Nov. 6, 1884] 



NA TURE 



19 



tral range of the eastern peninsula of New Guinea. Mr- 

 Forbes has been allowed 400/. by the British Association and 

 250/. by the Royal Geographical .Society towards the expense of 

 the expedition. The party will start early in December, though 

 it is not expected to get into active working before May next, in 

 consequence of the necessity for procuring trusty carriers from 

 the Moluccas. Mr. Forbes will break his journey at Batavia, 

 in order to proceed to Amboyna, where he hopes to find his 

 men. He will then return to Batavia, and sail for Thursday 

 Island, proceeding thence to Port Moresby. He proposes to 

 ascend the course of one of the rivers which flow from the moun- 

 tains to Redscar Bay. Should the natives prove friendly and 

 the food-supplies sufficient, Mr Forbes does not despair of 

 reaching the other coast of the peninsula ; but in any case the 

 exploration of the Mount Owen Stanley Range would be of itself 

 a satisfactory achievement. The mountain travelling is declared 

 to be dangerous to any but very experienced travellers. 



News has reached St. Petersburg from Col. Prjevalsky, the 

 indefatigable explorer in Thibet, whose expedition appears to 

 be distinguishing itselfin feats of arms as well as discoveries of 

 science. A telegram via Kiatcha, dated August 20, says : — 

 "The difficult task of the expedition has been successfully 

 accomplished. During the three summer months we traversed 

 loco versts of Xorth-Eastern Thibet. We first descended from 

 Zaidam, 400 versts south, over the sources of the Yellow River 

 to the Blue River, which it was found impossible to cross, and 

 then we explored the large lakes in the upper course of the 

 Yellow River. One lake w.is named 'Russian,' another 

 'Expedition' Lake. Their height was 13,500 feet, the sur- 

 rounding country being a mountain plateau 1000 feet higher. 

 Along the Blue River lies a mountainous, but woodless and 

 Alpine country. The climate of the localities passed through 

 was terrible. The whole of the summer wa; cold, with rain 

 and snow ; at the end of May there was sharp frost, in July we 

 had snowstorms like those of winter, while the amount of 

 alluvium deposited by south-western monsoons from the Indian 

 Ocean is so great that in summer Northern Thibet is converted 

 into an almost continuous marsh. Wild animals and fish are 

 abundant, the birds and flora poor, but original. The Tanguts 

 live on the Blue River, and near the lakes of the Yellow River. 

 Here we were twice attacked by about 300 mounted marauders, 

 and the heroic conduct of my companions, armed with Berdan 

 rifles, saved the expedition. We soon repulsed the first attack 

 on July 25, and subsequently destroyed the Tangut camp A 

 week later a fresh party from another Tangut tribe attacked us. 

 For two hours on the banks of the Yellow River we repelled the 

 mounted brigands with repeated volleys from our rifles ; and 

 when we took the offensive the Tanguts retreated behind the 

 knolls, and in turn began volley-firing. We were most fortunate, 

 all coming off safe and sound, only two of our horses being 

 wounded, while forty of the brigands were killed and wounded 

 in the two encounters. We now go to Western Zaidam. We 

 shall establish adepot at Hast, and during the winter explore 

 the surrounding localities.'' 



Dr. GERHARD ROHLFS leaves for the West Coast of Africa by 

 one of the German war-ships under Admiral Knorr, and has been 

 intrust ei with a special mission by the German Government. 



Capt. Bi CKER and some other Belgian officers are about to 

 proceed to Zanzibar, thence to start fir Lake Tanganyika. They 

 intend to cross this lake, and to found a station on is western 

 shore. Thus the line of stations across Africa, which the Inter- 

 national African Society has planned, will be completed. On 

 the eastern side of Lake Tanganyika, between this and the sea- 

 coast, there are four stations : Kondoa, in Usagara ; Tabora, in 

 Unyanyembe ; Kakoma, in Uganda ; and Karema, on the shore 

 of the lake. On the western side there are over fifty stations 

 between the lake and the Atlantic. 



The subject of trade-routes into South- Western China is now 

 engaging attention in France, and has caused much discussion 

 in tile I >s. The various method- of reaching Sze- 



chuan and Yunnan which have from time to time been suggested 

 by explorers are dismissed in their turn as impracticable. From 

 the side of India we have the Brahmaputra, which is navigable 

 almost to the Chinese frontier, and the Irrawaddy via Bahmo. 

