68 



NATURE 



\May 20, 1880 



The travellers were robbed, and owe their lives simply to forced 

 night-marches, gun in hand. They reached Kassala on February 

 12. Dr. Mook gives a sad account of the deplorable condition 

 of the Soudan, where, as it seems, complete anarchy prevails. 



The United .States Government is fitting out an expedition at 

 San Francisco to search for the Arctic exploring vessel yeaiinctte, 

 which has now been some months out. The revenue cutter 

 Corwin has been selected for the duty, and she will start with 

 one year's provisions. Her instructions are to search for two 

 missing whalers also. The Jeannelte went by m hat is called the 

 eastern passage by Behring's Straits, and Capt. Markham, 

 formerly of Her Majesty's ship Alert, of Polar fame, suggested 

 that every year during the JcauitdU's absence a vessel like the 

 Corwin should be sent into the Arctic region; to save her or to 

 learn, as the case may be, of her jirogi-ess. 



An Austrian expedition, imder the guidance of Dr. Otto 

 Benndorf, Professor of Classical Archeology at the Vienna 

 University, is about to start for Olvmpia. Besides Dr. Benn- 

 dorf, Prof. E. Petersen (Prague), Dr. W. Gurlitt (Graz), some 

 other member of the Vienna University, and an architect, will 

 take part in the expedition. Dr. W'ilhelm Klein, A\ho has 

 already started for Greece, will meet the expedition at Olympia. 

 Another authority in archaeology, Prof. Ernst Curtius, has also 

 started for Olympia. 



The Dutch ship IVillem Barends is being equipped for a third 

 North Polar Expedition. 



Herr Robert von Schlagintweit, the well-known tra- 

 veller, has arrived at New York, whence he will proceed to 

 Washington. He then intends to go on a scientific tour to the 

 West of North America. 



The first sheet of a large prehistoric map of Bavaria, by Prof. 

 H. Ohlenschlager, has recently been published. It comprises 

 the district where, in the present day, Munich, Rosenheim, and 

 Kempten are situated. The whole map will consist of fifteen 

 sheets. 



No. 4 of Band xxiii. of the Millhciliuiyen of the Vienna 

 Geographical Society contains the fir^t part of an account of a 

 botanical excursion to the Kasbeck (Caucisus) in the summer of 

 1871, by Peter Muromtzoff. At the monthly meeting of the 

 Society, on April 27, a letter was read from Dr. Oskar Lenz 

 from Tarudent, describing his passage of the Moroccan Atlas 

 in which he gives some interesting cbservatlnns on the mountains 

 and the people. Auotlier letter was from Lieut. Kreitner, w'ha 

 accompanied Count Szechenyi in his altem|.t to penetrate Tibet 

 through China. Lieut Kreitner states that he plotted carefully 

 the whole route of the party and took many observations, while 

 his companion, Herr von Loczy, took as careful note of the 

 geological features of the region traversed. 



V Exploration for May 13 has the second of a series of 

 articles on Central Japan, Yeddo being the subject of the present 

 instalment ; there is also a translation of Lieut. Bove's project of 

 Antarctic exploration, the main points of wiiich we have already 

 given ; the number also contains reports nf the geographical 

 societies of Quebec and the Argentine Kepulilic, and numerous 

 notes and news, tlie sources of whicli, ve regret to see, are 

 seldom acknowledged, their value thereby being much decreased 

 Under the editorship of M. Tournafond this journal is im- 

 proving, though we think there is still much to be done ere it 

 can be regarded as occupying a fir,t place among geographical 

 journals. 



Dr. Holub, the well-known African traveller, has opened an 

 interesting exhibition at Vienna, which contains thousands of 

 objects brought by him from the South African tribes. They 

 are arranged in various groups, and are classified as zoological, 

 botanical, mmeralogical, archKological, ethnographical, and 

 commercial objects. 



