NA TURE 



[ June 5, 1884 



Dikoa to Doloo. But a further advance in this direction was 

 prevented by the disturbed state of the frontiers between Bornrj 

 aawa. Buonfanti was consequently compelled to re- 

 steps to Kuka, whe»ce he turned westwards along the 

 route recently opened by Lieut. Massari to Kano. After some 

 trips to Yakoba and other little-known parts of Sokoto, he made 

 his way through Gando to the Niger at Say, about midway 

 between Timbuktu and the Binue confluence. Here he turned 

 north, and for the first time ascended the Niger as far as Tim- 

 buktu. This feat, hitherto supposed to be impossible, was per- 

 formed in the dry season, and the problem thus successfully 

 solved possesses considerable geographical and commercial im- 

 portance in connection with the attempts now being made to 

 establish regular lines of water communication between Western 

 and Central Sudan and the Gulf of Guinea. From Timbuktu 

 the route lay through the States of Massina and Bambarra to the 

 almost unknown territory of Tombo, the attempt to explore which 

 region ended in disaster. Attacked in *he Sanghi district by the 

 natives, the expedition was plundered and almost completely 

 dispersed, being reduced from an escort of 250 to six persons. 

 rhus reduced to the greatest straits, the traveller was driven 

 eastwards, and after enduring fearful sufferings reached the 

 Bussanga country north of Dahomey. Here he fortunately 

 came upon a Roman Catholic mission, which provided him with 

 the means of continuing his journey si ruthwards to the coast of 

 Guinea. He arrived at Lagos on March 5, 18S3, having lost 

 all his scientific collections during the disastrous journey through 

 Tembo. 



We received last year complete reports of the state of the ice 

 around Greenland, from Nordenskjbld, and in the Siberian 

 Sea-, from Hovgaard, but no report as to the condition, around 

 Spitzbergen. As complete reports of the state and conditions of 

 the ice in the various Arctic seas from year to year will greatly 

 tend to assist glacialists in their researches and future Polar 

 travellers, we publish some particulars furnished by the well- 

 known Arctic hunter, Capt. M. E. Arnesen, of TromsS, of his 

 voyages in the Spitzbergen seas last summer : — Leaving Tromso 

 on April 21, he encountered the ice on April 2S in lat. 6S> 2S' 

 N. and long. 41° iS' E. On May 4 the first seal was shot in lat. 

 6S°5o' N. and long. 42° 10' E. A storm clearing the ii 1 away, 

 he was able to sail as far as 69 . I tere a large ice-field stretched 

 west-north-west as far as lat. 69 55' N. and 44° 30' E., where 

 it carved in a north-easterly and easterly direction. During the 

 fifteen years Capt. Arnesen has sailed in the Arctic seas he never 

 experienced such an early and warm spring. The heat was at 

 times quite oppressive. On the night of July 14 he rounded 

 South Cape at Spitzbergen. The ice lay towards Whales Point, 

 close to the western shore. The Thousand Islands were on July 

 16 entirely surrounded with ice, stretching about a mile out to 

 sea on the west side. From High Rocks an ice-field runs to 

 the south-south-west. The wind was generally northerly anil 

 light, with alternating fogs and clear weather. Deicrow's Sound 

 was entirely free from ice, but, at Black Point, passage between 

 Halfmoon and the other islands was impossible. Encountering the 

 ice on July 20, west of Whales Point, he found no change in its 

 state. On July 22 the edge of the ice was lying from High 

 Rocks to the southern point of Hope Island. For two days a 

 thick fog prevailed. On July 24 the southern point of Hope 

 Island was passed, where close ice stretched south-south-west. 

 The wind was during this week slight, but came alternately from 

 all quarters, sometimes with rain and fog. On July 28 the cur- 

 rent set the ice southwards, so that the Thousand Island, wen 

 in open water, and towards Hope Island only a few floes were 

 seen. The Halfmoon Islands were in clear water. On the 29th 

 the wind fell, "ice-blink," i.e. the reflection of new ice- 

 in the sky, being seen to the eastward. On the 30th compact 

 ice was encountered south of Ryk Vs's Islands. On July 31 

 Whales Point was found free from ice. On August 4 the 

 country at the mouth of Walter Thyrnen Strait was perfectly 

 free from ice, only old glaciers being visible on the mountains. 

