Geographic Notes 



163 



Matabeles which followed also delayed 

 the work. The Matabeles misunder- 

 stood the white man's motive in killing 

 their apparently well cattle, but which 

 were really infected with the disease, 

 and in revenge tore down miles of tele- 

 graph poles and melted his wire into 

 bullets, which the)^ fired back at him. 

 In this war $200,000 worth of the com- 

 pany's supplies were destroyed. 



They have had less trouble than was 

 expected from wild animals; sometimes, 

 to be sure, elephants have knocked down 

 the poles, and once a lion helped himself 

 to several natives before he was killed. 



GERMAN SUBMARINE CABLE 

 SYSTEM 



AVAST system of submarine cables 

 is being projected by Germany. 

 In October, 1900, a line was opened 

 connecting Kiaochau with Chifu, and 

 the southern end is now being rapidly 

 extended to Shanghai and Canton. 

 Later a branch cable will be laid from 

 Kiaochau to Nagasaki to connect with 

 the American Pacific cable, which is des- 

 tined to be soon constructed, while the 

 main cable will be continued to Manila, 

 Sumatra, Borneo, New Guinea, and the 

 Caroline Islands. From the Azores a 

 line will be laid southward to the Cape 

 Verde Islands, thence down the Atlantic 

 to the South American continent to 

 Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, and Montevideo. 

 On the other side of the Atlantic a 

 German cable will unite Morocco, 

 Guinea, the Kameruns, and German 

 Southwest Africa. When the construc- 

 tion of the system has been completed, 

 the German Emperor will be able to 

 communicate with his possessions in 

 every quarter of the world independent 

 of English lines. His messages will 

 cross the Pacific and American conti- 

 nent on American cables and the At- 

 lantic on the German New York- Azores- 

 Emden line, completed last year. 



GREAT BRITAIN IN THE 

 YANGTZE VALLEY 



NOTHING is more noticeable than 

 the decay of British influence in 

 southern China during the last five years. 

 It is not merely that British influence 

 has declined, but that the influence of 

 other powers has largely developed in 

 a region supposed to be distinctively the 

 British sphere. Says the Shanghai cor- 

 respondent of the Times in a recent let- 

 ter : ' ' The Yangtze is steadily growing 

 less and less English and more and more 

 international." He fortifies this state- 

 ment- by discouraging facts observed in 

 Shanghai and Hankau, " the key of the 

 Upper Yangtze. ' ' He says : ' ' The one 

 advantage we still possess over the other 

 powers in the Yangtze Valley is the con- 

 fidence and good will of the better classes 

 among the peoples and officials of central 

 China." But he concludes: "British 

 influence in the Yangtze Valley, as in the 

 restof China, is, relatively to that of other 

 nations, not an increasing but a steadily 

 and rapidly diminishing quantity." 



Sir Archibald Geikie^ who retired in 

 March from the head of the British 

 Geological Survey, was born in Edin- 

 burgh sixty-six 3'ears ago. His whole 

 life has been spent in geologic work. 

 When barely thirty he was appointed 

 Director of the Scottish Geological Sur- 

 vey, and later held the chair of geology 

 in Edinburgh University. In 1881 he 

 was chosen Director General of the Geo- 

 logical Survey of the United Kingdom, 

 and ten years later was knighted in ap- 

 preciation of his work. James Geikie, 

 whose name is perhaps better known in 

 America, is the younger brother of Sir 

 Archibald. J. J. Harris Teall, the well- 

 known writer on geological subjects, has 

 succeeded Sir Archibald Geikie as Di- 

 rector General of the British Geological 

 Survey. 



