314 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS. (EUROPE AND ASIA.) 



fatal memories. He has paid the penalty of his date from Roman times, by others from the fif- 



intrepidity, and the Cerberus that guards the teenth century. In the course of ages this had 



mysterious' region of the Pilcomayo has devoured become choked, and when the waters of the lake 



another victim. According to a telegram re- rose after rains the land surrounding it was 



ceived by Mr. Francisco Segui, President of the turned into a pestilential swamp. In 1875 there 



Geographical Society, Ramon Lista lost his way was an unusual deluge of rain, and the movement 



in the woodlands of "Miraflores, and after wander- for a drainage canal was begun soon afterward ; 



CHACO INDIANS. 



ing during five days, perished from thirst. Two 

 men who accompanied him were saved." 



A letter from Georgetown to the London Times 

 says: "The award of the international tribunal 

 appointed under the treaty of Washington to de- 

 limit the boundary between British Guiana and 

 Venezuela has given unqualified satisfaction 

 throughout the colony. It is recognized that 

 England has gained by having the dispute re- 

 ferred to arbitration, and that, had Venezuela 

 accepted Great Britain's offer, she would have 

 gained more territory than the Paris tribunal 

 has awarded her. The boundary, as fixed by the 

 tribunal, practically follows the Schomburgk 

 line." 



Europe. Lake Trasimene, in central Italy, 

 which for centuries has been a source of disease 

 by reason of having no adequate outlet, is now 

 drained by a canal completed in March, 1898, 

 and formally opened Sept. 27 of the same year. 

 The lake, which is about 50 square miles in ex- 

 tent, and surrounded by hills with olive groves 

 and castles, had no discharge for its waters ex- 

 cept an artificial ehannel, supposed by some to 



but it was not until 1896 that the work was 

 actually begun. At the lake end the canal is 

 800 feet above sea level and 30 feet wide, with 

 sloping sides, discharging into a trapezoidal basin 

 48 feet long. It is carried under the hill and vil- 

 lage of San Savino del Lago by a tunnel more 

 than 3,000 feet long. The waters are finally turned 

 into the little river Caina, a tributary of the 

 Tiber. With the lake kept at the level intended, 

 2,470 acres of arable land will be reclaimed. The 

 work cost 658,565 Italian lire. 



Recent bathymetrical surveys of the Italian 

 lakes show that Como is the deepest, its maxi- 

 mum depth being 1,345 feet; that of Maggiore is 

 1,220; Garda, 1,134; Lugano, 944; Isso, 820. 

 Como is only surpassed in Europe by Hornisdals- 

 vand, 1,593 feet, and Mjosen, 1,476 feet, in Norway. 



Asia. A journey across central Asia has been 

 made by German travelers for the first time. 

 Prof. Futterer and Dr. Holderer arrived at Shang- 

 hai in February, having been seven months on 

 the route. They brought with them fine zoolog- 

 ical and geological collections. 



The upper valley of the Yarkand has been vis- 



