180 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



State," and that " the configuration of the country is as unique and as 

 unknown to science as that of any part of the Rocky Mountains." 



In South America a number of surveys have been made, one of the 

 most notable being that of the Sao Francisco River, by W. Milnor 

 Roberts, now chief of the Brazilian railways. It is, he says, a very 

 peculiar river, thirteen hundred and two miles long from the ocean to 

 the Falls of Perapora, and is one half wider than the Ohio at Cincin- 

 nati, with a large volume of water at the lowest stage of the river. 

 Two hundred miles from its mouth are the great Falls of Paulo Af- 

 fonso, with a higher elevation than the Falls of Niagara, though not 

 like Niagara in one pitch. A railway is required seventy-five miles to 

 connect the lower and upper rivers, which is now, he says, in the course 

 of construction by the Brazilian Government. About two hundred 

 and sixty miles of the river has many rapids, all of which he ascended, 

 and after this there are, he says, about eight hundred miles of fair 

 navigation for light steamers. 



The geographical explorations in Asia, especially in the northern 

 part of it and in the countries now under the control of the Russians, 

 have been very extensive. One of the most interesting events in the 

 East has been the visit of Mr. C. Doughty to the so-called rock city of 

 El-IIeggi, beyond Damascus, which, in the days of Ptolemy, was an 

 emporium for trade in frankincense and gold. It is one of the seven 

 fabled cities of the Arabs, which was said by them to have been hewed 

 out of the surrounding mountains, and to have had one hundred funereal 

 chambers excavated in the rock. Mr. Doughty reached the place with 

 great difficulty, and found it to consist only of the remains of what 

 appeared to have been four or five palm villages, each surrounded by 

 a wall in the ordinary Arab manner. He discovered some sepulchral 

 chambers, but they were very plain, with inscriptions cut in a panel 

 over the doorways. This journey of Mr. Doughty has entirely dissi- 

 pated the fabulous stories so long told about this place by Arab, Turk- 

 ish and Persian pilgrims. 



The work in China, Thibet, Corea, India, Japan, and throughout 

 all parts of Africa, has been considerable. The Niger, after several 

 unsuccessful attempts, has been traced to its source in the vicinity of 

 a village called Konlako, near the frontier of Koronko. Lieutenant 

 Savarin de Braza, after three years of very difficult exploration, has 

 obtained a complete knowledge of the Ogowa River, which he has 

 proved to be entirely distinct from the Congo, and to have no connec- 

 tion with any interior lakes. 



The most remarkable of the recent explorations in Africa is that 

 of the Portuguese explorer, Major A. A. de Serpa Pinto, in his jour- 

 ney from Benguela, on the western coast, across the African Continent 

 to the Zambesi River, and thence in a southeasterly direction through 

 the Matabeli kingdom and the Transvaal Republic to Natal on the 

 Indian Ocean. He started from Benguela, on the west coast, Novem- 



