Sept. 6, 1888] 



NATURE 



455 



Occultation of Star by the Moon (visible at Greenwich). 



Corresponding 



angles from ver- 



Sept. Star. Mag. Disap. Reap. tex to right for 



inverted image, 

 h. m. h. m. on 



14 ... 50 Sagittarii ... 6 ... 22 58 ... o 4+ ... 134 308 



t Occurs on the following morning. 

 Sept. h. 



11 ... 10 ... Mars in conjunction with and 6° 7' south 



of the Moon. 

 11 ... 10 ... Jupiter in conjunction with and 3 55' south 



of the Moon. 

 11 ... 14 ... Mars in conjunction with and 2 12' south 

 of Jupiter. 



Variable Stars. 

 Star. R.A. Decl. 



h. m. o - "• "">• 



Algol 3 o - 9 ... 40 31 N. ... Sept. 12, 2 37 m 



,, 14, 23 25 m 



C Geminorum ... 6 57 *5 ... 20 44 N. ... ,, 13, 21 o M 



U Monocerotis ... 7 25^5 ... 9 33 S. ... ,, 15, M 



Z Virginis 14 4-3 ... 12 46 S. ... ,, 9, M 



S Librae 14 55-0 ... 8 4 S. ... ,, 13,21 16 m 



U Coronse 15 13-6 ... 32 3 N. ... ,, 9, 3 23 m 



U Ophiuchi 17 10*9 ... 1 20 N. ... ,, 9, 2 o m 



and at intervals of 20 8 



W Sagittarii ... 17 57-9 ... 29 35 S. ... Sept. 15, 15 oM 



T Herculis 18 4*9 ... 31 o N. ... ,, 13, m 



B Lyrse 18 46*0 ... 33 14 N. ... ,. 14, 4 o M 



V Aquilse 19 46*8 ... o 43 N. ... ,, 14, 4 o M 



S Sagittae 19 50*9 ... 16 20 N. ... ,, 11, 3 o m 



,, 14, 3 o A/ 



X Cygni 20 39-0 ... 35 11 N. ... ,, 15, 4 o m 



T Vulpeculae ... 20 467 ... 27 50 N. ... ,, II, o o M 



,, 12, 2 o m 



S Cephei 21 36-6 ... 78 7 N. ... ,, 9, m 



5 Cephei 22 25-0 ... 57 51 N. ... ,, II, o o M 



M signifies maximum ; in minimum. 



Meteor- Showers. 

 R.A. Decl. 



Near e Persei 

 ,, o Tauri 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 

 The elaborate Report of Mr. Bourne on his journey in South- 

 western China, which has recently been laid before Parliament, 

 and to which we referred recently in connection with the 

 ethnology of the non-Chinese races of this region, is of much 

 geographical interest. Part of Mr. Bourne's journey was already 

 traversed in the reverse direction by Mr. A. R. Colquhoun, 

 and. described by him in his well-known work, "Across 

 Chryse." This observation applies to the route from Yunnan 

 Fu, the capital of the province of that name, to Ssu-mao, and 

 thence along the Tonquin frontier to Nanning on the West or 

 Canton River. But Mr. Bourne traversed the region between 

 Chung-king and Yunnan Fu, which, however, as it lies on one 

 of the high roads across China into Burma, is not unfamiliar to 

 Western readers, and he also crossed diagonally the province 

 of Kweichow — one of the least known provinces in the Chinese 

 Empire — from Nanning in Kwangsi to Chung-king in Szechuen. 

 Here he travelled along unbeaten tracks for many weeks ; but 

 even where travellers had been before — and at best European 

 travellers in Southern and South-Western China are extremely 

 few and far between — his intimate knowledge of China and the 

 Chinese, and the advantages which his official mission gave 

 him, make his observations of exceptional value. He has also 

 established the connection between the rivers of Northern 

 Tonquin and the river system of Southern China. In regard to 

 the seven route-sketches, which accompany the Report, of the 

 different sections of the journey, Mr. Bourne explains that 

 although the rate of travel (about 20 milts a day) precluded the 

 idea of a running survey, it was easy to take notes of the 

 prominent features of the country, as he walked nearly the whole 

 way. These notes, which took the form of route-sketches, 

 would, with an occasional position determined astronomically, 

 have made it possible to give a much better idea of the c mntry 

 than the maps convey ; but his record of astronomical observa- 

 tions, "which had cost him many a night's vigil," and portions 



of his route-sketches, were lost on the occasion of some riots in 

 Chung-king, during which his house was attacked and looted. 

