NA TURE 



\_May 28, 1S74 



COL. CORDOh'S JOURNEY TO GONDOKORO 



A ATE have been favoured with the following remarks 

 • ' concerning Colonel Gordon's journey to Gondokoro. 

 Colonel Gordon," His Excellency, the Governor-general 

 of the equator !" arrived at Khartoun on March 13, and 

 had with him a Pall Mall Gazitie of Feb. 13 ; he writes 

 on the 17th from Khartoum as follows : — 



" At this season of the year the air is so dry that animal 

 matter does not decay or smell, it simply dries up hard ; 

 for instance a dead camel becomes in a short time a 

 drum. 



" The Nile, flowing from the Albert 'Nyanza below Gon- 

 dokoro, spreads out mto two lakes ; on the edge of these 

 lakes aquatic plants, with roots extending 5 ft. into 

 the water, flourish ; the natives burn the tops when dry, 

 and thus form soil for grass to grow on ; ithis is again 

 burnt, and it becomes a compact mass. The Nile rises 

 and floats out portions, which, being checked in a curve 

 of the channel, are joined by other masses, and eventually 

 the river is completely bridged over for several miles, and 

 all navigation is stopped. 



" Last year the governor of Khartoum went up with three 

 companies and two steamers, and cut away large blocks 

 of the vegetation ; at last one night the water burst the 

 remaining part, and swept down on the vessels, dragging 

 them down some four miles, amidst (according to the 

 Governor's account) hippopotami, crocodiles, and large 

 fish, some alive and confounded, others dead or dying, the 

 fish being crushed by the floating masses. One hippo 

 was carried against the bows of the steamer and killed, 

 and crocodiles 35 ft. long were killed : the Governor, who 

 was on the marsh, had to go five miles on a raft to get to 

 the steamer. 



" The eftect of these efforts of the Governor of Khartoum 

 is that a steamer can now go to Gondokoro in twenty-one 

 days, whereas it took months formerly to perform the 

 same journey." 



Colonel Gordon left Khartoum on March 21, and in 

 his last letter from Fashoda, 10° N., he touches on some 

 of the scenes on the banks of the river — the stoiks, 

 which he was in the habit of seeing arrive on the 

 Danube in April, laying back their heads between their 

 wings and clapping their backs in joy at their return to 

 their old nests on the houses, now wild and amongst the 

 crocodiles 2,000 miles away from Turkey ; the monkeys 

 coming down to drink at the edge of the river, with their 

 long tails, like swords, standing stiff up over their backs ; 

 the hippos and the crocodiles. Such scenes to a lover of 

 nature, as Col. Gordon is, doubtless would serve to make 

 up in some measure for the loss of civilised society and 

 comforts. 



THE EXTINCT FAUNA OF THE MASCA- 

 RENE ISLANDS* 



'TPHE members of the scientific expedition about to start 

 •*■ for Rodriguez should make themselves acquainted 

 with what has already been done towards the working out 

 of its wonderful extinct fauna. We therefore beg leave to 

 call their attention, and that of naturalists in general, to a 

 recent contribution of M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards to 

 our knowledge of this subject, published in the '' Annales 

 des Sciences naturelles." 



In this excellent memoir M. Milne-Edwards describes 

 the objects disinterred during some researches made in the 

 caverns of Rodriguez under the direction of Mr. Edward 

 Newton, the Colonial Secretary of Mauritius, as also the 

 contents of a small collection from Mauritius itself, made 

 in the same recent formation whence the complete skele- 

 tons of the Dodo were latley obtained. 



* *' Recherches sur la Faune ancienne des iles Mascarcignes." Par M, 

 Alph. Milne-Edwards. Ann. Sc. Nat., ser. 5 Zool., t. xix. 



The remains described and figured are entirely those of 

 Birds, to the extinct forms of which class the author of 

 this memoir has lately devoted so much of his attention. 

 The most remarkable form thus restored to us is certainly 

 the rail-like bird, apparently allied to the Ocydromus of 

 New Zealand, which is proposed to be called Erythro- 

 machiis leguati. This bird is of greater interest, as there 

 can be little question that it is the Geliiwte of which the 

 old voyager Legup.t speaks, as abundant in the island 

 200 years ago, and as being " grasse pendant toute I'annde 

 et d'un gout dcilicat," although we cannot quite understand 

 how the pectoral muscle can have been sufficiently large 

 to provide much sustenance to the hungry mariners of 

 those days ! Besides the Erythromachiis, M. Milne- 

 Edwards resuscitates species of owls, pigeons, parrots, 

 and herons, and concludes his useful memoir with some 

 pregnant remarks upon the general character of the 

 ancient fauna of the Mascarene Islands. 



We trust that the new expedition, soon about to start 

 for Rodriguez, will not fail to succeed in obtaining a much 

 more intimate acquaintance with both the ancient and 

 modern fauna of this remote island. 



NOTES 



The atmual meeting of the Linnean Society was held on 

 Monday, in conformity with the terms of the charter, when Prof. 

 Busk presided. The foUowing officers were elected: — Tresi- 

 dent, G. J. Allman, M.D. ; Treasurer, Daniel Hanbury ; 

 Secretaries, I'redericlv Currey ; and St. George J. Mivart. 

 Tlie five members of the present Council recommended to 

 be removed were — Dr. Braithwaite ; J.D.Hooker, C.B. ,M.D.; 

 J. G. Jeffreys, LL.D. ; Daniel Oliver; W. W. Saunder.";. 

 The five Fellows recommended to be elected into the 

 Council in the room of the above were — Major-Gen. Strachey ; 

 W. T. T. Dyer ; J. E. Harling ; W. P. Hiera; J. J. Weir. 



The Annual Report, dated Jan. 31, 1S74, of Mr. Gould, Go- 

 vernment Astronomer to the Argentine Republic, has come to 

 hand, containing an account of the work done at Cordoba Obser- 

 vatory during the past year. Judging from this and the previous 

 report, and from the amount of encouragement given to Mr. 

 Gould by the Argentine Government, it seems likely that Cordoba 

 Observatory will produce as valuable results as any other obser^ 

 vatory in the southern hemisphere. The observations of the 

 stars between 23° and So" of S.D. have been diligently con- 

 tinued, the heavens for this purpose being divided into a number 

 of zones of convenient size. More than 70,000 observations of 

 stars have in this way been made, and Mr. Gould confidently 

 hopes that by the middle of this year the zone-observations will 

 be completed, by which time he calculates that about 65,000 dif- 

 ferent stars will have been observed. Besides this a large number 

 of observations for instrumental corrections have been made, 

 besides repeated and careful observations of five or si.'c stars in 

 each zone for the purpose of detecting any errors of observation 

 in the other stars of the zone. A considerable amount of photo- 

 graphic work has also been done, though Mr. Gould has been 

 sadly hampered in this department. A variety of other useful 

 astronomical work has been done at the observatory, which, 

 under Mr, Gould's superintendence and by die liberality of the 

 Argentine Government, is being gradually brought to a condi- 

 tion of great efficiency. 



Mr. Gould is also provisional director of ti;e Argentine Me- 

 teorological Office, which has been established for only .about 

 two years ; heie also he has set to work in a thorough manner 

 with results that promise well for the future, notwithstanding the 

 difficulties that have met him in the getting together of good 

 instruments. He has endeavoured to collect all the meteorological 



