I40 



NATURE 



{Dec. 12, 1889 



which the following is a summary. The work of the Survey of 

 India is divided under five heads, namely : — (i) Trigonometrical 

 Survey, (2) Topographical iSurvey, (3) Cadastral Survey, (4) 

 Special Surveys and Explorations, (5) Map Production. 



Trigonometrical. — Out of twenty-six survey parties employed 

 tluring the year, only one was engaged on trigonometrical work. 

 It carried secondary triangulation for 370 miles along the Coro- 

 mandel coast as far as the Tanjore District ; the work is intended 

 as a basis for marine survey operations. Some triangulation in 

 extension of the great Indian triangles had to be undertaken in 

 Baluchistan as a basis for topographical maps there. 



Topographical. — The number of parties engaged in this work 

 was reduced from eight to six, and 15,673 square miles of topo- 

 graphical survey were accomplished, which included 934 square 

 miles of survey in the Southern Mahratta country, the same 

 party doing a quantity of detached forest survey in the valuable 

 teak forests of Kanara ; 1085 square miles of topographical 

 work in Guzerat, besides 285 square miles of detailed forest 

 ■survey in the jungles of Thana and Nasik. Parties 15 and 16 

 continued the Baluchistan survey, accomplishing in all 11,977 

 square miles. The cold and snow in winter, as well as the 

 difficulty in getting supplies, were extremely trying to the 

 parties. 977 square miles were surveyed in the Himalayan dis- 

 tricts of Kangra, Simla, and the native States pertaining to 

 those districts ; 4535 square miles of trianiiulation and 1284 

 square miles of topographical survey in the Madura district and 

 the States of Travancore and Cochin of South India. The cost 

 of the Himalayan work and of the Baluchistan surveys was con- 

 siderably cheaper per square mile than in the previous year. 



Forest Surveys — Two half-parties of the Topographical Sur- 

 vey did fresh work, as above stated, in Bombay. Ground was 

 broken in the forests near Hoskungabad of the Central Pro- 

 "vinces ; but in the first year, on account of climatic difficulties 

 and the ruggedness of the country, the out-turn of work was 

 snail. 343 square miles of forest survey were effected in the 

 forests of the Prome and Thayetmyo districts of Lower Burmah. 

 In Gorakpur of the North- West Provinces, and in Orissa, sur- 

 veys of certain forest reserves were made by cadastral parties 

 working in the neighbourhood. The whole area of forest sur- 

 veys accomplished by all these parties during the year was 893 

 -square miles. 



(7^('(ii'^//<r.— Telegraphic longitude operations were resumed, 

 and seven arcs of longitude were measured between trigono- 

 metrical stations in Southern India. The season's observations 

 tend strongly to confirm previous evidence that on the coast of 

 India there is a perceptible deviation of the plum-line towards 

 the ocean. 



Tidal and Levelling Operations. — The recording of tidal 

 curves by self-registering tide-gauges, their reduction, and the 

 publication of tide-tables, were continued at eighteen stations, 

 of which seven are permanent, and eleven are temporary for 

 five years. The registrations of tides were satisfactory, and 

 there were few failures. So far as predictions of high water 

 were concerned , 98 per cent, of the entries in the tables were 

 correct within 8 inches of actual heights at open coast stations, 

 and 69 per cent, at riverain stations, while as to time of high 

 water, 56 and 71 per cent, respectively of the entries were 

 correct within fifteen minutes. Levelling operations were 

 prosecuted from Madras to Vizagapatam, at False Point, to 

 connect the Marine Survey beach marks with the main line of 

 level, and from Chinsurah to Nuddea, along the right bank of the 

 Hooghly. There were 597 miles of double levelling accomplished. 

 In Upper Burmah, survey parties or surveyors accompanied the 

 •columns which marched through the northern Shan States, the 

 southern Shan States, and the columns that operated in the Yaw 

 coiintry, the Chindwan Valley, and the Mogoung district. 

 Triangulation was carried over 23,274 square miles, and 

 20,780 square miles of hitherto unknown country were mapped 

 on a scale of four miles to the inch, of which 7605 belonged to the 

 Shan States. North-east from Mandalay,. the survey was 

 •carried as far as the Kanlow ferry, on the Salween River, a 

 place on the old caravan road between Burmah and China. A 

 large scale map was made of the Ruby Mines tract, showing the 

 -sites of all ruby workings. Surveyors accompanied an exploring 

 expedition from the Assam Valley, across the Patkoi ranges, 

 into the Hukong Valley of Upper Burmah, and surveyed two 

 practical passes through the Patkoi hills. A good map of the 

 Black Mountain country was prepared on observations and 

 surveys taken by officers deputed with the liazara field force. 

