468 



NATURE 



{^Scpt. 1 6, 1880 



It will depend on tbe state of affairs in that region whether tlie 

 expedition afterwards crosses the Hindoo Koosh to Cabul and 

 Candahar, and proceeds to India and China, or whether it takes 

 the road to Pekin througli Kasligaria and Thibet. Persia and 

 Asia Minor will be touched on the \\ay home, and Prof. d'Ujfalvy 

 hopes to reach Paris by the beginning of 18S2. D'Ujfah'y has 

 received a subsidy of So,ooo francs from the French Government, 

 and is accompanied by two salaried officials connected w itli the 

 Ministry of Pubhc Instruction, Gabriel Bonvalo, a naturalist, 

 and Guillaume Kapius, a doctor of natural science. 



The current number of the Geographical ?>oae.bj\ Prccadings 

 opens with Sir R. Temple's lecture on the highway from the 

 Indus to Candahar (illustrated by woodcuts from his own 

 sketches), which is most appropriately followed by Capt. 

 Beavan's " Notes on the Country between Candahar and Girishk." 

 The map, which will embody new material, is promised with 

 next number. The other paper is an account by Mr. Coppingcr, 

 R.N., of a visit to Skyring Water, Straits of Magellan. In the 

 geographical notes much prominence is naturally given to Mr. 

 Thomson's letters describing the concluding part of his very 

 successful journey in East Africa, the only disaster of which 

 has been the sad death of Mr. Keith Johnston at the very outset. 

 In the letters now before us Mr. Thomson tells us how he vainly 

 — owing to the opposition of his own men — endeavoured to trace 

 the course of the Lukuga Creek from Lake Tanganyika to the 

 Congo, failing in which he returned to his camp at the south of 

 the lake, and then, having examined the previously unseen Lake 

 Hikwa (or Likwa), made the best of his way back to Zanzibar 

 through Unyanyembe. Among the other notes we find one on 

 the French expedition from the Senegal to the Niger, under Capt. 

 Gallieni, followed by others on routes between Kurram and 

 Ghazni, Russian Manchuria, Saghalin Inland, the Indo-Chinese 

 peninsula, and the affluents of the Rio Puriis. Sir J. H. Lefroy's 

 address to the Geographical Section of the British Association 

 is also given, together w ith a few notes on new books and maps, 

 the whole forming an exceedingly good number for the time of 

 the year. 



After spending two years in South Africa, Lieut. Een, a 

 Swedish traveller, has lately returned to Europe, bringing with 

 him valuable collections which he has formed in Damara-land, 

 in the departments of natural history and ethnography. 



C.\PT. Casa-j'i, an Italian traveller, is going to the Bahr-el- 

 Ghazal, whence he •« ill endeavour to reach Lake Chad through 

 the Niam-Niam country, vith the view of thoroughly investi- 

 gating the interesting problem of the relations between the 

 Rivers Welle and Shari. 



M. Lombard has gone to Abyssinia on a mission from the 

 French Government, to study the topography of the country, as 

 well as its civil and military organisation. 



The last issue of Le Globe contains a paper on "La Topo- 

 graphie comme Base de I'Enseignement geographique," and 

 another by M. Th. Vernet, on South Africa. 



The current number of Lcs Missions Catholiques contains 

 three papers of interest, viz., the conclusion of the narrative of a 

 journey in West Africa, part of the particulars respecting the' 

 march of the Algerian Missionary Society's last expeditions to 

 Lake Tanganyika and the Victoria Nyanza, and the first instal- 

 ment of a paper communicated by the Very Rev. Father 

 Dominique of Aden, on Somali-land, a region which is gradually 

 attracting a good deal of attention at the hands of travellers as 

 well as of missionaries. 



The most noteworthy contributions to the new number of 

 Les Annates de V Extreme Orient are a notice of M. Aymonnier's 

 Khmer-French Dictionary, and a vocabulary collected by the well- 

 known Thibetan traveller, Aljbe De^godins, of words in use among 

 several tribes on the Lan-t.<ang-kiang, or Upper Me-kong, the 

 Lou-tse-kiang, or Upper Salween, and the Upper Irrawaddy. 



A TELEGRAM from San Francisco, dated the 1st inst., states 

 that a despatch has been received at that port from Victoria, a 

 district at the northern extremity of America, to the effect that 

 the barque Malay has arrived there from Onnalaska, bringing 

 no tidings of the Jeannette, the vessel despatched some months 

 ago by the United States Government upon a voyage of Polar 

 discovery. The Malay reported that at Ounalaska the Jeannette 

 was given up fur lust, on account of the severity of last winter. 

