316 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



greased with a reddish ointment. They wore 

 cloaks of silver-fox fur. They would not allow 

 themselves to be measured, but were induced 

 to dance at the sound of the trumpet. They 

 keep great numbers of dogs, which they use 

 in hunting. The foxes are greatly prized on 

 account of their fur. The island is infested 

 with great numbers of rodents, and the woods 

 and shores are visited by vast flocks of the 

 wild goose, plover, duck, snipe, ibis, and par- 

 rot. Seals and penguins frequent the coast. 



Polar Regions. Dr. Alexander Bunge and 

 Baron E. von Toll report a close examination 

 of the New Siberian Islands begun in April, 

 1886. The island of Liakov was found to be 

 rich in bone fossils. On the island of New 

 Siberia, Baron von Toll made a special examina- 

 tion of the mountain known to travelers as the 

 *' wood-mountain," which was found to be a 

 beautiful tertiary profile, with carbonized tree- 

 trunks and a rich collection of leaf impressions 

 and fruits like the tertiary flora of Greenland 

 and Spitzbergen, as described by Oswald Heer. 

 Besides the fossil remains of the mammoth, 

 rhinoceros, and musk-ox, Dr. Bunge discov- 

 ered in Liakov remains of two species of oxen, 

 deer, horses, and some smaller animals. 



Lieuts. Ryder and Block have closed for the 

 present their survey of the western coast of 

 Greenland for the Danish Government, having 

 carried it as far as from 72 to 74^ north lati- 

 tude. The winter of 1886-'87 was uncom- 

 monly severe, and occasioned destitution among 

 the Greenlanders. Sickness among the dogs 

 and scarcity of food for them prevented much 

 use of sledges. In April an exploration was 

 made of the ice-fiords and glaciers of Augpad- 

 lartok, one of the chief parts of the undertak- 

 ing. Not until the end of June had the ice 

 so far opened that a boat- voyage could be 

 taken northward, and even then it was with 

 difficulty that a point fifteen miles north of the 

 last town of the Danish district could be 

 reached. Seen from a mountain height, the 

 sea presented an unbroken surface of ice, and 

 the summer was so far advanced that a break- 

 ing-up of the ice could not be expected in time 

 for anything more to be accomplished, as the 

 travelers were due at Upernavik for the return 

 to Europe. Besides making the coast survey 

 and a close examination of the great ice-fiords 

 and inland lakes, they have made astronomical 

 and physical observations, and gathered anthro- 

 pologic and natural science collections. 



Expeditions were undertaken this summer 

 by Mr. McArthur, a former official of the Hud- 

 son Bay Company, who proposed to go north 

 by land to King William Land, winter there, 

 and resume his explorations in the spring so 

 far as the west coast of Grinne!! Land, and by 

 Col. Gilder, of New York, whose plan was to 

 go northward by sledge, with Esquimau at- 

 tendants from Wager River. He expects to 

 reach Fury and Hecla Straits in the spring, 

 and Lancaster Sound by autumn. 



An expedition to the antarctic regions has 



been planned by the Australian colonies, and 

 it is understood that the English Government 

 will contribute 5,000 on condition that an 

 equal amount is raised in Australia. 



Atlantic Ocean. Prince Albert of Monaco 

 took with him this summer Prof. Pouchet and 

 Prof. Guerne, the zoologist, in his yacht " Hi- 

 rondelle" for an excursion in the northern 

 Atlantic. They spent three weeks in the 

 Azores, where Prof. Guerne studied the fauna 

 in the lakes of the extinct crater. 



The falling-off of the whale-fisheries in ant- 

 arctic waters threatens the very existence of 

 the people of the solitary island Tristan 

 d'Acunha, who are descendants of the garrison 

 kept there while Napoleon was a prisoner in 

 St. Helena, with a few shipwrecked men that 

 have made their home there since. Their chief 

 means of support the supplying of whalers 

 with fresh meat and potatoes is falling off; 

 and, moreover, the island is infested with rats 

 from a wrecked ship, that make the raising of 

 grain impossible, and greatly injure the potato- 

 crop. Relief was sent to them in August, 1886, 

 and it is now proposed to remove the entire 

 population to St. Helena or Cape Colony, 

 though it is to be feared that they will become 

 homesick, like the people removed thirty years 

 ago from Pitcairn to Norfolk Island, and take 

 the first opportunity to return. In August, 

 1886, the island had 97 inhabitants, of whom 

 only 23 were men. 



Observations made by M. J. Thoulet in the 

 Gulf Stream tend toward the conclusion of Mr. 

 Findlay that, after the stream reaches the vicin- 

 ity of Newfoundland, its volume and depth are 

 no longer great enough to exert any consider- 

 able influence on climate, and therefore the 

 causes of the mild climate of Western Europe 

 must be sought elsewhere. 



Miscellaneous. Major- General von Tillo gives 

 the lengths of the longest eight rivers of the 

 world as follows : 



Miles. 



1. Missouri Mississippi 4,194 



2. Nile 4,020 



3. Yang-tse-Kiang 8,158 



4. Amazon 8,068 



5. Yenesei-Selenga 2,950 



6. Amur 2,920 



7. Con^o 2,888 



8. Mackenzie 2,868 



At the Brussels International Exhibition 

 next year, a department will be devoted to 

 geography and kindred sciences. It is desired 

 that contributions be sent in of maps and 

 atlases of all kinds, globes and spheres, statis- 

 tical works and diagrams, general treatises, in- 

 struments, and articles for explorers. 



Geography in Education. Prof. Anton Stauber, 

 of the Real Gymnasium of Augsburg, has taken 

 the prize of 25,000 francs offered by the King 

 of the Belgians for the best essay on the means 

 of popularizing geography and improving its 

 position in education of all degrees. 



A committee met in England near the begin- 

 ning of the year to consider the propriety of 

 attempting to have geography placed among 



