382 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



miles. They made excursions into the adja- 

 cent country, and brought away specimens of 

 woods and other products. 



The Empress Augusta river, discovered by 

 Dr. Teusch, was explored by Capt. Dallman in 

 April for a distance of about 65 kilometres, 

 and in July and August by Capt. von Schleinitz, 

 who ascended it to a distance of 360 kilome- 

 tres in a steamer, when the water became too 

 shallow for its further progress. The long- 

 boat went about 180 kilometres beyond ; and 

 it was judged that the river was navigable 

 some 90 kilometres farther, but lack of fuel 

 compelled a return. As far as the steamer 

 went, the river flows through a plain, but for 

 the next 50 kilometres above it has the char- 

 acter of a mountain-stream, cutting through a 

 mass of gneiss, mica-slate, and quartz, but 

 without rapids. Still farther up, its course 

 again becomes more quiet. The discovery of 

 this river, leading into the interior, and nearly 

 to the limit of German territory, is of great 

 importance, the more so as the plains on its 

 borders are well adapted for grazing, and the 

 soil is rich enough for the cultivation of rice, 

 sugar-cane, and other important products. 



According to the treaty of April 6, 1886, 

 between Germany and Great Britain, giving 

 the northern islands of the Solomon group to 

 Germany, the imperial authority over those 

 islands was formally proclaimed, Dec. 13, 1886, 

 and they were united with the territory of the 

 New Guinea Company, which thereby receives 

 an addition of about 22,200 square kilometres, 

 with about 80,000 inhabitants. The Solomon 

 Isles are among the least known of the islands 

 of the Pacific, and therefore offer a new field 

 for explorers. Besides the Bismarck Archi- 

 pelago, recognized as German territory by the 

 preliminary agreement of May 17, 1885, Ger- 

 many receives the islands of Bougainville, Choi- 

 seul, Isabel, Shortland, St. George's, Ramos, 

 Gower, Carteret, Marqueen, Tasman, and Ong- 

 tong Java. New Georgia, Guadalcanar, Ma- 

 layta, and San Christoval or Arossi, together 

 with some smaller islands, remain under Brit- 

 ish authority. After the conclusion of the 

 agreement, the English marine took possession 

 of the Kermadec Islands, about half-way be- 

 tween New Zealand and the Tonga Isles. 



E. Modigliani gives an interesting report of 

 a journey in Nias, an island 30 miles from the 

 west coast of Sumatra, a little north of the 

 equator. The natives are apparently of Ma- 

 layan or Indonesian stock, though they speak 

 a language quite different from the Malay. 

 They are fierce and treacherous, and given to 

 head-hunting. When told that the explorer 

 desired to get several skulls for scientific pur- 

 poses, the Rajah of Bavolovalani remarked that 

 it would be rather expensive, as an expedition 

 would have to be sent to make a raid on some 

 neighboring tribe, having no idea of skulls be- 

 ing obtained from any but living subjects. 



According to a report of Com. Moore, of the 

 English survey-ship "Rambler," a new island 



was discovered in German territory by W. N. 

 Allison, of the English steamship "Fei Lung." 

 It lies at 1 25' south latitude, and 143 26' east 

 longitude, between the Echiquier Islands and 

 Durour island, and is two or three miles long 

 and 100 to 150 feet high. He named it Allison 

 island. 



Names of Places. The Council of the Royal 

 Geographical Society have adopted the fol- 

 lowing rules, which are identical with those 

 adopted for the Admiralty charts, for the spell- 

 ing of such geographical names as are not, in 

 the countries to which they belong, written in 

 the Roman character : 



1. No change will be made in the orthography of 

 foreign names in countries which use Eoman letters. 

 Thus, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, etc., names will be 

 spelled as by the respective nations. 



2. No change will be made in the spelling of such 

 names in languages which are not written in Roman 

 characters as have become by long usage familiar to 

 English readers. 



3. The true sound of the word, as locally pro- 

 nounced, will be taken as the basis of the spelling. 



4. An approximation, however, to the sound is 

 alone aimed at. A system which would attempt to 

 represent the more delicate inflections of sound and 

 accent would be so complicated as only to defeat it- 

 self. 



5. The vowels are pronounced as in Italian and the 

 consonants as in English. 



6. One accent only is used the acute to denote 

 the syllable on which stress is laid. 



7. Every letter is pronounced. "When two vowels 

 come together, each one is sounded, though the result 

 when spoken quickly is sometimes hardly to he dis- 

 tinguished from a single sound, as in ai, an, ei. 



8. Indian names are accepted, as spelled in Hunter's 

 " Gazetteer." 



These rules are applied to the letters severally, as 



follow : 



A is pronounced as in father. 



^has the sound of eh, or as e, in benefit. 



I as the English e; as i in ravine, or ee in beet. 

 Thus, Fiji, not to be spelled Feejee ; Hindi. 



as in mate. 



U, long u, as in flute ; or approaching the sound of 

 oo in boot. 

 All vowels are shortened in sound by doubling the 



following consonant. Doubling of a vowel is neces- 

 sary only when there is a distinct repetition of the 



single sound, as Kuulua, Oosima. 



Ai has the sound of English *, as in ice. 



Au of oio, as in hoiv . Thus we spell, not Foochcw, 

 but Fuchau. 



Ao has a sound slightly different from that of , as 

 in Macao. 



Ei has the sound of the two Italian vowels, but is fre- 

 quently slurred over, when it is hardly to be dis- 

 tinguished from ey in the English they. Examples, 

 Beirut, Beilul. 



B as English b. 



C\& always soft, but is so near the sound of s that it 

 should be seldom used. Thus, were it not for gen- 

 erally recognized usage, Celebes would be written 

 Seleses. 



Ch is always soft, as in church. 



D is the English d. 



F is the English /. Ph should not be used for the 

 sound of,/. Thus we should write, not Haiphong, 

 but Haifong. 



Gr is always hard. Soft g is given by/ 



.//is always pronounced when inserted. 



J"is the English j. Dj should never bo put for this 

 sound. 



K is the English Ic. It should always be used for the 

 hard c. Thus we should write, not' Corea, but Korea. 