 These are described as useless on account of the obstacles offered 

 by lofty and almost impassable ranges of mountains ; the Meinam 

 from Bankok would only land us in the Shan States ; the Meikong, 

 through Cambodia, was tried by 1 agree, but was found quite 

 unfit for navigation on account of its numerous rapids and 



cataracts. In China we have the Sikiang — which offers an 

 almost straight line from Canton into Southern China, and 

 was followed by Mr. Colquhoun in his recent attempt to 

 cross through the Shan States into British Burmah — and the 

 Yang-tsze-kiang, but both of these routes, according to French 

 writers, are closed to trade by Chinese hostility Thus every 

 possible route has been tried and found wanting, with one 

 exception, viz. that by the Songkoi or Red River of Tonquin. 

 By means of this new possession of France the trade of the two 

 greal provinces of South- Western China, say the French writers, 

 can be tapped, and in no other way. Their wealth, it is said, 

 will be poured down the valley of the Red River into the hands 

 of the French traders at Hanoi and Haiphong. With regard to 

 routes mentioned only to be dismissed as impossible, nothing 

 need be said here. Their merits and defects may be found 

 described in a score of English works by explorers on the spot ; 

 but so far a, the Red River is concerned, no proposition either 

 way can be laid down with safety. Beyond Hanoi it is but little 

 known, and its upper waters above Honghoa are almost wholly 

 unknown to Europeans. But one Frenchman has ever ascended 

 or descended the river, and when M. Dupuis made his courageous 

 journeys more than ten years ago, he did so under circumstances 

 which rendered geographical observation impossible. All that 

 M. Dupuis can say (and European knowledge is confined to his 

 information) is that with an escort; and with Chinese passports, 

 he was able to come down the river in a small junk, and to 

 ascend it again with several junks laden with arms and ammu- 

 nition. Even at the present moment the whole river from 

 Honghoa to Laokai on the Chinese frontier is in the hands_ of 

 the Black Flags. Moreover it lias been stated that after leaving 

 the Red River the route would have to cross a lofty mountain 

 range, and pass through the most desolate region in Yunnan. 

 The river may offer an excellent trade route ; but in the present 

 four geographical knowledge of Upper Tonquin all that 

 can be said with certainty is that nobody knows whether it is so 

 or not. Happily the French lose no time in thoroughly studying 

 the countries which they occupy, and as soon as a state of peace 

 has been reached in Indo-China we shall be in a position to 

 decide the question ; until then anything written about the navi- 

 gation of the Red River above Honghoa is mere speculation, 

 and valueless for practical purposes. 



The last number of the Izveslia of the Russian Geographical 

 Society contain? three interesting papers by M. D. Ivanoff on 

 the Pamir, embodying the results of the last year's expedition, 

 and giving a lively summary of our present knowledge as to this 

 very interesting region. A E. Regel contributes to the same 

 number a note on his journey to the Shugnan ; A. Wysheslav- 

 tseff describes the burial customs of the Tchuvashes ; and P. A. 

 Putyatin contributes a note on the pottery of the Stone Age. The 

 same issue contains, moreover, accounts of the geodetical and 

 cartographical work done in 1SS3 by the military top igraphers 

 and by the Hydrographical Department, and several notes. 



NATURAL SCIENCE IN SCHOOLS 1 

 TJOWEVER fully it may be admitted by the few that it is 

 *■*■ important, nay essential, that all members of the com- 

 munity, whatever their station or occupation, should during their 

 sch ml career receive some instruction in the elements of natural 

 science, the general public have not as yet had brought home to 

 them with sufficient clearness that, just as a knowledge of foreign 

 languages is essential to all who are brought into intercourse with 

 foreigners, so in like manner is a correct knowledge of the 

 elements of natural science of direct practical value to all in then- 

 daily intercourse with Nature, apart from the pleasure which 

 such knowledge affords. In fact, judged from a purely utilitarian 

 standpoint, the advantages to be derived from even the most 

 elementary acquaintance with what may be termed the science 

 of daily life are so manifold tha', if once understood by the public, 

 the claims of science to a place in the ordinary school course 

 must meet with universal recognition. To quote Huxley - : 



1 "On the Teaching of Natural Science as a Part of the Ordinary School 

 Course, and on the Method of Teaching Chemistry in the Introductory 

 Course in Science Classes, Schools and Colleges." Paper read at the Edu- 

 cational Conference of the International Health Exhibition by Henry L. 

 Armstrong, Ph.D , F.R.S., Sec.C.S., Professor of Chemistry in the Finsbury 

 Technical College. 



2 This writer's "Introductory" to Macmillan's Science Primers, and his 

 "Physiography: an Introduction to the Study of Nature," should be 

 studied by all who wish to know what science is and how it should be 

 taught. 



