156 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



republic, three of which have been already surveyed e. (/., 

 first, that from Brit, on the Pacific, to El Cojin, or Pass San 

 Jose, on Lake Nicaragua : distance, twenty miles ; highest el- 

 evation above the level of Lake Nicaragua, forty feet. Sec- 

 ond, from Ochomogo, on the lake, to Ascalanta, on the Pacific: 

 distance, about twenty miles; highest elevation from thirty- 

 four to thirty-six feet, and the cutting through this summit 

 only about five or six hundred yards. Third, from Ochomo- 

 go to Nagualapa : distance, twenty-six miles, with an eleva- 

 tion about the same as last; the deep cutting along this route 

 will be about two miles. 



RETUEN OF THE NICARAGUA SHIP-CANAL EXPEDITION. 



The officers of the Nicaragua Ship-canal Exploring Expedi- 

 tion returned to New York on the 25th of July last, having 

 completed their labors for the present season. As we have 

 already informed our readers, this expedition was fitted out 

 by the Navy Dej:>artment, in pursuance of an act of Congress, 

 for the purpose of determining which of several routes sug- 

 gested was most favorable for the construction of a ship-ca- 

 nal across Nicaragua from the Atlantic to the Pacific, or else 

 to find a new and better one, and in this they have been oc- 

 cupied since April last. The Sapoa route was found to be 

 inadvisable in consequence of the great elevation, and the 

 Child route was considered to be the best, as the greatest al- 

 titude was only about forty-five feet. Explorations were 

 being carried on along several lines, when the heavy rains 

 set in and prevented any farther labor. Washington Daily 

 Chronicle^ July 25,1872. 



EXPLORATIONS OF SEYBOLD IX CHILE. 



Herr Seybold, a German resident of Santiago, Chile, made, 

 during the past year, an exploration of the Cordilleras of 

 that country for the purpose of ascertaining their altitudes. 

 Among his other adventures he experienced a snow-storm, 

 with heavy thunder and lightning, at an altitude of 14,300 

 feet. Besides the discovery of a number of new species of 

 animals, an interesting result of his expedition was the find- 

 ing, at an elevation of from ten to twelve thousand feet above 

 the sea, traces of early inhabitants in the form of stone im- 

 plements and stone walls, the former of which had certainly 



