GEOGRAPHY. 561 



of tlie Eed Kiver navigation. From tliis point the road to the plateau 

 of Yunnan is said to be mountainous and difficult in the extreme. The 

 article is of special value at this time, wlieu the commercial geography 

 of Southeastern Asia promises so much of importance. 



The journeys of Dr. Neis in Central Taos (more than 3,000 miles) 

 have resulted in a vast amount of information regarding the commercial 

 routes of the western basin of the Me-Kong, the anthropology and eth- 

 nology of the Laos and the Khas, and the social, commercial, and politi- 

 cal condition of the regions visited. 



In a recent consular report from Siam, Mr. Archer gives an account 

 of his journey into the province of Kabin, which lies on the eastern 

 side of the Siamese delta, at the foot of the mountains separating the 

 Mimam Valley from the Me-Kong. He gives some very interesting notes 

 on the little-known Laos. 



The Government of India has conferred the title of Eaj Bahadoor 

 and a grant in perpetuity of a rent-free village in Oude on Pundit Ki- 

 shen Singh Milwal, an employ^ of the survey department, who is well 

 known to all geographers for his explorations in Thibet, which have 

 been published over the initials "A. K." 



Colonels Lockhart and Woodthorpe have been sent with a party to 

 Gilghit, and it is intended that full surveys of the region lying to the 

 northwest of Kashmir shall be executed. Several passes of no great 

 difficulty lead toward the Russian possessions, which here approach 

 British India closely. This mission is expected to largely increase our 

 knowledge of the country toward the upper waters of the Oxus. Dan- 

 ileff, io examining this river, has found what he reports to be the point 

 of its ancient bifurcation into the Amu Daria and the TJzboi. 



Sir Henry Eawlinson has added considerable to our knowledge of the 

 Badghis district, in Northern Afghanistan, north of the watershed of 

 the Herat Valley. The September issue of the Proceedings of the 

 Eoyal Geographical Society contains a maj) of the territory about the 

 Hari-Rud and Murghab Elvers, including the Badghis — the district 

 the possession of which is now in dispute between Eussia on the one 

 hand, and Afghanistan and England on the other. The American 

 Naturalist for December, 1885, contains an interesting account of this 

 section, and a concise history of the Carolines. 



Up to July, 1885, the Afghan Frontier Commission had worked through 

 districts already explored more or less in recent times, either by the 

 Eiissians or others. Since then comparatively new ground has been 

 broken, from which much of great geographical interest may be con- 

 fidently expected. One very important matter has been accomplished, 

 i. e., the exact determination by Captain Gore of the longitude of the 

 great dome at Mashhad, longitude 59° 35' 52". 3, latitude 36° 17' 42". 

 The result shows an apparent error of only eleven seconds in longitude 

 at the end of a long line of more than 1,000 miles of survey from India. 

 Captain Talbst has started to carry on triangulation to the head of 

 H. Mis. 15 30 



