Feb, 



is; 



NA TURE 



323 



stations, with tht: mean temperatures for 1877. being, Curepipe 

 (1800 feet) 68°'3, Bonne Veine (1500 feet) 69°'5, and Midlands 

 (1400 feet) 73°'2. The difference in height (400 feet) of the 

 first and last of these, and the difference of their mean annual 

 temperatureF, 4° '9, call for inquiry, and in connection tlierewith 

 it may be suggested that a small map showing the physical 

 features of Mauritius and the positions of the various stations 

 would usefully illuslrate these reports. As regards thunderstorms, 

 which are carefully recorded, none occurred from May to 

 October during 1S76 and 1877, and the daily maximum is from 

 I to 4 p.m., with a tendency to a .'ecoudary nia.ximum about 

 sunset, and the daily minimum from 10 p.m. to a little after 

 sunrise. 



Tn a supplement to No. 366 of the Bulletin International of 

 the Paris Observatory M. Mascart gives an interesting and rapid 

 sketch of the meteorology of Europe for December last, 'illus- 

 trated \^ ith two maps showing the storm-tracks over the Conti- 

 nent during the month. During the fir>t half of the month the 

 storm-tracks were all to northward of the British Isles and 

 Denmark, and fine H eather prevailed particularly in Scotland, 

 Denmark, and Germany. In France high barometers ruled with 

 light winds, and temperatures high for the season. Thecontrast 

 afforded with the weather in France during December, 1879, is 

 is most striking ; thus on December 10 of both years barometers 

 were unusually high in France, but in iSSo the mean tempera- 

 ture was 50°'5, whereas en December 10, 1S79, the mean tem- 

 perature was - I4°'i. The bearings of the geographical posi- 

 tions of anticyclones, with their high pressures, on the tempera- 

 ture of the regions covered by them is a point well worthy of 

 examination. The influence of a high-pressure area resting 

 over the Atlantic and extending on its eastern side ovtr Western 

 Europe, has doubtless a very different influence on the tempera- 

 ture of that part of the Continent than an area of high pressure 

 covering the Continent and terminated on ils west side by France 

 and Spain, even though the barometer be equally high over the 

 west of Europe. During the second half of December the 

 storm-tracks took a much more souiherly course, several being 

 as far south as the Channel and the north shores of Germany. 

 The result was an extension south of the cold, so thaf in Orkney 

 and the Hebrides tenp^ralures were nearly 3^'o below the nor- 

 mal, on the Twted about the normal, rising farther south to I°'I 

 above the normal in North Wales, 5°'o in the Channel Isles, and 

 6°7 in Paris. During December, 1879, temperature in Paris 

 was 2I°'2 below the normal, ihe mean for that month being 

 I7°'6, or 27° '9 colder than that of la»t December. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



On Tuesday night, at the Royal Institution, Mr. Edward 

 Wymper described his ascents of Chimborazo and Cotopaxi to 

 a distinguished audience. While purely athletic mountaineers 

 had his sympathy in the practice of mountaineering as a sport, 

 Mr. Whymper confessed that his sympathies w ere much more 

 with those who ea ployed iheir brains as well as their muscles. 

 His journey to the Andts was to be one of work, and all its 

 arrangements were devised so as to econcmise time to the utter- 

 most. In observations for altitudes and position, in studying 

 the manners and customs of the couLtry, in photography and 

 sketching, in the collection of objects of interest, frcm beetles 

 on the summits of mountains to antiquities buried in the ground, 

 he found quite sufficient to occupy his time. From Bodegas 

 the party was composed of two Swiss mountaineers, the cousins 

 Carrel of \3.\ Tournanche, Mr. Perring, some muleteers, and 

 their teams. When they reached the summit of Chimborazo, 

 on the 3rd of Jai uary, after a most arduous climb, they found 

 the wind blowing at the rate of 50 miles an hour, from the 

 north-east, and ..driving the snow before it. With extreme 

 difficulty, a reading of the mercurial barometer was effected. 

 The mercury fell to I4'i inches witli a temperature of 21 deg. 

 Fahr. This being worked out, in comparison with a nearly 

 simultaneous observation at Guayaquil, gave 20,545 feet for the 

 height of Chimborazo. They began the descent at 20 minutes 

 past 5, with scarcely an hour and a quarter of daylight, and 

 reached their camp (about 17,400 feet above the sea-level) about 

 9 p.m., having been out nearly sixteen hours, and on foot the whole 

 time. Passing from an extinct to an active volcano, Mr. 

