■6i4 



NA TURE 



[„ Ipril 50, 1885 



expenditure of b! iod and treasure incurred by the French Govern- 

 ment. The military expenditure alone, he calculates, at about 



1 j, 000,000/., or 162,000,000/. to the 

 time, d'o th's have to be added nearly 4,000,000/. for some 

 eighty fortresses and stations of all sorts required to overawe the 

 native ; about 1,800,00?/. yearly for the civil administration; 

 S, 000,000'. for caravanserais to devel p the trade of the 

 i,0OO,00O/. for the ports of Bona, Philippeville, 

 1 . 'Man, and one or two others; 8,000,000/. 

 or 10,000,000/. for arsenals, canals, dredgings, and other 



hydraul I! j other incidental expenses, the 



"■i"ir far exceeding any profits hitherto realised by the trade of 

 the country. The writer dwells upon the rivalries and heart- 

 burnings that have sprung up between the military and civil 

 sections of the European community, which hate each other 

 almost mere intensely than both are detested by the natives. 

 He shows tliil even agriculture has yielded no returns at all 

 commensurate with the outlay incurred, and concludes that, if 

 not actually insoluble, the problem how to found useful and 

 ilonies in Africa will always remain one of the most 

 diffii nil questions for the statesman and poli'ical economist. 



The Bolelin of the Madrid Geographical Society for February 

 gives a complete list of the recent acquisitions of Spain in West 

 Africa. These comprise the west coast of the Sahara between 

 Cape Bogador (29° 9' N.) and'Cape Blanco (20° 45' N.), both 

 included : in the gulf of Guinea, the coast-line stretching from 

 the .Muni River, forming the northern limit of the French pos- 

 sessions on the Gaboon, northwards to the Rio Campo (0° 43' to 

 2° 41' N.). On the Sahara coast six stations have already been 

 lished, and all points giving access to shipping will be 

 permanently occupied. The old treaties with the chiefs on the 

 Rio Benito have also been renewed, with a view to prevent the 

 threatened advance of the French in that direction. 



PROF. Iv rich] ol Quadalajara, recently described, before * 

 conference at Madrid, his project for "geographical parks.' 

 The geographical park is a public garden, reproducing on a 

 certain scale, according to its extent, the geographical features 

 of a country. It is a kind of map in relief; the principal towns 

 would be represented by places surrounded by trees, the main 

 ways of communication by winding paths ; a succession of 

 hillocks would act for the ranges of mountains, streams of water 

 for the rivers. The clumps of trees within the net! 

 would form varied pastures, in which the natural products of 

 each locality would find its place am mg the flowers, and in the 

 centre, where the towns should be, would be placed small 

 structures, in which would be photographic views of the prin- I 

 cipal monuments, hut especially the most important astronomical, 

 lical, historical, and artistic information with re 'aid to 



BEFORE the last meeting of the Verein fiir Erdkunde, at 

 Halle, Dr. Alfred Hettncr described the United 

 Columbia, their characteristics, and present condition, based on 

 urneys there. After deducting the disputed 1. 



Ian 1 is half as large again as the German 

 Empire. Its main geographical divisions are the isthmus region, 

 linous districts in the west belonging to the Andes 

 system, and the low-lying plains of the Amazon and the Orinoco 

 in the east. To th 1 last belongs the Meta, which is \ 1 ■ ;uij ible 

 for navigation, but is little used for that purpose ; whil 

 dalena, which is navigable for 640 kilometres to the Honda 

 Cataract, belongs to the in t division. The forest region, with 

 palm- in the lower and tiee-ferns in the upper parts, 

 to 2900m., the snow-line being 4600 m. in height. The Indian 

 population, amongst which the Muysca (Tschibtscha) rank only 

 behind the Incas and Astecs in civilisation, was estimated in the 

 sixteenth century at ten millions, but are said to have been re- 

 duced by the Spaniards to one-fiftieth of that number. The 

 whole population now is given at three millions, and, according 

 to the estimaes of the Columbians themselves, 10 per cent, of 

 these are whites, 40 Mestizos, 35 Indians, and 15 Negroes 

 Trade is hampered by the bad condition of the roads Gold, 

 silver, coffee, and hides are the chief articles of export. Railway 

 construction, like trade, is prevented by natural difficulties and 

 the indolent, unpractical nature of the people. 



The Mittimlungen of the Vienna Geographical Society for 

 March (Band xxviii. No. 3) contains papers on the movements 

 >i the Daclistein glacier during the period 1840-84, by Dr. 

