January 8, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



79 



The TJ. S. Geological Survey will make an 

 .exhibit at the Lousiana Purchase Exposition 

 in St. Louis which will illustrate the survey's 

 methods of work and the products of its vari- 

 ous branches as completely as the space placed 

 at its disposal will permit. Small pamphlets 

 containing descriptions of the methods of 

 work pursued by the different branches, divi- 

 sions, and sections of the survey will be pub- 

 lished for distribution during the exposition. 



Seoeetaey Coetelyou has recommended the 

 establishment at Washington under the 

 Bureau of Fisheries of an aquarium that shall 

 surpass in importance any similar institution. 



Eeuter's Agency is informed that a scien- 

 tific expedition, which has been organized by 

 the anthropological section of the St. Louis 

 Exhibition, is about to leave England for Cen- 

 tral Africa under th6 direction of Mr. S. P. 

 Vemer, who landed a few days ago from New 

 York. Since his arrival in England Mr. 

 Vemer has been to Brussels to consult with 

 the authorities there regarding his expedition. 

 "With reference to his journey Mr. Verner 

 says : " In order to get at the aboriginal life 

 as little changed as possible by the inroads of 

 civilization it is desired to go entirely out of 

 the track of previous explorers, as well as of 

 all settlers, and to enter the most untouched 

 region to which access can be obtained. One 

 of these regions is that between the Congo and 

 Zambesi valleys, to the north of Livingstone's 

 and the south of Stanley's journeys. This 

 territory embraces, among others, the vast 

 Lunda Plateau. It is into this and contiguous 

 territories that the expedition is proceeding. 

 The region is 1,500 miles from the West Coast. 

 The fact that the enterprise leads into a coun- 

 try of cannibals and savages, and that the 

 attainment of our object requires diplomacy 

 and tact in dealing with the natives, makes 

 the mission one of difficulty and hazard. The 

 time at its disposal also will make it, if suc- 

 cessful, a notable exploit. To secure permis- 

 sion and cooperation of the European govern- 

 ments controlling the territories in question 

 representations are being made by the govern- 

 ment of the United States. Our base of op- 

 erations will be from the capital of Chief 



Ndombe, paramount chieftain of the Lunda 

 tribes, at the head of navigation of the Kassai 

 river, the largest southern tributary of the 

 Congo, from which place an effort will be made 

 to penetrate the interior. Ndombe is one of 

 the most remarkable of living African rulers. 

 He is peculiar for being of a bright copper 

 color, as are his family, although there haa 

 been no known white blood in his ancestry. 

 He is also a firm friend of the white man, 

 having signified his assent to white suzerainty 

 over his domain, and having instructed his 

 people to recognize the authority of the for- 

 eigners. His general jurisdiction is very ex- 

 tensive, and, including federated and associ- 

 ated tribes, may be said to include several mil- 

 lion people over a territory of several hundred 

 thousand square miles. His own immediate 

 family and their blood relations are known as 

 the Bakwampesh, a word almost exactly equi- 

 valent to ' aristocracy.' In his territory are 

 tribes of pygmies, of cannibals, and the last 

 remnant of the once powerful transcontinental 

 slave-traders, the Bimbadi. The scientific in- 

 terest attaching to this expedition arises from 

 the fact that it has lately become strongly 

 suspected that the most primitive forms of the 

 human race are to be found in remote Africa, 

 the oldest region known where the native life 

 has been longest undisturbed by outside influ- 

 ences. It is desirable to record the conditions 

 now existent there and to obtain specimens of 

 the arts and products of the people before they 

 have changed their aboriginal ways for the 

 innovations of rapidly approaching civiliza- 

 tion." 



Mr. Ernest Alyscoghe Eloyer, inspector- 

 general of Egyptian telegraphs, died at Cairo 

 on December 1 from heart disease, at the age 

 of fifty-one years. We learn from the London 

 Times that Mr. Eloyer was educated at the 

 Charterhouse, receiving in 1869 an appoint- 

 ment in the Indian Telegraph Service. In 

 1876 he received his first long leave, and 

 started, unaided and alone, for the unexplored 

 interior of Baluchistan. His observations and 

 surveys on this difficult and dangerous journey 

 were of considerable geographical interest. He 

 returned to London in the same year, and sub- 



