FEBRtTARY 25, 1887.] 



BCIUWCU. 



189 



some Moquivitares Indians for guides. They are 

 the neighbors of the Guaharibos, who occupy the 

 district of the sources of the Orinoco. The latter 

 are very much feared by the whites, as they 

 murder everybody who tries to enter their country. 

 Chaffan jon hopes through the help of his Moquivi- 

 tares friends to be able to gain their confidence 

 and accomplish his purpose. On his way to 

 San Fernando he made interesting linguistic and 

 archeological researches. 



Oceania. 



It is stated by Nature that the lake district in 

 New Zealand is showing signs of fresh distur- 

 bances. Tremors have been felt at Rotorua, and 

 Tarawera has emitted dense volumes of steam. 

 The Wahanga Peak appeared most active. No 

 fire was visible, and after this outburst every- 

 thing quieted down again. 



On the 15th of January anew volcanic eruption 

 took place on Hawaii. 



Oceans. 



The Proceedings of the Ebyal geographical so- 

 ciety for December, 1886, contain an interesting 

 paper by J. Y. Buchanan on ' Similarities in the 

 physical geography of the great oceans.' The 

 author mainly discusses three important oceano- 

 graphical problems, — the equatorial current, the 

 equatorial counter-current, and the rising of cold 

 water near the coasts of continents. Buchanan 

 describes the influence of the evaporation which 

 takes place in the region of the dry and warm 

 trade-winds and monsoons. The water which 

 gets warmer but more concentrated sinks under 

 the colder layers of less concentrated water, and 

 thus becomes a medium of transportation of heat 

 into the deeper strata. As this warm water is 

 moving west, it reaches its greatest depth in the 

 western parts of the oceans. As corals are con- 

 fined to regions of warm water, they principally 

 live in the same area. While the region of the 

 equatorial current has water of great density, the 

 equatorial counter-current has lighter water, and 

 wherever the velocity of the eastern current is 

 increasing, its density is decreasing. Buchanan 

 does not give an explanation of the origin of the 

 counter-current. His observations on the density 

 agree with the well-known fact that the current 

 lies beyond the belt of trade-winds which effect a 

 rapid evaporation. The mechanical cause of this 

 current remains still doubtful, though it seems 

 probable that the equatorial current is its princi- 

 pal cause. Buchanan's remarks on the rising of 

 cold water near the coasts of continents are of 

 great interest. Formerly the existence of cold 

 water was considered a sufficient proof for the 



existence of cold currents. Recent researches, 

 however, make it probable that in such places 

 cold abysmal water rises from the adjoining 

 depths. Buchanan shows on a map that the cold 

 water is principally found on windward coasts of 

 the oceans, where the currents are flowing from 

 the continent. The loss of water in these regions 

 is made good by the rising cold water. The Janu- 

 ary number of the Annalen der hydrograpMe calls 

 our attention to the fact that wherever a current 

 is deflected from a coast, it attracts the adjoining 

 water. It depends on the configuration of the 

 ocean whether the abysmal water or that of the 

 adjoining surface takes the place of the water 

 that is carried away by the current. The rotation 

 of the earth is the principal cause for the deflec- 

 tion of the currents and the consequent rising of 

 the cold water. Every coast-current in the 

 northern hemisphere is deflected to the right, in 

 the southern to the left, and in all these places 

 cold water may be ob;erved. 



General. 

 The February number of thn Scottish geographi- 

 cal magazine contains a paper by John Murray on 

 the total rainfall of the globe, and its relation to 

 the discharge of rivers, accompanied by a map 

 showing the distribution of annual rainfall. Ac- 

 cording to Mr. Murray, 2,243 cubic miles of rain 

 fall annually on areas with inland drainage. 

 Such areas extend to 11,486.350 square miles. The 

 land draining directly to the ocean has an area of 

 44,311,000 square miles. If from this quantity we 

 subtract all areas having less than 10 inches of 

 annual rainfall, we get 38,829,750 square miles. 

 The mean discharge from this area into the ocean 

 is 6,569 cubic miles annually. The total weight 

 of substances carried by this means to the ocean 

 is rather more than 5,000,000,000 tons each year. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The cholera epidemic is now declining in the 

 Argentine Republic, having entirely disappeared 

 from Cordoba. It still prevails in Montevideo, 

 and has recently broken out at Frey Benitos, where 

 the Liebig company has its slaughter-houses and 

 factories for the preparation of the extract of 

 meat. The La Plata River is closed to navigation 

 on account of the epidemic. Although cholera 

 has declined in the interior of the Argentine Re- 

 public, there is no change in the city of Buenos 

 Ayres. There is no news from Paraguay, but it 

 is learned from the Brazilian province of Matto 

 Grosso that cholera is doing great havoc there. 

 At Corumba the people are terror-stricken and 

 have fled into the interior. Fear is now enter- 



