Jan. 1 6, 1879] 



NATURE 



247 



blacks fought by Stanley. The Central Section of the 

 Paris Geographical Society has decided to give to MM. 

 Brazza and Ballay the great gold medal for 1879. Some 

 members proposed to give it to Nordenskjold, but the 

 prolongation of his voyage, owing to his detention in 

 Behring's Straits, was considered sufficient reason to 

 adjourn Nordenskjold's claims to 18S0. 



Maw proposals have been made for a new initial 

 meridian to be adopted by all nations, but no satisfactory 

 solution has yet been reached. The present state of things 

 is very confusing, with nearly as many diff"erent initial 

 meridians as there are civilised countries. In LExplora- 

 tioji M. de Beaumont proposes the adoption of a zero 

 passing through Behring's Straits and down the Pacific, 

 its antemeridian passing through the centre of Europe 

 and Africa; but, indeed, any universally-adopted zero 

 would be better than the present confusion. 



The capitalists of Liverpool and Manchester, finding 

 so many of the old markets shut against their enterprise, 

 propose making a railway 500 miles long, from Zanzibar 

 to the south end of Victoria Nyanza, to develop the 

 trade of Central Africa. In the speeches on the subject 

 at Manchester g^eat ignorance was shown of the geo- 

 graphy and hydrography of the region in question, and 

 if only a desire to develop the resources of Africa is at 

 the bottom of the movement, it is quite unnecessary to 

 spend a million of money on a railway. With the mag- 

 nificent water-way explored by Stanley and other travel- 

 lers, and with the help of either Indian or tamed African 

 elephants, the resources of Central Africa could be quite 

 adequately developed for many years to come. 



Ix the January number of 'P&iQxma.nn s Mitlheiitingen 

 Dr. Gerhard Rohlfs gives the results of his search, during 

 his last journey in the Libyan Desert, for the supposed 

 empty river-bed of the " Bihar-Bila-ma." He discusses 

 the chief references to this supposed extinct river, and 

 concludes from his researches that there is no warrant 

 for placing its dried-up bed on our maps. The same 

 number contains a fine map of the region about the 

 sources of the Oxus, with short explanatory text by Dr. 

 Behm, and a map of North Siberia, showing Norden- 

 skjold's track from the Yenessei to the Lena. Accom- 

 panying the latter are German translations of the letters 

 of various members of the expedition. 



A CONTRACT has been concluded by M. Sibiriakoff", of 

 Irkutsk, in Siberia, with the firm of Kockum, whereby 

 the latter are to build him a steamer of 350 tons burden, 

 for the purpose of going to the assistance of the Vej^a. 

 It is expected that the steamer will be ready soon en ough 

 to start, fully equipped with provisions, in time to reach 

 Behring's Straits, by way of the Suez Canal, next August, 

 in order to assist Prof. Nordenskjold and his companions. 

 The vessel will afterwards trade to the Lena, and, if 

 possible, even to the Yenessei. 



An Italian traveller, Manzoni, made a journey of some 

 I importance in Yemen, Arabia, in 1877, the results of 

 ! which appeared in the Exploratore. In June last Manzoni 

 • commenced a second journey from Aden northwards to 

 I Asir and eastwards to Hadramaut. After visiting several 

 ! places of interest he arrived in Sana, where, according 

 ! to last reports, we learn from Dr. Behm's summary, he 

 ' was ill. This exploration is supported by the Italian 

 I Cosmos. 



The last number of the Isvestia of the Russian Geo- 

 i graphical Society contains an important paper by M. 

 I Maieff, giving an account of his journey last summer to 

 j South Bokhara. M. Maieff" describes the various beck- 

 doms or subdivisions of Bokhara, their productions, trade, 

 and people, their chief physical features and hydro- 

 graphy. He concludes by some important information 

 on the various routes from Guzar to the Amu Daria and 

 lAfghamstan. 



A LETTER received from M. Oshanin, from Turkestan, 

 announces that he has just returned from his great journey 

 to Karataghin. He has discovered a very fine glacier, 

 which he has called by the name of the late Fedchenko. 

 This is the third locality bearing the name of the travel- 

 ler : M. Ujfalvy has called the Lake Kutban-kul " Lake 

 Fedchenko," and M. Maieff" has given the same name to 

 one of the peaks of Gbissar. 



THE GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE 

 COLORADO RIVER AND PLA TEA US 1 



T7OR convenience of geological discussion. Prof, Powell 

 -*- has divided that belt of country which lies between 

 Denver and the Pacific, and between the 34th and 43rd 

 parallels, into provinces, each of which, so far as known, 

 possesses structural and topographical features which dis- 

 tinguish it from the others. The easternmost he has 

 named the Park Province. It is characterised by lofty 

 mountain ranges, consisting of granitoid and metamorphic 

 rocks pushed upward and protruded through sedimentary 

 strata, the latter being turned upwards upon the flanks ot 

 the ranges and their edges truncated by erosion. The 

 generalised transverse section, on the assumption that the 

 sedimentaries, prior to uplifting, were continuous across 

 the mountains, is that of a broad and extensive anticlinal, 

 sometimes profoundly-faulted parallel to the trend, the 

 sedimentary strata which may once have extended across 

 being removed by erosion. The intervening valleys still 

 retain the entire sedimentary series. This form of moun- 

 tain structure, with its resulting topographical features, 

 gradually passes, as we go westward, into another type, 

 arising from the decreasing frequency of the greater dis- 

 placements or differential vertical movements of the 

 earth's surface ; but most frequently the dislocation is a 

 combined monoclinal and a fault, or series of faults, with 

 all shades of relative emphasis. The small departure 

 from horizontality amid great general displacement is 

 a strong trait, and justifies the name which has been 

 applied to it by all observers with one accord — the 

 Plateau Country. 



West of this province lies a third one— the Great Basin. 

 It is characterised by short, jagged mountain ridges, 

 separated by goodly intervals of barren plains. These 

 ridges are usually produced by the up-lifting of the strata 

 along one side of a fault. Sometimes the faults are 

 multiple, that is, consist of a series of parallel faults, the 

 intervening blocks being careened in the same manner 

 and in the same direction. This repetitive faulting is of 

 very common occurrence. Other modifications, and even 

 difi"erent types of structure, are presented ; but there is 

 throughout the Great Basin a striking predominance of 

 monoclinal ridges, in which one side of a range slopes 

 with the dip of the strata, and the other side slopes across 

 their upturned edges. The forms impressed upon these 

 masses by erosion are rugged, bristling, and sierra-like, 

 and their peculiarities are aggravated by the fact that 

 before these mountains were brought forth the platform 

 of the country from which they arose had been plicated 

 and the plications planed down by erosion. The Basin is 

 the oldest western land of extensive area. Its final emer- 

 gence was not later than Jurassic, and may have a still 

 older date. 



Between the Plateau and Park Provinces there is no 

 definite boundary. Gradually as we proceed westward 

 from the Parks of Colorado the vaUeys widen out and 

 exp>and into a medley of terraces, bounded by cliff's, which 

 stretch their tortuous courses across the land in every 

 direction, yet not without system. The boundary sepa- 

 rating the Plateau Province from the Great Basin, on the 

 contrary, is abrupt. In many parts of its extent it seems 

 almost possible to hurl a stone from one province to the 



' By Capt. C. E. Duttcn, U.S. Army, Ass"stant-Geologist U.S. Survey o 

 the Rocky Mountain Region, under Prcf. J. W. Powell, in charge. 



