November 24, 1892] 



NATURE 



89 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



The Royal Geographical Society has determined on a change 

 in the form and alteration in the title of its Proceedings, which 

 will materially enhance the value of the monthly publication. 

 The size of each part will be increased to ninety-six pages, and 

 two volumes will be published in the year instead of one as for- 

 merly. Internally the arrangement will be slightly altered, and 

 while ihe strictly geographical character of the publication will be 

 maintained, the notes and record of geographical work from 

 other countries will be made at once more systematic and more 

 popular. A special feature will be the record of the " Geo- 

 graphical Literature" of the month, summarizing all the 

 accessions to the library, both books and memoirs. This will 

 form a subject-index to geographical literature, and serve as a 

 continuous appendix to the exhaustive subject-catalogue of the 

 Society's library which is now being compiled. The editorship 

 of the new series remains in the hands of Mr. J. Scott Keltic, 

 the assistant secretary. 



With reference to the note on the death of Lieutenant 

 Schwatka, the Alaskan explorer, published last week, we are 

 glad to observe that an official enquiry negatived the theory of 

 suicide, and showed that the fatal result followed from an over- 

 dose of morphia taken medicinally. 



The German colonial authorities have recently come to a 

 very important decision as to the official spelling of the place 

 names of their various protectorates in Africa and New Guinea. 

 European names are to retain their ordinary form, but all native 

 names are to be rendered phonetically according to a new set of 

 rules. These rules so closely resemble those put forward by the 

 Royal Geographical Society, and now widely used, that it ap- 

 pears possible by some slight concessions on both sides to make 

 one set serve both for English and German. The letters c, q, x, 

 and z are dispensed with as redundant, c and z being rendered 

 by ts, X by /;s, and q by kw. The gutteral ch becomes kh, the 

 English ch being given as tsh, and the sound of the English/ as 

 dj. The German J sound will he represented by y, and the 

 letter/ used only for the French sound, which is represented in 

 English as zk. The German sound of w is rendered as v, the 

 letter w being kept for the English sound. Unfortunately the 

 letter s is kept for its soft German sound, the sharp sound of the 

 English letter being shown by s. The use of the English z 

 would have overcome this difficulty, and removed the most serious 

 obstacle to a common orthography. 



Captain Monteil, whose arrival at Kano on his way to 

 Lake Chad was referred to in May last (vol. xlvi. p. iio), has 

 at last been heard of, and his mission, although involving two 

 years of travel in the Sudan and Sahara, appears to be success- 

 fully completed. The facts could not be put more concisely than 

 in Monteil's official telegram to the French Foreign Office, which 

 . arrived on November 15: — "October 17. To-day I entered 

 ihe territory of Fezzan by way of Tejerri coming from 

 Kuka. Having set out from Kano on February 19, 

 [ reached Kuka on April 10, where the reception was 

 excellent. I left Kuka on August 15 with a guide, sent by 

 the Sheikh to accompany me to Murzuk .... which I expect 

 to reach on or about the 25th, and to stay there just long enough 

 to arrange my departure for Tripoli. Badaire has borne the 



NO. I 204. V^OL. d7l 



journey exceedingly well. My men are all with me, except two- 

 left at Kuka." 'I'his is the most important journey through the 

 Central Sudan and Sahara since the classical explorations of 

 Barth and Rohlfs. 



STROM BO LI IN 1891.1 



CTROMBOLI is one of the most noted but least studied of 

 "^ volcanoes. The regularity of the weak explosions which, 

 succeeding each other at intervals of a few minutes, characterize 

 its normal slate, gives rise to the idea that its action is always 

 thus uniform and monotonous, and the occasional paroxysms to 

 which it is subject are apt to be overlooked. In reality the so- 

 called Strombolian phase of volcanic activity differs from the 

 Plinian phase exhibited by Vesuvius and certain other volcanoes 

 merely by the absence of intervals of perfect repose between the 

 violent outbursts which are characteristic of the latter type. It 

 is in this difference that the explanation of the fact is to be found, 

 that from time immemorial no explosion in any way comparable 

 to the great explosions of Vesuvius have occurred at Stromboli ; 

 for the ceaseless activity of the latter prevents the accumulation 

 of sufficient force to produce a powerful and destructive effect. 

 But from time to time the throat of the volcano does get more 

 or less choked, and the efforts of the imprisoned vapour to 

 escape result in an eruptive phase of some violence. Such 

 an event took place during the latter months of last year, and 

 the following description of the phenomena is based on the 

 observations of Profs. Ricco and Mercalli, and of Ing. 

 Arcidiacono. 



The state of the volcano preceding this outburst had been one 

 of relative calm for two years. In October, 1888, an explosion 

 had opened three new mouths on the upper edge of the Sciara 

 del Fuoco, from one of which lava was emitted. This was the 

 commencement of a period of increased activity, with repeated 

 issue of lava, lasting nine months till June, 1889. From this 

 date to the eruption of last year, and particularly during the six 

 months just preceding, the activity was less than normal. It is 

 to be noticed, however, that there were two short intervals of 

 recrudescence, lasting only a few days, at theendofDecember> 

 1890, and January, 1891. 



■ On June 24, 1891, at 12.45 P-m., two strong earthquake 

 shocks were felt over the whole island at an interval of a few 

 seconds. Loud rumblings and a violent explosion followed 

 each. The shocks were not confined to the island of Stromboli, 

 but were felt at Salina, a distance of 40 kilometres. Even the 

 subterranean rumblings were heard at the latter island. The 

 first shock and the first explosion were, as might be expected, 

 more violent than any which succeeded. Windows were 

 broken at the semaphore station, and a great precipice of rock 

 fell into the sea at the Filo del Cane, and other rocks in the 

 .■jame locality were so loosened that they fell on following days. 

 Two powerful columns of ash, like thick smoke, arose from the 

 crater and ascended far above the summit of the island. Great 

 masses of scoria were ejected and fell toward the northern part 

 of the island, burning the grass and fig-trees. A boat passing 

 to the north-east of the island at the time of the first explosion 

 could not see the semaphore signals, owing to the quantity of 

 ash in the atmosphere. Lapilli fell around the eruptive mouths 

 for a radius of a kilometre and a half, and a fine, dark grey ash 

 rained over the whole island. A stream of lava issued from a 

 point on the Sciara del Fuoco near to the most western mouth, 

 and a deep fissure formed its upper rim nearly in the same 

 place as that of November, 1882. For two days the lava con- 

 tinued to flow, and loud explosions were frequent. The rumb- 

 lings were almost continuous. On the 26th the emission of ash 

 ceased, but moderately vigorous outbursts occurred with the 

 ejection of incandescent scoria till the 27th ; but on the 2Sth 

 and 29th the volcano had resumed its wonted calm. On the 

 30th, however, a fresh earthquake, accompanied by rumblings 

 and a violent explosion, showed that the volcanic forces were 

 not yet spent. An immense column of vapour and incandescent 

 materials arose from a new breach on the edge of the Sciara, 

 while an abundant current of lava flowed down the slope reach- 

 ing the sea at its foot. The whole of the powerful explosions 

 o the 30th were repeated at short intervals, but the activity 



' Sopra il Periodo eruttivodello Stromboli cominciato il 24giiigno, 1891.. 

 Relaziune dei Prof. A. Ricco e G. Mercalli col Appendice dell' Ingegnere 

 Arcidiacono (" Annalidell' Uflicio Cenlrali MeteorologicoeGecdinatnico 

 [2] XI. Pt. 3, 1892 "I 



