186 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



in the canal showed that the reports of its decrease in depth 

 were without foundation. 



Captain Wharton states that at the season of highest Xile, 

 the water at the Damietta mouth is so charged with mud 

 that it forms a sort of breakwater for the region to leeward 

 of it, the wind being powerless to raise it into waves. 



Passing into the Red Sea, Captain Wharton has done very- 

 valuable work in surveying an inshore route along the Af- 

 rican coast, by which small vessels may avoid the stormy 

 southerly winds and heavy sea prevalent during the summer 

 months. 



At Mauritius, Lieutenant Coghlan,R.N., has commenced a 

 much-needed survey of the shores of that island, no hydro- 

 graphic survey ever having been made. 



In the China Sea, Commander Napier, in II. M. S. Nassau, 

 has done a large amount of work in Carimata and Hai-tan 

 straits, as well as in the labyrinth of shoals and channels in 

 the Strait of Malacca. 



On the coasts of Corea and Japan, Captain St. John,R.N., 

 and the officers of H. M. S. Sylvia, have surveyed and con- 

 nected the numerous groups of islands lying between Japan 

 and the northern parts of China. 



A party under command of Staff-Commander Maxwell have 

 divided their labors between Placentia Ray and the north- 

 east coast of Labrador, which work can only be done in mid- 

 summer. 



Lieutenant Pullen, R.N., has energetically pushed the sur- 

 vey of the island of Jamaica. 



The surveys of the shore of Australia have been carried 

 on by four fully organized parties, and a large amount of 

 work has been accomplished. 



The general survey of the Fiji group under charge of 

 Lieutenant Moore, R.N., has made marked progress. 



A detailed survey of the Gettysburg bank discovered 

 last year by Lieut. -Commander Gorringe, U.S.N., has been 

 made by Commander Egerton, R.N., who, however, failed 

 to find a less depth on it than had been found by its dis- 

 coverer viz., thirty fathoms. 



Besides the direction of all these surveys, the British Hy- 

 drographic Office has published 167 notices to mariners, con- 

 sisting of notifications of changes in lights, buoys, etc. ; 350 



