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NATURE 



{April II, 1878 



On the 5th inst. Lieut, de Semelle left Bordeaux 

 for the purpose of setting out on his proposed journey 

 across Africa from Senegambia. The Society of 

 Algerine Catholic Missions has obtained from the Pope 

 an authorisation to send two parties of priests into the 

 interior of Africa ; one, under the direction of Father 

 Pascal, will establish a vicariat apostoliqiie on the banks 

 of Lake Tanganyika ; the second party, whose head is 

 said to be Father Livinzac, will establish a similar 

 organisation in the region of the Nyanzas. The missions 

 will be scientific as well as religious. 



Arctic Exploration.— A wealthy Russian merchant 

 M. Sibiriakoff has offered the sum of 12,000 roubles 

 to the Committee of the Dutch Arctic Expedition, 

 on condition that the Committee should order that 

 the Siberian coasts be specially explored by the 

 Expedition. The Committee has, however, refused the 

 offer, on the one hand because it was considered undig- 

 nified to accept foreign help for a purely national under- 

 taking, and on the other, because the expedition has a 

 specifically scientific and not a commercial object. This 

 offer of M, Sibiriakoff" seems unnecessary, seeing that 

 the Siberian coast is likely to be explored this summer by 

 Prof. Nordenskjold in the Vega. We may remind our 

 readers that this expedition sets out in the beginning of 

 July, for the purpose of forcing the North-East Passage 

 from Europe to Behring's Straits. Prof. Nordenskjold 

 has made a thorough study of the records of Russian 

 exploration along the north coast of Siberia, and con- 

 cludes that in early autumn the ice retires from the coast 

 as a rule, leaving a comparatively clear waterway. Even 

 should the immediate aim of the expedition not be 

 accomplished, we may expect large additions to our 

 knowledge of the hydrography, geology, and natural 

 history of these regions, which, from a scientific point 

 of view, have been comparatively unexplored. Prof. 

 Nordenskjold conjectures that a line of islands separates 

 the Siberian from the strictly Polar Sea, of which we only 

 know Wrangell Land and New Siberia ; he will endeavour 

 to verify this conjecture. The proposal has been made 

 in the first Chamber of the Swedish Reichstag to grant 

 the sum of 22,000 Swedish crowns for the Arctic Expe- 

 dition projected by Lieut. Sandeberg, the costs of whose 

 exploration in Lapland, to which we have already referred, 

 were defrayed entirely by himself. 



Cairo Geographical Society.— At an extraordinary 

 meeting of this society on February 16 the question of 

 its existence was discussed ; it had become almost ex- 

 tinct from want of funds. It was proposed to join it to 

 the Egyptian Institute, thereby much diminishing its 

 working expenses, and putting it in an advantageous 

 position for carrying on its work. We hope the scheme 

 will be carried out, as the situation of the society places 

 it in an unusually favourable position for carrying on the 

 work of African exploration. 



South America.— Advices from Valparaiso state that 

 Commander Paget, of Her Majesty's ship Penguin, com- 

 municated to the captain of the port of Coquimbo that 

 while passing through Messier' s Channel, on January 10, 

 he saw a volcano in eruption, situated E. \S. (Mag.) of 

 the southern extremity of Middle Island, English Narrows. 

 It is supposed that this volcano is the cause of the subter- 

 ranean noises heard by an exploring party from the 

 corvette Magallanes, near Lake Santa Craz, in the middle 

 of December, and is the same as that believed to exist by 

 the Argentine explorer Moreno. Apropos of the fore- 

 going, says the Timpos, one of the most remarkable dis- 

 coveries made by Chilian explorers is the complete disap- 

 pearance of the Andes chain at the southern extremity of 

 the continent. Messrs. Rodgers and Ibar crossed from 

 Brunswick Peninsula, situated, according to the Argen- 

 tines, to the east of the Andes, to the Pacific, arriving at 

 a place called by Fitzroy the plains of Diana, without 



meeting with vestiges of the Cordillera. There are plains, 

 more or less inclined, but only plains. 



Ethnography of Russia. — As Supplement 54 to 

 Petermann's Mittheiluns^en^ Col. Rittich's valuable and 

 elaborate treatise on the ethnography of Russia has just 

 been published, with a large map, coloured with the 

 greatest care, and showing with wonderful clearness the 

 many elements which go to make up the Russian 

 population. 



The Yenissei.— To the April number of the Geogra- 

 phical Magazine Mr. Seebohm contributes a paper on 

 the Valley of the Yenissei, embodying some of the results 

 of his recent voyage to that river. 



The Whang-ho. — In the same number is the first 

 instalment of an exhaustive paper on this river, with 

 special reference to its double delta, by Mr. Samuel 

 Mossman. 



Educational Voyage. — A voyage around the world, 

 designed for students, is being arranged at Paris. It will 

 last eleven months, over six months being devoted to 

 various land excursions. Books, collections, &c., will be 

 taken, and the entire programme will have instruction, 

 rather than sight-seeing, in view. It is intended to depart 

 on June 15. 



Paris Geographical Society.— The January ^///A-///^ 

 of this Society contains the first part of an important 

 inquiry into the medical geography of the West Coast of 

 Africa, by Dr. H. Rey, and also the first instalment of a 

 narrative of a journey in Cilicia in 1874 by MM. C. Favre 

 and B. Mandrot. M. Nogueira gives a translation of a 

 paper from the Portuguese on the South African river 

 Cunene. 



The Council of the Society of Geography has issued its 

 list of candidates for the high offices of the society. It 

 proposes to the members to elect Admiral La Ronciere le 

 Nourry, who has been voted six or seven times almost 

 without opposition. But a number of independent mem- 

 bers are proposing, in opposition, the nomination of 

 the present Minister of Marine. 



Depths of Lakes. — The Bavarian Courier publishes 

 an interesting comparative statement of the depths of 

 lakes. Amongst European lakes the Achensee, in the 

 Tyrol, heads the list. At some points the depth of this 

 lake amounts to 772 metres. The greatest depth of the 

 lake of Constance is about 300 metres, that of the 

 Chiemsee about 141 metres, and that of the Walchen- and 

 Konigssee, 188 metres. The measurements made about 

 1870 at the Dead Sea showed that at its deepest part 

 the depth is 565 metres, but if we consider that the 

 level of this lake is already 429 metres below the 

 level of the Mediterranean, then we find that the total 

 depression in the soil here amounts really to 994 metres. 

 The Lake of Tiberias is extremely shallow in com- 

 parison ; on its eastern part the average depth is only 

 eight metres, while on the western side it lies between six 

 and seven metres. In Lake Baikal depths have been 

 found which for a lake are truly astonishing. In the 

 upper part of the lake the depth is 3,027 metres (about 

 the height of Mount Etna), but downwards the bottom 

 constantly descends, and near the opposite bank the 

 depth amounts to 3,766 metres. This depth far exceeds 

 that of the Mediterranean Sea, which at its deepest part 

 measures only 2,197 metres. 



German Alpine Club. — The German and Austrian 

 Alpen Verein, although comparatively young, has deve- 

 loped a most praiseworthy activity in a variety of direc- 

 tions. From the last general report we notice that it 

 has a membership of nearly 7,000, and an annual income 

 of 40,000 marks. The chief exertions are devoted to the 

 erection of shelter huts in the Alps, and maintenance of 

 communications over the passes. It is, however, render- 

 ing no slight service to the cause of geography, by the 



