372 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. i 
never abundant. Some years ago there were no wells in Kordofan; the want of 
water was not felt, for the natives in the rainy season, collected the water in 
large reservoirs, and a sufficient quantity was found in them at each station and 
village. But the seasons even in Africa, tend to change. Eight years ago there 
was no rainy season in Kordofan, and for several months the people feared they 
would all die Of thirst. Then they thought of digging wells which gave very 
good results. Everywhere water was found at a depth of twenty inches. But 
things have sadly changed during the past eight years, and now, instead of find- 
ing water at a depth of twenty inches, it is often not found at a depth of roo feet. 
In all the wells Dr. Matteucci found the following succession or strata : From fifty 
to thirty meters of depth, sand with traces of sulphate of lime; above thirty ex- 
tends the granite, with a great abundance of quartz in proportion to feldspar and 
mica. The granite mass rarely extends one meter in thickness, and above is 
again found the sand. El Obeid, from which Dr. Matteucci writes, is a town of 
50,000 inhabitants; there are no Europeans but many Arab traders. Most of 
the people are natives of Kordofan or Dartur. It is a very lively town, as it is 
the center’ of the trade in gum, ostrich feathers and tamarinds. The houses, 
with the exception of the Governor’s, are of straw or earth. In the neighbor- 
hood of El Obeid two Roman Catholic missionaries, who seem to reside in the 
town, have established a station occupied by their married converts. It is a small 
village of only thirty houses and thirty small families. But Dr. Matteucci re- 
gards it as the most satisfactory result yet achieved by the Roman Catholic miss- 
ion, whose headquarters are at Khartoum. Malbes is the name of the village, 
and it Is situated in a territory where there are no Mussulman proselytes. Dr. 
Matteucci is of opinion that such agricultural colonies would make a far deeper 
impression on the surrounding heathen than any amount of preaching, and 
strongly advises the mission to develop the system. 
THE DUTCH ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 
On the third of June the little sailing vessel Willem Barents set out from 
Holland for the third time, to undertake a new exploration in the Arctic seas. 
The staff of the expedition, under the command of M. H. Van Broekhuy- 
sen, is composed of Lieuts. A. J. Frackers, S. A. Lanne, J. M. Calmeyer and 
Dr. N. Hamaker, surgeon. 
The crew includes a carpenter, a foreman, cook, five sailors and a cabin- 
boy. In addition, there is on board a marine painter of great talent, M. Louis 
Apol, who is commissioned to paint among other things a large picture of the 
Glacial sea for a panorama, which is now being prepared at Amsterdam. The 
officers, Van Broekhuysen and Calmeyer, the carpenter, Latjens, the sailor, 
Westerning, and the cabin-boy, Klaas Mantel, were on the Willem Barents in a 
previous voyage. Although a professional naturalist does not accompany the 
expedition, zodlogical researches will not, for that reason, be neglected. 
