316 RECORD OF SCIENCE FOR 1886. 



nearly finished tlieir work on the border between Yun-nan and Tong-. 

 king. Tliey have been uinch interrupted by the piratical attacks of the 

 natives. 



Capns, Bonvalot, and Pepin have continued their travels in thetrans- 

 Casi)iau district and Turkestan. They always hoped to be able to cross 

 the Afghan boundary, but have been unable to do so. After reaching 

 the sacred city of Meshed, this season they decided to go at any risk, 

 and started for Balkh. They were cai)tured, safely returned to the bor- 

 der, and left on the other side in a very emphatic but respectful man- 

 ner. They have explored the regions about Merv and Samarkand and 

 have followed the course of the Amu-Daria. 



The Russian Government sent out a party under Dr. Radde to ex- 

 amine into the resources of the new trans Caspian territory. They 

 were detained at Askabad by a tardy spring. They i^rotited by the de- 

 lay to explore the mountains on the Russo-Persian frontier. At Merv 

 he was joined by Koutchiue. From this point thej* went along the Mur- 

 ghab to the frontier of Afghanistan, and then followed the boundary to 

 Saraklis and then to Askabad, studying the five parallel mountain 

 chains on the border of the new Russian provinces. 



Mr. and Mme. Dieulafoy are still continuing their researches in 

 Persia, Ghaldea, and Susiania, and although their work is mainly 

 archaeological, it contains much of interest to the geographer. At this 

 time the interest centers in the description of their return trip from 

 Susa to Bassorah. 



Persia has also been crossed by Captain Gore of the Afghanistan 

 boundary commission. He was accompanied bj^ a party of native to- 

 pogra[)hers, and starting from the Oxus he traveled through Herat, 

 Burjum, and then across the desert of Luth'to Kerman; here the latest 

 news was received from him, and his objective point was Bunder Abbas 

 at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. 



The Russian Government sent an expedition this year into eastern 

 Pamir to study the botany of the region. It was the expedition of 

 Grum-Grzymailo, and failed to reach the higher portions of the Pamir 

 on account of bad weather. 



The English government of India represented by Lord Dufferin sent 

 Ney to Kashgar and Yarkand in 1885. The explorations of iSTey in 

 Central Asia have already made him famous. In this instance he 

 profited by the occasion to cross that portion of the Pamir which has 

 been considered inaccessible heretofore, and reached the headwaters 

 of the Amu Daria. He then explored the regions of Roshan and Shigh- 

 nan, which had only been visited by the pundits previously. After this 

 he passed through Badakshan,and then reaching the English boundary 

 commission In Afghanistan, went to Ladak, where he has resided for 

 some time. 



The Hindoo Koosh range was also crossed by Colonel Lockhart. Near 

 the southern sources of the Amu Daria he passed through Badakshan, 



