August 2, 1888] 



NATURE 



317 



county. There is no evidence that these "chiefs" owned 

 the land they were selling, nor that they were made 

 aware that they were parting for ever with their most 

 cherished possessions, of which Mr. Strachan attempted 

 to claim ownership (Her Majesty's edict notwithstanding) 

 in right of exploration and purchase. While in Macluer 

 Inlet, the author resided among a people who spoke to 

 some extent the Malay language. The quotations with 

 which we are favoured in his book, not to mention his own 

 admission of the fact, show clearly how imperfect his 

 knowledge of that language (as of the true language of 

 the region) is. Yet from a conversation he overhears, half 

 of which only, he admits, he understood, he accuses certain 

 chiefs of Macluer Inlet of slave-hunting, and in the most 

 high-handed and unauthorized manner, carries them off 

 prisoners to Gessir, to give them in charge to the Dutch 

 authorities, yet does not do so (owing to stress of 

 weather), which under the grave circumstances he ought 

 to have done when the weather moderated. Eventually, 

 after severe cogitations whether he should not himself 

 inflict punishment on them, he returns them to their homes, 

 when he feels "much lighter of heart." Shortly after 

 this, he sees a canoe " dodging backwards and forwards 

 among the islands within gun shot of the ship," and is 

 seized with a panic (as he often was), and without the 

 flimsiest evidence of a hostile intention on the part of its 

 occupants, he seized a " long range rifle " and fired into 

 it ; " they then began paddling rapidly, and although I 

 fired many shots I could not round them to." Nor are 

 these again the solitary instances of most illegal acts 

 performed by Mr. Strachan as recorded by himself. It is 

 doubtful, also, whether the removal of the little lad whom 

 he brought from his country to England (and whom he 

 appears to have treated with the greatest possible kind- 

 ness) was not an act of kidnapping. Altogether, it is 

 perhaps not surprising that the natives, as Mr. Strachan 

 bemoans, " cannot recognize nor appreciate the principles 

 of honesty and honour," so exemplified. 



Her Majesty's Special Commissioner comes in for a 

 most violent and unwarrantable attack. No one who 

 reads Mr. Strachan's own admissions will wonder that 

 his explorations were not regarded by the authorities 

 with all the favour he could desire. If Mr. Douglas 

 had had the facts here recorded before him, he must, 

 we fear, instead of renewing the author's permit, have 

 excluded him from again approaching the island. The 

 Commissioners administering the Government in New 

 Guinea have had experience enough of the woes that flow 

 not to the natives themselves only, but to unsuspecting 

 Europeans who have the misfortune to follow behind (and 

 have paid, too often, the penalty of the' overacts of) such 

 explorers as "Captain" John Strachan. 



MINES UR VE YING. 

 A .Treatise on Mine- Surveying. By Bennett H. Brough, 

 F.G.S., F.I.C., 8vo., pp. 282 with 101 woodcuts, two 

 appendices and index. (London : Charles Griffin and 

 Co., 1888.) 



1V/T R. BROUGH, who for many years has been giving 

 ■L'1 instruction in surveying at the Royal School of 

 Mines, has placed the mining world under a debt of 



gratitude to him by the issue of his compact manual* 

 It is the kind of book which has long been wanted, and 

 often asked for, not only by mining students, but also by 

 mine-agents desirous of obtaining more knowledge con- 

 cerning a material branch of their profession. 



The book is divided into nineteen chapters. In the 

 first the author dwells upon the importance of mine- 

 surveying and certainly does not exaggerate it. Instances 

 could be multiplied showing the danger to life and the loss 

 of valuable mineral from the want of accurate plans. A 

 blot in British legislation does not escape the author's 

 notice, and he very properly regrets that the agents of 

 ordinary ore-mines are not required to qualify themselves 

 by examination in the same way as their brethren at 

 collieries. Considering that the tin miners of Cornwall 

 have a rather higher death-rate from accidents than 

 colliers, and a very much higher death-rate from diseases 

 induced by their occupation, it does seem strange that 

 the test of ability imposed in one case should be entirely 

 dispensed with in the other. When the Metalliferous 

 Mines Regulation Act is amended we may hope to see 

 this anomaly swept away Many agents of ore-mines 

 would welcome the introduction of certificates of com- 

 petency, because a Government diploma would raise 

 their status at home and constitute a valuable passport 

 for them abroad. 



Four chapters are devoted to surveying with the 

 ordinary miner's dial, of which various forms are 

 described ; and very useful hints are given concerning 

 sources of error with the magnetic needle, which would 

 not strike tyros, and some of which are probably 

 unknown to many practised surveyors. The important 

 question of the diurnal and secular variation of the 

 magnetic needle is next fully dealt with, and we hope 

 that due heed will be paid to Mr. Brough's remarks, for 

 few ordinary diallers are aware that the needle may vary 

 10' from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. 



The theodolite is properly recommended for cases 

 where great accuracy is required, and much useful infor- 

 mation is afforded upon various matters, such as plotting, 

 calculation of areas, levelling, connection of underground 

 and surface surveys and methods of rapid surveying with 

 the tacheometer. Faults and subsidences are discussed 

 at length, and careful directions are given concerning the 

 construction and copying of mine plans. Mr. Brough 

 insists upon neat lettering, but curiously enough omits all 

 mention of stencil plates for this purpose. 



The last chapter, dealing with the application of the 

 magnetic needle in mining, is full of interesting matter. 

 We have good descriptions of the Swedish and American 

 dip-compasses, and the improved methods of Brooks, 

 Thale'n and Tiberg, for exploring for iron ore ; and the 

 author exposes the clever devices of unscrupulous mine- 

 sharks for misleading intending purchasers. Between the 

 years 1868 and 1875 eighty-five iron mines were dis- 

 covered in the State of New Jersey solely by the magnetic 

 needle, and in many cases where there was no visible 

 indication of ore at the surface. 



Mr. Macgeorge's ingenious appliances for ascertaining 

 the true direction taken by bore-holes, which frequently 

 deviate very considerably from the vertical, attracted 

 much attention at the Inventions Exhibition, where they 

 received a gold medal. Now that Mr. Macgeorge's 



