April 24, 1890] 



NATURE 



587 



He further gives the averages for 47 years, to which I have 

 added those for Greenwich for 49 years. 



N. N.E. E. S.E. S. S.W. W. N.W. Calm. 

 C.(47y.) 33 63 29 27 28 91 59 35 — days. 

 G. (49 y.) 40 45 27 22 35 lo6 46 22 22 days. 



The Greenwich values are determined from numbers derived 

 from the records of the self- registering Osier anemometer of the 

 Royal Observatory as given in the annual Greenwich volumes. 

 The preponderance of south-west wind over north-east seems to 

 have been, throughout, less at Crowborough than at Greenwich. 

 But it is only in recent years that the difference has become so 

 pronounced, the Crowborough numbers for each year 1885 to 

 1889 being largely in excess for north-east wind, whilst the 

 Greenwich numbers are greatly in excess for south-west, as in 

 former years. At Greenwich during the first 24 years of the 

 49 years series, the average nurpber of days of north-east wind 

 was 46, of south-west wind 107 ; during the last 25 years, of 

 north-east wind 44, of south-west wind 106. 



It would be very interesting if a similar comparison could be 

 made with some other station in the south of England. 



Greenwich, April 16. William Ellis. 



Science at Eton. 



In the Illustrated London Neivs for March 29 I find an 

 account (with illustration) of an astronomical lecture at Eton. 

 It appears that the scholars •' were allowed " to listen the other 

 day, in the new lecture-room, to a lecture by Major- General A. 

 W. Drayson, R.A,, on the second rotation of the earth and its 

 effects. 



General Drayson has written some books on this subject which 

 possibly no one has answered, for the simple reason that they 

 answer themselves ; but it seems now, that he is permitted, 

 under the auspices of their teachers, to urge his paradoxes on 

 the students of our largest public school. 



Is Eton without any science teacher? or is the so-called 

 teacher incapable of preventing absurdities being put forward 

 with authority ? Are the lecture-rooms of Eton College open to 

 "Parallax " and the circle-squarers ? J. F. Tennant. 



MODIGLTANrS EXPLORATION OF NIAS 

 ISLAND. 



A BOUT two years ago, on his return to Florence, I 

 •■^^- gave a brief account of Dr. Elio Modigliani's 

 very successful and interesting exploration of Pulo Nias 

 (Nature, vol. xxxv. p. 342). We have now before us the 

 general results of that exploration, embodied in a portly 

 volume most elegantly got up, rich in maps and illustra- 

 tions, and, what is better, full of interesting facts, care- 

 fully collated notices, and well pondered and carefully 

 drawn deductions ; in short, one of the best books of its 

 kind.^ 



Judging from what he has done, Dr. Modigliani is 

 evidently made of the stuff which produces the best ex- 

 plorers. Resolute and perseverinir, moved by what we in 

 Italy call // fuoco sacro, ever ready to put up with priva- 

 tions of all kinds, although accustomed to a very different 

 sort of life, a quick and keen observer, he has indeed 

 done wonders ; and considering that he has not had the 

 advantage of any special training in natural science, he 

 has shown himself to be a good geographer and ethno- 

 logist, and a clever naturalist. 



Dr. ModigHani's choice of the island of Nias as the 

 field of his explorations was a singularly happy one, in 

 which he was guided by no less a man than Odoardo 

 Beccari. Few indeed of the hundreds of islands of that 

 wonderland, the Malayan Archipelago, present such an 

 accumulation of interesting problems as Nias. Lying off 

 the ocean seaboard of Sumatra, and partaking naturally 

 of the characteristic features of its big neighbour, it has 

 a flora and fauna with a remarkable number of special 



' Elio Modigliani, " Un ViagEio a Nias." Illustrato da 195 incision!, 

 26 tayole tirate a parte e 4 carte geografiche. Pp. XV.-726. (Milano : 

 tratelh Treves, 1890.) f / \ 



characteristics, whilst its human inhabitants show strange 

 afifinities with people of other races and of distant lands. 



