June 1 6, 1881] 



NATURE 



149 



they were chosen in luch a manner as to determine the influence 

 of the Balkan chain on the deviation of the pendulum. As to 

 the topographical work, no less than 133,750 square vers's were 

 mapped during the war, of which iio,5cx3 square versts were 

 mapped on the scale if j^Vinr. and th<= heights of more than 

 1 10,000 .'■pots were determined, so that there are all necessary data 

 for making an embossment-map of the whole of the mapped 

 parts of RcumeHa and Bulgaria. 



Dr. R.ve sends us the following extract from a letter to him 

 from Capt. Howgate, dated May 23, 18S1 ; — " Our Arctic work 

 here is progres!-ing finely, so far as ou fitting is concerned. The 

 Jeaiinette search vestel is to get off early in June, if she fills up 

 her complement of men. For cur Lady Franklin Bay work the 

 steam sealer Proteus of St. John's, Newfoundland, has been 

 secured. She is a vessel of 6SS Ions burden, and contracts to 

 deliver, with the colony and suj'plie=, one hundred tons of coals 

 at Lady Franklin Bay, which will guard agauist failure in the 

 item of fuel, should the coal-seam not turn out so well as 

 expected. The complement of men has been made up, and the 

 shipment of stores to St. John's actually commenced, so there is 

 every reason to expect that the expeditii n will .sail from that port 

 on July 4, as originally intended. The Point Barrow party is 

 nearly filled up, and will be finished this week, 1 believe." 



A SHORT time back it was stated that Mr. James Stevenson of 

 Glasgow had offered to contribute 4000A on certain conditions 

 for the construction cf a road between Lakes Nyassa and Tan- 

 ganyika. The Foreign Missic ns Committee of the Free Church 

 of Scotland have resolved to do their part by establishing a 

 station among the Chungus at Maliwanda, a place about fifty 

 miles on the proposed line of road from Lake Nyassa. The 

 London Missionary Society have agreed to open a station at 

 Zombe, twenty miles to the south-east of Lake Tanganyika. In 

 order to fonnd the Livingstonia Mission's new stations and super- 

 intend the construction of the road, Mr. James Stewart, C.E., 

 left England on May 13 with three artisans, and another is to 

 follow. In the autumn also it is probable that another medical 

 missionary will go out to Lake Nyassa. 



By the aid of a correspondent at the Gaboon who wrote on 

 March 30 a contemporary has received the startling intelligence 

 that M. de Brazza "got to Stanley's Pool from the Ogowe and 

 came down the Congo.'' Some people however may be aware 

 that this information was made public at the meeting of the Frencli 

 Geographical Society on January 21, when M. Duveyrier tried to 

 makequiteclearwhat is evidently not yet known at the Gaboon, viz. 

 that after he had founded the Ogowe and Stanley Pool stations and 

 descended the Congo, the mission confided to M. de Brazza by the 

 French branch of the International African As ociation ceased, 

 and the two stations, it is well known, are to be taken charge of by 

 M. Mizon and another Frenchman. M. de Brazza is now engaged 

 on an expedition for which the French Chambers have made a 

 liberal grant, and in which he will be accompanied by his former 

 colleague. Dr. Ballay. Tliese two ai e to descend the Alima to 

 the Congo in a steam launch, and then to make a thorough 

 examination of the valley of the great river, part of their object 

 being to divert trade to some extent to the Ogowc. The writer 

 of the letter from the Gaboon believes that " Stanley will fiudde 

 Brazza established there [? Stanley Pool] when he gets up." This 

 of course is a matter of chance, as M. de Brazza has now a sort 

 of roving commission on the Congo, but, no doubt, Mr. Stanley 

 w ill find some one at the Ntamo station (now called Brazzaville), 

 as Messrs. Crudyington and Bentley in February found a French 

 sergeant and two soldiers there, and by this time pos ibly M. 

 Mizon or some one else will have arrived to take charge. 



In consequence of the success of the preliminary journey 

 which Mr. Crudgington and his companion have just made 

 along the north 1 ank of the Congo to Stanley Pool, the Baptist 

 Missionary Expedition will now definitely adopt this route into 

 the interior. As the re-ult of a long conversation with Mr. 

 Stanley on the subject, the party consider that it will be best to 

 take advantage of his road as far as Isangila, and then to place 

 a steel boat on the river above the falls there. Afternards 

 there will be no insuperable difficulty in the navigation of the 

 river, except peihaps in two or three places where the b">at will 

 be taken to pieces and carried past the cataracts. A boat is 

 now being built for the expedition in London from the plans 

 and drawings of Mr. Stanley, who has willingly afforded the 

 party the benefit of his advice and assistance. The adoption of 

 this plan will obviate the necessity for [ a' sing through the country 



of the troublesome Basund', and will materially hasten the pro- 

 gress of the expedition. 