 But the route-sketches of the last part of the journey were 

 fortunately saved, and supply materials for a better map. There 

 is likewise a vast number of careful meteorological observations. 

 It is to be feared that the instinctive repulsion of the natural 

 man to Blue-books, regardless of their c mtents, will prevent 

 Mr. Bourne's Report from receiving the attention which it 

 deserves. On a moderate computation, it would furnish 

 materials for half a dozen works of travel such as those with 

 which the public is made acquainted every year, which have 

 their little day and cease to be. We have to go back to the 

 Reports of Mr. Bourne's predecessors, Messrs. Baber and 

 Hosie, to find any record of travel in China of equal interest 

 and value. 



Science reports that two important Expeditions left Rio de 

 Janeiro in June for exploration and work in two of the least- 

 known parts of the Brazilian territory. The first, sent out by 

 the Ministry of War, under the command of Captain Bellar- 

 mino Mendonca, is to open a road from the town of Guarapuaba, 

 on the frontier of the settled portion of the province of Parana, 

 to the confluence of the Rivers Parana and Iguassu, and to found 

 a military colony at the latter point. A road is also to be opened 

 along the Parana River from the mouth of the Iguassu to the 

 navigable portion of the river above the Sete Quedas Fall, and 

 from this point to Guarapuaba, via the valley of the Piquiri. 

 The founding of a colony at the mouth of the Iguassu, where 

 the Argentines are already establishing themselves, will, aside 

 from its military importance, prove of great value in peopling 

 the valley of the Upper Parana, which has been deserted since 

 the time of the expulsion of the Jesuits. By means of the Lower 

 Parana the colony will have free water communication with 

 Buenos Ayres and other markets of the Argentine Republic, 

 where two of its natural products, lumber and matte, will find a 

 ready sale. This will give at once to the proposed colony a 

 commercial importance far beyond that of a purely military 

 station, and will doubtless lead to the rapid spread of population 

 along the Upper Parana and its tributaries, with their hundreds 

 of miles of navigable waters. The second Expedition, consist- 

 ing of three military engineers, Capt. Lourenco Telles, and 

 Lieuts. Miranda and Villeray, is sent out under the auspices of 

 the Sociedade de Geographia de Rio de Janeiro, the expenses 

 being borne by the Ministry of Agriculture. It is to proceed to 

 Cuiaba in the province of Mato Grosso, pass by land to the 

 head-waters of the Paranapinga, and descend that river and the 

 Sao Manoel or Tres Barras to the Tapajos, returning to Rio de 

 Janeiro via Para by the Tapajos and Amazonas. This explora- 

 tion will thus be a valuable complement to that of the Tapajos 

 by Chandless, as the Sao Manoel and Paranapinga are almost 

 absolutely unknown. 



The current number of the Proceedings of the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society opens with a paper by Commodore Markham 

 on Hudson's Strait as a navigable channel, which is a condensed 

 narrative of former voyages from the time of Sebastian Cabot, 

 coupled with an account of the author's own observations. 

 Commodore Markham comes to the conclusion that the Strait is 

 perfectly navigable and free from ice in August and later in the 

 season. Mr. Portman has a most interesting paper on the Little 

 Andamans, while General Walker discusses the well-worn theme 

 of the hydrography of South-Eastern Tibet. The Persian farsakk 

 cannot be of much value as a precise measure of length, for in 

 a very learned paper, which concludes the number, General 

 Houtum Schindler, of the Persian Telegraph Service, concludes 

 that it is 3*915 miles, while in a footnote he gives the estimates 

 of eight other authorities all differing from his own and from 

 each other. 



The first number of vol. ix. of the Bulletin of the Paris 

 Geographical Society is occupied with M. Maunoir's annual 

 summary of the progress of geography and exploration during 

 18S7. The work is as full and careful as these annual reviews by 

 the same author usually are. The second number is wholly 

 devoted to a record of the commemoration of the centenary of 

 the death of Laperouse. The grand-nephew of the great 

 navigator writes on his private life, and reproduces a number of 

 his private and official letters. Lieutenant Courcel describes 

 his voyage, and Yice-Admiral Paris recounts the history of the 

 discovery of the remains of the expedition. The appendixes 

 contain numerous papers relating to Laperouse and his com- 

 panions, including a bibliography of works relating to the hero 

 himself. 