 The grass was quite out. The north-eastern part of Hans Fore- 

 land forms a great low plateau with good grazings for the rein- 

 deer, where large herds are found. The reindeer were in a very 

 good condition, a circumstance which further proves the early 

 and mild spring of last year. On the afternoon of August 6 the 

 temperature in the shade was 12 C, and that of the surface of 

 the water 9 C. On the night of the 17th a little snow fell in 

 the mountains. An old ox, castrated and marked in the ear, was 

 shot. It was believed to be one of those which escaped from 

 Nordenskjbld at Mossel Bay in 1872. East of Hans Foreland 



and Barents Land there was then no trace of ice ; in facte the 

 sea ran mountains high on that side. 



The last volume of the Memoirs of the Russian Geographical 

 Society (vol. xii. No. 4) contains the "Memoirs of the Inter- 

 preter Otano Kigoro on Corea," translated from the Japanese 

 by M. Dmitrevsky. The author was interpreter of the Corean 

 language on the Tsousima Island, and compiled his book in 

 1794 on information gathered from Corean officials, as also from 

 Chinese and Japanese works on Corea. The Russian transla- 

 tor of this book has added to it most valuable information 

 gathered especially from the great Corean Code, published in 

 17S5 (Da-dyang-tun-byang), which contains a detailed descrip- 

 tion of Corea, as well as from several other Chinese and European 

 works, such as the " History of the Corean Church," by Dallet. 

 The extracts from the Corean Code are especially numerous and 

 of great value. The work of Kigoro contains interesting descrip- 

 tions of the "Customs at the Court," the provincial administra- 

 tion, the geography of Corea, its inhabitants, their customs, 

 habitations, food, and agriculture, as also notes on the Corean 

 administration, army, and literature. 



The last number of the Irkutsk hvestia contains an interesting 

 paper by Dr. Martianoff on his journeys in the north-eastern 

 part of the Minusinsk district. In a note on antiquities in the 

 basin of the Yenisei M. Bogolubsky mentions, among others, 

 that on the Ouzynjoul gold- washings on a river of the same name 

 belonging to the basin of the Abakan, implements consisting of 

 a red copper nail, a marmor ring, and a knife and an arrow of 

 bone, were found, together with bones of mammoth, rhinoceros, 

 Bos urns, horse, antelope, wolf, and domestic animals, at a 

 depth of from ten to thirteen feet. If implements from different 

 levels were not confounded together, this find would surely be 

 of great value. We notice also a note on a little-known subject, 

 the " Scythic disease" among Aleutes and Kamchadales, by 

 M. Grebnitzky, and another on the rapids of the Angara, with a 

 map. 



The prospects of a trade between Europe and Siberia, 

 through the Kara Sea, do not seem to be cheering. According 

 to a private correspondent in Moscow, the steamer Dallmann, 

 built at the Vulcan Engineering Works, Stettin, for towing on 

 the Yenisei, lies at the trading station, Strelka, 75 versts south 

 of Yeniseisk, where also two iron lighters of 5000 poods carry- 

 ing capacity, and a wooden one capable of carrying 2000 poods, 

 as well as two steam launches, now are. They are all to be sold, 

 along with the buildings, depots, and factories at Strelka and the 

 stations not far from the mouth of the Yenisei, about 800 versts 

 north of Tnrukhansk. At the latter station large quantities of 

 wheat, rye, and oats have been collected with a view to being 

 exported to Europe. There seems at present little probability 

 of their ever reaching their destination. During the last five or 

 six years the steamer Louise has only twice succeeded in reach- 

 ing the Yenisei and returning with cargo to Europe ; three times 

 the vessel failed in the attempt. 



The last issue of the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal 

 Asiatic Society (Colombo, 1883) is wholly occupied by a transla- 

 tion of that part of Ibn Batuta's travels relating to Ceylon and 

 the Maldive Islands, accompanied by notes. The account of the 

 customs of the primitive inhabitants of the Maldives is especially 

 interesting. 



ON THE NOMENCLA TURE, ORIGIN, AND DIS- 

 TRIBUTION OF DEEP-SEA DEPOSITS 1 

 III. 

 T T remains now to point out the area occupied by the red clay. We 

 ■*■ have seen how it passes at its margins into organic calcareous 

 oozes, found in the lesser depths of the abysmal regions, or into 

 the siliceous organic oozes or terrigenous deposits. In its typical 

 form the red clay occupies a larger area than any of the other 

 true deep-sea deposits, covering the bottom in vast regions of the 

 North and South Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. As 

 above remarked, this clay may be said to be universally dis- 

 tributed over the floor of the oceanic basins ; but it only appears 

 as a true deposit at points where the siliceous and calcareous 

 organisms do not conceal its proper characters. 



Having now indicated its distribution, we must consider the 

 mode of its formation, and give, in addition, a concise descrip- 



1 A Paper read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh-.by John" Murray 

 aad A. Renard. Communicated by John Murray. Continued from p. 117. 