 Simony ; an account of the latest explorations in Eastern Equa- 

 torial Africa, by Dr. Le Mounier ; and the first part of a paper 



on the geographical work of the German Lighthouse Depart- 

 ment in Hamburg, by Prof. Geleich. At the meeting on March 

 24 Dr. Lenz read a paper on the German colonies in Eastern 

 Africa and Oceania, which is not printed in the present 

 number. 



The Norwegian Government have decided to dispatch an 

 expedition this summer to Finmarken, in the gunboat Lougin, 

 for the purpose of effecting hydrographic researches and sound- 

 ings along the coa^t. The cost h estimated at 1000/. The 

 Swedish Government grant for this year to various scientific 

 publications amounts to about 700/. A sum of 50/. has also 

 been contributed towards the expenses of Mr. O. Nordstedt's 

 alg jlogical researches in England and Scotland this summer. 



FURTHER NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF 

 PALESTINE, WITH A CONSIDERATION OF 

 THE JORDAN VALLEY SCHEME 1 

 "THE subject was divided as follows : — (I.) The Geological 

 *■ Formations of Palestine and Egypt; (II.) The \Vady 

 Ai-abah and the Dead Sea Basin ; (III.) The Jordan Valley 

 Canal Scheme. 



Since the date of the previous communication in November, 

 1S82, much attention had been directed to the geology and 

 physical structure of Pale tine and the adjacent regions, espe- 

 cially Egypt. Besides the discussions in the press relative to 

 the suggested Jordan Vallry canal, an important expedition was 

 sent out by the Palestine Exploration Fund during the winter of 

 1SS3-S4, whilst about the same time Sir J. W. Dawson visited 

 Egypt, Suez, the Lebanon, &c, and gave his results in the 

 Geological Magazine. Important information relative to the 

 Libyan Desert has lately been published by Prof. Zittel in the 

 " Palaeontographica." 



I, [a) Schists, Gneiss, Granite, and Porphyries. — Dawson de- 

 scribes the relations of the crystalline rocks and Nubian sandstone 

 at the First Cataract (Assouan-Syene). A lower crystalline series, 

 which he refers to the Laurentian, penetrated by dykes of 

 granite and diorite, is covered in almost horizontal beds by a 

 second crystalline series consisting mainly of porphyries permeated 

 by dykes of felsite and basalt. Incidentally it was mentioned 

 that, according to Russegger's map, all the Nile cataracts cccur 

 where the river is passing over such crystalline areas, whilst the 

 more tranquil stretches of water belong to the system of his 

 Nubian sandstone. An immense mass of crystalline rocks .pre- 

 vails at the great bend of the Nile which has Abu Hamed for its 

 apex : the axis of this system occurs in the Monassir country, 

 which is the wildest region between Assouan ami Khartoum. 

 11 thinks that the porphyries of Mount Hor may belong 

 to his second series of rocks, which, in more northern countries, 

 is represented by the Arvonian and Huronian. 



(/') "Tie /Vuiian Sandstone." — This exhaustive division of 

 the rocks between the Crystallines and the Upper Cretaceous 

 e resolved into three sections of different geological age. 

 The Carboniferous age of the lower sandstone and overlying 

 limestone of Wady Nasb has been know n for certain ever since 

 the discoveries of Mr. Holland; but Prof. Hull's party has 

 traced this section up the Arabah, and almost as far as the Dead 

 Sea. The middle division is Cenamanian : it is probably in the 

 main the original Nubian sandstone 1 I Russegger, is widely ex- 

 tended in Egypt, occurs in great force at Petra, and constitutes 

 the cliffs on the east side of the Dead Sea. There remains the 

 Lebanon division of the soi-disant Nubian sandstone, and this 

 in all probability is really newer than either of the others, being 

 well up amongst the Cretaceous limes -ibly on the 



horizon of certain lignitiferous 1 eds occurring at Edfou on the 

 Nile. 



(c) Grttacteus and Nummulitic Limestones. — The Cretaceous 

 beds are the m 1st important facto: s in Syria, whilsl in Egypt those 

 of Eocene age are much the thickest. Sir J . \Y. 1 laws on gives a 

 section of Jebel Attai ah (partly after LeVaillant), where the two 

 system- are faulted together. He considers this position on the 

 I the Gulf of Suez an important one as pre c-nting an 

 intermediate | ha e in both systems, thus linking the Syrian to 

 the African types. The Cretaceous beds in Egypt are much 

 less calcareous than in Palestine; an abundance of rook salt, 

 gypsum, and bitumen is noted on certain horizons (Zittel). 

 This last circumstance is noteworthy, for it will be remembered 



1 Abstract of paper read at the meeting of the Geologists' Association, on 

 by W. H. Hudleston, M.A., F.R.S., F.l 



