Nov. 7, 1889] 



NATURE 



21 



Sempliki. Awamba, Usongora, Toro, Ahaiyaina, Unyampaka, 

 and Anhori, are all districts around the west, north, and east 

 shores of the Lake Albert Edward, three sides of which Mr. 

 Stanley says he has traversed — probably the east, west, and north 

 sides, though it is possible he may have gone round the south 

 side. It is probable that the lake as laid down on our maps is 

 much too large, and that it is comparatively small Mr. Stanley 

 found it to be 15 miles wide at Beatrice Gulf. From the lake 

 he struck south-east to Karagwe and Uzinze, on the south-west 

 and south of Victoria Nyanza, and no doubt found at Mslala the 

 stores which have been accumulating for many months. Thus 

 it will be seen Mr. Stanley has solved one of the few remaining 

 problems of African geography. He has found the south-west 

 source of the Nile, and established the true relations which exist 

 \ among the great lakes of Central Africa. He has filled up an 

 important blank in our maps, and collected observations which 

 will enable us to understand the physical geography of one of 

 the most interesting regions on the continent. Probably he 

 will be able to tell us what has become of the Alexandra Lake 

 of his former expedition. It may be as well to state that the 

 telegram of Monday was in effect the first part of that of Tuesday, 

 and therefore Emin's safety was not again referred to in the 

 latter. 



The Zanzibar Correspondent of the Times telegraphed on 

 November 5 that authentic news had reached Lamu that Dr. 

 Peters and the whole of his party had been massacred, except 

 one European and one Somali, wounded, who are at Ngao. 

 vSome say they were killed by Masais, and some by Somalis. 



From the Journal of the Anthropological Society in Vienna, 

 we take the following conclusions of Dr. B. Hagen, respecting 

 the Malay peoples : — Their great predilection for the sea, 

 which makes them pray to Allah that they may die on sea, 

 seems to render the Malay race adapted for the Polynesian 

 and Further Indian Archipelago. The centre from which 

 they migrated is to be sought in the highlands of West 

 Sumatra, particularly in the old kingdom of Menang-Kabau. 

 Thence the peoples extended slowly eastwards ; at first prob- 

 ably the races now to be found only in the interior of the 

 great islands (the Battas in Sumatra, the Sundanese in Java, 

 the Dayaks in Borneo, the Alfurus in Celebes, &c.). These 

 "aborigines" of the islands crushed out a population already 

 in possession, as remains of which the Negritos may be taken. 

 The Malays in the narrower sense occupying Sumatra, Malacca, 

 and North Borneo, are to be regarded as the last emigration 

 from the centre referred to, occurring from the twelfth to 

 the fifteenth century a.d. With the Indians and Chinese, 

 who have been long in intercourse with the archipelago, arose 

 mixtures and crosses, in less measure also with the Arabs. 

 One must not therefore expect the pure racial type, especially in 

 the coast population. The crania of the anthropological collections 

 are too im) erfectly determined in respect of their locale to be 

 of any service for a judgment of the Malay peoples. Of 

 more value are the measurements of the living begun by 

 Dr. Weisbach and executed by Dr. Hagen in 400 cases. 

 The latter's conclusions are: — (i) The peoples in the interior 

 of Sumatra — the Battas, the Alias, and the Malays of Menang- 

 Kabau — compose a closely allied group always in direct contrast 

 with the hither-Indian peoples, and yet showing just as little 

 community with the Chinese. We must therefore take them for 

 the pure original type, characterizable as follows : — Small, com- 

 pact, vigorous figure of less than 1600 mm. average size ; long 

 arms ; very short legs ; very long and broad mesocephalous 

 skull of very great compass, with high forehead ; a prognathous 

 face 10 per cent, broader than long, with large mouth, and uncom- 

 monly short, flat, and broad nose with large round nostrils opening 

 mostly frontwise, and with broad nasal root. (2) The Malays of 

 the east coast of Sumatra and those of the coasts of Malacca 

 indicate a much greater affinity to the Indians than to their 

 tribal peoples of Menang-Kabau. They are plainly therefore 

 thoroughly mixed with Indian blood. (3) The Javanese peoples 

 stand much nearer to the original type of the Sumatrans than 

 to the Malays just mentioned. They show therefore less mixture 

 with Indian, but on the other hand more mixture with Chinese, 

 blood, and the Javanese more so than the Sundanese. 



