404 



NA TURE 



\August 23, 1883 



The northernmost of the international meteorological stations 

 round the Pole is that of the United States, in command of 

 Lieut. Greely. It is situated in 8 if N. lat., close to where 

 Nares wintered, on the coast of Smith's Sound in Lady Franklin 

 Bay. Since 1S81, when the expedition took up its quarters, no 

 news of any kind has arrived, as the vessel despatched in order 

 to communicate with the same last summer could not get up for 

 ice. This summer a strong attempt to relieve the party will be 

 made, for which purpose the steamer Proteus has just left 

 Franklin Bay accompanied by the U.S. war vessel Y antic. 

 Should, however, the condition of the ice also thi< summer be 

 unfavourable, the relief expedition will be put ashore at a cer- 

 tain point on the east cia-t of Smith's Sound, and the Proteus 

 will return. By the aid of Eskimo the expedition will atte.npt 

 during the winter to relieve Lieut. Greely and his comrades, who 

 have instructions to depart from their station if not relieved in 

 the autu nn. Depots with 1200 rations at each will be esta- 

 blished along the route, and as Greely is provisioned up to the 

 summer of 18S4, there is no fear of his safety. During next 

 summer a vessel will be despatched from the United States to 

 bring home both expeditions, which will by then, no doubt, be 

 found safe in some spot on the east coast of Smith's Sound. 



Heft viii. of Petcrmann's gcographische Mittheilungen con- 

 tains a long and interesting report by Dr. W. Junker, date! 

 May 1881, from the country of the A-Madi, in the region of 

 the Upper Nile. In consequence of insuperable difficulties 

 connected with the transport of his luggage, Dr. Junker was 

 unable to reach Bakangai, the destination he had proposed for 

 himself, and had to return n »rth wards after crossing to the south 

 bank of the Welle-Makm, in the country of the A-Barauibos, to 

 the south of the district of Bahr-el-Ghasal. The greatest diffi- 

 culties travellers have to contend with is the carriage of their 

 luggage, the natives to the south of that country, including the 

 subjects of Ndoruma, the people of the largest part of the 

 Niamniam region, and all further south being almost quite un- 

 available for that service. Expediii ins sent south from Bahr-el- 

 Ghasal in quest of ivory have, therefore, to take their own 

 porters with them. The travellers Schweinfurth and Miani have 

 generally been under the necessity of attaching themselves to 

 such expediti ins, as has also Dr. Junker in all his more extensive 

 travels, though the disadvantages and in particular the delays 

 connected with this mode of travelling are very great. F'rom 

 Palembata, where during ten days he had to live exclusively 

 on sweet batates, Dr. Junker, crossing the watershed which 

 divides the tributaries of the Werre in the north, from those of 

 ths Welle- Makua in the south, came, afier two days' march, into 

 the land of the A-Madi, a mountainous district, watered by a 

 number of streams diffusing a constant moisture over the gentle 

 declivities of their banks, and nourishing vigorous growths of 

 bmanas and oil-palms. Dr. Junker stayed with the Prince 

 Mv hide for several days, during which he made an excursion 

 to a group of mountains immediately to the south-south east, 

 ascending the highest peak, Mount Malingde, whence he had a 

 view of three almost equidistant but topographically very diverse 

 points of tne Welle in its sweep from the west to the direct north. 

 The A-Madi are described as a race largely resembling the 

 neighbouring tribes in manners and cu toms, hut whose speech 

 shows not the least affinity to any one of the many languages of 

 the wide surrounding region known to Dr. Junker. In structure 

 they resemble the muscular and shorter figure of the A-Sandeh. 

 They are brachyoephalous, of medium stature, far below that of 

 the tall Dinka, Nuehr, or even the Bongo. The A-Madi tattoo 

 their breasts according to the most diverse patterns, though the face 

 is generally left intact, with the exception of nose and ears. In 

 the working of iron they are far behind the Mangbattu. The 

 fruit of the banana is used at all its different stages as the prin- 

 cipal and sometimes the exclusive food of the people. Letters 

 of Dr. Junker to Dr. Emin Bey, extending in date from Jangasi, 

 in the former Munsa's district, now Niangara's, July 17, 1S82, to 

 a provisional station in the land of Semio, November 8, 1882, 

 give us the latest details regarding his stay in Mangbattu, and 

 his plans for the future. 



