546 



NATURE 



\_Feb. 7, i! 



night something more will be seen." At eight o'clock on the 

 evening of January 3 the comet was in R.A. 47°'5, declination 

 i°'5 south, distant from the earth o'276 ; the moon was at full 

 tuodays previously, so that the tail might have been in great 

 measure overpowered by her light in the indifferent state of the 

 sky. Pepys has no farther reference to the comet till March 1 1, 

 when the "Diary" says: " To Gre>ham College, where Mr. Hooke 

 read a second very curious lecture about the late comet ; among 

 other things proving very probably that this is the very same 

 comet that appeared before in the year i6i8, and that in such a 

 time probably it will appear again, which is a very new opinion ; 

 but ail will be in print." We do not remember to have met with 

 other reference to this opinion of Hooke's, though probably 

 such must exist ; and it is not easy to explain upon what grounds 

 he founded the idea. The comet referred to was the third of 

 l6l8, which, to use Pingre's ])hrase, almost exercised the 

 printing-press as much as tliat of 1664. It was observed by 

 Harriot at Sion House, Isleworth, or, as it was then called, 

 Thistleworth. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



Our readers may have noticed that Dr. Holub had met with 

 unexpected difficulties at the Cape in the prosecution of his 

 journey into the African interior, the Cape authorities insisting 

 on payment of the full duty on the traveller's scientific equipment. 

 It will be seen from the following communication, which has 

 been sent us for publication, that the difficulty has been happily 

 and promptly settled : — "Downing Street, February 2, 18S4. — 

 Sir, — I am directed by the Earl of Derby to acknowledge the 

 receipt of your letter of the 29th uU., relative to the exploring 

 expedition undertaken by Dr. Holub in South Africa ; and I 

 am to acquaint you, for the information cf Sir Joseph Hooker, 

 that a telegram has been sent to the officer administering the 

 Government of the Cape of Good Hope, requesting that special 

 concessions may be made in respect to the Customs duties, and 

 that support may be afforded to Dr. Holub in the prosecution of 

 his enterprise. A despatch to the same eftect will follow by the 

 outgoing mail. — I am, &c. (signed), Robert G. \V. Herbert. 

 — The Assistant Director, Royal Gardens, Kew." 



In the Bolletino of the Italian Geographical Society for January 

 an account is given of a curious manuscript recently presented to 

 the Society by Count Pietro Antonelli. It forms a bulkv codex 

 of 125 sheets of parchment, consisting mostly of formulas and 

 magic incantations written in the old Giz (Ethiopic) language 

 with a large admixture of Amharic. Amongst the contents is 

 also the Aud A'fges't, or Royal Circular, comprising sixteen 

 circles, each of which occupies a whole page of the codex. All 

 are divided into sixteen .segments, each containing some text on 

 the various incidents of human existence, which are aftei wards 

 expounded in greater detail. Then come thirty chapters, each 

 divideci into fifteen lines, every one of which contains some sen- 

 tence or aphorism. The donor has received the King Humbert 

 gold medal for the scientific work accomplished by him in the 

 Italian settlement of Assab and neighbouring district. The 

 same number of the Bolleliiio contains a description of the 

 interesting coUeciion presented last year to the prehistoric ethno- 

 graphic museum at Rome by M. van Oordt of Leyden. This 

 collection comprises a beautiful series of amulets, musical instru- 

 ments, costumes and all kinds of persoml ornaments used by the 

 Maronites of the Lebanon, the Druses of Hauran and other 

 Syrian populations. Some have a considerable intrinsic value, 

 while others are noteworthy for their rarity and the elegance of 

 their forms and ornamentation. One of the most remark.able 

 olijects is the girdle worn by rich Bedouin and Druse brides, 

 consisting of a broad many-coloured silken sash with a large 

 silver clasp nearly oval at both extremities. It is opened by 

 means of a needle, and embellished with conic filigree buttons 

 and silver chains, from which are suspended little globules, 

 crescents, and other charms. 



