28; 



NATURE 



[January 19, 1893 



the corona are of such varying brightness that it will be impos- 

 sible to obtain all the details with a single exposure. For the 

 spectroscopic work it is also recommended that isochromatic 

 plates be employed, with special reference to the distribution of 

 the material which gives the green line 1474 Kirchoff. Mr. 

 Lockyer proposes to use an objective prism, so as to obtain 

 monochromatic images of the corona, that is, rings correspond- 

 ing to each elementary radiation of the coronal light. This 

 method will not only give the spectrum of the corona, but the dis- 

 tribution of each spectrum line over the whole of it. The problem 

 of the " reversing layer" is also wanting definite solution, and 

 it is pointed out that instantaneous photographs may settle the 

 question once for all. M. Pluvinel also points out the import- 

 ance of noting the presence or absence of the hydrocarbon 

 bands suspected by Tacchini in 1883, as this observation may 

 throw further light on the analogy between the corona and the 

 tails of comets. 



Photometric observations should also be secured, and the 

 polariscope should be employed to determine the proportion of 

 polarized light in various parts of the corona. 



Nova Aurig/E. — Prof. Barnard has recently made some 

 measures of the position of Nova Aurigse, with a view to de- 

 tecting proper motion. The two comparison stars selected were 

 the stars E and F in Mr. Burnham's previous list of comparison 

 stars. The results are stated thus {Ast. Nach. No. 3143) : — 

 " The measures with F come out identical with Mr. Burnham's 

 during February, but those with E seem to show some sort of 

 motion in distance and possibly in angle. From the position of 

 the comparison star this can hardly be due to parallax. It is 

 possible, though, if the discrepancy is a real displacement, that 

 it is due to orbital motion, the orbit being so situated as to show 

 no motion with reference to F. The difference is not sufficiently 

 great, considering the distance, to prove anything." Prof. 

 Barnard further remarks that although the Nova presented no 

 nebulosity at its first appearance, it has always appeared as an 

 undoubted planetary nebula since he observed it on August 19. 

 Estimates of magnitude in the present condition of the Nova will 

 depend greatly upon the telescope and magnifying power em- 

 ployed. Since August the nucleus has become fainter, while 

 the light as a whole has remained essentially constant. 



"Astronomical Journal" Prizes. — " A gentleman 

 earnestly interested in the development and progress of astro- 

 nomy in his native land has authorized the editor of the 

 Astronoiitical yotirnal to offer two prizes, for resident citizens of 

 the United States " {Ast. Jotn-. No. 284). The prizes will either 

 take the form of money or of gold medals, one being of the value 

 of two hundred dollars and the other of four hundred dollars. In 

 the first instance the prizes will be awarded for observations 

 tending to advance our knowledge of cometary orbits, one being 

 for the best series of measurements of the positions of comets 

 during the year ending March 31, 1894, and the other for the 

 best discussion of the pgth of a periodic comet, with due regard 

 to its perturbations. With regard to the first, astronomers who 

 hope to gain the prize must frequently be at work until sunrise, 

 as special value will be attached to observations made at 

 inconvenient hours. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



The name Ibea, contracted from the initials of the Imperial 

 British East African Company to designate their territory on 

 the east coast of Africa, has acquired a certain amount of 

 currency, and although open to philological criticism is prac- 

 tically convenient. On the same principle the great Dutch 

 possessions in the East Indies have been termed Noi {Ncder- 

 landsch Ost Indie), and Mr. Ravenstein has suggested a similar 

 abbreviation for the German East African territory {Deuisck 

 Ost Afrika), only he would combine the initials with a Swahili 

 affix or suffix signifying " land," and make it either Udoa, or 

 Doani. The cumbrousness of using many words to specify 

 a well-defined region seems to justify a somewhat bolder coinage 

 of new names in geography than has hitherto been customary. 



The Mouvement Geographique publishes a sketch map of the 

 Stanley Falls district of the Congo, compiled from the compass- 

 bearings of M. Page, one of the members of the disastrous 

 Hodister expedition. Besides Stanley, Lieutenant Gleerup 

 and Dr. Oscar Lenz are the only other authorities on this 

 stretch of the river. Special information is given regarding the 

 three groups of rapids which occur between Stanley Falls 



NO. 12 12, VOL. 47] 



station and Kibonge. The cataract of Mandombe above Stanley 

 Falls is composed of a succession of falls from six to ten feet 

 high and numerous rapids, but local canoe-men are able to 

 take boats through in four or five hours. Three hours of free 

 navigation leads to the rapids of Mamanga, where the river is 

 barred from bank to bank by a ridge of rock about twelve feet 

 high, and followed by rapids and other smaller falls necessi- 

 tating a portage. Three and a half hours of free navigation 

 lead to Basundu, the last cataract, which canoes are able to 

 pass in about three hours after being lightened. 



