8<5 



NA TURE 



{Nov. 28, 1889 



experienced, but ocean ice prevailed in considerable quantity 

 to the eastward of the Straits of Belle Isle, and to some extent 

 on the Grand Banks, in" marked contrast with what is usually 

 experienced at this time of year. 



A CURIOUS dwarf Japanese tree, Thtija obtusa, brought by 

 Mr. Samuel from the Paris Exhibition, was exhibited at the 

 meeting of the Royal Botanic Society on Saturday last. The 

 specimen was only some two feet high, and was stated to be 

 about 130 years old. The secretary said that these dwarf 

 Japanese trees were good illustrations of the power of endurance 

 of plants and trees under severe ill-treatment. In the Society's 

 garden may be seen several specimens of the common oak, be- 

 tween forty and fifty years old, yet only some ten or twelve 

 inches in height. They were planted as an edging to a flower 

 border, and kept clipped like the old-fashioned box. 



The greatest depth found by Captain Spratt in the Western 

 Mediterranean basin was between Sicily, Sardinia, and Africa 

 (about io,6co feet). Recent measurements in the eastern basin 

 by Commander Magnaghi, of the Italian Navy {Riv. Sci. Ind.) 

 have yielded, as maximum depth, 13,556 feet, between the 

 Islands of Malta and Candia. 



At the annual meeling of the Severn Valley Field Club, at 

 Wellington, in January last. Dr. Callaway, the President, was 

 asked to prepare a report of the year's proceedings with a 

 shorter account of the work of the preceding year. These 

 reports have now been issued, and show that a resolute effort is 

 being made to promote a taste for geology and natural history 

 in the district, and to make the Field Club something better 

 than a picnic society. 



Colonel WooDTHORPE recently delivered, at Simla, a lecture 

 on the Aka Expedition of 1883. It may be remembered that 

 this tribe, which inhabits the hills north of Assam, owing to 

 some forest disputes and a supposed interference with their trade 

 In rubber, seized two of our forest officers and carried them off. 

 To recover these men, a small expedition was despatched, under 

 the command of Colonel Woodthorpe. The Aka houses are 

 built on piles raised above the ground, with a large space at one 

 end, where the children play. The dress consists of a tunic of 

 Tibetan cloth, and trousers, reaching to the feet, made of thin 

 white material. Long trousers are worn to keep off the dam- 

 diuu, a troublesome little fly or mosquito. Bows and arrows and 

 knives, with blades easily detachable from a bamboo handle, are 

 the chief weapons. The barbs of the arrows are dipped in 

 aconite, and are so treated that, when any attempt is made to 

 pluck out the arrow, the barb breaks off and remains in the 

 wound. The poison is so deadly, that even a buffalo usually 

 falls, after running a few yards, when he has been struck by one. 

 Some of the superstitions of the Akas are curious. If a river 

 tans between an Aka's house and his burying-place, his soul 

 can never go home after death. This inability of the spirit to 

 cross water is, however, overcome, and, every year, Akas may 

 be seen stretching a string across the stream that divides the 

 grave from the house of the departed. The ghost can easily 

 cross when the slightest foothold is given him. 



It is sometimes said about old trees {e.g. an old lime in the 

 new Gardens at Potsdam) that the present branches are properly 

 roots ; and it has been reported that trees may be planted, 

 and will grow, in the inverted position. A scientific inquiry 

 into this matter has been made by Herr Kny, in Germany, 

 taking a number of plants of wild vine (Ampelopsis) and ivy, 

 about 3"5 metres high. In 1884 he planted these with both 

 ends in the ground ; and in the spring of 1885, after the tops 

 had rooted, he cut the arch at its highest point. In the first 

 year two of the plants died, but the others (twelve vine and four, 

 teen ivy) grew vigorously, and were still alive this last spring. 



To test the extent of the inversion, he cut slips from the in- 

 verted plants, and planted them in a greenhouse, some with 

 their natural, and some with their artificial upper end uppermost. 

 It appeared that the callus, from which the roots spring, was 

 formed at both ends, but more readily at the naturally lower 

 end, whether this was above or below, in the experiment. Herr 

 Kny considers that, notwithstanding several years' successful 

 culture, the inversion was not thoroughly completed. He pro- 

 poses to continue his investigation, and invites people who have 

 gardens to make like experiments with other plants, recom- 

 mending willows, poplars, and roses. 



The latest Colonial Report from Basutoland contains a state- 

 ment by Sir Marshall Clarke on education in thai Stale, written 

 at the request of Lord Knutsford. The total amount granted by 

 the Government during 1888 for educational work was ;i^458i 

 amongst four missions, of which ^2900 went to the Paris 

 Evangelical Missions. The number of schools receiving Govern- 

 ment aid was ico, with a nominal roll of 4053, and an average 

 attendance of 3480. The education offered is, for the most 

 part, of an elementary character, suitable to a people of agri- 

 cultural pui suits, whose children are withdrawn early for labour 

 in the field. It consists of reading and writing in Sesuto, and 

 a little elementary arithmetic and English. A higher education 

 is offered at the missionary centres. The number of schools 

 under direct European supervision is 21, with about 1400 pupils 

 on the attendance roll. At Morija, the head-quarters of the 

 Paris Evangelical Missionary Society, the training school affords 

 a sound English education, the staff being composed of well 

 qualified Europeans. There is an interesting girls' school at 

 Roma, the chief Roman Catholic mission station, where the 

 pupils are instructed in carding, spinning, weaving, and the 

 elements of dressmaking, as well as in English and Sesuto. 

 Schools receiving Government aid are, from time to time, 

 inspected by Government officers, who check the attendance 

 rolls, examine the pupils, and, at the end of the year, submit 

 reports from each district. 



Mr. H. Y. L. Brown, the Government Geologist of South 

 Australia, returned to the Angle Pole head camp from his 

 exploration trip to the Musgrave Ranges on October 7. Accord - 

 to the Colonies and India, the route was vid Cootanoorina and 

 Arkaringa Creek to Glen Ferdinand, a trigonometrical depot. 

 The exploration extended among the ranges to longitude 131" E., 

 latitude 26" S. Mr. Carruthers, the Government Trigono- 

 metrical Surveyor, starting from the depot, will continue the 

 survey towards the western boundary, and expects to return in 

 January. The Government Geologist returned vid the River 

 Alberga, striking the telegraph line at the Angle Pole. 



From the Report of the Ceylon Survey Department for the 

 past year, which has just been issued, it appears that when the 

 calculations of the northward running chain of the 13-inch 

 triangulation were completed, it was found that the computed 

 distance betw een the two stations at Delft Island differed from 

 that of the Indian system to such an extent as to show a con- 

 siderable error, probably in the Ceylon work. The resulting; 

 error is too small to be appreciable on maps even of the largest 

 scale, but, from a geodetical point of view, the outcome of so 

 much work extending over a large number of years is disappoint- 

 ing. In order to verify the previous work. Colonel Clarke 

 purposes carrying at an early opportunity a new system of 

 triangles along the west c oast, utilizing as many as possible of 

 the old stations. A tentative scheme for the triangulation of the 

 west coast has been drawn up, and when an officer is available, 

 he will be sent to inspect the country, and report on the feasi- 

 bility of the scheme. In consequence of the incompleteness of 

 the diagrams and other records, the construction of a new series 

 of diagrams, in which will be inserted the information gained 



