sea breaks over and covers it.
The shoal water about the islet causes such dangerous currents that
the seamen of olden times believed there was a Malstrom there, and it
is therefore very unfortunate that this rock, which served as a sea-mark,
will no longer warn navigators of their approach to danger.
From recent observations it would appear that during the last thirty
years or so the rising of the shores around the Baltic and Gulf of Both
nia has gone on with greater rapidity than during the previous period
of observation. The increased rate of emergence in recent times is
clearly shown on the rock known as Stora Eeppen, not far from Pitea,
Sweden. That rock in 1851 had emerged 94 centimeters above its former
level since the commencement of the observations ; while in August,
1884, it had risen 50 centimeters more. The general results compared
with previous observations — that is for a period of one hundred and
thirty -four years — prove that since 1750 the head of the Gulf of Bothnia
has risen 2.10 meters, or 1.70 meters per century. This rate of emergence
declines progressively toward the south. It is not more than 30 centime
ters at Naze, and it is zero at Bornholm. The mean rise of the Swedish
coast is thus 1.60 meters per century.
A very useful and complete atlas of Eussia has been prepared by J.
Poddubnyi, and published by A. Deubner, St. Petersburg, under the
title of a "Eussian school atlas," at the small price of one ruble, or 80
cents. The project of connecting the Volga and the Don, which dates back
to 1568, when Selim, the son of Solyman the Magnificent, besieging As
trakhan, attempted to join the two rivers in order to transport'materials
of war, has been revived. M. L6on Dru, a French engineer, having sur
veyed a line in October, 1885, was convinced that the project is practi
cable, and experimental borings have already commenced.
The attention of geographers and men of science ought to be called
to several numbers of the ArcMvfilr die naturwissenschaftUche Landes-
durchforschung von Bohmen, which have recently been issued (Prague,
Franz Ezuonatz). The numbers of most interest to geographers pure
and simple are those forming the first division of the third volume, and
containing a list of the heights in Bohemia, trigonometrically determined
by the Imperial Institute of Military Geography in the years 1877-'79.

GEOGRAPHY. 27
The first steamer coming directly from the open sea arrived at Co
logne on March 18, 1885. It was called the Industry, and was of 513
tons burden.
The Austrian Government, with the consent of the Porte, has under
taken to make a geographical survey of the Albanian coast, with a view
to preparing new maps. Two Austrian gunboats have accordingly left
Corfu with officials of the chart department on board. They were joined
by the Turkish officers, under whose superintendence the survey will
be made. We may expect some definite results in the course of the next
six months.
The Hungarian Society of Geography is engaged in organizing a Mag
yar expedition for the exploration of the region around the Urals; es
pecially the Baskir country, where Urals- Altai peoples are disappear
ing. The Military Geographical Institute of Italy has published a memoir
on the mensuration of the area of the Kingdom of Italy, with a new
approximate estimate of the same. The figures are as follows, in square
kilometers :
The peninsula of Italy  236,402-1720
The islets legally connected with its shores  368- 8649
SicUy  25,461-2535
The SicUian islets  278-8147
Sardinia  23,799-5607
The Sardinian islets  277-6027
Total  286,588-3000
This equals 110,652 square miles, and is about 10,000 square kilome
ters less than previous official figures, and 2,000 less than General Steb-
nitski's estimate.
Thoroddson's work in Iceland in 1884 seems to have been much fuller
and more precise than the notes hitherto published would indicate.
From the narrative published in Globus, it appears that in a journey of.
ten weeks over the OdMahraun desert and the adjacent mountains,
about one-half was passed in an uninhabited region, much of which
was completely unknown. He forced his way along the northern base
of Vatna Jokull, the journey being frequently h^ardous and always
laborious. Many corrections of heights were made; and it seems that
Joknlsa, which has been taken as the longest Icelandic river, is ex
ceeded by Thiorsa, which is some 120 miles in length. An ascent of
the unvisited Dyngja Volcano was made. It proved to have a double
crater, the inner one being 600 feet or more in depth.
NORTH AMERICA.
The work of the several departments of Governments having to do
with geodesy, geography, and hydrography has made satisfactory prog
ress. In no one of them however has there been any special develop-

