NOTES BY THE EDITOR. XXI 



posits in the interior of Zambkze, but the difficult courses of which 

 have profited more to geography than to the seekers of gold. 

 We have had recently an account of the expedition of Lieuten- 

 ant Aytnes, of the French marine, in the basin of VOgovt from 

 the side of Gabon, which has contributed some precious materials 

 for natural history. 



Gerard Rohlfs has visited the oasis of Cyrenaique. 



Wallace has published an article upon the Malay Archipelago ; 

 Dr. Sempor upon New Guinea; Professor Bastion upon Sin- 

 gapore, Batavia, and Manilla ; and M. Gamier, a memoir upon 

 the migrations of the Polynesians, published in the Bulletin of 

 the Geographical Society. 



In regard to Asia, attention is called to the works of M. Her- 

 man de Schlagintweit upon India ; of M. Charles Lemire, upon 

 Cochin China, and of M. Francis Gamier, upon the French ex- 

 pedition to Mekong. 



In China, Cooper has pushed his explorations into the heart 

 of the empire in the basin of the Yang-tse-kiang ; while another 

 traveller, M. de Richoffen, occupied himself with geological re- 

 searches upon the frontiers of the north beyond the great wall ; 

 and a French missionary, P. Armaud David, has employed the 

 leisure hours of his office in the study of the natural history of 

 Thibet and Mongolia. 



Upon the confines of Siberia the Russians have finally fixed 

 the limits between their Asiatic possessions and China; at the 

 same time they continue their explorations into Central Asia, 

 as much from the political point of view as in the interests of 

 science. Those desiring ampler details of the progress in 

 geography will find them in the report made by M. Charles 

 Mannoir to the Geographical Society, or in the selections of the 

 " I/Annee Geographique " of M. Vivien de Saint Martin. 



In Central America the piercing of the Isthmus occupies public 

 attention. Malte-Brun enumerates no less than 28 projects for 

 a canal across the isthmus. To these different projects it is 

 necessary to add those of M. du Puydt, and of Commander 

 Selfridge, who commands the latest expedition to explore the 

 routes. In expectation of the realization of these projects, the 

 government of Honduras has ordered the construction of a rail- 

 road setting out from the port of Puerto-Cabello, upon the 

 Atlantic, and ending in the Bay of Fonseca, upon the Pacific. 

 These important works are indicated because they will have an 

 important bearing upon many branches of geography. 