Herr Ernst von Hesse Wartegg, the well-known tra- 

 veller, has just returned to Europe from Africa, where he went 

 up the Nile, and then crossed the desert between that river and 

 the Red Sea, making important excavations and discoveries of 

 ancient Egyptian remains, among which were a very interesing 

 sarcophaL.us, pottery, statuary, &c. He recently gave a lecture 

 before the Geographical Society of Alace-Loraine at Metz, 

 exhibiting several hundred photographs and ethnographical 

 objects. Sometime ago Herr von Hesse Wartegg was elected 

 Honorary Member of the Royal Btlgian Geographical .Society 

 and Corresponding Member of the Geographical Society ot 

 Melz. His travelling companion. Dr. Theodor Hoerner, has 

 gone from Suakin to Kassalla, and from there through the 

 Kunama country to Massawah. 



In the Colonies and India we find some particulars respecting 

 a projected expedition from New Zealand to New Guinea for the 

 purpose of exploration and eventual colonisation. The pro- 

 moters two years ago made a preliminary voyage there in the 

 Courier, which for various reasons was not particularly fortu- 

 nate, but from their pa>t experience they now feel certain of 

 success. The Courier then visited Astrolabe Gulf, ' n the north- 

 east coast, and the natives were found very tractable and dis- 

 posed to trade. Scented woods were met with in abundance, 

 and tobacco and sugar were seen under cultivation. Mr. R. 

 Mills, who was with this expedition, has brought away with 

 him numerous views taken on the spot, which give a good idea 

 of the natives and the aspect of the country. 



Letters have been received at Vienna from the African 

 traveller, John Freiherr von Miiller. He intends to penetrate 

 into the district south of Fazoglu and Fadazi, which hitherto 

 have never been visited by any European. The geographical 

 problems to be solved in these parts are the discovery of the 

 bifurcation of the Sobat River (a tributary on the right bank of 

 the White Nile), which w;,s sus) ccted by Karl Ritter, and also 

 the discovery of the problematical Zaml uru and Baringo lake>:. 

 The general circumstances in these districts do not justify the 

 hope of success being oversanguine ; yet Freiherr von Miiller 

 hopes safely to reach the Indian Ocean at Mombassa or Bagamoyo 

 on his return journey. 



On Monday last week Dr. Ave-Lallemant delivered a lecture 

 to the members of the German Athena;um, Mortimer Street, on 

 the Orinocco River. The lecturer spoke mainly from personal 

 obser\'ation, and the lecture was a highly interesting one. 



A GENER.\L Congress of German geographers, presided over 

 by Dr. Nachtigal, met in Berlin last week. The second volume 

 of Dr. Nachtigal's work on the Sahara and Sudan is expected 

 shortly. 



Lieut. Bove has just returned from the .\rgentine Republic, 

 where he has been making arrangements for the projected expe- 

 dition to the Antarctic regions. The Geographical Institute of 

 the Argentine Republic has unanimously voted 2000 scudi for the 

 enterprise. As soon as the Italian Government h.as arranged 

 the diplomatic affairs of the expedition with the Argentine 

 Republic, Lieut. Bove will return to Buenos Ayre<:. 



Heft vi. of Pelermann's Mittheilungen commences with an 

 interesting article on the Greatest Quantity of Rainfall in 

 One Day, by Dr. H. Ziemer. Letters from Dr. Junker give 

 interesting details concerning his sojourn in the Niam-Niam 

 country, and an article, with map, on East Griqua Land and 

 Pondo Land brings together recent information on these regions. 

 Another article gives the leading results of some recent journeys 

 in Arabia. 



No. 4 of the Mittheilungen of the Vienna Geographical Society 

 contains .an account, by Dr. Emin Bey, of his journeys in the 

 Upper Nile Region; and Joh. Ritter Stef. v. Vilnovo has a long 

 paper on the >ide-courses of rivers. In No. 5 Dr. Holub has a 

 useful paper on the industrial aspect of Au trian exploration ; 

 Dr. Jettel writes on the scientific exploration of Bosnia and 

 Herzegovina ; and Lieut. Kreitner on the Ainos. 



The murder is reported of an It.alian exploring party in the 

 Danal,il country. According to the latest advices from Aden, 

 the party was composed of the traveller Giulietti, and an escort 

 furni-hed by the commander of the vessel stationed at Assab. 

 The party, whose object is slated to have been scientific and 



