148 report— 1877. 



by a long detour. The Podarata seemed to lose itself in the wilderness of swamps 

 before reaching the bay. Provisions failed, and the natives refused to go any 

 further, and so they resolved to return. 



Nor was the Russian Expedition more successful. Returning south, the German 

 party skirted the low, bare, granitic range of Yangana-pei — a spur of the Urals. 

 These elevations, and the hills which traverse the mossy tundras, proved to the party 

 the utter impossibility of the suggested canal across the isthmus. Moreover, the 

 long winter, the soil thawing hardly more than two feet in depth during the summer, 

 and the unnavigability of the two rivers, which swell rapidly, like mountain torrents, 

 after every rainfall, and flow in such tortuous courses, seem to forbid the realization 

 of the scheme. The portage between the Chuya and the Podarata was found to be 

 forty-seven miles — much longer than had been estimated. The party reached Ob- 

 dorsk on their return on the 19th of August, and finally quitted it en route for 

 Europe on the 3rd of September. 



On a Journey overland to India in 1872, via Meshed, Herat, Candahar, and 

 the Boulan Pass. By Capt. H. C. Marsh {Bengal Cavalry). 



The chief interest of this paper lay in the description which the author gave of the 

 scenery and people of the region he travelled through and the manner in which he was 

 received by the civil and military authorities of Afghanistan, who treated him as a 

 British officer, although travelling in his private capacity. He was well received 

 and kindly entertained at Herat and Candahar, but was refused entry into Cabul on 

 account of his not having the required permission to travel from his own Govern- 

 ment, and was compelled to take the lower road into India rid Quetta, Kelat, and 

 the Boulan Pass. It was with great difficulty he was able to find guides to conduct 

 him through the pass, owing to the fear of the robber tribes who infest it ; and, 

 having at length engaged one native courageous enough to undertake the task, he 

 completed the journey unmolested, by a hurried inarch of forty miles without 

 stopping. 



Recent Tours in Unfrequented Parts of Greece. 

 By J. S. P. Phene, LL.D. 



From Guayaquil to the Napo by the Upper Patassa Route. 

 By Alfred Simson. 



That part of the author's journey lying between the rivers Pastassa and the 

 Napo had never, as far as is known, been before traversed by a European. He began 

 his journey by crossing the Andes by the little-frequented Tachuelo Pass, which 

 lies to the south of the Arenal, the usual route followed in going to Quito and the 

 Napo. The summit of the pass, 14,000 feet above the sea-level, is a small breach in 

 a ridge, or wall, of solid bare rock, access to which is attained by a breakneck path 

 winding over loose porphyry debris. The descent on the eastern side is also fear- 

 fully rough, the toilsome day's journey terminating at the town of Cajabamba. 

 The road thence passes through Riobamba, and along the ledge of the Chambo 

 valley, and across the torrent of the same to Banos on the Pastassa. This remote 

 village is built at an elevation of 5204 feet above the sea-level, and enjoys a mean 

 annual temperature of G3f ° Fahr. It lies in a cauldron-shaped valley, enclosed by 

 the steepest mountains, the only outlets from which are the narrow gorges of the 

 river. At night one cannot get rid of the depressing sensation of being at the 

 bottom of a well, surrounded by high walls, with the sky only visible overhead. 

 From Bafios Mr. Simson started, with sixteen Indian porters, for Santa Inez, by 

 unfrequented paths through dense forests drenched by almost continual rains, where 

 landslips down the mountain-sides often carry away all traces of the solitary track. 

 Below Santa Inez several tributary streams, descending from the Andes, fall into 



