May 11, 1871] 
NATURE 33 

in India we possess almost unrivalled opportunities for examining 
and analysing the atmospheric column in all its parts, and that 
India proper, the Bay of Bengal and Burma, constitute a region 
which, for the purposes of one branch at least of meteorological 
science, demands to be taken and treated as a whole. The 
actual state of the case, on the other hand, is that for administra- 
tive purposes, British India is divided into eight principal dis- 
thicts or provinces, viz., Bengal, Madras, Bombay, N.W. 
Provinces, Oude, Panjab, Central Provinces, and Burma ; and 
in each of these, except Burma, is a separate local system of 
observation, with its own independent head, and very little com- 
munication with one another. 
ON the 2nd May, two days before the full moon, a complete 
Junar halo was observed at Clifton by Mr. George F. Burder, 
and described fully in the 7izes of the 4th. Mr. Burder saw the 
two halos, the large one and the small one, the larger being very 
difficult to be seen. A paraselenic circle, having the zenith for 
its centre, was also observed, and mock moons, or faraselies, 
four in number, were seen at the intersection of the halo with 
the paraselenic circle. This appearance, as usual, was followed 
by very bad weather. It is produced, as demonstrated by the 
French natural philosophers of the eighteenth century, by 
floating particles of ice ; and the light from the moon being con- 
siderable, the phenomenon was observed in all its glory. 
Mr. T. Locin’s reports on the experimental cultivation of 
cotton at Camp Bahalgurh in the Valley of the Jumna, are ex- 
ceedingly satisfactory. Although the crops were damaged by 
floods and by late frosts, the yield of clean cotton has been at 
the rate of 307} lbs. per acre, or from four to five times the 
average yield in India. Mr. Login attributes this result in great 
measure to his practice of irrigating the fields in the afternoon or 
night, rather than in the mid-day, believing that the combined 
action of light and heat on stagnant water makes it under almost 
all circumstances injurious to plants. 
Or the many fresh-water fish characteristic of the continent of 
North America, comparatively few, with the exception of mem 
bers of the salmon and trout family, are of sufficient economical 
value to make it expedient to introduce them into regions where, 
they do not naturally occur. This transfer has been made to a 
yery disastrous extent in the case of the pike (Zsox), which 
although multiplying rapidly, is at the same time the determined 
foe of all other kinds of fish, and soon almost exterminates them 
from the waters which it inhabits. For this reason, some States 
haye passed laws prohibiting, under severe penalties, except by 
direct permission of the Commissioners of the Fisheries, any 
transfer of the species in question to new localities. There is, 
however, one fish that is of great value, and which can be intro- 
duced without as much doubt of the propriety of the act as exists 
in regard to the pike. We refer to the black bass (Grystes sal- 
moides). This inhabits, in one variety or another, the basin of 
the great lakes of the Mississippi Valley, and the upper waters 
of the streams of the south Atlantic coast as far north as the 
James River. Within a few years it has been transferred with 
success to streams previously uninhabited by it—to the Poto- 
mac, for one, where it is now extremely abundant. During the 
past summer some public-spirited gentlernen of Philadelphia 
collected among themselves a fund to stock the Delaware with 
this noble fish, and obtained about seven hundred, principally in 
the vicinity of Harper’s Ferry. These were carried alive in large 
tanks to the Delaware, and deposited in that stream at Easton, 
about two hundred of the number dying by the way. The same 
party of gentlemen propose to use a surplus fund in their hands 
in experimenting upon the restocking of the river with shad and 
salmon, 
THE white sugarcane of Cuba has been tried in Columbia and 
found more productive than the local variety called Cinta. 