 Wymper next gave an account of his journey to the crater of 

 Cotopaxi. Observing with tlie telescope, during an enforced stay 



at Machachi, that much less smoke or vapour was given off' at 

 night than by day, he resolved, if possible, to pass a night on 

 the summit. On the iSth of February the party got to the edge 

 of the crater, having passed almost the whole way from their 

 camp at a height of 15,000 feet to the foot of the final cone 

 over snow, and then over ash mixed with ice. The final 

 cone w as the steepest part of the ascent, and on their side pre- 

 sented an angle of 36 deg. When they reached the crater vast 

 quantities of smoke and vapour were boiling up, and they could 

 only see portions of the opposite side at intervals, and the bottom 

 not at all. Their tent was pitched 250 feet from the edge of the 

 crater, and during a violent squall the india-rubber floor of the 

 tent w as found to be on the point of melting, a nia.ximum ther- 

 mometer show ii g a temperature of 1 10 deg. on one side of the 

 tent and of but 50 deg, on the other ; in the middle it was 

 72 '5 deg. Outside it was intensely cold, and a thermometer on 

 the tent cord showed a /«/«//««/« of 13 deg. At night they had a 

 fine view of the crater, which has a diameter from north to south 

 of 2000 feet, and from east to west of about 1500 feet. In the 

 interior the walls descend to the bottom in a series of steps of 

 precipice, and slope a good thousand feet, and at the bottom 

 there was a nearly circular spot of glowing fire, 200 feet in diame- 

 ter. On tlie sides of the interior higher up, fissures, from which 

 flickering flames w ere leaping, showed that the lava was red hot 

 a very short distance below the surface. The height he found 

 to be 19,600 feet. The party remained at the top for twenty-six 

 consecutive hours-, sleeping about 130 feet below the loftiest point 

 At first they had felt the effects of the low pressure of the at- 

 mosphere, and ag.iin, as at Chimborazo, took chlorate of potash 

 with good effect. All signs of mountain sickness had passed 

 away before they commenced the descent, and did not recur 

 during the journey. Nearly five months later Mr. Whymper 

 returnedrto Chimborazo, and from a second reading of the baro- 

 meter at I4"02S inches, with a temperature of 15 deg. Fahrenheit, 

 he made the height 20,489 feet, the mean of the two readings 

 giving 20, 5 17 feet. While on the side of Chimborazo he witnessed 

 a magnificent eruption of Cotopa.\i, ashes rising in a column 

 20,000 feet above the rim of the crater and then spreading over 

 an area of many miles. Prof. Bonney had submitted the ash 

 to microscopic examination, and found that the fineness varied 

 frcm 4000 to 25,000 particles to the grain in weight, and from 

 observation of the area over which the ash fell Mr. Whymper 

 calculated that at least two million tons must have been ejected 

 in this one eruption. 



A TELEGRAM was read at a recent meeting of the French 

 Academy of Sciences from M. de Brazza, who has been con- 

 ducting an exploration in the region of the Ogowe and Congo, 

 West Africa. Quite recently a French station has been founded 

 in the upfer course of the former river in connection with the 

 International African Association. In July last, M. de Brazza 

 informs the Academy, he reached the Congo from this station 

 on the Ogowe, between the river Inpaka Alpania and the river 

 "Lawson Afrisi." Gaining the favour of King Makoko he 

 pacified the tribes on the right bank of the Congo, and peace- 

 fully descended the river in a canoe. On October 3 he founded 

 the station of Ntamo Ncoma on land ceded by King Makoko 

 on the right bank of the Congo. M. de Brazza surveyed the 

 route between the Ogowe and Congo ; it is tvvelve marches in 

 lengtli, over a plateau of an average height of Sco metres. The 

 country is healthy, and the population dense and peaceful. In 

 November last M. de Brazza arrived at Mdambi Mbongo, the 

 advanced post of Mr. Stanley, whom he met, and with whom 

 he reached the latter's headquarters at Vivi on November 12. 

 If the new station can be maintained and victualled, it is no 

 doubt w ell chosen as a starting-point for further discovery, fo. 

 both north and south of it there are large regions of which he 

 knew- nothing. 



At the meeting of the Geographical Society on Monday last, 

 Mr. E. Delmar Morgan gave some account of his journey last 

 year to Semiretchia and the town of Kulja. Being unable to 

 make use cf the more southern line of communications, Mr. 

 Morgan travelled by the northern post-road from Orenburg 

 to Troitsk and Petropaulofsk, and thence to Omsk and Semi- 

 palatinsk. He then struck southwards to Sergiopol, where he 

 was detained three weeks owing to the southern road being 

 blocked by snow. He afterwards went to Kulja for a short 

 time, and he also made some excursions to Issyk-kul and other 

 places of interest. In the course of the discussion which fol- 

 lowed the paper, Mr. Ashton Dilke, the only other Englishman 



