110 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



efforts to get out. A woodcut representing 

 this strange belief will be found in an old 

 cosmography in our library." 



Meteorological and earthquake dis- 

 turbances of the past year are noted; 

 and, with an account of the voyage of 

 the Challenger and the important re- 

 sults attained by it, Judge Daly passes 

 to the progress of geographical work in 

 Europe, and gives an instructive ac- 

 count of the drainage of the Zuyder Zee 

 now undertaken by the people of Hol- 

 land, who have become masters of hy- 

 draulics by necessity, as their whole 

 country lies twelve feet below the level 

 of the sea. They drained the Haarlem 

 L*ke, twelve miles long, seven miles 

 wide, and fourteen feet deep, and cov- 

 ered it with thriving farms and villages, 

 and were so pleased with the specula- 

 tion that they have now undertaken to 

 drain off the Zuyder Zee, which em- 

 braces an area of 759 square miles, and 

 by which they propose to add six per 

 cent, of fertile land to the total area of 

 the country. It is a dull waste of half- 

 navigable waters with low, marshy bor- 

 ders. They are first to construct an 

 immense dike 164 feet wide at the bot- 

 tom of the sea, and rising to a height of 

 twenty-six feet above it, making a total 

 length of wall, near the narrow opening 

 of the sea, twenty-five statute miles. 

 The inclosed area will be divided into 

 squares, and pumped out at an expense 

 of $48,000,000, or about $100 an acre. 

 Our Yankees, who are being drowned 

 by the score in the overflow of their 

 ponds, might learn something about 

 dams from these Dutchmen. 



The president next attacks Asia, 

 and gives us a great deal of valuable in- 

 formation of the results of geographical 

 inquiry in various portions of its im- 

 mense area, of which the following has 

 a very human interest: 



" Mr. Bond, of the Indian Trigonometrical 

 Survey, discovered two of the wild dwarfish 

 race who live in the hill-jungles of the West- 

 ern Galitz, to the southwest of the Palini 

 llills, a race which, though often heard of, no 

 trace of had previously been found by the sur- 



vey. A man and a woman were discovered 

 The man was four feet six inches high, and. 

 26i inches about the chest. He had a round 

 head with coarse, black, woolly hair and 

 dark-brown skin, a forehead low and slightly 

 retreating, the lower part of the face project- 

 ing like that of a monkey, with thick lips, 

 protruding about an inch beyond his nose ; 

 a comparatively long body for his size, with 

 short, bandy legs, and arms extending almost 

 to his knees. The hands and fingers were so 

 contracted that they could not be made to 

 stretch out straight and flat. The palms and 

 fingers were covered with a thick skin, par- 

 ticularly the tips of the fingers, the nails be- 

 ing small and imperfect, and the feet broad 

 aud thick-skinned all over. He had a gray- 

 ish-white, scanty, coarse mustache like bris- 

 tles, but no beard. The woman, who was 

 about of the same size, was of yellow tint, 

 with long, black, straight hair, and features 

 well formed as contrasted with those of the 

 man, there being no difference between her 

 appearance and that of the common women 

 of that part of the country. She had an 

 agreeable expression, was well developed 

 and modest. Their simple dress was a loose 

 cloth, and, though they ate flesh, they lived 

 chiefly on roots and honey. They have no 

 fixed dwelling-places, but sleep between 

 rocks, or in caves, near which they happen 

 to be at night, when they light a fire and 

 cook what they have collected during the 

 day, maintaining the fire during the night for 

 warmth, and to keep off wild animals. Their 

 religion, such as they have, is the worship of 

 certain local divinities of the forest. This is 

 a new pygmy race, resembling the African 

 Obongos of Du Chaillu, the Akkas of 

 Schweinfurth, and the Dokos of Dr. Krapf, 

 in their size, appearance and habits." 



Africa is, however, now the great 

 point of assault by geographical explor- 

 ers, and there come the most wonderful 

 revelations regarding the fertility and 

 beauty of various of its extensive re- 

 gions, with curious descriptions of its 

 government and peoples. Dr. Xachti- 

 gal, describing Wadai, in Northeast Af- 

 rica 



" Fixes the population of the oountry at 

 about two and a half millions, and says that 

 the surfaoe elevation of the land is from 

 west to east, with an elevation of from 1,000 

 to 1,500 feet above the sea-level. Numerous 

 small streams flow from the eastern heights, 

 falling into the two principal rivers, the 

 Kafa and Poaka. The country is divided 



