XVIII NOTES BY THE EDITOR 



were found, and some important geographical discoveries made. A chart, 

 showing the course and discoveries of the expedition, has been issued by 

 the hydrographical office, at Washington. 



Intelligence from the British Exploring Expedition in Central Africa has 

 been received up to August, 1851. Mr. Richardson, the head of the 

 party, died in March last, at Bornou. Drs. Barth and Overweg had, 

 however, continued on, and, at the latest dates, had succeeded in penetrat- 

 ing further into the interior than has hitherto been accomplished. 



A plan for. the exploration of Central Africa has been submitted to the 

 Secretary of the Navy, by Lieut. M. C. Watkins, U. S. N., who volunteers 

 to conduct an expedition. He proposes to ascend the rivers St. Paul, 

 Niger, and Congo, by means of a small iron steamer, suitably equipped 

 and furnished. 



The mystery hanging over the interior of Africa is rapidly dissipating 

 before the zeal of the many explorers whose efforts are now devoted to 

 traversing the centre of that continent, and, before many years have passed, 

 there is reason to suppose this geographical and ethnographic problem 

 will be fully solved. The English expeditions from the Cape of Good Hope, 

 the German missionaries on the eastern coast, with their journeys into the 

 highlands in the south of Abyssinia, the explorations of the English on the 

 Gold Coast and up the Niger, those of the French, starting from Senegal 

 and Algiers, the travels of Knoblecher and others on the upper Nile, 

 with the journeys of Barth and Overweg, must soon make us acquainted 

 with the principal facts that have so long been the object of general curi- 

 osity, if not of exaggerated expectation. Something is also to be anticipated 

 from the aid of Mohammedan travellers, of whom there are a great number 

 scattered over the interior of the continent, in search of adventures, or 

 with a view to trade. One of these has published, in Arabic, two works, 

 containing his experiences and observations in Darfur and Waday, both 

 of which have been recently translated into French. 



In return for a set of American weights and measures, presented by the 

 U. S. Government to the French, through the agency of M. Vattemare, a 

 full set of the French standards has been ordered to be sent to Washington. 

 It embraces all the articles belonging to, or illustrating, the three unities 

 of the French metrical system of weights and measures, viz., the metre, 

 the litre, and the kilogramme ; the series of instruments for weighing and 

 measuring, which habitually compose, in France, a bureau of verification, 

 together with the volumes of law pertaining to the whole subject. This 

 system, embracing a great variety of articles, will form one of the most 

 valuable collections in the possession of the American Government. 



The Paris " Bulletin de la Societe de Geographic " of the past year con- 

 tains a highly eulogistic article upon the management and results of the 

 U. S. Coast Survey, and very deservedly compliments the superintendent, 



