198 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



ASIA. 



Under the auspices and direction of the Russian Geograph- 

 ical Society, various journeys and explorations have been 

 carried on in Siberia and in Central Asia. 



A most important work has been the carrying of a line of 

 levels along the Siberian road from Ekaterinburg to Irkutsk, 

 a distance of 2236 miles, by which the exact heights of nu- 

 merous important meteorological stations have been estab- 

 lished. AVith the aid of the knowledge thus derived, it will 

 no longer be impossible to trace isobaric curves over this 

 region. 



The determining of the precise differences of longitude by 

 electric time-signals along the line of telegraph extending 

 from Moscow to Vladivostock, now completed, is a work of 

 immense importance, upon the results of which the geo- 

 graphical positions of points in Japan and China will here- 

 after depend. 



Under the direction of the Siberian branch of the Russian 

 Geographical Society, a careful exploration of Lake Baikal 

 and the surrounding country has been carried on. Besides 

 the regular bulletin of the society, containing a great amount 

 of valuable material, the other publications of travels and ex- 

 plorations by members of the society afford abundant testi- 

 mony to the zeal and ability which are constantly adding 

 to the geographical knowledge of Russian territory. 



The geographical results of Colonel Przewalski's expedi- 

 tion into Chinese Tartary, during the past year, are a survey 

 from Kuldja for eight hundred miles into the interior of the 

 country, seven determinations of latitudes and longitudes, 

 many hypsometric measurements, and large botanical and 

 zoological collections. He arrived at Lob Nor, as stated in 

 the Record of last year, on February 11, travelling by the 

 way of the valley of the Lower Tarim. 



The height of the valley above the sea is about 2000 feet, 

 and its topography is quite different from that represented 

 on the maps, the survey and the astronomical determination 

 of latitudes and longitudes giving quite a new aspect to the 

 country. 



He found the country on the banks of the Tarim and 

 about Lob Nor very thinly settled the people speaking 



