594 



NA rURE 



lApril 2^, 1884 



remembered, was performed during the years 1870-73, 

 when this distinguished traveller reached as far as the 

 Lama monastery of Cheibsjn near Lake Koko-Nor, and 

 ti Tsaidam, but was forced to abandon his intention of 

 going to Lhassa, and so retraced his steps to Alashan. 

 From thence he went to Pekin, and returned to Siberia 

 across the Desert of Gobi. The second journey was 

 undertaken from Kuldja to the Lake Lob Nor across the 

 Tian-shan Mountains. On the third journey Col. Prje- 

 valsky started from Zaisan, passing through Barkul Khami, 

 .Sa-tzhei, and Tsaidam, where he reached the country he 

 had e.xplored on his first journey. He now proceeded to 

 carry out his former intention of going to Lhassa, and he 

 struggled over the great plateau of Tan-la till he reached 

 the town of Booratza. At Nap-chu, in the neighbourhood 

 of this town, he was informed that he would be allowed 

 to proceed no further in the direction of the capital of the 

 Dalai Lama. He was then a little more than 160 miles 

 from Lhassa. Negotiations were useless : he was not 

 allowed to proceed. Contenting himself with taking a 

 portrait of the messengers from the Dalai Lama, he turned 

 northwards and retraced the long and wearisome march 

 across the Tan-la plateau. The winter of 1879 So was 

 occupied with this march and with the observations upon 

 the manners and customs of the people, as well as inves- 

 tigations into the flora and fauna of the district he was 

 pas-ing through. Prjevalsky possesses in an eminent 

 degree the buoyant spirit of the traveller which enables 

 him to observe calmly and critically the surroundings in 

 which he finds himself, even though he is overcome with 

 hardship or pre>sed by the weight of disappointment. 

 Returning to Tsaidam, he set out on his way to Lake 

 Koko-Nor, where he had been in the year 1873. He re- 

 mained in this neighbourhood for some time, and he 

 followed the course of the Hoang-ho for about 150 miles. 

 This part of his journey took him over new ground, and 

 his explorations ot these upper waters of the Yellow River 

 or Hoang-ho are of the utmost value. He followed the 

 course of the river as far as Gui-dui, which forms an oasis 

 amidst great arid mountain-chains It was so difficult to 

 advance and forage was so scarce that Prjevalsky turned 

 back from the Hoang-ho and directed his steps towards 

 Lake Koko-Nor. The rain, which had stopped for a 

 time, recommenced, and was often accompanied with 

 severe cold, which added materially to the discomforts of 

 the jo rney. The monastery of Cheibsen was revisited 

 after the lapse of about seven years, and there Prjevalsky 

 was well received by the priests, whose acquaintance he 

 had made on his former visit. The journey was continued 

 through Nan-iihan and Alashan amidst the wildest 

 mountain scenery, till a descent was made upon the great 

 Desert of Gobi. The change was great from the high 

 mountains of Pan-cu to the waterless expanse of the 

 desert, but Prjevalsky was always ready with his note- 

 book as well as with his gun ; and the result is that this 

 volume contains a mass of information for the ethnologist 

 as well as for the naturalist. The return was made in 

 safety through the desert to Urga and Kiakhta. This is 

 a brief outline of the journey recorded in these pages, and 

 the only regret one has is that so few amongst us can 

 read the language in which it is written. It is to be 

 hoped that the volume will ere long be translated into our 

 own language. 



The simplicity of the style, the novelty of the subject, 

 the interest of the narrative, and the personality of the 

 writer, who has reached such a high position amongst 

 adventurous travellers, combine to make this a most in- 

 valuable acquisition for the library of the naturalist as 

 well as of the geographer. Very many new species have 

 been obtained of both plants and animals, and one of the 

 most important of the discoveries recorded is that of a 

 new species of horse. Polyakofif has proposed to call 

 this new species (of which a specimen is to be found in 

 the museum of the Academy of Sciences in St. Peters- 

 burg) after the discoverer — Eguus Prjcialskii. But the 

 new species of plants and animals are so numerous that 

 it has been proposed to apply a special name to the flora 

 and fauna of the district, which are found to differ con- 

 siderablv from those of Western China. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



Deutsche Kolonicn. Eiii Beitrag zur Besser Kenntniss 

 des Lebens imd Wirkens unseter Landleute in alien 

 Erdteiler. Von Karl Emil Jung. (Leipzig: Freytag, 

 18S4.) 

 Dr. Jung is well known as an accomplished writer, both 

 on the scientific and economical aspects of the Australian 

 colonies, in which he spent some years His present 

 broclntre is one of much interest, though its immediate 

 subject is beyond our scope. It is a curious fact that 

 though the Germans have no colonies, they are probably, 

 next to the English, the greatest colonisers of any Euro- 

 pean nation. Even according to the census returns, the 

 German population of the United .States is very great, 

 and as Dr. Jung show^s, it is much greater than it seems, 

 for many ot the earlier colonists have Anglicised their 

 names, and been absorbed in the general population. To 

 the culture of the States, and indeed to the intellectual 

 side of all the colonies in which they have settled, the 

 Germans have largely contributed. Dr. Jung gives 

 interesting details of German migrations into England, 

 Russia, Australia, South Africa, as well as the States, and 

 from the ethnological standpoint his little work deserves 

 the attention of the scientific student. 



Catalogue de la Bibliotheque Japonaise de Nordenskjbld. 



Coordonncf, revu, annoti, et public par L&n de Rosny. 



(Paris, 1883.) 

 This collection of Japanese works in all departments of 

 literature, which appears to have been collected by Baron 

 Nordenskjold while in Japan, has been presented by him 

 to the Biljliotheque Royale at Stockholm. The editor, 

 the veteran Japanese scholar, M. de Rosny of Paris, has 

 not been satisfied with a bald catalogue, but has in many 

 instances added descriptive and analytic notes of the con- 

 tents, the character of the work, and its place in Japanese 

 literature ; and although the collection can hardly equal 

 in extent and value those of several European libraries, 

 we are not aware that such an excellent catalogue exists 

 in any European language. The whole contains about 

 1000 works in over 5000 volumes, and is divided and sub- 

 divided by M. de Rosny with much nicety. The scientific 

 works are not very numerous. On the exact sciences 

 (arithmetic, geometry, algebra, astronomy, &c.) there are 

 only 104 volumes, and on the natural sciences 445. But 

 most of these are dated prior to the opening of the 

 country to foreigners, and to the student who could 

 examine them they would present an interesting pic- 

 ture of the state of scientific knowledge at various 

 periods. 



