472 
NATURE 
[March 16, 1882 
period variables, 5 Libra, 6 Cephei, 8 Lyra, 7 Aquila, and ¢ 
Geminorum. 
THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OF MAy,—The central line in 
the eclipse of May 17 passes near to Teheran, in which longi- 
tude the duration of totality will be within five seconds of the 
maximum, ‘Taking the position of the Indo-European Tele- 
graph Station in longitude 3h. 25m. 41°7s. east of Greenwich, 
and latitude 35° 41’ 7”, as determined by the Russian General 
Stebnitsky, it appears that the central line will pass between 
nine and ten English miles south of the station. At Shanghai, 
the eclipse is partial, magnitude 0°996 at Sh. 21m. p.m. local 
mean time : the central line runs some fifteen or sixteen miles 
north of that place: the sun at an altitude of 17°. At the 
observatory of Zi-ka-Wei, the eclipse is also partial, magnitude 
0'994. In Cairo, upwards of nine-tenths of the sun’s diameter 
are covered, 
GALLE’S METHOD FOR SOLAR PARALLAX.—The present year 
will afford two favourable op ortunities of applying the method 
suggested by Prof. Galle for determining the sun’s parallax, viz. 
the observation at distant stations of the minor planets when 
they approach near the earth. Mr, Gill has taken steps to 
secure such observations about the oppositicn of Victoria on 
August 24, and that of Sefpho a month later. In the case of 
the former, the distance from the earth at opposition will be 
o’891 (the earth’s mean distance being taken as unity), the 
declination S° N., and the magnitude 8-3; in the latter case the 
distance will be 0°847, the declination 123° N., and the magni- 
tude 9°2._ Ephemerides of both planets about opposition will be 
found in the Berliner Astronomisches Fahrbuch for 1883. 
THE TEMPLE OBSERVATORY, RuGBY.—We have received 
the Report of this Observatory for the year 1881. As in former 
years, the principal instrument, an 8} inch refractor by Alvan 
Clark, has been employed on observations of double stars, and 
210 complete sets of measures of distance and position were made 
in the past year. Mr. Seabroke, the honorary curator, with the 
assistance of Mr. Hodges, has completed a Sere eh of the work 
in the three years 1878-80, which forms part of vol. xlvi. of the 
Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society recently issued. 
Some attention has been given to the determination of the 
motion of approach or recession of stars, though with the 
double-star work and the hour each fine 
evening, through part 
of the year, devoted to members of the school, little time re- 
mains for ‘hat class of observatien, more especially as the 
observers engaged follow their ordinary vocations during the 
day, and very late hours are thus precluded. 
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
THE mail from India | 
rings the news of the death of a very 
meritorious Indian servant, and one of the most remarkable of 
liviny travellers—Nain Singh, or the Pundit No. 9, as he 
was officially known, a hillman of the Khsettriya, or warrior 
caste. Nearly thirty years ago he offered his services as native 
assistant to that intrepid but unfortunate explorer Herr Schla- 
gentweit. In the year 1863 he became ore of the staff of 
trained native explorers under the orders of Col. Montgomerie 
of the Trigonometrical Survey, and it was in this capacity that 
he earned his reputation. The experience which Nain Singh 
had acquired with Herr Schlagentweit was held peculiarly to fit 
him for em e most interesting department of Indian 
geogra exploration of the Trans-Himalayan 
regziors. The h attended his journeys beyond thes t 
northern mountain r of India exceeded the expectation 
of even the talented officer who had specially trained him for the 
work. In 1866 he determined the true position of Lhasa; in 
1867 he visited the celebrated gold mines of Thok Jalung, and 
seven years later he, began his most celebrated t ur of all, that 
through Thinet from west to east. During this he visited the 
capital of the Dalai Lama, took numerous observations, and 
threw much fresh light on the question of the Sanpu River, and 
whéther its lower course is the Brahmapootra or not. Thi 
exploit closed Nain ee rh’s public career. He was awarded the 
Royal medal by the Royal Geographical Society, and the Indian 
Government grante 4 him a small e tate, where he died towards 
the end of last January. There have been few native Indian 
officials who have done more useful or more durable service than 
the explorer Nain Singh. 
AT the meeting of the ( 
Wy Bon Le. 
re 
ip yhical Society on Mond ay Mr. 
eae ey be 
TT) Meee = ee Sy 
JSourna 
journey in the Makua and Lomwe countries, by Mr. H. E. 