I shall now endeavour to give a concise account of Dr. 

 Modigliani's exploration of Nias, and of the results he 

 obtained, as given in his book. Dr. Modigliani left Italy 

 at the end of 1885; he paid a rapid visit to India, crossing 

 overland from Bombay to Calcutta, via Delhi and Agra, 

 and visiting Darjiling ; he touched at Rangoon, and after 

 a short stay at Singapore and a lengthened one in Java, 

 where at Batavia and Buitenzorg he prepared his local 

 equipment, and engaged Javanese hunters and collectors, 

 he reached Siboga, Sumatra, early in spring, 1 886. Thence 

 he started for Gunong Sitoli, the only civilized port of 

 Nias, on one of the Dutch Government Kruis boats on 

 April 14. Dr. Modigliani spent five months on the 

 island, which he left in the middle of September. On his 

 way back to Italy he completed the tour of Sumatra, 

 touching at Kota Rajah and Olelek (Acheen), visited 

 Singapore again, touched at Colombo, and crossed India 

 a second time from Madras to Calicut, visiting the 

 Todas and some of the hill tribes of Southern India, 

 which had a special interest for him in his researches on 

 the origin and affinities of the people of Nias. Dr. 

 Modigliani brought back with him from Nias extensive 

 and important collections — ethnological, zoological, and 

 botanical — and whilst these were being studied by 

 specialists, he actively set to work arranging and 

 sorting his notes and the material for his book. Under- 

 taking to deal with all the ethnological' part himself, he 

 visited the more important ethnographical museums 

 of Europe, and even the minor ones where he knew that 

 specimens from Nias were to be seen. To complete his 

 historical and geographical researches regarding Nias, 

 Dr. Modigliani paid a lengthy visit to Holland, working 

 in the Libraries and Government Archives at the Hague 

 /ind Leyden. I, who have had many opportunities of 

 observing and admiring his untiring energy and activity, 

 could hardly feel surprised, on reading his book, to find 

 it so full of information and so excellently well done. 



Dr. Modigliani has divided his work on Nias into two 

 parts. The first contains three chapters, and is entirely 

 introductory and historical ; the second, in twenty-three 

 chapters, with appendices and bibliography, contains the 

 narrative of his sojourn in Nias, and his own personal 

 observations and studies on men and things in that island. 

 I have little to say on the first part of Dr. ModigHani's 

 book except that it embodies the results of much erudition 

 and careful and patient collation. From the earliest semi- 

 fabulous notices of Al-Neyan, El-binan, Neya, Niha, 

 Nia, in ancient Arabic and Persian manuscripts, we are 

 brought to European intercourse with Tano Niha, as the 

 natives call their island, and thence on through the 

 modern vicissitudes of Dutch domination, which to this 

 day is little more than nominal, except at Gunong Sitoli 

 and in the northern portion of the island, where, however, 

 German missionaries appear to have done more to spread 

 the influence of civilization than the colonial authorities. 



Part II. occupies by far the greater portion of 

 Modigliani's bulky volume. After telling us how he 

 travelled to Nias from Siboga — an adventurous crossing 

 with a Malayan crew, a bad boat, and dirty weather — 

 Dr. Modigliani devotes a chapter to the geography, 

 meteorology, and geology of Nias. The island is hilly, 

 but can hardly be called mountainous. A notable feature 

 is the frequency of earthquakes, easily explained by the 

 proximity of the volcanic chain of Sumatra. Rivers and 

 watercourses are numerous, but few are of notable size. 

 Geologically, Nias is evidently of recent formation ; a 

 collection of rock samples brought together by Dr. 

 Modigliani might have shed much light on this interesting 

 subject, but it was unfortunately lost. Madreporic lime- 

 stone and clams {Tridacnd) were noted on the hill-tops; 

 true lignite has, however, been found in various parts. The 

 Dutch colonial authorities deserve much praise for their 



