576 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



each of the figures belonging to the other party. In this 

 way the Japanese, by the position of their figures, attain the 

 same end that the Europeans accomplish by differences of 

 color. Concerning the movements of the pieces, which 

 Holtz describes in detail, we will only state that the king's 

 moves are very similar to those in the European game. 

 There is no piece whose movements correspond to those of 

 the queen in the English game. Mitth. Deutsch. Gesell., 

 Yokohama, July, 1874, 13. 



REPORT OP THE ICELANDIC COMMISSION TO ALASKA. 



During the summer of 1874 a committee of the Icelanders 

 resident in Wisconsin visited Alaska for the purpose of as- 

 certaining whether that country would be suitable for an 

 emigration of Icelanders from their native island. The Sec- 

 retary of the Navy furnished them transportation on board 

 the Portsmouth, and secured to them ample opportunity of 

 making the examination in question. Their report has just 

 been printed by the government, from which we learn that 

 the investigation was highly satisfactory to the committee, 

 and tended to dispel many of the prevalent ideas as to the 

 character and value of the region. 



On Cook's Inlet the committee found large varieties of 

 fine timber and an unexpected amount of summer weather, 

 the winter beginning: as late as the middle of November 

 and ending the middle of March. They were informed by 

 a resident that cabbages, potatoes, and other garden vege- 

 tables grew readily, and that nothing else, to his knowledge, 

 had ever been tried. He stated, however, that there was a 

 settlement near by where rye was raised. They were very 

 decided in their impression of the advantages which the isl- 

 and of Kodiak would furnish to the people of their country, 

 there being an abundance of timber east of the 151st me rid- 

 ian; west of that it was open plain, with plenty of excellent 

 pasturage. Potatoes they found to do well, as also cab- 

 bages, turnips, and other vegetables. They considered that 

 any thing which grows in Scotland would succeed in Ko- 

 diak. Pasture land they found admirable all along the 

 coast, and considered it probable that it was equally good 

 in the many valleys which lead from the bays to the inte- 



