GEOGRAPHY. 247 



of Perak, the commercial importance of which has rajjidly increased 

 within the last few years, owing- to the great quantity of tin which has 

 been produced there. Mr. Tenison-Woods considers the tin deposits 

 practically inexhaustible. Now that order and good government have 

 been secured bj' the presence and inliuence of a British resident, multi- 

 tudes of Chinese have flocked to reruk, and, in mining industry, have 

 entirely superseded the Malays. 



The surveys and explorations by Kussian and English surveyors of 

 the territory in dispute between Russia and Afghanistan have led to 

 detailed descriptions of the southern part of Turkestan and North- 

 ern Afghanistan from members of the boundary commission on both 

 sides. In the January and March (1885) numbers of the Journal of 

 the Eoyal Geographical Society, Major Holdich, E. E., commanding a 

 British surveying party, gives a detailed account of the country passed 

 ovei', and in the April number of the same periodical there is a transla- 

 tion of an article by M. Paul Lessar descriptive of the Kara-Kum or 

 Turkoman Desert. 



Various expeditions have been proposed for the exploration of the 

 island of New Guinea, but the difQculties of hostile savages and a sickly 

 climate are so great that very little has been added to our knowledge 

 of that island during the past year. A Dutch gentleman, Mr. D. F. van 

 Braam Morris, resident of Ternate, made two voyages to the north 

 coast, and ascended the Amberno or Ambernoli River for 60 miles, find- 

 ing it of much smaller dimensions than heretofore supposed. Mr, van 

 Braam Morris discovered another large river and a good harbor, a lit- 

 tle west of Humboldt Bay. 



An attempt to penetrate by way of the Baxter River to the interior 

 of the island, under the leadership of Captain Strahan (employed by 

 the Melbourne Age), was frustrated by the hostility of the natives, who 

 forced the members of the expedition to abandon their boat and retreat 

 to the coast. 



The proposed expedition of Mr. Wilfrid Powell, mentioned in the 

 Summary of last year, has been abandoned. 



AUSTRAX,IA. 



Among the questions arising for discussion at the first annual meet- 

 ing, at Melbourne, of the Victoria branch of the Geographical Society 

 of Australia, are the necessity of defining the exact meaning of tlie 

 geographical term "Australasia;" the compilation of a geography for 

 Australian schools; the exploration of New Guinea, and the discover- 

 ing and defining the exact boundaries of British New Guinea. 



Mr. Charles Winuecke, between July and December, 1883, succeeded 

 in exploring and mapi)ing about 40,000 square miles of hitherto unknown 

 country in South Australia near the western boundary line of Queens- 

 laud. The country in question lies between 27° 30' and 22^ 40' south 

 latitude and between 137° and 139o east longitude. In this region, 