The S}diiey Morning Herald of December 27, 1883, says :— 

 An exploring party, under the leadership of Mr. Charles Win- 

 nicke, an experienced explorer and bushman, has just made a 

 succe-sful journey through a large portion of unknown country in 

 the interior of Autralia. The party was provided with camels 

 and horses, but the latter were never required. Mr. Winnicke 

 made a start from Cawarrie station, on the Warburton River, in 

 latitude 28° S., and traversed the country to the north as far as 

 latitude 27°, effecting a connection with previous explorations 



near Goyder's Pillars. A most remarkable natural feature in the 

 Tailton Range was discovered by Mr. Winnicke during his 

 Herbert River explorations. Several long stages without water 

 were encountered a few days after the party left Cawarrie station, 

 and a distance of 200 to 300 miles had to be traversed across the 

 highest sand ridges in Australia before water could again be 

 obtained. Many more long stages of between 100 and 2co miles 

 without water were travelled. In many instances the sand ridges, 

 which were from 300 to 400 feet high, and very steep, had to 

 be crossed at right angles. Two large rivers and an extensive 

 range were discovered near the Queensland boundary, and alto- 

 gether Mr. Winnicke succeeded in mapping about 40,000 square 

 miles of unknown country, which will help to fill in another large 

 blank space on the map of Australia. 



Mr. O'Neill, who arrived at Mozambique on February 4, 

 after having traversed 1400 miles of unexplored country, situated 

 between Mozambique and L.ake Nyassa, has discovered Lake 

 Amarambu, the existence of which was previously unknown, 

 and which he declares to be the true source of the Pienda (?) 

 River. Mr. O'Neill reports Lake Shirwa to be smaller than 

 has been represented. On his return Mr. O'Neill followed the 

 Likelungo Valley, which he found to be well populated. 



Dr. Ciiavanne will start in a few days on his expedition to 

 the interior of Africa, undertaken for the Belgian " Institut 

 National de Geographic." He will employ the first eight months 

 of his time in drawing up an accurate chart of 'he Congo ; and 

 then penetrate from Leopoldville to the north to explore the 

 hitherto unknown districts lying in that direction and the water- 

 courses. It must depend on circumstances whether he will effect 

 his return along the Nile, by Zanzibar, or by the Congo. The 

 provisional chart of the Congo, which was published a short time 

 since in America, is now sold here. 



In vol. xix. of the Izvesiia of the Russian Geographical 

 Society we find the results obtained by M. Grinevetsky during 

 his journey across Novaya Zemlya in the spring of 1878. The 

 country is a plateau, about 450 feet above the sea-level, with 

 deep valleys in which several lakes are concealed. The rivers 

 cut deeply into the plateau. The south-eastern winds blov/ freely 

 on the plain, denuding it of its snow covering. Three different 

 parts may be distinguished in the southern island of Novaya 

 Zemlya : the northern part, which is covered by mountains quite 

 unknown, is bounded on the south by the Pukhovaya River. 

 The middle part is covered by five or six parallel chains of hills, 

 the highest summits of which reach 800 feet ; they run north- 

 west, close to the western coast, having a wide plateau to the 

 east. The southern part is a plateau not more than 450 feet 

 high, and M. Grinevetsky doubts very much if there are moun- 

 tains 20C0 feet high, as has been stated. One observation of 

 M. Grinevetsky is worthy of notice. It is most probab!e, he 

 says, that there are two varieties of reindeer in Novaya Zemlya. 

 One of them inhabits the southern island, and the other, which 

 does not mix with the former, inhatiits only the northern island ; 

 it is said by the hunters to be much like that of Spitzbergen. 

 In fact the Russian hunters have found very ofien on Spitzbergen 

 a kind of reindeer w ith cut ears, which, they are persuaded, 

 comes from Novaya Zemlya. In the Report of the Polar Com- 

 mission in the hvestia of the Russian Geographical .Society 

 (1871) reasons were given for believing, along with Baron 

 Shilling, in the existence of an archipelago to the north-west 

 of Novaya Zemlya (the feebleness of the cold sea current in 

 Barents Sea, and the large quantities of mud and gravel seen 

 on the floating ice north-west of Novaya Zemlya). The remark of 

 the hunters was also referred to, and the opinion expressed that, 

 if such an archipelago existed, the Novaya Zemlya reindeer really 

 might cross the sea during favourable years, reach this archi- 

 pelago, and thence continue their migrations to Spitzl ergen. 

 The discovery of Franz Josef Land renders this supposition still 

 more probable, especially if the Franz Josef archipelago extends 

 farther to the east, which extension seems most probable, 

 on account of the feebleness of the polar current that enters 

 Barents Sea, which surely would be much stronger if the space 

 between Novaya Zemlya and the North Pole were occupied 

 entirely by an open sea. The observation of M. Grinevetsky 

 again raises this question : Is it true that the Novaya Zemlya 

 reindeer afford so many distinct affinities with the Spitzbergen 

 reindeer as to be considered as belonging to the same sub- 

 variety ? And if so, how- explain these affinities without ad- 

 mitting (as the hunters do) that the reindeer in his migrations 



