194 ANNUAL RECORD, OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



Mr. Minehin, C.E., while surveying for a railroad between 

 La Paz and Lake Titicaca, has determined the heights with 

 great care. 



His results are: Lake Titicaca, 12,545 feet above the sea- 

 level ; Alto de La Paz, 13,389 feet ; Plaza Mayor de La Paz, 

 11,946 feet; Summit of Mount Illimani, 21,224 feet. 



PERU. 



A new geographical society has been established at Lima. 



Towards the end of last year, a commission, directed by 

 Major D. A. Rivera and Mr. A. Werthemann, an engineer in 

 the Peruvian service, was engaged in exploring the rivers 

 Perene and Tambo, tributaries of the Ucayali, to ascertain if 

 navigable communication were possible between the Perene 

 and the Amazon at Iquitos. It is intended to extend the 

 railway between Lima and Oroya, so as to form a highway 

 of railway and navigable river across the continent from the 

 Pacific to the Atlantic. 



An account of this survey has been recently published at 

 Lima, and forms a valuable contribution to Peruvian ge- 

 ography. Mr. Werthemann states that a length of only 

 forty-eight miles of railway would be required to unite the 

 European settlements of the Chancamay and Paucartambo 

 valleys with the highest navigable point of the Perene. 



He estimates that a route, passing from Lima by land 

 through Oroya, Palca, Tarma, and Paucartambo, and by 

 river along the Perene, Ucayali, and Maranon to Iquitos, 

 could be traversed in twelve days ; and that, if the railway 

 were extended to the Ene, the time of transit from the Pa- 

 cific coast to the main Amazon could be reduced to eight 

 days. 



The second volume of Selior Raimundi's work on Peru con- 

 tains the geographical history of the country from the Span- 

 ish conquest to 1800. More recent geographical progress will 

 be noticed in the third volume. 



Mr. E. G. Squier's " Incidents of Travel and Exploration 

 in the Land of the Incas " has recently been published, and 

 adds much to previous knowledge. 



