324 RECORD OF SCIENCE FOR 1886. 



of the trip uiuler such conditions brought on fever which forced them 

 to stop and rest. 



The Arjscentiue Republic has undertaken to explore the region between 

 the Pilcomayo and the Vermejo, and has sent out an expedition under 

 de Brettes, accompanied by Boisviers and Robin with an escort of 

 twenty men. Viscount de Brettes has been in this region before, and 

 therefore we may expect thorough work from his party. 



Chili is at present engaged in the oflicial exploration of the territory 

 ceded by Peru after the war. The desert of Atacama is also being 

 studied, and an expedition has been sent to Tierra del Fuego to examine 

 the gold-bearing strata said to have been recently discovered there. 



A real voyage of discovery has been made in Patagonia this year by 

 Colonel Fontana, the governor of the Chupat Territory. His brilliant 

 expedition to the eastern slopes of the Andes is to be followed by a 

 minute exi)loratiou of the regions which he could only cross at a very 

 rapid rate. All that is known of the beautiful valleys which lie at the 

 foot of the Andes, beyond the desolate and arid Pampas, rests upon the 

 desci iptious of native hunters, because, with the single exception of the 

 hasty visit of an English marine by the name of Musters, in 1SG9, no 

 one has ever visited this region. The reality seems not only to answer 

 the description, but to surpass all our conceptions of its possibilities. 

 These valleys are said to be picturesque, fertile, and well watered, and 

 form a comi)lete contrast with the monotonous Pampas which must be 

 crossed to reach them. 



One expedition to Tierra del Fuego has been already noted. The 

 Argentine Republic, which owns the other half of this region, has also 

 sent out a mining expedition to exploit the recently discovered gold. 



The distinguished geographer Lista is also travelling in Tierra del 

 Fuego, and jnuch that is valuable concerning this wild land can be ex- 

 pected from his re[)ort.- 



Australia and Oceania. — Lindsay, who explored the Arnheim penin- 

 sula in 1883, has crossed the Australian continent. lie travelled from 

 southern Australia toward Lake Eyre in order to study the course of 

 theFinke River. He finds that in the rainy season it empties into the 

 Treuer or Macumba River, which is the main northern tributary of Lake 

 Eyre, but in the dry season it loses itself in the sand. From this point 

 he went eastward to the Herbert River, which led him to the north, 

 and he studied tins river carefully, passing from it to the Arthur 

 River, which carried him to the Gulf of Carpentaria, thus making his 

 trip from the south to the north, across the continent, complete. New 

 Guinea seems to have treated all explorers badly this year, the expedi- 

 tion of Forbes not even excepted. This party, fitted out with the great- 

 est care for scientific work, intended to cross the Owen-Stanley n)0unt- 

 ains and explore the regions be^^ond. They were delayed in reaching 

 the base of operations, and when they got there the season was so far 

 advanced that the trip was given up for the time being, and the party 