28 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1885.
ment of more than usual importance, while the routine work thereof—
as well as that of the several State surveys, will be published in the
respective reports. The topographic work of the United States Geo
logical Survey during the past six months has been mainly in the office;
the geographical map of the United States is rapidly approaching com
pletion. Prof. Asaph Hall, in Science, July 3, corrects the statement con
tained in the current edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, that there
is no land in Connecticut " above a thousand feet in elevation," and
shows that there are certainly half a dozen points which exceed this
limit, and at least two that run over two thousand feet.
The Arctic steamer "Alert" returned to Halifax on October 18, from
Hudson's Bay, with the observation party which has spent fifteen mouths
there testing the practicability of that route for navigation from the
Canadian Northeast to Europe. They show the average temperature
to be not so low as the average winter temperature in the Northwest.
The lowest monthly average was 30° below zero. The ice observations
show that Hudson Straits and Bay are navigable for properly built
and equipped vessels for from three to four months, from July to Oc
tober. G. W. Dawson {Science, AprU 24) describes the Saskatchewan country,
or that portion of the prairies which extends north of the northern
boundary, as containing an approximate area of 300,000 square miles,
and as less than 2,000 feet above the sea level, and thus lower than the
corresponding portion of the continent farther south. Many interest
ing details will be found in this article.
So far as heard from, explorations in Alaska appear to consist of
the journeys of Lieut. H. T. Allen and his companions ; Lieutenant
Cantwell; Assistant Engineer Samuel B.McLenegan and Seaman Nelson
of the "Corwin"; Henry D. Woolfe; Lieutenant Stoney; and Doctor
Everette. Lieutenant Allen was sent by General Miles last year. He ascended
the Copper or Atna Eiver and explored its northern and western branch
to its source, a distance of some 200 or 300 miles. He found the river
rapid, with many cataracts, and having in some places a fall of 7 feet to
the mile. Its width is variable, sometimes several miles, including large
islands, at others but a few hundred feet. There are many glaciers
near it, and the active Wrangel volcano rises almost from the river.
A portage was made across this range to the sources of the Tananah,
where there are a number of extensive lakes. This river was reached
about 125 miles above the point to which it had been explored, and it
and the Yukon were followed to the sea.
Lieutenant Cantwell has succeeded in getting to the source of the
Kowak Eiver, which consists of four large lakes, of which the most im
portant is in latitude 67°, longitude 153° west. It is supposed to»be 520
miles from the mouth of the river.

GEOGRAPHY. 29
Assistant Engineer Samuel B. McLenegan, accompanied only by
Seaman Nelson of the "Corwin," ascended the Noatak, also called the
Nunatah or Inland Eiver, which has been known for thirty years, but
never explored. Its enters Hotham Inlet westward from the Kowak
and about 30 miles north of the Arctic circle. The source of the branch
ascended was found to be a small lake surrounded by snow-banks, and
supposed to be 400 miles from the mouth. The voyage was extremely
creditable to those who took part in it, though it is greatly to be re
gretted that exact observations could not have been made, and is
noteworthy, as the party reached the highest latitude yet attained, by
white men in the interior of Alaska. The report and charts, which are
being prepared by the Department, will doubtless fill a good part of the
existing blank on the maps of this area.
Mr. Henry D. Woolfe, who has been stationed at Cape Lisburne during
the past year, has travelled along the coast from that point to Hotham
Inlet, and ascended the Noatak about 30 miles. Between the Corwin
Lagoon and Cape Krusenstern a river falls into the sea, which he was
informed is connected with the Noatak, running behind the hills which
lie back of Shesholik village. Mr. Woolfe is preparing a map showing
all the native settlements and even single huts temporarily occupied
along the coast between Cape Krusenstern and Point Barrow.
Lieutenant Stoney's work, so far as it has gone, seems to be successful.
He sent down a mail bj' the "Corwin", which arrived in San Francisco
October 12. At that time he was near the head of Hotham Inlet and
prepared to go into winter quarters. Details will not be published for
a year yet.
Doctor Everette has collected a large amount of geographical data
and made sketches along the Yukon, which will serve to enlarge our
knowledge of Alaska and correct our maps.
M. Violet d'Aouest's note, read at the August meeting of the Geo
graphical Society of Paris, on the aerial formation of soil will be found
of great interest to geographers ; a concise resume is given in the Pro
ceedings of the Eoyal Geographical Society for September.
The Danish exploring expedition to the east coast of Greenland under
Lieutenants Holm and. Garde, which returned to Copenhagen in October
after a three years' absence, has fulfilled all expeftations, having reached
latitude 66° 08' north, the northernmost point (on East Greenland) ever
attained by Europeans. Lieutenant Holm is stated to have made some
very valuable geographical and ethnological discoveries, having spent
last winter among East Greeulanders never before visited by Euro
peans. He has named the stretch of coast explored. King Christian
IX's Land. He considers it is now settled beyond a doubt that no early
Scandinavian remains occur on the east coast.
Mr. Gamel, the owner of the vessel which has been put at Lieutenant
Hovgaard's disposal for explorations in the Kara Sea in the summer of
1885, intends (provided his enterprise be seconded by the Government)

