38 



NATURE 



[Nov. lo, 1887 



gives some useful hints as to the best modes of travel over the 

 ice, which, if followed, he believes would without any difficulty 

 take the explorer to the east coast. 



In Heft 3 of this year's Deutsche Geographische BldtfcWiW be 

 found the first part of a detailed study of the Schwarzwald 

 by Prof. Platz, of Carlsruhe. It deals with the orography and 

 geology. 



The Portuguese explorer, Jose Anchieta, is at present in the 

 Quinsumbo region of the Portuguese West African territory, on 

 his way to Bihe. He intends to investigate the flora of the 

 region, which has never been adequately studied. 



In the Danish Budget for 1888-89 a sum of 68,000 kroner 

 has been allotted for research in Icelandic waters. Several 

 large fjords of great commercial importance are entirely unex- 

 plored, and are therefore full of danger to navigation. The 

 fishery grounds around the various islands will also be in- 

 vestigated. This exploration will have great interest for science, 

 as it is likely to accumulate much valuable information in 

 oceanography, as well as zoology and meteorology. The work 

 will be carried on freely from May to August, and it is hoped 

 will be completed in five or six years. 



The Roman Catholic missionaries on Yule Island have been 

 exploring the region of New Guinea opposite their station. 

 They found that the Ethel and Helida are insignificant streams ; 

 but they discovered a new river, the St. Joseph, which rises at 

 the foot of Mount Yule in 8° 15' S. lat. and 146° 40' E., and 

 which flows in a southerly direction. The land on both sides 

 is highly fertile and the natives peaceful. They visited fifteen 

 villages, several with a population of over 2000. 



In a paper in the last-issued Bulletin (vol. ii. No. 6) of the 

 Californian Academy of Sciences, Mr. George Davidson gives 

 some interesting information on submarine valleys off the Pacific 

 coast of the United States. He points out that within 40 or 50 

 miles of the coast to the south of Cape Mendocino the plateau of the 

 Pacific reaches a depth of 2000 to 2400 fathoms. Generally there is 

 a marginal plateau for 10 miles out to the lOO-fathom curve, and 

 then the descent is sharp to 500 or 600 fathoms. In this marginal 

 plateau there has been discovered by the Coast Survey several 

 remarkable submarine valleys. Notably that in Monterey Bay, 

 beading to the low lands at the great bend of Salinas River ; and 

 that off Point Hueneme at the eastern entrance of the Santa 

 Barbara Channel, and heading into the low coast at the wide 

 opening of the Santa Clara Valley. Then there are one or two 

 off the southern point of Carmel Bay, while the deepest one 

 enters far into the bay. The latest discovered submarine valleys 

 are near the high bold coast under Cape Mendocino. Just north 

 of a submarine ridge extending from Point Delgada to Shelter 

 Cove is a deep valley which breaks through the marginal 

 plateau and runs sharply into the immediate coast-line under 

 the culminating point of the crest-line of mountains. The head 

 of this submarine valley is 100 fathoms deep at i| mile 

 from shore ; when it breaks through the loo-fathom line of the 

 marginal plateau it reaches a depth of 400 fathoms. The slopes 

 of the valley are very steep. Midway between this and Point 

 Oarda there is another valley 300 to 150 fathoms deep. The 

 opening of this valley through the outer edge of the 100- fathom 

 plateau is 520 fathoms deep. Between Point Garda and Cape 

 Mendocino is another valley, which, 6J miles south-west by south 

 from the cape, is 450 fathoms deep. This is a wide valley, the 

 bottom of which is green mud, though in two places, at depths 

 of 320 fathoms, broken shells were brought up with gravel. 



By the latest communication from Mr. Stanley's expedition 

 it is evident that, unless some unexpected disaster has happened, 

 he reached Emin Pasha some time in August. He found 

 the Mabodi country, through which the Aruwimi flows, densely 

 inhabited, while that river on the borders of the Mabodi country 

 bends south, and again becomes navigable. This seems clearly 

 to show that the Aruwimi can have no connection with the 

 "Welle system. 



The last number of the Izvestia of the Russian Geographical 

 Society (1887, 3rd fascicule) will be most welcome to geographers. 

 It contains a preliminary map (70 miles to an inch) of the eastern 

 parts of East Turkestan, Tsaidam, and the upper parts of the 

 Yellow and Blue Rivers, embodying the results of the fourth 

 journey of General Przewalski in Central Asia. The most in- 

 teresting feature of the map is that it shows that the depression 

 of the Lob-nor must not be confounded with the Eastern Gobi. 



