April 28, 1892] 



NA TURE 



615 



It is well known that serious loss is caused in the various 

 Australian colonies by the ravages of the rust fungus in wheat. 

 An Intercolonial Conference met to consider the subject in 1890, 

 and this body has since held two other meetings, the third 

 having taken place at Melbourne last month. Many experi- 

 ments have been made, and it has been clearly shown that there 

 are several varieties of wheat which, except under very unusual 

 circumstances, are never seriously attacked by rust. It has also 

 been shown that in many districts early sown wheats of a rust- 

 liable kind generally escape damage by rust, when the same 

 wheats sown late suffer seriously. In view of these facts the 

 Conference has directed attention mainly to encouraging the 

 growth of varieties less liable to be attacked by rust, and also to 

 early sowing. At the March meeting it was recommended that 

 a practical system for the production and distribution of rust- 

 resisting wheats suitable to different districts should be im- 

 mediately established, and that this system should, subject to 

 modifications needed by each colony, be conducted on the 

 following lines : — A central station for each colony for the pre- 

 liminary testing of new wheats introduced into the colony ; for 

 the production of new varieties by cross-fertilization and by 

 selection ; and for the distribution of suitable wheats thus ob- 

 tained to representative districts of the colony, to be there sub- 

 jected to a sufficient test, and, if necessary, fixed in their 

 characters by farmers and others competent for the work ; and 

 that such wheats as pass satisfactorily this test should then be 

 distributed to the farmers around in such a manner and by such 

 agency as would be most suitable to the conditions of each 

 colony. A committee was appointed to take steps for the proper 

 naming of the different varieties of wheat. 



The U.S. Department of Agriculture has received information 

 to the effect that Vedalia cardinalis has been successfully 

 colonized at the Cape of Good Hope. Last autumn Mr. 

 Thomas A. J. Louw, a special commissioner from the Legis- 

 lative Assembly of the Cape, went'to Washington charged with 

 the task of collecting and taking back from America a supply 

 of the useful little lady-bird mentioned. He was furnished with 

 letters to the California agents of the Department, and took 

 away from that State two parcels of Vedalia, one lot being 

 shipped on ice and the other kept open and fed en route. Both 

 were alive when he arrived at the Cape, and he writes that the 

 experiment has been so successful that various parts of the 

 ■colony have been supplied with the insect, which, no doubt, 

 will be as useful in clearing off the Cottony Cushion Scale there 

 as it has been in California and the Hawaiian Islands. Mr. 

 Louw's letter, dated Malmesbury, Cape of Good Hope, March 5, 

 1892, to the Hon. Edwin Willits, Assistant Secretary of Agri- 

 culture, says: "While thanking you again for the kindness 

 displayed towards me, may I request you also to convey to Prof. 

 C. V. Riley my extreme obligations for the service rendered by 

 him to me, and which I assure him will ever be appreciated 

 by me. " 



Dk, Hyades, as we noted last week, was impressed, while 

 in Tierra del Fuego, with the resemblance between the Yahgan 

 and the Botocudos of Brazil. Of the latter people an interesting 

 account appeared lately in the Washington Evening Star, and is 

 reproduced in the April number of Goldthwaite' s Geographical 

 Magazine. The colour of the Botocudos is described as of a 

 light yellowish-brown. When brought into contact with Euro- 

 peans they manifest not the slightest embarrassment on account of 

 their lack of clothing. From certain seeds and fruits they 

 obtain brilliant dyes, with which they adorn their bodies ; and 

 a common custom is to paint the face above the mouth a bright 

 red, the upper half of the body being stained black, and a red 

 stripe encircling the waist. A warrior thus decorated, with 

 lip and ear ornaments, is said to present "a most demoniacal 

 NO. I I 74, VOL. 45] 



expression." The colours employed are mixed in the upper 

 shell of a turtle, and carried in joints of the bamboo. The arms 

 of the Botocudos consist of the bow and arrow. For calling 

 one another in the forest they have speaking trumpets made of 

 the skin of the tail of the -great armadillo. While travelling 

 through the woods, they build for themselves temporary shelters 

 of palm-leaves, sticking the stems into the ground in a half- 

 circle, so that the tips of the fronds arch together and form a sort 

 of roof. When encamping for a considerable time in one 

 place, they construct houses often big enough to hold several 

 families. The fire is placed in the middle of the dwelling, and 

 the beds are made of bark fibre. Gourds are used for drinking 

 purposes and in the preparation of food. The Botocudos have 

 been harshly dealt with by the Portuguese, and are rapidly dying 

 out. 



Captain Bower, of the Indian Staff Corps, has arrived at 

 Simla from China, after a very remarkable journey across the 

 Tibet tableland. He had with him Dr. Thorold, a sub-surveyor, 

 one Pathan orderly, a Hindustani cook, six caravan drivers, 

 and forty-seven ponies and mules. The Calcutta correspondent 

 of the Times, who gives an account of the journey, says that 

 Captain Bower, leaving Leh on June 14, crossed the Lanakma 

 Pass on July 3, avoiding the Tibetan outpost placed further 

 south. Journeying due east, he passed a chain of salt lakes, 

 one of which, called Hor-Ba-Too, is probably the highest lake 

 in the world, being 17,930 feet above the sea. Gradually 

 working to the south-east, the explorer saw to the north a 

 magnificent snowy range, with a lofty peak in longitude 83° and 

 latitude 35°. After many weeks' travel over uplands exceeding 

 15,000 feet in height, where water was scarce and no inhabit- 

 ants were to be seen, the party on September 3 reached Gya- 

 Kin-Linchin, on the northern shore of Tengri Nor Lake, in 

 longitude 91° and latitude 31°. This is within a few marches 

 of Lhassa, and two officials from the Devi Jong, or temporal 

 governor of Lhassa, met him here and peremptorily ordered 

 him to go back. But he refused to return, and a compromise 

 was effected, guides and ponies being provided on his agreeing 

 to make a detour to the north in order to reach the frontier of 

 Western China. He reached Chiamdo on December 31, only 

 just succeeding in getting off the tableland before winter set in. 

 He struck Bonvalot's route for a few miles when marching to 

 Chiamdo. The country about this town is very fertile and well 

 wooded. Three thousand of the monks of Chiamdo, who 

 lived in fine monasteries, threatened to attack the party, but 

 were deterred on learning that they carried breechloaders. 

 Captain Bower arrived at Tarchindo, an outpost on the Chinese 

 frontier, on February 10. The distance covered from Lanakma 

 to Tarchindo was over 2000 miles, all of which, save a few miles, 

 has now been explored for the first time. The route for thirteen 

 consecutive days lay over a tableland 17,000 feet high. Captain 

 Bower is engaged in writing a report and completing his maps. 



Splendid specimens of mica are to be sent to the Chicago 

 Exhibition from Idaho, where the supply is said to be practically 

 inexhaustible. Mica is to be used in the Idaho building as a 

 substitute for glass in the windows. The Photographic Ne-cvs 

 suggests that, if the reports as to the quality of the material prove 

 to be accurate, it may become a rival to glass in photographic 

 plate-making. 



At the meeting of the Paris Geographical Society on April i, 

 Lieutenant Vedel read an interesting paper on the Polynesians, 

 whom he has had constant opportunities of studying during the 

 last seven years. Referring to the Maoris, he said it was 

 impossible not to be struck with the extraordinary resemblance 

 which exists between their myths and those of the ancient 

 Greeks. 



