December, 1903.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



281 



The extinct three-toed horses of North America have 

 hitlierto lieeii regarJed as geuerically insej)arable from the 

 Euroisean Hi/jparion, and it was suggested l)v the late 

 Prof. Cope that the modern horses have had a dual origin 

 — from the hi|)parions of the Old World on the one side, 

 and from their American representatives on the other. 

 Recently Mr. J. W. Gi^Uev, in the Bidhdln of the American 

 Museum, has come to the eouclusion that the New World 

 hipparions are generically distinct, and he proposes that 

 they should be known as Neohipparinn. They differ from 

 the Old World forms by certain details of tooth structure, 

 as well as by their more slender limbs, in which it seems 

 that the lateral toes are relatively smaller. Finally, they 

 are of Miocene, instead of Pliocene, age. 



Geographical. — Northern Nigeria. — On November 4tli 

 Sir Frederick D. Lugard read a paper on Northern Nigeria 

 before the Royal Geogiaphical Society. After briefly 

 dealing with the history of the country, the High Com- 

 missioner gave some interesting details regarding the 

 native races. The Mohammedan Fulanis were, generally 

 speaking, the ruling race. Originally herdsmen, they had 

 become invaders and conquerors by the necessity of finding 

 fresh grazing-grouuds. It was curious that, while one 

 section of them supplied the ruling dynasty, the other 

 remained herdsmen, and occupied often an even more 

 servile position than the conquered Bantu races. Although 

 the Fulani had degenerated, and had become detested for 

 their mis-rule. Sir Frederick Lugard believed that the 

 future of the virile races of the protectorate lay largely in 

 their regeneration. The indigenous people were of many 

 different tribes. Of these the Hausas were the most con- 

 siderable. Their language was the lirujua franca of 

 Northern Nigeria, especially of trade, and their keen 

 commercial instincts had earned for them the name of 

 " the business-men of West Africa." They made admir- 

 able soldiers, and were brave and reliable, but probably 

 inferior in mental ability and alertness to either the Nupes 

 or Yorubas. The latter were hartUy less Leen traders 

 than the Hausas — at least equally industrious, and much 

 quicker to learn — though hardly equal to them in stolid 

 pluck. The Nujjes were the finest of the three in physique, 

 and were very intelligent ; but they had not the pluck of 

 the others, and their ability was apt to degenerate into 

 cunning, treachery and falsehood. These tribes had, to 

 some extent, embraced the faith of Islam, especially the 

 Hausas. There were other groat tribes who were pagans. 

 In a short account of thr plivsifal geography of the 

 province. Sir Frederick Lugard spnk.' of the annual rise of 

 the Niger, upon which its navigability depended. The 

 annual rise caused by the rains occurs in August and 

 September ; but since the river rises in the zone of heavy 

 rainfall, and the lakes around Timl)uktu ionn a vast storage, 

 the surjilus water, traversing "2001 > miles of country before 

 it again reaches lat. 10^, causes a second flood towards 

 January, and thus tends to keep the whole river at a higher 

 level for the greater part of the year. 



"Four Years' Arctic Exploration, 1898-1902," was 

 the title of Commander R. E. Peary's lecture to the Royal 

 Geographical Society, on November 10th. 



During 1899, material was obtained for the accurate 

 uiappiug of Buchanan Bay, the Bache Peninsula, and the 

 I'riiiciss Marie Bay region in Ellesmere Land. 



Ill 1900, an important year's work was acconi])lished by a 

 long sledge journey along the north-west coast of Greenland. 

 Arrived after much hard work at Cape Washington, Com- 

 mander Peary found, to his delight, that this was not the 

 most northern point of Greenland, as hitherto supposed. 

 Still further to the north-eastwards he eventually rounded 



it, and had the satisfaction of being the first to tread this 

 most northerly known point of land in the world. The 

 non-existence of land far to the north and north-east led 

 him to conclude that an uninterrupted sea stretched from 

 this point across the Pole even to Spitzbergen and Franz 

 Josef Land on the opposite side. An observation of 

 extreme interest was that at this most northerh' point of 

 land, surrounded as it was by everlasting ice. so large an 

 animal as the musk-ox was found, besides hares, foxes and 

 lemmings, and such land birds as the snowy owl, the 

 jjtarmigan, and the snow bunting. 



In 1901, Commander Peary again left Conger on 

 another expedition, but on reaching Lincoln Bay the 

 condition of men and dogs was such that he was forced to 

 return. 



In 1902, starting from Payer Harbour and proceeding 

 up the east coast of Ellesmere Land, Commander Peary 

 made a rush for the Pole, but succeeded only in reaching 

 north latitude 84° 17' 27". In his various lengthy sledge 

 journeys Commander Peary has l^een very greatly assisted 

 by a number of Esquimaux, while his sledges have been 

 drawn by teams of dogs, we presume of the Esquimaux and 

 not of the Samoyed breed used by Dr. Nansen, the Duke 

 of Abruzzi and others. In his lecture Commander Peary 

 spoke very feelingly abnut these Esquimaux and the dogs, 

 but we think it a great pity that be should have dwelt so 

 much upon the hardships and diificulties encountered, 

 while by his repeated appeals to the sentiments of his 

 audience his lecture, taken as a scientific discourse, was, 

 in our opinion, much deteriorated. 



Next year (1904) Commander Peary hopes to start again 

 for the west coast of Greenland. This time he will 

 endeavour to get his boat so far north that he will be able 

 to winter on the northern shore of Grant Land. Should 

 he be able to do this he would be in a position, with the 

 help of his Esquimaux and his dogs, to reach the P'>le by 

 a sledge journey of considerably shorter length than the 

 average length of his several former journeys, which had 

 as their base a much more southerly point. 



^ 



B^ifisif- 



ORNlTHOLOGirA!- 



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Conducted hi/ 11\ku\ i'. \V;i.i......i . ; ..;.s., M.n.o.u. 



Aquatic Warbler in Ireland (Irish Naturalist, 1903, November, 

 p. 300).— Mr. R. M. Barrinston records that an immature male 

 specimen of the Aquatic Warbler (Acrocephalus aquaticus) has been 

 sent to him from the Bull Rock Lighthouse, Co. Cork, which it struck 

 on September 20Hi List. The Aquatic Warbler, which is common in 

 Central and .Southern Europe, has not been recognised before as 

 occurring; in Irclanil. Onlv some eight specimens have been reconled 

 for England, probablv owing to this bird's similarity to the Sedge 

 Warbler. 



Orp/ieitt Warbler in Sussex. — At a meeting of the British Ornitho- 

 logists' Club, held on October 21st last, Mr. W. Ruskin Butterfield 

 exhibited a female specimen of this Warbler, which had been shot 

 near St. Lconards-ouSea on October Tth. The Orphean Warbler is 

 a common siimmer resident in many parts of Soutlicrn Europe, and 



