226 
NATURE 
[JANUARY 7, 1904 
ment is that the lakes which were so formed appear 
now, after many centuries, to be in the process of 
transferring themselves once again to their old place, 
the place which was assigned to them in early Chinese 
maps. 
It is characteristic of the thoroughness of the work 
of this great traveller that he actually levelled the land 
surface between the ancient Lop Nor depression and 
the Kara Koshun (the present lake bed), and has proved 
beyond dispute the theory of a migratory, or moving, 
lake. That Lou Lan was Buddhist is sufficiently 
attested, not only by the nature of the relics discovered 
on its site, but by the peculiar construction of those 
solid brick erections which Sven Hedin calls towers, 
but of which the photographs quite clearly indicate the 
nature. They are Buddhist topes or stupas. Thus 
we have another link in the long chain of Buddhist | 
centres (temples and holy places) stretching from 
Western China through the deserts, past the group of 
towns unearthed by Stein, broken for a space by the 
intervening Himalayas, and then recommencing in the 
valleys of Gilgit, Darel and Swat, until it ended in the 
valley of Peshawar. 
The last part of Sven Hedin’s story is devoted to 
records of which even Sven Hedin may be proud. To 
the world at large he is already known as a great 
geographer and an intrepid explorer. Hereafter he 
will be recognised as a most fascinating writer even 
by those who care little for geography. 
ae alee lel. 
WATER SUPPLY AND IRRIGATION IN THE 
UNITED STATES. 
OR the last fourteen years very great attention has 
been paid by the Geological Department of the 
Government of the United States to the water re- 
sources of the country, and in acquiring trustworthy 
information as to the same. 
There has recently been issued from the Government 
Press at Washington fifteen volumes of reports, and 
water supply and irrigation papers, bearing on the 
yield of the rivers, the various methods adopted for 
gauging the flow and obtaining sectional measure- 
ments, artesian wells and the flow and yield of 
underground water, the means adopted for storage, 
the use of water for the supply of towns for irrigation 
and for power purposes, and the pollution 
of rivers from sewage and other causes.* 
The greater part of these reports is taken 
up with records of the observations of the 
staff engaged in measuring the rivers in 
the different States and obtaining informa- 
tion as to water supply, which, although 
mainly of use to engineers in the United 
States, might also be interesting and in- 
structive to those engaged in the water 
supply of this country. 
The report No. 76 by Mr. Pressey on the 
flow of rivers in the vicinity of New York 
State is of special interest, as it deals ina 
comprehensive manner with the methods 
adopted for obtaining trustworthy informa- 
tion as to the yield of rivers, and gives 
details as to the methods adopted for ob- 
taining the measurements necessary for the 
purpose. 
The author of this report considers that 
one of the chief resources of the United 
Fic. 2.—Ruined house with its doorway standing 77 s/¢x. (From ‘‘ Central Asia and 
Tibet.) 
his gallant but unsuccessful attempt to reach Lhasa. 
Beyond doubt he was betrayed by the Mongol pilgrims 
whom he encountered early in his journey. The 
Lhasa authorities were fully informed, and the attempt | 
was foredoomed to failure. None the less was it a 
most instructive journey. It hardly needed the 
evidence of the distinguished traveller to prove that 
Tibetans possess civilised and humane instincts. They 
do not necessarily ill-use a casual visitor to their 
country who can make himself intelligible and agree- 
able, but they will not admit the European within the 
gates of their holy city—if they can help it. We 
now have more material with which to construct the 
maps of that dreary, storm-swept, inhospitable waste 
which lies between the Altyn Tagh and the oasis of 
the Sanpo (Brahmaputra). The identification of the 
ancient bed of the Lop Nor and the site of Lou Lan; 
the elimination from our maps of the Gobi Mountains 
and the eastern extension of the Kurruk Range; the | 
detailed survey of the Tarim River and the determin- | 
ation of the levels of the desert surface south of Lop 
Nor, together with the results of a vast area of geo- 
graphical research on the north coast of Tibet, are 
NO. 1784, VOL. 69] 
States consists in its water. The pro- 
minent industrial position of several States 
is due largely to the abundance of avail- 
able water, and the rivers with their great 
water power have been in the past, and 
will continue to be in the future, a perpetual source of 
wealth. Contrary to what might have been expected, 
Mr. Pressey is of opinion that there never was a period 
in the history of the United States when the develop- 
ment of water power has made such strides as recently, 
the increase in the utilisation of water power for the 
period 1890-1900 being 30 per cent., or 472,361 horse 
power. In the State of Maine the developed power 
increased 60 per cent. 
The rivers as water suppliers are also of inestim- 
able value in the arid regions of the coastal States, 
where without an artificial supply of water there can- 
not be any vegetation, and where large areas have 
been reclaimed and made into agricultural land of 
great fertility by storing and distributing the water 
over their soils. This subject was shortly dealt with 
in the notice in Nature of April 30, 1903, on the irriga- 
tion in the Western States of America, and of the 
report of the Mexico College of Agriculture in NATURE 
of August 27, 1903. 
The Geological Department has for the last fourteen 
1 Copies of these reports may be obtained through Messrs. King and Son, 
Great Smith Street, Westminster. 
SSS ee a i — ie 
