246 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



until the lake is reached. This proves to be about forty 

 miles long and twenty-five broad. It is very shallow, no- 

 where showing a greater depth than twelve feet, while shal- 

 lows extend for miles into the lake. Very few fish were 

 found, and even alligators were scarce. Birds, with the ex- 

 ception of the fish-hawk, courlan, snake-bird, and herons of 

 various species, were not seen. Forest and /Stream, April 6, 

 1874,145. 



EXPLORATIONS OF PIN ART IN ALASKA. 



The December Bulletin of the Geographical Society of 

 Paris contains an account by M. Alphonse Pin art of his ex- 

 plorations of Alaska, prosecuted in 1871, with a map showing 

 the region of his travels. These embraced a considerable part 

 of the island of Kodiak, the southern portion of the Aleutian 

 Islands, of Unalashka, Unamak, and Oomnak, as also Bristol 

 Bay and Norton Sound, and Plover Bay, on the Siberian coast. 

 A great amount of interesting information is given in regard 

 to tribes visited, and the geographical peculiarities of the 

 country, the latter including original determinations of the 

 altitude of several mountains, the discovery of a bay on the 

 south side of Alaska (now called Pinart Bay), which was pre- 

 viously unknown ; statistics of the Esquimau and Aleut 

 population, etc. Numerous collections in ethnology and ge- 

 ology were made by M. Pinart, and a large number of pho- 

 tographic views of scenery taken, and many portraits se- 

 cured. 



Several communications upon the geological and paleon- 

 tological collections of M. Pinart had been already made by 

 French savans. Bull. Soc. Geogr., Paris, Dec, 187 3, 561. 



EXPLORATIONS OF W. M. GABB IN COSTA RICA. 



Few persons are aware of the important exploration which 

 has been going on for a year or two past in Costa Rica under 

 the direction of Professor William M. Gabb, a geologist and 

 explorer of Philadelphia, well known for his excellent scien- 

 tific work, especially in connection with the Geological Sur- 

 vey of California under Professor Whitney. 



The special object is an investigation of an entirely un- 

 known region of Southeastern Costa Rica, inhabited only by 

 savages, but known to contain rich treasures of minerals, 