Baron Muller, during his travels in the winter of 

 18S1-82 through Eastern Soudan, was shown some new 

 maps executed by the Egyptian staff, under the direction of 

 Rescind Pasha, and gives an account of them in the present 

 number of the Mittheilungcn. Rescind Pasha was induced to 

 undertake this work in consequence of the want of maps, avail- 

 able for military purposes, of the country on the borders of 



Egypt and Abyssinia. The survey of the triangular district de- 

 fined by the three points, Massowah, Cassala, and Gallabat, 

 was, according to Herr Muller's information, entered upo 

 simultaneously by various surveying parties in 1875. No scien- 

 tifically accurate set of maps, to be achieved with all the aid of 

 theodolites, astronomical determination of places, and hypso- 

 barometrical measurements, was aimed at, but only such a gene- 

 ral plan as would satisfy military requirements. All the maps 

 executed in this way, on the scale generally of 1 : 1,000,000, 

 did not reach Herr Muller's hands, but only those representing 

 (1) Annesley Bay, (2) Gebel Gadam, (3) the caravan road from 

 Massowah via M'KulIu and Ain, (4) the descent of the land at 

 Samharr from Debra-Bizen as far as Ain, including Sabba Guma, 

 Ailet, the Motad Valley, As-us, and Gumhot, (5) Mensa, ex- 

 tending as far as the Northern Hamsen, Dembesan, and Kar- 

 meschiin. The map of this country is altogether excellent. 

 Particularly well given is the Bogos country, including the Rora 

 Az-Geret with Zad-Aanba, Atirba, and the Boggu Valley, as 

 also Halhal and the dis.rict of the Red Marea. These maps, 

 due to the admirable energy of Reschid Pasha, though at pre- 

 sent studiously concealed from Europeans, and Englishmen 

 especially, must, in Herr Muller's opinion, before long enable 

 people generally to obtain a distinct idea of that most interesting 

 group of plateaus to the north of Abyssinia — Among other 

 papers in the same number, Dr. H. Polakowsky gives, as a 

 contribution to the geography and ethnography of Central 

 America, a report of an expedition undertaken by the Bishop of 

 Costa Rica (B. A. Thiel, a German by birth), in company with 

 Lieut. L. Fernandez and D. Jose Ma. Figueroa, to the wild 

 Indian tribes, the Chirippo Indians, of that Republic. — In a letter 

 to Dr. Emin Bey, Lupton Bey, the Governor of Bahr-el-Ghasal, 

 reports an imp jitant discovery made by him in the last months 

 of 1882 in the course of travels in the district of the Kredj 

 tribes — the discovery, namely, of a large river of the name of 

 Parpi. Rising in the mountains to the south-west of Hofra-el- 

 Nahass, it runs south through very fertile lands and receives 

 many tributaries, among others the Wille (marked on Schwein- 

 fu.th's map to the west of Dem Bekir). — The Mittheilungcn 

 further report a botanical collection made by G. Kuhner of the 

 Berlin Museum, at Bengasi, a collection which, added to that of 

 Schweinfurth, will materially increase our knowledge of the 

 vegetation of Barka. 



It is announced that Dr. Emil Riebeck, who is well known 

 in the geographical world for his succe-sful travels and magnifi- 

 cent collections, is at present engaged in making the arrange- 

 ments for an undertaking which promises to be of the greatest 

 importance in the history of the exploration of Africa. The 

 expedition is to be carried into execution by Herr Gottlob Adolf 

 Krause, who is at present in Milan, and the immediate object is 

 described as the investigation of ihe languages and social state 

 of the inhabitants of the region about the Niger, Benue, and 

 Lake Tsad. Herr Krause intends to follow the Niger from its 

 mouth upwards for a distance of about 300 miles, and then 

 probably to take up his position in s wie suitable spot, whence 

 he can make a general survey of the surrounding country, decide 

 on his further course of action, and await a favourable oppor- 

 tunity for an advance into the interior. He intends to make his 

 first stop either at Ripo Hill, by Egga, an English mission sta- 

 tion, or to choose Shonga, near Rabba. 



According to intelligence received at Copenhagen, August 

 18, from St. Petersburg, the Imperial Ru-sian Geographical 

 Society has informed the Danish Minister to Russia that a report 

 is current among the Samoyede inhab'tants of the Island of 

 Waigatz that a foreign vessel has wintered on the eastern coast 

 of that island. It was, however, at the same time pointed out 

 that there was nothing to show that the ship in question was the 

 missing Danish vessel Dijmfhna, which started last year on a 

 voyage of discovery to the North Pole. 



The Veg-i, the famous exploring vessel, returned at the end 

 of last month to Norway from seal-hunting in the Arctic seas 

 with 8750 seals on board. 



M. Leon Poirier has left to the Geographical Society of 

 Paris one-third of his fortune, the interest on which is to be 

 devoted once every three years to granting an annuity to the 

 Frenchman who shall have most distinguished himself by his 

 travels in the interests of science and commerce. 



