O. MISCELLANEOUS. 575 



REPORT ON THE POPULATION OF THE EARTH. 



The number of Petermann's 3Iittheilungen for March, 

 1875, contains the usual annual report upon the population 

 of the earth, made by Messrs. Behm and Wagner. The foot- 

 ing for the year 1874 is as follows : 



Europe 302,973,000 



Asia 798,907,000 



Africa 206,007,000 



America 84,392,000 



Australia and Polynesia 4,563,000 



Total 1,396,842,000 



17 (7, March, 1875. 



JAPANESE GAME OF CHESS. 



In a recent number of the proceedings of the German So- 

 ciety at Yokohama, an interesting account is given by Holtz 

 of the Japanese game of chess. The chess-board is, he says, 

 divided into eighty-one squares of the same light yellow 

 color, which are distinguished among themselves by drawing 

 black lines over the yellow board. The squares are not 

 true squares, but somewhat longer than broad, in order to 

 correspond to the figures of the chess-men themselves. The 

 figures are, like the board, of the same color, but of a more 

 decided yellow, perfectly distinguishable from that of the 

 board itself. In the English game we have thirty-two pieces 

 and sixty-four squares. In the Japanese we have forty pieces 

 and eighty-one squares. The separate figures are of differ- 

 ent sizes, in proportion to their value, but have all the same 

 shape, i. e., very nearly that of a truncated pyramid. The 

 queen is the greatest, the peasants the smallest; but the dif- 

 ference in size between the separate figures would scarcely 

 suffice to prevent mistakes, if it were not that the name and 

 value of each figure are written in Chinese letters upon 

 their upper sides. Except the queen and certain other fig- 

 ures, they all have also a second sign on their bases, which 

 bases are turned uppermost during the first part of the 

 game, and only turned down when the piece itself has reach- 

 ed the enemy's side of the board. The pieces are so placed 

 upon their squares that the narrower sides are turned to- 

 ward the opponent, so that one at a glance easily recognizes 