REPORT ON THE DESERT OF THE TIH* 
THE following report has been sent to the Vice-Chancellor of 
Cambridge by Mr. C. F. Tyrwhitt Drake, who received a 
grant from the University for the purpose of investigating the 
natural history of the Tih. He spent several months in the 
district, accompanied by Mr. E. H. Palmer (late of the Sinai 
Survey), who was travelling on behalf of the Palestine Explora- 
tion Fund :-— 
I have now the honour to lay before you a report of my work 
during last winter in the ‘‘ Badiet et Tih,” or Wilderness of the 
Wandering. As this desert had been only partially, and even 
then superficially examined, I shall give, firstly, a short account 
of the route we took and of the general physical features of the 
country ; and, secondly, the various traditions of beasts and birds 
which are current amongst the Arabs. Many of these are 
curious, from their similarity to Western tales; and others, 
though seemingly foolish in themselves, are not without interest, 
as illustrating the beliefs and folk-lore of the Bedawin. These 
stories are not so numerous as I found them to be in former 
journeys amongst Arabs inhabiting more fertile tracts, for the 
Desert of the Tih is in truth ‘‘a great and terrible wilderness.” 
The last winter, too, was one of unusual drought even in those 
parched regions, and the scattered tribes of Arabs who live there 
experienced great difficulty in finding pasture for the herds of 
camels and goats which exist in considerable numbers in some 
districts. 
The supply of water is very scanty and variable, as springs are 
extremely rare, and most of the water is obtained from ‘* Themail,”’ 
or pits dug in the gravelly beds of wadies, and similar situations 
into which the water filtrates. The water thus obtained is very 
bad, being impregnated either with mineral salts or lime, to say 
nothing of the quantity of earthy and animal matter held in sus- 
pension by its being constantly stirred up for the daily use of 
the Arabs and their flocks, who naturally collect in the neigh- 
bourhood of any place where water is to be had. This want ot 
water was the greatest drawback to the satisfactory exploration 
of the country : want of food may be contended with, obstructive 
Bedawin may be quieted, and trackless mountains crossed, but the 
absence of water renders a country impracticable, especially to 
those who travel as lightly laden as we did, dispensing with the 
usual suite of dragoman and servants. Picturesque and desirable 
.as a large retinue and guard of wild Arabs may appear to some 
persons, had we indulged in these impedimenta, I feel convinced 
that we should never have got through the country by any but 
the ordinary route. In these districts fertility is slowly but steadily 
being driven northwards, for various traces of cultivation and 
dwellings show that the rainfall must formerly have been plentiful 
and regular, for surely as: tillage and the consequent vegetation 
decreases, so will the rain-supply diminish till the land has be- 
come an irreclaimable waste. 
The manner in which gardens may be made and will afterwards 
sustain themselves, is well shown in those which still flourish at 
Sinai, notwithstanding the neglect of the present degraded 
inmates of the convent. 
Even in those parts of the Tih near El Aujeh and Wady el 
Abyadh which, from internal evidence, must at one time, and that 
within our era, have supported a large settled population, so 
desolate is the general aspect, that, to a casual observer, the 
country would seem to be and always to have been an utter waste. 
That they were so always is, however, at once negatived by the 
existence of several ruined cities surrounded by the remains of 
extensive gardens and vineyards ; of these, the walls alone remain 
to tell their tale. The vineyards are clearly to be traced on the 
low hills and rising grounds by the regular heaps and ‘‘ swathes ” 
of black flints, with which the chief part of the district is covered, 
and which still retain the name of ‘‘ Teleilat el ’Aneb ” or grape- 
mounds. These facts are of great importance as showing that the 
objections to fixing certain localities—mentioned in Scripture as 
abounding in pasturage—in what is now completely desert, may 
be set aside as worthless. I consider too, that the southern limit 
of the Promised Land, at the time of the Israelitish invasion, must 
be placed as far southas Wady El Abyadh. This would remove 
many difficulties hitherto met with in the satisfactory identification 
of Kadesh. Though I have not space to enter fully into the 
question here, I may say that there is strong evidence in favour 
of fixing that much-disputed locality at Ain Gadis (first dis- 
* A map to illustrate this paper is printed in the ‘‘ Quarterly Journal o 
the Palestine Exploration Fund ” for jane 
