254 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



it will be inexpedient to consider the question of any addi- 

 tional labor. 



Ocean Highways, for February, contains the correspond- 

 ence between Gladstone and Sir Bartle Frere on this subject ; 

 and in a letter of the latter gentleman we find that the cost 

 of the work, on a large scale, is estimated at about 25,000 

 sterling per annum. He remarks that should the govern- 

 ment decline to take the entire charge of the work, it will 

 probably be called upon to assist a private expedition, which, 

 however, he thinks much less desirable. An accompanying- 

 communication from the Dundee Chamber of Commerce pre- 

 sented, as the principal argument in favor of this expedition, 

 the unknown seas and coasts north of Greenland, and the 

 great probability of finding out new localities for whale fish- 

 eries, in view of the large increase in demand for animal oil, 

 of which fully three thousand tons are required at Dundee in 

 the manufacture of jute alone. The experiences of the Po- 

 laris party do not promise much in this direction, as no whales 

 whatever were observed inside of Robeson Channel; neither 

 were any fishes seen, excepting a few young salmon. A, 

 February, 1874, 466. 



OPERATIONS OF THE " CHALLENGER" FOH 1874, 1875, 1876. 



The programme of the Challenger, in the way of future ex- 

 plorations after leaving Simon's Bay, South Africa, is as fol- 

 lows: Dredgings and temperature soundings are first to be 

 made on Agulhas Bank, and Marion Island and the Crozets 

 are then to be examined, the latter work with special refer- 

 ence to its occupation by the French as an observing station 

 of the coming transit of Venus. Ker^uelen's Land is next 

 to be visited for the same purpose, and an exhaustive survey 

 will be made for the benefit of such of the American and En- 

 glish parties as intend to visit it during the transit. The 

 longitude of the island is to be determined very accurately 

 by means of chronometrical measurement from the Cape, and 

 again to Melbourne. 



Macdonald Island will next be touched at, with a view of 

 finding a harbor there, and likewise with reference to the 

 transit of Venus expedition, after which the vessel will pass 

 on to the Ice Barrier; thence sail will be made to Melbourne, 

 to be reached by the end of March, and after examining the 