30 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1885.
to send his steamer "Dijmphna" next summer on an expedition to the
east coast of Greenland under an officer of the Danish royal navy, to
explore and lay down the coast line between 66° 08' (the farthest north
ward point attained by Lieutenant Holm's expedition) and 70°.
SOUTH AMERICA.
Professor Seelstrang, of the University of Cordoba, has been ap
pointed by the Argentine Government to superintend the publication
of an atlas of the Eepublic, and a considerable sum has been appropri
ated for the work. It is to consist of 27 parts, and 4 of these are already
in hand.
The Dutch scientific expedition in March and April last, to examine
the upper course of the Surinam Eiver, was quite successful. At Ber-
gendal they took the height of the neighboring Blue Mountain, which
they ascended and from which they had a view of the various mountain
chains of Surinam.
M. Alcenar (Eraripe read a paper on geographical neology and neog-
raphy before the Geographical Society of Eio de Janeiro, in which he
asks if there shall be a geographic neology for Brazil ; a correction of
orthography ; and if so, how these can be brought about. The questions
were referred to a commission, whose report has not yet been received.
The Bolletino of the Italian Geographical Society for July prints two
unedited letters of early Italian adventurers in South America, recently
brought to light in the archives of Florence and Modena. The longer
and more important, dated December 24, 1534, is addressed from Valen-
zuela (Venezuela) by a certain Tomaso Fiaschi to his brother in Flor
ence. Details of Mr. im Thurm's journey to Mount Eoraima, British Guiana,
are given by Mr. H. I. Perkins, who accompanied Mr. im Thurm, in the
August number of the Proceedings of the Eoyal Geographical Society,
and an illustrated article in Nature; April 30, 1885; vol. xxxi, pp.
607-10. The Argentine expeditions into Patagonia have raised the agronomic
credit of that country, which has long been supposed arid and sterile.
The report of General Villejas, and that of Colonel Eoa, who has trav
elled more than 500 leagues in Patagonia, affirm that the region near
the base of the mountains is rich, not only in metals and minerals, but
in fertile valleys which nestle between spurs of the range. With steam
transportation between the mountains and the coast, it is affirmed that
rapid growth of population might be expected and that prosperous com
munities might be established.
A party commanded by Feilberg, and sent out by the Argentine Gov
ernment to explore the Pilcomayo, found that a trade route via that
river to Bolivia is not feasible. Below the rapids, 60 leagues above the
mouth, the Pilcomayo receives au affluent uot marked on any chart,
but with as much water as the Pilcomayo or perhaps more.

GEOGRAPHY. 31
As a good example of what comprehensive geographical observation
ought to be, we refer to Dr. W. Sievers's account of his travels in Vene
zuela, which appeared in the Mittheilungen of the Hamburg Geograph
ical Society for 1884. He gives some interesting details of the effect*
still to be traced of the great earthquake which shook the north coast
of South America on March 26, 1812, and describes a journey he
made from Caracas to Puerto Cabello in November and December, 1884.
Dr. Sievers was a pupil of Professors Eichtofen and Wagner, and was.
trained as a geographer with a view to geographical explorations.
Mr. E. H. Glaisher's journey on the feerbice Eiver and Wieroonie
Creek will add materially to our knowledge of the interior of British
Guiana, which has been almost a terra incognita.
M. Coudrean has — as the result of one of his six journeys in Guiana —
brought back materials for two new maps, the one of the region between
the Oyapock, Yari, Amazons, and Atlantic, the other of Southern Gui
ana between the Branco and Paru.
M. J. Chaffaujon's explorations on the Orinoco have already corrected
many errors in the charts of its course. M. Thouar has gone on a new
expedition to complete his work on the same river.
oceaniCa.
The first annual meeting of the Victoria branch of the Geographical
Society of Australia was a most flattering success. The contribution&
were numerous, and many of them by distinguished authors.
Mr. B. Greenebaum, United States consul at Samoa, reports that a new
island has been thrown up out of the sea about 40 miles off the Tonga
Islands, bearing towards the Fiji Islands, and in the track of California
vessels. It is 2 miles long and 250 feet high, and is in latitude 20° 28''
south and longitude 175° 21' west. Mr. Shipley, consul at Auckland,
New Zealand, confirms the above in a report to the State Department,.
and gives interesting particulars. He thinks the island is at least 2 or
3 miles long and 60 feet high, in latitude 20° 21' south, longitude 175o
28' west.
The death is announced from Sydney of Thomas Boyd, the first man
to cross the Murray Eiver and the last surviving member of Hume and
Hovell's exploring party.
. An excellent description and r6sum6 of the history of the Caroline
and Pelew Islands was published in Nature, September 10, 1885.
The April issue of the Proceedings of the Eoyal Geographical Society
contains an account of a recent exploring expedition into the King
country of the North Island, New Zealand. This country, containing
some 10,000 square miles, is the Maori stronghold, and after the war of
1863-'64 white men were forbidden to enter, under pain of death. It
had thas never been surveyed prior to Mr. Kerry-Nicholl's expedition, in
1883. In the course of 600 miles of travel twenty-five ri.vers, not pre
viously shown upon the maps, and two small lakes were found ; the

