February 15, 19 12] 



NATURE 



525 



able sandstone plateau rising to an altitude of about 

 1800 ft., and forming part of the general plain of about 

 1200 ft. above sea-level, which probably extends to the 

 oases of Kufra, which lie about 400 kilometres to the west- 

 ward. The vast tract of sand dunes traversed by the 

 Rohlf's expedition in 1874 ^'^s found to terminate a little 

 to the north of latitude 25° N., and beyond this there only 

 occurred small patches of drift sand and three of the 

 narrow, but long and persistent, lines of dunes which are 

 so characteristic of the Libyan Desert. The same number 

 gives a summary of the results obtained by the expedition 

 sent to South America by Mr. Bullock Workman to deter- 

 mine the altitude of Mount Huascaran, in Peru, which 

 had been stated to be more than 24,000 ft. M. E. de 

 Larminat measured a base of i6o6-6 metres at a height 

 of 3790 metres on the flanks of the chain, levelled up from 

 the Pacific Coast to one of the triangulation stations, and 

 finally obtained triangulated values for the different peaks 

 of Huascaran ranging from 6763 to 6418 metres above sea- 

 level. 



The Hon. Miles Staniforth Smith, Administrator of the 

 Territory of Papua, gave an account of his recent expedi- 

 tion into the western part of the territory before the Royal 

 Geographical Society on Monday, February 12. The ex- 

 pedition entered the hilly country from the end of the 

 navigable portion of the Kikor River, and made its way 

 with great difficulty across the southern portion of a deeply 

 dissected limestone plateau, which rose generally to a 

 height of about 5000 ft. The country was covered with 

 dense jungle, and in the course of the march Mount 

 Murray, the highest peak met with, 8000 ft., was ascended 

 without any view of the summit having been obtained 

 when its foothills were first encountered. The dominant 

 trend of the valleys was north-west to south-east, and along 

 them the expedition marched until it reached a point 

 believed to be near the Strickland River. Being very short 

 of food and water, the mountain slopes had to be left for 

 the valley floor, which proved to be occupied by a rushing 

 torrent flowing between precipitous rock walls. Compelled 

 to build rafts, the expedition was wrecked in the rapids, 

 losing the whole of its instruments, baggage, food sup- 

 plies, records, and collections, only reaching a base camp 

 of a relief expedition after the greatest hardships. The 

 countr}- is described as the forward edge of an elevated 

 and strongly dissected plateau of coral limestone, in which 

 intrusive basalt occasionally occurs, and the boulders found 

 in the stream bed seem to point to a greater development 

 of this rock to the northward. Part of the plateau is of 

 the " karst " type, water being scarce, streams sinking 

 into swallow-holes, and subterranean river courses being 

 extensively developed. Coal of a hard quality was found 

 at several points, and is ascribed to Carboniferous or 

 Permo-Carboniferous age, but the evidence for this was 

 not stated. The expedition succeeded in maintaining the 

 best relations with the natives, who aided with food and 

 with information, often on very critical occasions. 



Tin: fourth part of the current volume of the Mitteil- 

 ungcti (lus den Deutschcn Schutzgebieten is mainly taken 

 up with the meteorological observations from Togo and 

 from German East Africa for the year 1909. Improved 

 determinations of humidity are obtained by the use of 

 Assmann s aspiration psychrometer at all stations in Togo 

 for the humidity observations, and at several stations in 

 German East Africa. The mean maxima observed at J 

 Dar-es-Salam with a radiation thermometer are given for ■ 

 each month for 1899 to 1908. .Another article gives a 

 summary of geological investigation in the Cameroons, the 1 



NO. 2207, VOL. 88] 



principal localities in which mineral deposits have been 

 located being shown on a small map of the colony. 



The synoptic weather charts of the North Atlantic and 

 adjacent coasts for January 11-17, prepared from reports 

 by radio-telegraphy and otherwise, and published in the 

 Meteorological Committee's chart for the current month 

 (first issue), exhibit a very interesting situation. Large 

 anticyclones lay over northern Europe and North An ■ rica ; 

 on January 14 the barometer in Finland rose to ;i-2 in. 

 Over the Atlantic the weather remained in a very dis- 

 turbed state, with frequent south-westerly gales east of 

 longitude 30° W., and strong north-westerly winds on the 

 further side of the ocean ; a very deep secondary disturb- 

 ance gradually embraced practically the whole of the 

 North Atlantic. On the evening of January 14, in latitude 

 52° N., longitude 30° W., barometer readings were below 

 282 in., just 3 in. lower than over northern Europe. 

 From the latest reports received the Meteorological Office 

 was able to give valuable information as to the probable 

 weather between Ireland and mid-ocean during the next 

 few days. 



The Australian Central Weather Bureau has issued an 

 average rainfall map of South Australia and the Northern 

 Territory, on the same plan as those already published for 

 other States; only stations with at least fifteen years' 

 records have been used. The chart shows clearly the rapid 

 decrease of the rainfall from the agricultural areas north- 

 wards to the interior, where, in the Lake Eyre basin, the 

 average annual fall is under 5 in. ; the area in square 

 miles in which the fall is under 10 in. is given as 317,600 

 in South Australia and 138,190 in the Northern Territory. 

 In the latter district the mean annual rainfall is given as 

 2465 in., ranging from 62-12 (at Port Darwin) to 5-54 in.; 

 in the Pastoral Interior 7-26 in., ranging from 12-99 'o 

 379 in. ; in the agricultural settled districts 18-93 '"•» vary- 

 ing from 46-99 (at Stirling West) to 7-12 in. The line 

 (14-16 in.) representing the limit of safe agriculture is 

 plotted on the map. 



The recent publications of the U.S. Coa-^; dt-tic 



Survey include volumes of magnetic obsei v,<in,u- .a the 

 observatories of Porto Rico and Baldwin (Kansas). The 

 Porto Rico volume covers the two years 1907 and 1908. 

 In April, 1907, the magnetographs were moved from a 

 room in Fort Isabel Segunda, on Vieques Island, which 

 they had occupied since their erection in 1903, to a site 

 about a kilometre distant, on Vieques Sound. They were 

 re-erected in a new building, the construction of which is 

 described. It is wholly above ground, but suflues to 

 secure a satisfactorily uniform temperalurr, iIk- ilimatc 

 having small temperature variations, whether daily or 

 annual. .As in previous volumes, particulars arc given of 

 the hourly readings of the curves, and diurnal inequalities 

 are derived from ten quiet days a month. Copies are given 

 of some of the most disturtn-d curves. During 1908 the 

 horizontal force magnetograph had a large drift of zero, 

 and numerous discontinuities also appeared in the curves, 

 so that the records do not seem altogether trustworthy. 

 The sicond volunir ^iv< s data for Baldwin f ' u.iry, 



1907, to October, i')"'». v^llen the observ. dis- 



continued and the instruments transferred to » lu w observa- 

 tory at Tucson, .Arizona. The contents are similar to 

 those of the Porto Rico volume. The copies of highly 

 disturbed traces include that of September 25. 1(^09, the 

 only magnetic storm during the period included which 

 reached the highest grade of disturbance. Temperature 

 changes in Baldwin Observatory were so large as to be 

 decidedly prcjudici.Tl to the working of the magneto- 

 graphs. The v'M instrument natiir.il!\ ^iifTered 