 The hill country of Western Nepal has been observed and 



mapped, and a compilation of recent observations by explorers 

 in Tibet and Bhutan will shortly be published. 



Marine Survey. — The survey- vessel Investigator and two 

 boat parties were employed on marine surveys throughout 

 the open season, the staff being employed in the chart office 

 during the monsoon months. The Investigator accomplished 

 4630 miles, and the boat parties 1542 miles of soundings. 

 Among the results of the year's work were soundings round the 

 approaches to Madras, whereby it was shown that there were 

 1700 fathoms of water on a spot hitherto marked on the charts 

 as "5 fathoms doubtful." Surveys were made round the 

 Laccadive and the Andaman Islands, at the Palk Straits, the 

 Western Coral Banks, on the Malabar coast near Cannanore 

 and Tellicherry, and off Parbandar. Interesting marine organ- 

 isms, some of them quite new, were brought up by the trawler, 

 especially from a depth of 250 fathoms off the Andamans. The 

 observations for temperature have enabled the survey to construct 

 a temperature curve which is fairly constant for all parts of those 

 seas. 



Geological Survey. — Among the investigations by the Geo- 

 logical Survey during the year 1888 may be mentioned the 

 examination of the auriferous rocks known as the Dharwar 

 rocks, bands of which occur in the gneiss mountains, from 

 the edge of the Deccan trap in the meridian of Kaladgi, 

 across the upper basins of the Kistna, Tangabhadra, Penner, 

 and Cauvery Rivers. At many places in the.^e bands of 

 Dharwar rock, the geological officers discovered traces of 

 extensive gold workings, the existence of which was hardly 

 known to the present inhabitants. The investigators consider 

 that in many places, especially in the Kolar and Maski bands, 

 gold will be found in quantities that will repay working. The 

 workers of past centuries used to crush the ore in saucer-like 

 hollows in the solid, tough, trappoid rocks, with rounded granite 

 crushers, weighing about a ton each. The supposed diamond 

 sources in the Anantapur district of Madras were examined, hut 

 with only negative results. The coal-field of Singareni, in the 

 Nizam's dominions, was examined ; it was estimated that 

 17,000,000 tons of coal were available in the field. The 

 geologists reported that the cost of raising coal into waggons at 

 the pit's mouth ought not eventually to exceed 2 rupees a ton. 

 Further examinations were made of the coal-bearing rocks of 

 Western Chota Nagpore and of Rajmehal ; the latter coal 

 source cannot be thoroughly tested until bore holes are put 

 down. The seams of coal at Kohst, in Baluchistan, were found 

 to contain ij to 2 feet of good coal at times ; coal from surface 

 workings is now chiefly used in locomotives ; but the best plan for 

 permanent workings has not yet been settled. The petroleum 

 sources at Khatun, in Baluchistan, and in the Rawal Pindi dis- 

 trict of the Punjab, were visited by officers of the Survey ; the 

 Khatun oil is too thick to flow down a pipe for forty miles to the 

 railway, where it has made excellent fuel. The Cashmere 

 coal-field, in the upper valley of the Chenab, was also 

 examined. 



The report of the Cadastral Surveys and Settlements is devoid 

 of scientific interest. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — In the course of the term which has just come to 

 an end, Mr. J. B. Farmer, B. A., has been elected to a Fellow- 

 ship at Magdalen, after an examination in botany — a subject to 

 which no Fellowship has been allotted for many years ; and 

 the Burdett-Coutts Scholarship in Geology has been awarded to 

 Mr. F. Pullinger, Corpus. 



Mr. Hatchett Jackson will continue to act as Deputy Professor 

 of Comparative Anatomy for the next two terms at least. 



The recently founded Readership in Geography seems to have 

 proved a success this term, as Mr. Mackinder had a class of 

 fifty in regular attendance. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 



Royal Society, November 21. — "On the Tubercles on the 



Roots of Leguminous Plants, with special reference to the Pea 



and the Bean." By H. Marshall Ward, M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S., 



late Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, Professor of Botany 