This last is more elevated, and falls by a steep terrace towards 

 the depression of the Lob nor, which has in the east of the lake 

 a width of only 80 miles, and terminates at Lake Tchin-jen-he, 

 where the desert reaches altitudes of 3700 and 4800 feet above 

 the sea. The Tarim depression is thus well limited in the east, 

 and the doubts which arose among geographers as to the pos- 

 sibility of embodying the Eastern Gobi and the Tarim depres- 

 sion under the same denomination of Hang-hai, as proposed by 

 Richthofen, are thus settled. The well-known difference of 

 characters of the two regions depends upon the differences of their 

 orographical structures, and the Tarim region appears as a de- 

 pression of the high plateau of East Asia, limited in the east as 

 well as in the north, the west, and the south. Geographers will 

 find on the map the series of chains named after Colombus, 

 Marco Polo, Humboldt, and Ritter, discovered by General 

 Przewalski ; the high range to which the Russian Geographical 

 Society gave the name of its Russian discoverer ; the Burkhan- 

 buda range ; the lakes Jarin and Orin, 14,000 feet high, of the 

 upper Hoang-ho ;"5 and all those minor features which, when 

 mentioned in M. Przewalski's letters, excited so much interest 

 among geographers. A list of sixteen places, the latitudes and 

 partly the longitudes of which have been determined, and a list 

 of ninety-five altitudes, accompany the map. 



In a short note accompanying the above map. General Prze 

 walski mentions certain facts brought to light during the last 

 three months of his journey. The Khotan-daria of East Turke- 

 stan does not make a bend towards the west, as shown on 

 several recent maps. It flows due north through a sandy desert, 

 and its course on Klaproth's and D'Anville's maps was more in 

 accordance with reality than the indications on more modern 

 maps. Its water reaches the Tarim only during the summer. A 

 new oasis, Tavek-kel, grew up some fifty years ago on the 

 Yurun-kash ; its population numbers about 500 families. The 

 lake Yashil-kul does not exist where it is shown on our maps. 

 The most important statement is, however, the following. By 

 the beginning of October 1885— that is, at low water— the Tarim 

 had, at the confluence of the Yarkand and Khotan Rivers, a 

 depth of 3 to 5 feet, and a width of about 185 yards. In the 

 summer, according to information obtained from the natives, 

 and confirmed by the state of the river-bed, the depth and width 

 of the Tarim are thrice the above. Taking into consideration 

 the fact that the lower Tarim, followed by M. Przewalski in 1876 

 and 1877, has throughout a depth of no less than 14 feet, it may 

 be maintained, M. Przewalski writes, that the Tarim is navigable 

 for steamers or its whole length from the above junction to the 

 Lob-nor. It seems probable also that steamers may be able to 

 ascend a short distance up the Aksu River and further up the 

 Yarkand-daria. 



The same number of the Izvestia contains an elaborate paper 

 by M. A. Eliseefif embodying the ethnological results of his 

 journeys in Asia Minor since 1881. In this paper there are able 

 descriptions of the various populations of Asia Minor — the Turks, 

 the Armenians, the Kurds, the Kurmanjis, the Greeks, the 

 Arabs, the Chaldaeans, the Tsiganes, and the Jews. The 

 numerous anthropological measurements and other observations 

 which the author made during his journeys in the interior of the 

 country will be published separately in full. Two papers, on 

 the Manych and the steppes of Northern Caucasus, by D. 

 Ivanoff, and on the vegetation and geology of the same, by W. 

 Fausek, are valuable contributions towards a better knowledge 

 of the nature of this interesting region. 



METEOROLOGICAL NOTES. 

 Symons's Monthly Meteorological Magazine for October con- 

 tains a fifth annual table of the climate of the British Empire, 

 giving a summary of the daily observations at sixteen stations, 

 distributed over the globe, for the year 1886. The extremes 

 show some very interesting facts, from which we select the fol- 

 lowing : — Adelaide has the highest maximum temperature in the 

 shade, viz. 112° '4 ; the highest temperature in the sun, I74°*5 ; 

 the least rainfall, 14 "42 inches ; and the lowest humidity, 56^per 

 cent. Winnipeg has the lowest shade temperature, -44"'6; 

 the greatest annual range, I47°'6 ; and the lowest mean daily 

 temperature, 33° '2. Colombo (Ceylon) has the highest mean 

 daily temperature, 8i°-o. Bombay has the greatest rainfall, 

 9974 inches. London occupies the unenviable position of the 

 dampest station, 80 per cent. The same magazine contains a 

 discussion of the severe thunderstorm which visited London on 