 A despatch from Washington, in reference to the above rumoiu', 

 ridicules the idea that the Jeannette has met with a mishap. 



inasmuch as she was made as strong as human ingenuity could 

 contrive, and specially equipped and provided for the service on 

 which she was sent. Officers, says the HeraU, who have had 

 experience of the Arctic seas, say they know of no reason why 

 Lieut. De Long should not be as successful as Nordenskjbld was 

 in his Northern voyage. 



The series of letters from the enterprising correspondent of 

 the Daily Neivs in Central Asia are well worthy of attention ; 

 they contain many valuable observations both on the country 

 and the people. The Burmese correspondent of the same paper, 

 in a long letter in last Friday's issue, describes a journey into 

 the interior, giving much fresh information on a little known 

 region. 



THE FRENCH DEEP-SEA EX FLORA TION IN 



THE BA Y OF BISCA Y ' 

 T FEEL that I am indebted for the opportunity of giving an 

 account of the French Expedition which forms the subject 

 of this paper to my esteemed friend and colleague the Marquis 

 de Folin of Bayonne. He was until lately the Commandant of 

 that port, and is a most zealous and excellent naturalist. I may 

 indeed say that the Expedition originated with him. For more 

 than ten years he had at his own expense assiduously and care- 

 fully explored the sea-bed lying off Cap Breton, in the Depart- 

 ment of the Landes, as well as could be done in a fishing-boat ; 

 and the result of his researches among the marine Invertebrata 

 has been described, with illustrations by his pencil, in a useful 

 work called " Les Fonds de laMer," published at Bayonne]under 

 his direction. M. de Folin has from time to time sent me the 

 mollusca procured in his dredgings for my opinion ; and our cor- 

 respondence, with a visit which I paid him in December, 187S, 

 led to his making an application to the French Government for 

 the grant of a vessel to explore the depths which were knowm to 

 exist at a comparatively short distance from the northern coasts 

 of Spain in the Bay of Biscay. This evidently could not be 

 done in a fishing-boat ; and naturalists have much less money 

 than science. It was in fact a project for a nation, and not for 

 an individual. The application was, I believe, referred to the 

 Dean of thcjAcademy of Sciences, M. Milne-Edwards, whose 

 reputation as an eminent zoologist has been universally recog- 

 nised for more than half a century. His report was favourable ; 

 and a Government vessel was ordered to be placed at the 

 disposal of a Commission, of which M. Milne-Edwards was ap- 

 pointed president. The other members of the Commission were 

 the Marquis de Folin, Prof. Alphonse MUne-Edwards, Prof. 

 Vaillant, Prof. Marion of Marseilles, Dr. Paul Fischer, and M. 

 Perier of Bordeaux. The selection of these savants augured well 

 for the success of the Expedition, and it has been fully justified. 

 At the suggestion of M. de Folin, the Minister of Public In- 

 struction graciously invited me and the Rev. A. M. Norman (a 

 well-known zoologist) to take part in the expedhion. Mr. 

 Norman Iiad been my valued companion for many years past in 

 similar but less important excursions to Shetland and Norway. 

 It was to me a great pleasure to be again associated with him. 

 I regarded the invitation as far more than a compliment : it was 

 a great honour. 



I may here mention that immediately before the commence- 

 ment of the Expedition M. de Folin, Mr. Norman, and I had 

 some preparatory boat-dredging in the Fosse de Cap Breton. 

 This was done at the expense of the French Government. 

 When has our own Government shown such generosity in the 

 cause of science to French naturalists ? 



The vessel assigned for the purposes of the Expedition was 

 the Travailleur, a paddle-wheel steamer of over 900 tons, of 

 150 horse-power, and carrying four guns. She is an " aviso," 

 or despatch-boat, and is stationed at Rochefort for occasional 

 service. .She was supplied with a capital donkey-engine and 

 immense stores of cordage, sounding-wire, and other appar- 

 ratus. She had a very happy name, being an indefatigable 

 worker. Capt. E. M. F. Richard was the commander,_ or 

 " Lieutenant de Vaisseau ;" and the other officers were Lieu- 

 tenants Mahieux, Jecquet, Villegente, and Bourget, Aide-Cora- 

 mivsaire Gousselin, and Doctor Duplouy. Let me now express 

 my sincere thanks to the officers for their great kindness and 

 urbanity. They took a great interest in the work, and materially 

 promoted the welfare of the Expedition. The crew consisted of 

 1 28 men ; the usual number was between eighty and ninety, but 

 ■ Paper read .-\t the British AssociatiDD by J. Gwyn JefTreys, I.L.D., F.R.S. 