32 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1885.
source of the four principal rivers of the colony, the Whanganui, Wai-
kato, Whangaehu, and Manganui-a-te-Ao, were traced; the hydrog
raphy of Lake Tanpo in relation to the four distinct watersheds flow
ing into it was examined; the volcano of Mount Tongariro (9,300 feet)
and Mount Euapehu (9,000 feet), the highest peaks of the North Island,
were ascended.
A Dutch expedition to New Guinea is being organized. The Govern
ment has promised a grant not exceeding 10,000 florins a year, and con
sequently the Expedition is to be confined to geographical investiga
tions. It will probably go to Dorch or to Onin.
Dr. Otto Finsch reports as some of the results of his work in German
New Guinea that he traversed the north coast for a distance of 1,000
English miles, from East Cape to 141° east longitude (Greenwich). Sev
eral good harbors were discovered, and continuous meteorological and
sounding observations made. A large river was discovered, which the
doctor named after the Empress Augusta; its course was followed for
30 English miles into the interior. There is evidence of the existence
of many other rivers. The German Emperor has ordained that the
harbor shall henceforth be known as "Friedrich Wilhelm's Hafen," and
the bay near it " Prince Heinrich's Hafen " ; the large navigable river
east of Cape de la Torre as the "Kaiserin Augusta Fluss"; while Beaupr6,
situated in the middle of the peninsula, will now be called " Varzin."
" Neu Mecklenburg " will be substituted for New Ireland ; " Neu Lauen-
burg" for the Duke of York group, and " Neu Pommern " for New Brit
ain, the largest island of the Bismarck Archipelago.
Dr. P. L. Sclater suggests " Torresia " as an appropriate name for
British New Guinea.
The Geographical Society of Australia has completed arrangements
for the exploration of New Guinea, and a fully-equipped expedition
has started under the leadership of Capt. Henry Charles Everill. The
rumored massacre of the entire party is discredited by the British resi
dent on Thursday Island.
Mr. H. O. Forbes is now engaged in the same field. He has accepted
a contribution of £500 from the above-named society, with the condi
tion that he gives it a full report of his journey, and second sets of col
lections. After various mishaps the expedition arrived safely at Port
Moresby (see Proceedings Eoyal Geographical Society December), in
company with Sir Peter Scratchley, early in September, and made
immediate arrangements to start for the interior in company with the
Eev. Mr. Chalmers. Mr. Forbes is going to attempt to reach the summit
of Mount Owen Stanley, 13,205 feet high, and hitherto untrodden by
the foot of man.
The Geographical Society of Hamburg has published a memorandum
showing the territorial extent of the recent German annexations in the
Pacific Ocean, Reduced to English measurements, the German esti
mates are as follows : Kaiser Wilhemsland (German New Guinea),

