64 
NATURE 
[May 21, 1885 
THE last issue of the Zsvestéa of the Russian Geographical 
Society (1885, 1) contains a very interesting paper, by M. Lessar, 
on ‘* South-Eastern Turcomania,” with a map, thirteen miles to 
an inch, of the region between Merv and Herat. This paper 
consists of a chapter on the occupation of Merv; a diary of the 
journey from Fol-otan to Penj-deh and in the Steppes; a geo- 
graphical sketch of South-West Turcomania ; and a translation 
of Sir Henry Rawlinson’s note, by which M. Lessar’s account of 
his first journey was accompanied in the Proceedings of the Royal 
Geographical Society, with a few remarks by the author. Capt. 
Abbot’s remarks on South-West Turcomania and the Badhyz 
are also translated in an appendix. The geographical descrip- 
tion of the region comprised between the oasis of Merv, the 
Murghab, the Borkhut mountains, and the Hari-rud, which 
region is described as ‘South-Western Turcomania,” is 
especially worthy of notice, as a valuable contribution to the 
geography of the region. 
THE Government of India has decided to appoint Mr. Ney 
Elias, one of the most distinguished of our Chinese travellers, 
and at present English Commissioner in Ladakh, to act as 
British Consul at Yarkand and Kashgar. 
Mr. HOLMAN BENTLEY sends to the Z7zes news of the safe 
return of the Rev. G. Grenfell, F.R.G.S., in the Baptist 
Missionary Society’s steamer the race, after a voyage on the 
Upper Congo River from Stanley Pool to Stanley Falls, a 
distance of 1060 miles. He has explored many of the tribu- 
taries on the way—the Mobangi to 4° 30’ N. lat., the Ukere to 
2° 50’ N., and the Lubilanji to 1° 50’ S. The Mbura is 
navigable only for ten or twelve miles from its junction with 
the Congo, when cataracts bar the way. The Mobangi is a 
fine river, but the people are very wild. 
In a recent number of Das Ausland, Herr Habenicht, of 
Gotha, makes an important suggestion with regard to observa- 
tions in Africa. He points out the dearth of accurate observa- 
tions in latitude, longitude, and heights in the interior of that 
continent. For instance, with regard to the greater part of 
North Africa we are dependent on those of Vogel and Barth, 
while in South Africa those of Livingstone are almost the only 
ones we have. Even in the interior of the Cape Colony, the 
Orange Free State, the Transvaal, Namaqualand, the Kalahari 
desert, our knowledge of exact positions is still in the air. More 
is known of the central and lower Congo and the coast.- To 
remedy these defects, Herr Habenicht proposes to geographical 
societies interested in African exploration that the field should 
be subdivided. Young men should be trained to make astro- 
nomical observations, barometrical measurements and itineraries, 
and two should be despatched on each route with separate sets 
of instruments. The routes suggested are the following: (1) 
Cape Town, through Stellaland, to the Zambesi; (2) Delagoa 
Bay to Stellaland; (3) Cape Town, through Namaqualand 
and Damaraland, to the Zambesi ; (4) Loango to Zanzibar ; (5) 
Zanzibar to the Egyptian Soudan; (6) the Lower Niger, 
through Darfur, to Khartoum ; (7) the Gold Coast to Timbuctoo ; 
(8) Morocco to Timbuctoo ; (9) Tripoli to Socoto ; (10) Bengazi, 
through Kufra and Borgu, to Kuka. All previous explorations, 
he says, would by these observations receive a sound scientific 
basis. 
M. RabbE, the Director of the Natural History Museum at 
Tiflis, has been ordered by the Russian Government to inyesti- 
gate the mountain systems of the border-lands of Trans-Caucasia 
and Khorassan, between Ararat and Ala Dagh on the west and 
Elburz on the east. 
FROM a report addressed by Col. Feilberg to the Argentine 
Minister of Marine on the subject of his mission to explore the 
Pilcomayo River, it appears that this stream is only navigable 
for eighty leagues from its mouth in the Rio Paraguay up to its 
confluent, the Rio Dorado. Five miles higher the rapids com- 
mence ; there is then only two feet of water, the channel is 
narrow and very tortuous, and the current swift. The upper 
waters are lost in marshes, which the traveller crossed. On 
returning, the water had fallen considerably, and the journey 
was only accomplished with much trouble and after many acci- 
dents. During his stay on the Chaco he reports that he did not 
see a single Indian, although their tents were still standing in 
places. One of his officers had been sent with the chronometers 
to Corientes, to compare them by telegraph with the Observatory 
of Cordoba or Buenos Ayres. These comparisons are essential 
for the verification of the observations made, and as soon as 
they have been obtained, the maps which are to accompany the 
publication of the journal of the mission will be commenced. 
