Sept. 12, 1888] 



NATURE 



483 



Planet. 



Mercury, 

 Venus.... 



Mars 



Jupiter. .. 

 Saturn... 

 Uranus . . 

 Neptune. 



Sept. 

 20 ... 



Rises. Souths. Sets; 



h. m. h. m. h. m. 



8 9 ... 13 26 ... 18 43 



2 7 ... 9 36 ... 17 5 



2 54 ... 10 13 ... 17 32 

 14 24 ... 18 17 ... 22 10 



3 9 ... 10 23 ... 17 37 

 8 12 ... 13 38 ... 19 4 



20 44*... 4 34 ... 12 24 



Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding evening. 



h. 



8 ... Mars in conjunction with and 0° i' north 

 of Saturn. Some interesting-particulars, by 

 Mr. Marth, concerning the near approach of 

 these planets are given in the Monthly 

 Notices of the R. Astron. Soc, vol. xlix. 

 p. 424. Observations of the appearance 

 which the planets will present, by persons 

 not possessing telescopes, will be especially 

 interesting. The bright star Regulus will 

 be in the immediate vicinity. 



23 .. Mercury at greatest elongation from the Sun, 

 26° east. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



The Indian Survey Department has just issued the second 

 edition of an elaborate coloured map of India in six sheets, fully 

 corrected up to 1888. The scale is 32 miles to the inch, and the 

 details are most minute. British territory is clearly marked as 

 well as dependent and subordinate native States, and indepen- 

 dent countries and foreign possessions. Main and minor roads 

 too are clearly noted, and railways open and in progress are 

 indicated, while the position of lighthouses, passes, forts, and 

 canals, is shown in a most precise manner ; another feature is 

 that the altitudes above sea-level of the chief stations throughout 

 India are given. The map was first issued under the direction 

 of Lieut. -General J. T. Walker, C.B., R.E., and is now reissued 

 under instructions from Colonel H. R. Thuillier, R.E. 



It is reported from Honolulu that H.M.S. Espiegle arrived 

 there on August 28, after annexing Humphrey and Rierson 

 Islands, in the Manihiki Group, a cluster of small islands in the 

 Eastern Pacific to the north of Cook Islands. 



- The following letter is published from Captain Grombchevsky, 

 who started last spring for Kafiristan : — "I left Marghilan on 

 July 13, and was compelled to halt owing to the overflow of the 

 River Isfaran and the destruction of the bridges. After vain 

 efforts to cross the snow-covered ridge of Transalai, opposite to 



Altyn Mazar, I returned to Alai, and reached Kala-i-Khumb, 

 through Karategin as far as Moamina, Lake Yashil, the pass of 

 Gardami, Kafar Vakhia, and Passand. I purposed proceeding 

 up the River Khuf, as far as Lake Shiva, but the borders of the 

 lake were occupied by Afghan troops, I shall therefore go up 

 the Panjah towards Roshan and Shugnan, where Ak Barsba, 

 whose days are numbered, still holds his own. He lately made 

 a bold sortie against the Afghans, and took the towns of Ish- 

 kashin and Zebac, but, being surrounded by superior and better- 

 disciplined forces of Afghans, he was obliged to surrender both 

 places and retreat on Shugnan. He sent his Afghan prisoners 

 to Darvaz, whence they were sent home by the Bokharan 

 authorities through Kouliab. In three days I shall be in the 

 centre of military operations, and as the issue is certain to be 

 favourable to the Afghans, I am sending a letter to Faizabad, 

 to the Ameer's lieutenant, asking permission to pass through 

 Kafiristan. The letter is carried by a native of Shugnan, 

 who was sold as a slave for his devotion to the Afghans, and 

 is owing his liberty to me. All well, in high spirits and full of 

 energy. I have with me seven Cossacks, two Tekkes, two 

 Kirghiz, one native of Shugnan, and one German." 



The following account of M. Bonvalot's tour in Central Asia 

 is taken by the Paris Figaro from a letter from the traveller him- 

 self. He is accompanied by Prince Henry of Orleans, the eldest 

 son of the Due de Chartres. They have safely reached the 

 Russo-Chine?e frontier, and when the traveller wrote were about 

 to cross into Chinese territory. M. Bonvalot's present object is 

 nothing less than to make his way into Tonquin across China. 

 The following is his proposed itinerary : from Omsk to Semi- 

 palatinsk, then to Bakti,nexttoChuguchak, and thence onwards 

 in succession through Chicho, Manas, Urumlsi, Kaiashar, Korla, 

 by the course of the Tarim and Lob Nor to Karkalik, across 

 the Tchamuen Tai by the way of Naichi Gob to Koukon Sai, 

 Tsamdo, Batang, Yunnanfor, and finally Tonquin. M. Bonvalot 

 ends his itinerary with the following reflections : — " A sufficiently 

 hazardous task, perhaps incapable of execution. In a word this 

 is our ideal, but complications and accidents may perhaps com- 

 pel us to modify it. For the present we hope to reach China as 

 quickly as possible. The approach of winter on the higher 

 plateaus of Tibet frightens me a little, and makes me long to be 

 there. " 



The Indian mail brings intelligence of the death of Mr. 

 William Watts M'Nair, of the Indian Survey. In 1883, Mr. 

 M'Nair, disgui.=ed as a Mahometan doctor, succeeded in reaching 

 the outlying valleys of Kafiristan, travelling by way of the Swat 

 Valley and Chitral. For this adventurous journey, in the course 

 of which he obtained much valuable information regarding the 

 passes of the Hindoo Koosh and about the manners and cus- 

 toms of the Sirjah Push Kafirs, the Royal Geographical Society 

 awarded the Murchison grant. Mr. M'Nair, in whom the 

 Indian Government has lost an able and zealous servant, died at 

 Mussoorie, on August 13, of fever contracted at Quetta. 



In answer to telegraphic inquiries, addressed to Tromso by 

 the Bremen Geographical Society respecting the fate of Dr. 

 Kukenthal, whom they had sent out to explore the North Polar 

 regions, a reply was received a few days ago stating that, 

 although the Berntina, on board which Dr. Kukenthal was, 

 had stranded, yet the young explorer and his companion, Dr. 

 Walter, with all their equipment, had been saved. Their 

 voyage had not even been delayed, as they had not returned to 

 Tromso, but had proceeded in another sealer, the Ccecilie Mag- 

 dalena. In July they intended to press forward on the north 

 coast of Spitzbergen. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



The result of the examination for certificates held in July last 

 under the direction of the Oxford and Cambridge Schools 

 Examination Board has been published. In the examination 

 for higher certificates there were 1161 candidates, of these 64 

 girls w ere candidates for letters only. The number of higher 

 certificates awarded was 785, and the number of letters given to 

 girls was 51. The total number of candidates for lower certi- 

 ficates was 709, and the number of certificates awarded was 408. 

 For the newly-established commercial certificates there were 6& 

 candidates, and 25 certificates were awarded. 