GEOGRAPHY. 33
34,508 square miles ; Neu Mecklenburg (New Ireland), 3,398-8 square
miles ; Neu Pommern (New Britain), 9,348-8 square miles ; the Bismarck
Archipelago, 15,261-6 square miles ; in all about 65,512 English geo
graphical square miles. The same authority estimates the area of New
Guinea taken under British protection as 65,517-76 square miles, or
about the same as the total of German annexations in the Pacific, and
in each case the area acquired is rather more than twice that of Ire
land. ARCTIC REGIONS.
In a communication to the New York Tribune last February, Lieu
tenant Greely advocates the route by Franz Josef Land to the Pole, and
gives his reasons for so doing at some length, confirming the opinion
previously expressed by Chief Engineer Melville. Captain Sorensen —
who speaks from large experience and after close observation of the ice
drift in that vicinity, suggests that Spitzbergen and Franz Josef Land
form parts of a vast archipelago, and not two wholly distinct territories,
as has hitherto been believed.
When the "Corwin" returned from Bering Sea to San Francisco in
June for some repairs, she reported the ice unusually far south in April
and May in that sea. The same state of affairs existed in the Atlan
tic. The captains of several Norwegian steamers dispatched to Green
land for seal-hunting, report that in consequence of the enormous ice
masses on the east and south coasts no seals had been killed by any
vessel. The state of the ice this summer seems to have been just the
reverse of that of last year, when the coast was unusually free from
ice. If the recently promulgated theory that this is an evidence of mild
weather in the polar regions is at all correct, it is unfortunate that no
expedition is in the field to take advantage of it.
Four Arctic expeditions are said to be projected for next year : two
organized in Portugal, one in Holland, and one in Denmark. They all
propose to visit the islands of the glacial ocean which belong to Eussia;
but the Danish expedition will specially explore the Kara Sea and the
northern coast of Siberia, to define if possible the unknown region
which is supposed to lie to the northeast of Novaya Zemlya.
In the latter half of 1883, Dr. F. Boase visited the German polar sta
tion in Cumberland Sound, and made several excursions in the neigh
boring region and along the coast. The results are briefly told by him
in a paper in numbers 5 and 6 of the Verhandlungen of the Berlin Geo
graphical Society for this year (accompanied by map), in which many
important corrections are made in the existing admiralty charts of these
coasts. At the meeting of the Naval Institute, which was held in Annapolis
October 9, Lieut. J. W. Danenhower, of the " Jeannette " expedition, pre
sented an essay on the advisability of further Arctic explorations, and
expressed himself as opposed to further work north of the 85th paral-

34 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1885.
leL The paper was supplemented by others received from Chief Engi-
aaeea- Melville, U. S. N., SirGeorgeNares, and Lieutenant Greely, and ver-
Ija^ly .discussed by Dr. Emil Bessels, of the " Polaris " expedition, and Mr.
"Ctemeats E. Markham, of the Eoyal Geographical Society, who presided
at. the meeting. Letters in favor of further Arctic exploration were read
^mm Prof. J. E. Nourse, U. S. N., and Dr. H. Eink, formerly governor of
-tim Danish colonies in Greenland. The general tenor of the discus -
aioa, both oral and written, was that scientific exploration of the Arctic
src^ons will go on.
Mr, C E. Markham, in his article "Polar Eegions," of the current
wMltion of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, permits himself to make the
following remarkable misstatement: "Lieutenant Lockwood made a
jtmmey along the north coast of Greenland, and reached a small island
in 33» 24-' [north latitude] and 44° 5' [west of Greenwich]. Dr. Pavy
aM& another went a short distance beyond the winter quarters of the
¦^'Alert," and a trip was made into the interior of Grinnell Land. But
soE iSds region had been explored and exhaustively examined by the English
tsx^ed&tion in 1875-'76." The italics are ours.
Dr. Leonard Stejneger's illustrated article on the Commander Islands
in Heft 3, Band viii, of the Deutsche geographische Blatter is of special
^Kai!ie,i]i thatit settles definitely the doubt thathas existed as to thedeath
<of Bering. The writer visited and described the ruins of the hut on
JJesring Island in which Bering and his companions wintered 141 years
^uevi^^sly, and where the celebrated traveller himself died and was
tmried. The relics found by Dr. Stejneger are of great, if melancholy, in
leanest. HTDEOGRAPHY.
The U. S. S. "Alert" has been engaged for some time in surveying the
¦Eoasts -of Corea. The returns have not yet been charted by the Depart-
anent. The last report from the U. S. S. " Eanger's " work ou the west coast of
Ctentaral America embraces 100 miles of coast between San Juan del Sur
¦smA ihe Giulf of Dulce ; this connects the former surveys with the Eng
lish detail work from Panama northward.
^jhe new chart of the harbor of Payta is an excellent specimen of the
astsastidard which Commander John E. Bartlett has established for the
Swiimjje work of the Hydrographic Bureau of the Navy Department. The
.ir®«lucfe«i of the photographic view of the anchorage will be of the great-
<««* aerviioe to mariners. The old Spanish charts of Porto Eico and other
IVest India islands have been verified, and as fast as possible this veri-
TfieatioD will be extended to all the harbors of the West Indies. A chart
«of the Arctic Ocean, constructed on the ordinary conical projection, en-
-aJMes one to study those regions with the utmost facility.
Eeturns have just been received from the summer's work of the Coast
Survey steamer "Carlile P. Patterson" in Southern Alaska. An im-