The Antarctic whaling fleet, the dispatch of which was noticed 

 in vol. xlvi. p. 477, has been reported from the Falkland Islands. 

 The fialaena, which has the most complete scientific equipment, 

 arrived at Port Stanley at the end of November, the Active on 

 Decembers, the Z^jawrt on December ii. The fourth ve.«sel, 

 the Polar Star, was spoken off the Plate on November 16. The 

 telegram from Monte Video reports all well, and a preliminary 

 notice of the scientific observations will probably follow by 

 mail. 



In a communication to the Paris Geographical Society, M. 

 Venukoff calls attention to the fact that although the extensive 

 Government drainage works have almost obliterated the Pinsk 

 marshes from the valley of the Pripet, the most recent non- 

 Russian aliases continue to represent these marshes as they were 

 thirty years ago. Now their site is largely forest and meadow- 

 land. 



TRAVELS IN BORNEO. 



W 



R. CHARLES HOSE'S paper on "A Journey up the 

 Baram River to Mount Dulit and the Highlands of 

 Borneo," read to the Royal Geographical Society on Monday 

 evening, was a pleasant variety in the succession of African 

 papers which has foimed the staple of the Society's programme 

 lor the session. 



The Baram River runs on the whole northward through 

 eastern Sarawak, reaching the sea in 4'' 37' 15" N. and 

 1 15" 59' 30" E. Its mouth is complicated by a series of sandbanks 

 shifting with the change of the monsoons. The river is in parts 

 very deep, and is navigated by a fleet of Government steamers. 

 The bordering land is low and swampy or covered with jungle 

 until Claudetown, about sixty miles from the mouth, is reached. 

 There the ground rises, and a prosperous trading town has been 

 established by Chinese merchants. At Long Mari, about fifty 

 miles further up, there are great rapids which can only be passed 

 with difficulty, and gorges of considerable depth occur at inter- 

 vals further up the stream. The journey to Mount Dulit was 

 made up the Linjar, a large tributary of the Baram. The 

 people on the banks of this river have a peculiar custom of keep- 

 ing dead bodies in their houses encased in ornamental coffins 

 for three months before burial ; and Mr. Hose gave some highly 

 interesting particulars regarding their burial customs, their com- 

 plicated subdivisions of the world of the dead, and their habit 

 of interchanging messages with departed friends. At the head 

 of canoe navigation the Sibop tribe hunt various species of 

 monkeys with the blowpipe, the valuable commodity being the 

 intestinal calculi known as Bezoar stones, which are greatly in 

 demand by Chinese apothecaries. 



The ascent of Mount Dulit was commenced on September 

 21, when a hut was built at the height of 2000 feet, and a path 

 cut through the thorny scrub to 4000 leet, near which another 

 hut was built. Several days were spent here collecting natural 

 history specimens, many of which were species new to science ; 

 amongst the smaller quadrupeds Hemigale hosei, and amongst 

 birds Calyptomena hosei and Mcsobtuca eximius may be men- 

 tioned. A cave some distance higher was found with wild 

 tobacco growing at its mouth and several remarkable ferns, one 

 with fronds 14 feet long ; but except for bats and a solitary 

 snake, the cave was untenanted. The fauna of Mount Dulit 

 closely resembled that of Kina Balu, showing the widespread 

 distribution in the highlands of Borneo of Himalayan forms. 

 The flat moss-clad summit of Mount Dulit was found to be, by 

 aneroid, 5090 feet ; and there was a magnificent view of distant 

 ranges, the position of a number of peaks in which was fixed. 

 Some natives reported having heard a tiger roaring in the neigh- 

 bourhood, but Mr. Hose found the sound to proceed from a 

 gigantic toad, measuring 14^ inches round the body. At the 

 close of the paper Dr. Bowdler Sharpe F R.S.. pointed out the 

 great importance of Mr. Hose's result? ir their bearing on 

 geographical distribution. 



