298 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS. 



(Alaska) instead of Akhun, Akoun, or Akan ; 

 Baluchistan (India) instead of Beloochistan, Be- 

 louchistan, or Bclutchistan ; Barbados (West In- 

 dies) instead of Barbadoes; Bering Sea (Alaska) 

 instead of Behring, Behrings, Kamchatka, etc. ; 

 Republic of Chile instead of Chili ; Coos Bay 

 (Oregon) instead of Koos or Coose ; Haiti instead 

 of Hayti ; Hudson Bay instead of Hudson's Bay ; 

 Port Townsend instead of Port Townshend ; 

 Puerto Rico (West Indies) instead of Porto Rico ; 

 Saint Croix (West Indies) instead of Santa Cruz ; 

 Unolaska Island (Alaska) instead of Ounalashka, 

 Oonalaska, and other forms. 



The rules adopted by the board are substan- 

 tially those drawn up by the Royal Geographical 

 Society a few years ago. 



A like effort has been made in Germany to 

 establish uniform spellings for the geographical 

 names in the territory under German pro- 

 tection. 



The United States. Attention has been at- 

 tracted by the formation of a lake in the Col- 

 orado Desert in southern California, on the line 

 of the Southern Pacific Railway. It was formed 

 by the stream called New river, which is fed by 

 the overflow of the Colorado, whose bed is here 

 considerably higher than the land west of it. 

 Mr. J. W. Redway, in the " Proceedings of the 

 Royal Geographical Society," describes the rise 

 of the lake, beginning with July, 1891 : 



" Owing to a silting of the channel of the 

 Colorado about 15 miles below Yuma, the axis 

 of the current was thrown strongly against the 

 west bank of the river, and with the coming of 

 high water the overflow into New river received 

 an impetus it had never before possessed. Its 

 volume was strengthened and the channel was 

 therefore deepened. With the current of the 

 main river setting directly toward the break, it 

 became a question of time only until the river 

 itself should be diverted, and by the close of an- 

 other season of high water it is not improbable 

 that its whole volume will be turned into the 

 desert through New river. Early in September 

 a number of Cocoapah Indian scouts, who were 

 sent to find the location of the break, reported 

 that considerably more than half the current 

 was flowing into New river ; and since that time 

 the engineers of the Southern Pacific have re- 

 ported the volume to be perceptibly increasing. 

 From the break to the head of the gulf the fall 

 is about 135 feet ; to the site of the new lake it 

 is 400 feet. Under the circumstances, therefore, 

 it is hardly a matter of wonder that the Colorado 

 should choose the sleeper gradient at the first 

 opportunity." 



Alaska. In the "Annual Cyclopaedia" for 

 1890 were given the results of the measure- 

 ments of the height and location of Mount St. 

 Elias, made by Prof. Kerr, who went to Alaska 

 with Prof. Israel C. Russell under the auspices 

 of the Geographical Society at Washington and 

 the Geological Survey. These differed so widely 

 from the results of former measurements that it 

 was thought best to send another commission, 

 which should make the measurement of the 

 mountain its main object. The results of the 

 measurements by the second expedition, which 

 was also under charge of Prof. Russell, are much 

 nearer to the old figures than to those of Prof. 

 Kerr in 1890. Following are the figures of Dr. 



W. H. Dall's measurements in 1874, arid of 

 those of 1890 and 1891 : 



The question regarding the highest peak 

 North America is left still unsettled. Mount 

 Wrangell, for which a height of 19,400 has been 

 claimed, seems from recent measurements to be 

 not more than 17,500; but Prof. Heilprin's cal- 

 culations give Mount Orizaba 18,205 feet, instead 

 of the former figures, 17,880, while Mr. Scovell, 

 who measured it in April, 1892, placed the 

 height at 18,812 feet. Prof. Russell also found 

 that the bay that was placed upon the maps 

 about three years ago under the name Disen- 

 chantment Bay, on the report of Mr. M. Praeht, 

 of Sitka, and whose existence has been doubted, 

 does really extend from Yakutat Bay inward 

 among the mountains, though in somewhat dif- 

 ferent form from that heretofore assigned to it. 



Thegreat Malaspina glacier, between Mount St. 

 Elias and the Pacific, is described in. the report 

 of Prof. Russell : 



The extent of the great field of ice is 1,500 square 

 miles, its extreme length being 70 miles, while it 

 varies between 20 and 25 miles in width. The sur- 

 face of the ice is about 1,500 feet above the sea, and 

 its top, especially near the center of the area, is 

 smooth, but split by tens of thousands of crevasses. 

 The surface or the glacier is gently undulating, like 

 that of a rolling prairie. Mr. Russell describes it as 

 " a dreary and lifeless prairie of ice." In one place a 

 part of the glacier, known as the Guyot lobe, ad- 

 vances boldly, with a perpendicular front, into the 

 ocean, and as the waves undermine it huge icebergs 

 are broken off and float out to sea. 



Lieut. Frederick Schwatka. under the patron- 

 age of the New York " Ledger," made a trip into 

 the interior of Alaska in the summer of 1891, 

 accompanied by Dr. C. W. Hayes, of the Geolog- 

 ical Survey. The most important feature of the 

 whole trip was the success in breaking through 

 the St. Elias ranges. The party left Juneau, 

 Alaska, on June 25. They ascended Taku river 

 60 miles, consuming two weeks on account of 

 the swiftness of the current, thence across the 

 country 80 miles to a lake of which the natives 

 had told them. The lake is nearly 100 miles 

 long by 15 miles wide, and was named by the 

 party Ahklain, or Aklen, "big lake." This was 

 formerly Lake Teslin. They then descended 

 Teslin river, which flows from this lake to the 

 Lewes river, to Fort Selkirk, at the junction of 

 the Lewes and Pelly. From Fort Selkirk they 

 went southwest 225 miles to what is supposed to 

 be the region in which copper abounds, but none 

 was found. Several weeks were spent in explor- 

 ing the Copper river. It is described by the 

 lieutenant as one of the most turbulent streams 

 he ever saw in his travels. After ascending to 

 the mountain peaks in the interior, and taking 

 observations of peaks never before seen by white 

 men, they descended Copper river in canvas 

 boats for nearly 100 miles. On the east of the 

 coast range there is a plateau which was crossed 

 at an elevation of 5,000 feet in passing from the 

 Taku to Lake Aklen. The river valleys lie from 

 2,000 to 3,000 feet below the general level of the 