GEOGRAPHY. 35
mense extent of territory has been covered and in a most thorough man
ner, the ground being comparatively virgin, as the rough work by the
Enssians scarcely served as reconnaissance. The surveys off the coast of
Maine and the general routine work during the six months covered by
this report have not developed anything of special importance.
The Deutsche Seewarte as issued .a chart of the ice in the Atlantic
Ocean this spring, which penetrated very far south and. east, in conse
quence of continuous northerly and northwesterly winds. Several ice
bergs appear to have been found in the Gulf Stream. It seems from
experience that toward the end of June the ice recedes northward, while
between the banks and the east coast of Newfoundland it remains long
est, even after it has disappeared south and southeast of the banks.
Among the most important additions to our hydrographical knowl
edge are the following : Survey of Little Bahama Bank and southern
shore of Newfoundland ; main Strait of Magellan ; additions to ports
and coasts of Southeast Africa ; in the Eed Sea the intricate approaches
to Suakim have been well laid down; Penang harbor has been resur-
veyed and the positions of the islands lying to the northwest, and form
ing the eastern boundary of the ordinary route of vessels to Malacca
Strait, have been accurately determined; the unknown western shores
of Corea, south of the approach to Soul, for two degrees of latitude,
have been explored, and the main features of that island-studded shore
laid down, new rivers and harbors have been entered, notably the large
river Gun san-gang, at the entrance to which stands the considerable
town of Makfo; the southern approach to Haitan Straiten the Chinese
coast has been recharted ; in the Solomon Islands the Bougainville
Strait has been charted ; many additions have been made to the charts
of various groups of Pacific Islands ; the survey of the coast of India by
officers of the British navy and India marine, has been actively pro
gressing, surveys of Eangoon, Cheduba, and other ports in the Bay of
Bengal, as well as harbors on the west coast of Hindustan have been
made ; a resurvey of the great Canadian lakes has been commenced in
Georgian Bay.
The Italian corvette "Vettor Pisani" commanded by G. Columbo, re
cently completed a three years' circumnavigation of the globe, with suit
able outfit and instructions for scientific hydrography. The regions
visited included both coasts of South America, from Pernambuco on the
east, south to Magellan Straits, and north to Panama, the Galapagos
and Hawaiian Islands, the China, Indian, and Eed Seas, and so home.
The results of the voyage are very satisfactory, many deep-sea sound
ings having been taken, numerous charts corrected or resurveyed, and
general hydrographic information gathered.
One of the most interesting features of the Aberdeen meeting of the
British Association was the lecture given by Mr. John Murray, director
of the "Challenger" publications, on the results of deep-sea research,
especially as considered from the hydrographer's standpoint.

36 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1885.
The Proceedings of the Eoyal Geographical Society for September
contain the following : " We received in the course of the past month
two communications relating to the picking up of bottles with inclosed
memoranda cast overboard by enterprising ship captains' with a view
to testing the direction of what may be called the secondary currents
of the Atlantic. One of the communications is from the German con
sul at Fayal in the Azores, and is to the effect that one day, about the
beginning of July last, a bottle was picked up ' near the coast of the
island of Pico,' north latitude 38° 26', west longitude 28° 35', the contained
papers stating that it had been thrown overboard from the Hamburg
steamship "Bohemia" on August 23, 1884, in north latitude 42° 4', west
longitude 52° 12'. The inference to be drawn from this case is that the
southerly current thrown off by the Gulf Stream in this part of the At
lantic is one of extreme slowness. The other communication is from
Herr H. Wolff, of Grand Popo, West Africa. Writing on the 30th day
of May last, he informs us that a negro in his employ found on the beach
near Grand Popo a bottle, the inclosed papers of which state it was
thrown overboard from the ship "Patriarch" (from Newcastle, N. S. W.,
bound for London) on the 11th December, 1884, in north latitude 2° 46',
west longitude 22° 3'. This point is near the southern edge of the
Guinea current, which thus appears to have taken five months to carry
the bottle some 1,200 geographical mUes from west to east."

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