J'ebbuakt 9, 1883.] 



SCIENCE. 



19 



High river terraces of eastern Connecticut. 



— Following the work of Prof. J. D. Dana (Amer. 

 journ. sc, x., 1875, 429), B. F. Koons explains the 

 position of several terraces as depending on ice-dams 

 during the decline of the glacial period. — {Amer. 

 journ. so., Dec, 1882.) w. M. D. [29 



Southward discharge of Lake 'Winnipeg. — 

 Prof. J. D. Dana decides against Winchell's and 

 Upham's view, that the former southern overflow of 

 Lake Winnipeg was due to a northern ice-barrier; 

 and in favor of Warren's and G. M. Dawson's expla- 

 nation by a change of level, chiefly a northern de- 

 pression, because the old lake-shore is no longer level, 

 but slopes to the north with the general slope of the 

 adjoining plateau. — {Amer. journ. sc, Dec., 1882.) 



W. M. D. [30 



Temperature of Wisconsin lakes. — E. M. 

 Gilford and G. W. Peckham found a bottom tem- 

 perature at 80 ft. , of 42° F. through the summer and 

 39° or lower in the winter. — {Trans. Wise, acad., v. 

 273. ) w. M. D. [31 



GEOGRAPHY. 

 (Arctic.) 



Explorations in Alaska. — Drs. Arthur and Au- 

 rel Krause of the geographical society of Bremen, 

 who undertook, under the auspices of the society, in 

 1881, to make explorations in Alaska and the neigh- 

 borhood of Bering Strait, have returned, and made 

 their preliminary report to the society. In the spring 

 of 1881 they took passage on a small schooner for 

 Bering Strait, and were landed near St. Lawrence 

 Bay on the shores of the Chukchi Peninsula. Here 

 they spent the summer in exploration, returning to 

 San Francisco in autumn, and thence proceeded to 

 Alaska. The winter was spent at a trading-post on 

 Chilkoot Inlet at the head of Lynn Canal, in lat. 59° 

 N., and long. 135° W. Last summer Dr. Aurel Krause 

 returned to Germany, via Panama; and in October 

 his brother followed him by way of the line of the 

 Northern Pacific railway. They brought very exten- 

 sive collections. A catalogue of the ethnologica has 

 just been issued by the society. The natural-history 

 material has been assigned for study by the director 

 of the Bremen museum- as follows : crania, to Prof. 

 Welcker; echinoderms, to Prof. H. Ludwig; fish, to 

 Dr. F. Heincke ; decapod crustaceans, to Dr. F. Rich- 

 ters; hydroids and polyzoa, to Herr Kirschenpauer, 

 in Hamburg; reptiles, to Dr. J. G. Fischer; Prof. 

 Metzger takes the amphipods and isopods; Poppe, 

 the copepods; Dr. P. C. Hoek of Leiden, the cirri- 

 peds and pycnogonida; Dr. Marenzeller, the anne- 

 lids ; Prof. 0. Heller, the tunicates ; Dr. F. Karsch, 

 the spiders and myriapods ; Dr. W. Peters , the mam- 

 mals; Director Spiingel, the amphibians and zephy- 

 reans; Dr. Hartlaub, the birds; Drs. Krause and von 

 Martens, the moUusks ; Dr. Aurel Krause, the fossils ; 

 while the botanical collections are divided among Drs. 

 F. Kurtz, C. Miiller of Halle, Gottsche, and Hagena. 

 Charts of part of the west shore of Bering Strait, 

 of the water-shed between the head of Lynn Canal 

 and the sources of the Yukon, of the East Cape of 

 Asia, and various harbors, have already been issued 

 from plans by the explorers, in the Deutsche geo- 

 graphische blatter. On Nov. 4, Dr. Aurel Krause 

 lectured before the Gesellschaft fiir erdkunde, Ber- 

 lin, on the T'linkit Indians of Alaska. The prepara- 

 tion of the final reports will naturally take some time ; 

 but the society is to be congratulated ou its successful 

 foray in a region so difficult of access, and so distant 

 from the base of operations. — ( Deutsche geogr. blatt. 