O’Neill, who succeeded the late Commander Musters as consuk 
at Mozambique. Mr. O’Neill evidently made a very successful 
journey of 600 miles through country previously almost unknown, 
and his paper forms a contribution to geography which is of some 
importance, though it hardly comes up to our ideas of what a 
good geographical paper should be. The most telling part of it 
is that which deals with the manners and customs, &c., of the 
Makua race. Though it has been reported that Mr. O'Neill 
actually sighted the Wamuli Peak, said by the natives to be 
covered with perpetual snow, he himself distinctly says that, 
although its position was pointed out to him, he could not clearly 
distinguish it. To some future traveller, therefore, will fall the 
honour of actually being the first to see the snow-clad peak, if it 
really ae though no doubt he will have been very nearly run 
by Mr. Maples on one side and Mr. O’Neill on the other, 
Towards the conclusion of his paper, Mr. O'Neill makes some 
useful observations on the commercial capabilities of the country 
traversed, from which it would appear that there is a good 
opening there for imports, but the economic products are at 
present few. 
THE most imp¢ 
ant contribution in the March number of the 
Geographical Society’s Proceedings is Mr. Last’s account of his 
journey from Mamboia into the N muru country, East Central 
Africa. On this occasion Mr, Last had his wife with him, and 
travelled, in a little over three weeks, some 250 miles, of which 
the whole of the region between Mguru and Kibauti was new to 
Europeans. Mr. Last sent home a rough map of his journey, 
on which he also laid down the roads and rapes passed in 1880, 
as most of them are not shown on previous maps of East Africa, 
and from this a map on the scale of nearly twelve miles to the 
inch has been prepared. There is an interesting note referring to 
Diego Garcia, the most southerly island of the Chagos Archi- 
pelag ro, and others on Mr. Colquhoun’s expedition through 
So uthern China and Burmah, and the journey of MM. Bouvalot 
and Capus from Bokhara to Krasnovodsk. ‘The full text is also 
given a Lieut. A. W. Grecly’s report on the proceedings of the 
expedition to Fort Conger, Grinnell Land, the name he has given 
to the first of the international meteorological observatories In 
the Polar area. 
THE Geogray pe Society b ave now re dy for issue by Mr. 
Murray, Mr. ‘olborne Baber’s ‘‘ Travels and Researches in 
Western China,” ee ing the first part of their Susplementary 
Papers, a publication which is to take the place of their annual 
The staple of the volume consists of Mr. Baber’s 
journey of exploration in Western Szechuen, accompanied by 
various scientific observations and tables of latitudes and longi- 
tudes of numerous positions. The remainder of the volume 
contains reprints of a brief narrative of a journey to Ta-chien- 
tu, and notes on the route of the mission through 
Grosvenor 
Western Yiinnan and on the Chinese tea-trade with Tibet. jhe 
maps are of great value, and consist of one showing the distri- 
bution of the Sifan tribes, a section of country along Mr. 
Baber’s routes, and a large route-map of his explorations m 
Western China. 
THE two last numbers of the /eves/ia of the Russian Geo- 
gra] 1 Society contain a good deal of valuable information. 
M. Pevtsoff contributes a paper on his journeys in Mong¢ lia, 
from the Altai to Kobdo, Kukukhoto, Kalgan, and back, v7@ Urga 
Ulasutai, with a map of the country; Dr. A. Woeikoff gives a 
of the amount of cloud, observed during ten years’ obser- 
vations in Russian meteorological stations; A. E. Kegel ec ntri- 
butes a paper on Dis journey to Turfan in 1879; : ieut. Kalitin 
gives a description of the res gion explored between Akhalteke 
and Khiva, with, a map ; and MM. Yadrint eff vives an inter- 
esting account of the Tartars of Altai. There are, a 
letter of A. W. Adrianoff, on his expedition in the Kuznetsk 
region, a list of heights determined by M. Potanin in Mongolia, 
information about the expedition of the Feazette, of the Adhance, 
besides, 
of the Zhomas Corvin, and other small notices. 
Tue Russian Geographical Society is taking part in an expedi- 
tion to Central Africa, under the leadership of M. Schultze- 
Ragozinsky, and with the participation of M. Bianchi, Prof. 
Licati, M. Budilovitch, of the Russian navy, M. Bartoshevitch, 
of the St. Petersburg University, M. Tomsen, Windakovitch, 
and several others. The expedition proposes to explore the 
little-known parts of Equatorial Africa, between 1° and 10° N, 
Tha will he de rved? 
31 «n” 6a 
Se Bn! 7 py avnencec 