The second number of this year's " Information respect- 

 ing Kaiser Wilhelmsland and the Bismarck Archipelago," 

 issued by the Qerman New Guinea Company, contains a de- 

 scription of the north coast of New Guinea, from Cape 



Cretin to the Legoarant Islands, by the former Governor, Vice- 

 Admiral Freiherr von Schleinitz, with a map designed by 

 him. According to this account, Kaiser Wilhelm>land is sub- 

 ject to the south-east trade wind. This is, however, occasionally 

 relieved by the opposite wind, when, viz., the sun in southing 

 imparts to the Australian continent a temperature higher than 

 that of New Guinea. The temperature, averaging 26° to 27° C, 

 is not so high as might be inferred from the equatorial situation 

 of the land, a fact due in part to the prevalence of the trade 

 wind, which also brings with it a cooling sea- current to the 

 coast, and in part to the considerable elevation of most of the 

 island. The north-west, blowing especially from January to 

 April, comes on the whole with greater force than the south- 

 east. Calms often occur from March to May and from October 

 to December. Precipitation is on the whole copious, but there 

 are many differences according to the local variations in the 

 configuration of the land. The navigation of the coast offers no 

 particular dangers and difficulties, either for steamers or sailing- 

 vessels. Serious storms are extremely rare, nor are there any 

 reefs in the channel proper. Sea currents do not strike direct 

 on the coast, and they are not generally very strong. The tides 

 are inconsiderable, the spring floods keeping under i metre. 



Some interesting remains have been found in Hamburg on 

 the site of the new Rathhaus. At a depth of o to 07 metre 

 the ground was covered to a height of 10 to 15 centimetres 

 with dams of thin willow twigs (Salixfragilis), in many places 

 two, sometimes even three, layers above one another, and 

 separated from one another by equally thick earth layers. 

 The building rests on clay, i.e. submerged ground, which con- 

 tained heaps of freshwater shells, e.g. Valvata piscinalis, 

 Bythinia ientaculata, &c,, as also Cardium edule, Tellina baltica, 

 Mactra solida, &c. When therefore the dam was made, the 

 water must have been strongly brackish. The interest in this 

 discovery was heightened when there was found, under St. 

 Anne's Bridge, at a depth of 05 metre, a regularly paved street 

 of small boulders, such as were still used for stone pavement 

 in all North German towns in the last century. The stone dam 

 was about 5 metres broad, and encased on both sides by thick 

 wooden planks, in order, in the swampy ground, to prevent 

 the slipping out of the stones sideways. The ascertained 

 changes in the level of the North Sea give no positive clue 

 to the age of the Hamburg finds. 



THE INSTITUTION OF ELECTRICAL 

 ENGINEERS. 



/^N Monday evening the first annual dinner of the Institution 

 ^^ of Electrical Engineers took place at the Criterion Re- 

 staurant, Sir William Thomson, the President, occupying the 

 chair. Many different branches of science were represented on 

 the occasion, and some of the after-dinner speeches rose to a 

 high level of excellence. 



Due honour having been done to the usual loyal toasts, and 

 Major Webber and Captain Wharton having responded for the 

 Army and Navy, the Chairman proposed " Her Majesty's 

 Ministers " Lord Salisbury said, in response : — 



Sir William Thomson and Gentlemen, — I have to thank you 

 on behalf of my colleagues in the Goverment and myself for the 

 exceedingly kind reception you have given to the kind words in 

 which Sir William Thomson has proposed this toast. I do not 

 feel that I can accept the guise in which he put my name forward. 

 On the contrary, though recognizing, as every individual must 

 do, and as I have especial reason to do, the enormous benefits 

 which electrical science confers upon mankind, I feel that I have 

 reason rather to apologize for my appearance in this assembly. 

 When I look round on so many learned and distinguished men, I 

 feel rather in the position of a profane person who has got inside 

 the Eleusinian mysteries. But 1 have an excuse. The gallant 

 gentlemen who replied for the Army and Navy were able to show 

 many particulars in which their special professional vocation was 

 sustained and pushed forward by the discoveries of electrical 

 science. But I will venture to say that there is no department 

 under the Government so profoundly indebted 10 the discoveries 

 of those who have made this science as the Foreign Office, with 

 which I have the honour to be connected. I may say that we 

 positively exist by virtue of the electric telegraph. The whole 



