560 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1885. 



but archaeology will also receive attention. Besides visits to Marib and 

 Nejdran, Herr Glaser contemplates a long journey through the interior 

 from Hadramant to Omaun, and a second across South Arabia. 



In Science, July 3, 1885, is an excellent epitome of an article on 

 " Eoutes into the interior of Western China," which originally appeared 

 in Science et Nhture. The two Chinese rivers (Sikiang, or Canton Eiver, 

 and Song Ka) must for the present be considered as impracticable for 

 commercial purposes, not precisely on account of the natural obstacles 

 to be overcome, but because for a long time the Celestial Empire will be 

 more or less impenetrable and dangerous for Europeans: and, on the 

 other hand, the course of the Me-Kong is too long and too hilly. The 

 routes which traverse the bed of the Brahmapootra and the valley of the 

 Irrawaddi present almost insuperable difQculties. The route of the 

 Salmen is most attractive, but it should not be forgotten that besides 

 its length it must cross two water sheds, one of which at least is very 

 difficult, and must ascend, the Me-Kong for a very long distance. The 

 route by the Eed River remains: this is not particularly accessible; but 

 to establish communication with Yunnan and Szchuen some obstacles 

 must be surmounted, and this is the course which offers fewest of them. 



Mr. Holt S. Hallett has finished his reconnaissance for railway routes 

 in India-China, and the narrative of his journey, while not furnishing 

 anything absolutely new, serves to enlarge our knowledge of the geog- 

 raphy of that interesting region. 



The chief jjaper in the May issue of the Proceedings of the Royal 

 Geographical Society is upon the disputed question of the sources of 

 the Irrawaddi. As no one has yet followed the Sanpo from Thibet 

 downward, it is still unproved whether it enters the Irrawaddi or the 

 Brahmapootra. Mr. Robert Gordon oi)poses the commonly received idea 

 by advocating the Irrawaddi view, and gives six substantial reasons for 

 his belief. General J. T. Walker, differing from Mr. Gordon, attacked 

 the weakest point in his paper, that in which he thinks that the Zayul 

 Chu may jjrove to be an affluent of the Irrawaddi. 



Colonel Woodthorpe has just completed a journey through the Sing- 

 pho, or Sanpo country. He penetrated into the land of the Borkhamp- 

 tis, on the Northern Irrawaddi, where no traveller is believed to have 

 been since Lieutenant Wilcox's tour in 1828. The Irrawaddi is un- 

 navigable at Pedau. 



A writer who has just travelled widely through Tonquin and Southern 

 China describes in a recent number of the BSpublique Frangaise the 

 route from Lao-Kai, on the Red River, to Meng-tsze in Yunnan. Pre- 

 mising that the river from the mouth to Lao-Kai on the Tonquin border 

 is tolerably well known, he refers to the various routes for getting into 

 Southwestern China, but is far from enthusiastic about any of them, 

 although he thinks that France in Tonquin has as much chance of get- 

 ting the China trade as any of her rivals in the south. The writer then 

 describes the route along the river from Lao-Kai to ManhaOj the heo^d 



