April 23, 1885] 



NA TURE 



589 



Zealand the planet Jupiter will be similarly situated. Thus at 

 the middle of the eclipse at Castle Point, on the south-east coast 

 of the North Island, the distance of Jupiter from the moon's limb 

 will be 45', and the angle of position from her centre abjut 26 s . 

 There appears to be every probability that an expedition from 

 the Australian observatories will take part in the observation of 

 the eclipse on the shores of Cook's Straits, or in the vicinity of 

 Castle Point. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 



WEEK, 18S5, APRIL 26 TO MAY 2 

 (For the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

 Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here 

 employed. ) 



At Greenwich on April 26 

 Sun rises, 4I1. 44111. ; souths, Ilh. 57m. 39'4S. ; sets > l Qn - !j m - > 

 decl. on meridian, 13° 39' N. : Sidereal Time at Sunset, 

 9h. 33m. 

 Moon (Full on April 29) rises, i6h. 16m. ; souths, 22I1. 14m. ; 

 sets, 4h. im.* ; decl. on meridian, 3" 15' S. 



23 51 I. tr. egr. 

 29 ... 22 8 I. eel. reap. 

 The Occultations of Stars and Phe 

 is are visible at Greenwich. 



1 of Jupiter's Satellites 



28 



Mercury in inferior conjunction with the 

 Sun. 



Mercury in conjunction with and 1° 42' north 

 1 if Venus. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

 The Arctic steamer Alert, which is about to be returned by 

 the Government of the United States to that of Great Britain, 

 has been lent by the latter to Canada for the continuance of the 

 Hudson's Bay Survey, for which purpose thirty thousand dollars 

 will be asked from the Dominion Parliament. 



At the last meeting of the Geo graphical Society of Munich 

 Dr. Clauss described his journey in South America, exploring 

 the water-shed between the Paraguay and the Amazon. His 

 companions were the brothers Von den Steinen. Thay ascended 

 the Paraguay by steamer, and after eighteen days' journey 

 reached Cuyaba, the capital of the Brazilian province of Matto 

 Grosso, and the terminus of the steamship line on the river. 

 Here they got a military escort and provisions. After remain- 

 ing eight weeks in Cuyaba they started, with three months' pro- 

 visions and an escort of fifteen men, to cross the water shed to 

 the Amazon. This elevation, which is only 300 to 400 metres 

 in height, presents the appearance of a savannah, broken up by 

 forests, which follow the watercourses. The formation is sand- 

 stone, covered with a reddish clay, containing lumps of iron- 

 ore. The nights on this plateau were very cold. The water- 

 sheds between the various tributaries of the Amazon here were 

 unknown. Brazilian geographers direct the whole upper course 

 of the Xingu to the Tapajos, and put the source of the former 



under 1 I south latitude. After the expedition had crossed the 

 last tributary of the Tapajos, they reached, after eight days' 

 journey, to the east, a large river. Here the oxen which re- 

 mained healthy were killed, canoes were made from the bark of 

 the Vatoba tree, and, after they had learnt that no larger rivtr 

 existed farther east, they began their voyage on the river, which, 

 in honour of the governor of the province, was called Rio 

 Batovy. The course is interrupted by numerous falls and rapids. 

 In passing these obstacles the boats frequently capsized, and 

 many valuable portions of the collections were lost. After a 

 long and difficult voyage the party reached some Bacairi villages, 

 the inhabitants of which were found wholly ignorant of metals. 

 Through the Rio Batovy they reached a large river, undoubtedly 

 the Xingu. Here they had a collision, which ended satisfac- 

 torily, with the Trumai Indians ; subsequently they came in 

 friendly contact with the Suya, from whom they received much 

 important information about the hydrography of the region. 

 At 9° south latitude waterfalls were again reached, which ren- 

 dered navigation difficult, although the river was here a kilo- 

 metre in width. When their provisions were almost wholly 

 exhausted they reached the settlements of the Vuruna Indian', 

 who understood Portuguese, and received further supplies from 

 them. From 8° to 3° S. the Xingu falls 200 metres in a series 

 of cataracts. Under the guidance of the Yurunas these rapids 

 were passed, and on October 15 the first Portuguese settlement 

 was reached, and the travellers took steamer on the Amazon to 

 Para, which they reached after five months spent in the most 

 unknown regions of Brazil. 



The Vienna correspondent of the Times states that an extra- 

 ordinary meeting of the Geographical Society of Vienna will 

 shortly be held to welcome the Austrian African explorers, Dr. 

 Paulitschke and Dr. von Hardegger. The Crown Prince of 

 Austria will be present. The travellers started from Trieste on 

 December 30, 1S84, and chiefly explored the interior of the 

 Gallas country. At Harrar, the largest town of East Africa, 

 they were amicably received by the Egyptian governor, Ab- 

 dallah, son of the Emir Mahomed Abdel Shakur, murdered in 

 1875. The Governor was just engaged in forming an army. 

 On their return, on March 25, they found Zeila half in ruins. 

 The Austrian explorers have established meteorological stations 

 at Harrar and Zeila. which will be looked after by the English 

 Consuls, Pitten and King. The collections they have brought 

 with them, filling several cases, will constitute a very valuable 

 addition to the Austrian Imperial Museum. The travellers 

 will, in a few days, report personally to the Crown Prince, and 

 submit a comprehensive statement of the commercial conditions 

 of East Africa to the Minister of Commerce. 



A Parliamentary paper (Corea, No. 2, 18S5) issued 

 during the past week contains a report by Mr. Carles, of the 

 British Consulate at Seoul, of a journey made by him at the 

 close or last year through Northern Corea. The journey lasted 

 about six weeks, and appeal's to have extended over about 3000 ft". 

 Starting from Seoul, Mr. Carles went along the western coast road 

 through Kaisong, Hwang-ju, Phyong Yang and An-ju to Wy-ju, 

 where the river forming the boundary between China and Corea 

 was reached. Having ascended the valley of this river several 

 days' journey, he turned towards the east coast through Kang-ge 

 and Ham-heung, to the treaty port of Gensan on the Sea of 

 Japan, from whence it is about a week's journey back to the 

 capital. Among the points noticeable in this excellent report, 

 extending to thirty-two octavo pages, we observe that in Corea, 

 as in a lesser degree in Japan, there is a great disproportion 

 between the number of males and females, the former being 

 more numerous. In the large towns this is ascribed to the 

 immense staffs attached to the officials, but in the villages there 

 is no corresponding balance in favour of females, and it is 

 probable that an explanation which accounts for the dispropor- 

 tion by a greater number of deaths among girls in infancy is correct, 

 for there was no evidence of female infanticide. Corea has been 

 said to be a land of large hats, but this does not tell everything, 

 One would hardly expect the following dimensions from this 

 statement alone. At Phyong Yang, a large and historical town 

 near the west coast, Mr. Carles records that the hats worn by 

 the poor women are baskets 3A feet long, 2j feet wide, and 

 2^ feet deep, which conceal their faces as effectually as the white 

 cloak worn by women of a better class over their heads. The 

 men wear a basket of the same shape, but somewhat smaller. 

 It, however, requires the use of both hands to keep it in place. 

 A structure of a size but little larger, which is used to cover 

 fishing-boats, suggests to the traveller that the women s hats 