ACCORDING to the Colonies and India a conference took place 
on March 31, by telegraph, between the Melbourne and Sydney 
branches of the Geographical Society of Australia, on the ques- 
tion of New Guinea exploration. It was decided to subsidise 
Mr. H. O. Forbes’s expedition, to the extent of 500/., on con- 
dition that the two Colonies receive copies of the explorer’s diary 
and despatches, and duplicates of his collection of specimens. 
The Conference also decided to send an independent cxpedition 
from the Aird River, the whole expenses to be defrayed by the 
Society. The expedition will be placed under the leadership of 
Capt. Everell, who will be accompanied by Herr von Leudenfelt. 
THE Report on the trade of Persia by our Consul at Teheran, 
which has just been laid before Parliament, contains some inter- 
esting statistics on the population of Persia, in order to judge 
how far the country has recovered from the effects of the great 
famine of 1871-72. The area of the dominions of the Shah is 
1,647,070 square kilometres, and the population is estimated at 
7,653,000, contiined in 99 towns with a total population of 
1,963,800, while the villages and rural districts contain 
3,780,000, and the nomads are estimated at 7,909,800. It is 
| curious to notice how the number of nomads are made up: the 
Arabs number 52,020; Turks, 144,000; Kurds and Leks, 
135,000; Beluchs and gipsies, 4,140; Bakhtiaris and Lurs, 
46,800. The statistics of the creeds are: Sheeahs, 6,860,600 ; 
Sunnis and other Mohammedan sects, 700,000 ; Parsees, 8,000 ; 
Jews, 19,000 ; Armenians, 43,000; Nestorians and Christians, 
23,000. Of the Armenian population 52°8 per cent. are males 
and 47'2 females. Of the Mussulman population the mean pro- 
portion is §0°5 per cent. females and 49°5 males. The following 
is a list of some Persian towns with their respective populations : 
Tabreez ... 164,630 | Zenjan 24,000 
Ispahan .,. 60,000 to 70,000 | Cazoin ts ace eee) OOOO 
Yezd 40,000 | Resht (including ad- 
Kerman ... 41,170 joining villages) ... 40,000 
Shiraz é 30,000 | Astrabad ... ++» 10,000 
Shuster ... under 20,000 | Nishapore... :. 11,000 
Dizful 25,000 | Sebzevar ... ... ... £2,000 
Burujird ... , 20,000 | Meshed 60,000 
Kermanshah ... 30,000 | Kashan 30,000 
Hamadan 30,000 | Koom 20,000 
Maragha... 13,250 | Mianeh : 7,000 
Soujboulak 5,000 | Mohammera 15,000 
Mr. Dickson, taking the medium between the highest and 
lowest figures he has obtained, estimates the population of 
Teheran at about 120,000, while Col. Ross estimates that of 
Bushire at 70,000. 
In Astron. Nachr., vol. cx., Prof. Dr. Auwers has published 
the results of his researches and calculations about the longitude 
of some places in Australia. Since these data will have to be 
altered by the result of the determination of the difference in 
longitude between Port Darwin and Banjuwangi (Java) we may 
omit particulars and only state that Mr. Auwers has found 
to be :— 
heaw0 ass 
Longitude of Sydney Io 4 49°75 
°F) Windsor Io 3 20°92 
mF Melbourne... 9 39 54°32 
“5 Adelaide 9 14 20°57 
INFORMATION has been received in Berlin of the death, in the 
Cameroons, of Lieut. Tilly, the leader of another German expe- 
dition sent out to explore that part of Africa. 
A PARLIAMENTARY paper just issued (Commercial, No. 5, 
1885) contains an exhaustive report, by Vice Consul Comber- 
batch, on the Dobrudja. Under the head of geography it refers 
to the name, limits, frontiers, area, topography, division, moun- 
tains, forests, mines, rivers, marshes, lakes, islands, harbours, 
and tides of the district. This is succeeded by sections on the 
climate, history, ancient remains, population, sanitary state, 
government, public works, religion, education, agriculture, 
commerce, industries, navigation, natural history, and principal 
towns. The report, which occupies fifty pages, is thus a short 
treatise on this district at the mouth of the Danube, of which 
much was heard in connection with political events a few years 
ago. 
Ve eee ES ——— 