 V. 4, 1882.) w. H. D. [32 



Arctic Twhalefishery in 1882. — The ' catch ' of 



the Dundee whaling-fleet, eight steamers, amounts 

 to seventy-nine whales, affording about nine tons of 

 blubber each, equivalent to about 5,000 bbls. oil and 

 100,000 lbs. baleen. Last year, a much more ' open ' 

 season, only foi'ty-seven whales were obtained. In 

 the Bering-strait region, the San Francisco fleet ob- 

 tained a fair reward for their exertions in the form 

 of 21,054 bbls. oil, 313,100 lbs. baleen, and 16,600 lbs. 

 walrus-tusks. The fleet numbers about thirty sail, 

 and the value of the ' catch ' reported is about §900,- 

 000. The species pursued in these seas are Balaena 

 mysticetus L. {bowhead of the Pacific whalerrien, and 

 right whale of the North- Atlantic whalers), and B. 

 Sieboldii Gray (known as the Pacific right whale). 

 The whalers resort to ' walrusing ' in Bering Strait in 

 default of whales; but in good seasons little walrus- 

 oil is taken, and most of the tusks are purchased by 

 barter from the natives of the region. — w. H. D. [33 



(Africa.) 



German exploration in Africa. — In the past 

 nine years, the German African association has sent 

 six expeditions to the Kongo region, at a total cost of 

 £22,000. The first, under Giissfeldt (1873-76), went 

 to the Loango coast, north of the Kongo. Although 

 not penetrating far into the interior, this trip alone 

 cost £10,500. All the other expeditions entered at 

 S. Paolo de Loanda. Pogge (1875) advanced 700 miles 

 eastward to Kawenda, the chief town of a region as 

 large as Germany, ruled by the Muata Yanvo (king) 

 named Shanama. iVIohr died at ilalandje, the most 

 advanced Portuguese trading-station, 200 miles from 

 the coast. Schiitt (1877-79) reached the Chikapa 

 Eiver, 500 miles inland. Buchner (1879-80) went also 

 as far as Kawenda, staying there six months; and on 

 returning early in LSSl, met at Malandje the latest 

 expedition, still in the field, under Pogge and Wiss- 

 mann. Finding the road to the Muato Yanvo's town 

 (Kawenda) closed on account of his difliculties with 

 the neighboring and aggressive Kioko, Pogge and 

 Wissmann turned north-east, and were last heard 

 from among the Tushilange people, at the towns Mu- 

 kenge and Kingenge, on the river Euru (Lulua). 

 They intended going on past Lake Mukamba to 

 Nyangwe, on the Lualawa (Lualaba), lat. 4,3-° S., long. 

 26^° E., whence Wissmann was to proceed to the east 

 coast if possible, and Pogge would return westward. 

 [Wissman arrived at Zanzibar last November.] 



The region consists of three physical divisions : the 

 littoral slope, barren and dry, with short rivers run- 

 ning westward ; the mountain belt; and the southern 

 part of the Kongo basin, of undulating or hilly sur- 

 face, well wooded or grassy, cut by very numerous 

 rivers generally running northward, and nearly all 

 with the syllable Lu, Ku, or Ku in their names. 

 This district has a rainy season from September to 

 April, with a temperature from 63° to 81° F. The 

 dry season is occasionally as cool as 45°. The hippo- 

 potamus is the only large animal seen; other large 

 game is very scarce. — (Proc. geogr. soc. Land., Nov., 

 1882, map.) w. M. D. [34 



Upper Senegal and Niger. — Commandant Gal- 

 ieni was charged by the Governor of Senegal, in 1880, 

 with a mission of exploration in western Soudan, and 

 with powers of treaty to induce the Sultan Ahmadou 

 of Segu to place the Niger within his dominions 

 imder French protection. The expedition left St. 

 Louis, Jan. 30, 1880, and began its -nork of explora- 

 tion beyond Bafulabe, where the Senegal branches, 

 on March 30 following. Ascending the Ba-khoy 

 branch, the village chiefs accejjted French protec- 

 tion; and by Mount Kita a fort was built to' serve as 

 an advanced oirtpost. Here the party divided ; Lieut. 



