GEOGRAPHY. 197 



Zee has been submitted by the government of the kingdom 

 of Holland to the States-General. 



Count Bela-Szechenyi's "History of Neusidler" Lake gives 

 a curious account of the rise and fall of its waters, with the 

 reasons for the phenomena, and interesting discoveries from 

 the stone acre in the lake. In 1854 the waters of the lake, 

 which lies in the western part of Hungary, near the Austrian 

 frontier, began gradually to sink, until in 1868 there was not 

 left so much as a marshy spot in its bed; but since 1869, 

 they have been slowly returning, until in 1876 the surface 

 of the lake has resumed its normal appearance. 



The second division of "La France" has been completed 

 in the admirable work of Elisee Reclus, "Nouvelle Geo- 

 graphic Universelle." 



PALESTINE. 



The scientific survey of Western Palestine, under the 

 charge of Lieutenant Kitchiner, R.E., has been completed. 

 This laborious undertaking has been pursued, in spite of 

 many difficulties, for more than five years, and it now only 

 remains to work out the map of Palestine, which will con- 

 sist of twenty-six sheets, on the scale of one inch to the 

 mile. 



A report on the " Line of Levels from the Mediterranean 

 to the Sea of Galilee," by Lieutenant Kitchiner, has been 

 read before the Royal Geographical Society. 



The levels extended over about thirty-six miles, and the 

 result of the work showed the depression of the Sea of Gali- 

 lee to be 682.5 feet below the Mediterranean, being 40 or 50 

 feet greater than had been generally supposed. The depres- 

 sion of the Dead Sea was found to be 1292 feet, and that of 

 the deepest part of the valley of the Jordan 1300 feet below 

 the Mediterranean. There seems no doubt that the whole 

 of the enormous quantity of water brought down by the 

 Jordan to the Dead Sea is carried off by evaporation. 



A German association for the exploration of Palestine 

 lias been lately formed by scientific men, in different parts 

 of the empire and in Switzerland, the headquarters of which 

 will be at Baedeker's in Leipzig. 