THE PARALLEL ROADS OF LOCHABER^THE 



PROBLEM AND ITS VARIOUS SOLUTIONS^ 



^T a recent meeting of the Inverness Scientific Society and 



Field Club, and again at Fort William, in the immediate 



neighbourliood of the phenomena, a lecture was given on the 



above subject by Mr. William Jolly, H.M. Inspector of Schools, 



who has, for more than ten years, devoted great attention to the 



■ ^y William Jolly, F.R.S.E., H.M. Inspector of Schools, Inverness. 



subject, and will shortly publish the results of his investiga- 

 tions. 



l\Ir. Jolly thought the subject peculiarly appropriate for their 

 Society, both on account of its intrinsic interest and the eminent 

 men who had written of it, and the proximity of the Club to the 

 locality exhibiting these singular and attractive phenomena. His 

 aim was to state the problem, to explain the solutions offered, 

 give its bibliography, criticise the theories, and develop more 

 fully the one he adopted. He first described the locality of the 

 roads in Glen Roy, Glen Spean, Glen Gluoy, and Glen Laggan, 

 all at the south end of the Great Glen ; and their unique and 

 striking aspect, such as to draw the attention of the primitive 

 Cells. They had received several names, being known in Gaelic 

 as A''a Casan, literally the feet, hence footpaths, of which 

 Parallel Roads was a literal translation. Campbell of Islay's 

 rendering, "The Bends," the Rev. Mr. McGregor, of Inverness, 

 the Gaelic scholar, thought fanciful, and without foundation. 

 They were also variously called "lines," "shelves," &c. The 

 highest recognised is in Glen Gluoy at 1,172 feet, another exist- 

 ing there at 964 ; the three chief in Glen Roy stand at i, 14S, 

 1,067, -I'ld 855 ; the lowest sweeping round into Glen Spean at 

 the same level. A possible road, discoA-ered by Darwin in 1838, 

 in Glen Laggan, above the Loch Laggan Locks, is 1,300 feet 

 high. Their breadth varies from 40 to 70 feet, giving an average 

 of 60. They slope towards the valley at an angle of from 5 deg. 

 to 30 deg., the hill face being inclined from 25 deg. to 40deg. 



Mr. Jolly then, by means of a printed diagram, which enhanced 

 the clearness nf the exposition, explained the Conditions of the 

 problem, all of which must be satisfied by any theory claiming 

 to be the true solution. These conditions were the following ; — 



I. — The CoNDtTioNS of the Problem 

 I. — Tie Ptxiiliar Form and Character oj the Reads 



1. Their general horizontality and p.irallelism. 



2. Their general equality of Midth (a) in the course of the 

 same line, and [b] in relation to each other. 



3. Their general continuity. 



4. Their stair-like form, as of parallel layers laid successively 

 on each other on the hill-side. 



5. Their sloping towards the'valley. 



6. Their being proportionately nan-ower where they are 

 steeper. 



7. Their general absence where solid rock protrudes, and 

 where the slope is exceptionally flat. 



S. The dt'bris of the hill above and below]^ the Roads sloping 

 more or less at the angle of repose. ' ,. 



II. — Their Composition 



9. The absence of rounded, water-worn stones-i^along them, 

 and the general greater or less angularity of these. 



10. Their consisting of the same debris as the rest of the hill- 

 face, and not of transported matter. 



11. The absence of cliflTs, caves, and rock-notching, or any 

 deep erosion, along their course. 



III. — Their Distribution 



12. Their sudden endings in all cases, without greater accumu- 

 lations of debris or other indications of the cause of the same. 



13. The symmetrical disappearance of the same lines at points 

 opposite each other, in the same and contiguous valleys. 



14. The outward extension of the roads, according to their 

 lesser altitude. 



15. Their occasional disajipearance for considerable distances. 



16. Their different altitudes in different glens, and the absence 

 of the s.ame lines in neighbouring glens. 



17. Their being confined to Glen Roy and neighbourhood. 



IV. — Their Relations 



18. The existence of cols in connection with and slightly lower 

 than each of the main roads. 



19. The existence of other lines of a different character, above 

 and below the roads. (Dwelt much on by Chambers.) 



20. The existence of much terraced debris, below the roads, in 

 the bottoms of the valleys containing them. 



21. The relation of the roads to the glaciation of the district 

 and its remains. 



II. — The Solutions of the Problem 

 Mr. Jolly then expounded, by means of another diagram, the 

 various theories proposed to satisfy these Conditions, and account 

 for the Roads, naming the writers advocating them, with their 



