532 



SCIUJS/'CJS. 



[Vol. IX., No. 226 



As the Stanley relief expedition makes it un- 

 necessary to send another expedition to the relief 

 of Captain Casati, the Milan Societa d'esplorazione 

 commerciale in Africa has changed its plans, and 

 has sent two of Tippo-Tip's men to Unyoro, bear- 

 ing letters of credit for Casati to the missionary 

 and trading stations on the route. Thus Casati 

 will be enabled to return from Unyoro to Zanzibar, 

 and it is probable that in this way Emin Bey will 

 be informed of Stanley's attempt to reach him. 



It is stated in Petermann's Mitteilungen for May 

 that the German Reichstag has appropriated 150,000 

 marks (about $36,000) for the continuation of ex- 

 plorations in Africa. While former appropriations 

 were used for the expeditions of the German- 

 African society, the government has resolved to 

 use the present appropriation for the exploration 

 of the German possessions in Africa. Lieut. R. 

 Kund, the explorer of the Lukenj«, will be sent 

 to KameruD, to penetrate from that point into the 

 interior, which, on account of the hostility of the 

 natives, has been hitherto inaccessible. 



A. von Dankelmann has reduced the barometri- 

 cal observations of R. Kund, and compared them 

 with those obtained from the observations of von 

 Fran9ois, Dr. Btittner, and von Mechow. As 

 stated in Petermann's Mitteilungen, he considers 

 the height of Stanley Pool (900 feet) and of San 

 Salvador (1,800 feet) reliable. The rivers Kuango, 

 Kuilu, Sankuru, and Lukenye are from 1,050 to 

 1,300 feet above sea-level, the western rivers being 

 the more elevated. This fact shows that these 

 rivers run through an extensive plain, into which 

 they have cut their beds. 



Neiv Guinea. 

 We learn from the Proceedings of the Royal 

 geographical society for May that the government 

 of Victoria is preparing to send out a well- 

 equipped expedition to explore the Owen Stanley 

 Mountains from Port Moresby, and has offered the 

 leadership to the man of all others best able to 

 carry so diflScult an undertaking to a successful 

 issue ; namely, the Rev, J. Chalmers. A grant 

 of ten thousand dollars has been made towards 

 the cost of the expedition, and further contribu- 

 tions are expected. 



America. 

 Chaflfanjon writes from Ciudad Bolivar to the 

 Geographical society of Paris {Compt. rend., No. 

 9) that the success of his expedition to the sources 

 of the Orinoco was complete. His companions, 

 Indians from the Maquiritares and Bares tribes, 

 were so much afraid of the Guaharibas, who in- 

 habit the region about the head waters of the 

 Orinoco, that he had the greatest difficulty in in- 

 ducing theoi to follow him. He explored the 



mountains of that region, and determined the 

 positions of numerous places by astronomical ob- 

 servations. He is going to visit the sources of the 

 Essequibo before returning to France. 



The expedition of Dr. K. von den Steinen, be- 

 fore leaving the coast of Brazil, made some 

 anthropological and ethnological researches among 

 the Sambuquis in the province of Santa Cath- 

 arina {Gazette geogr.. May 12). The company in- 

 tended to start for the head waters of the Xingu 

 on the 2d of May. Although ethnological studies 

 are the main objects of the expedition, Messrs. 

 Gervaiso Ninus Piris and Moreira de Silva have 

 accompanied it for the purpose of making geo- 

 logical observations. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 

 The vessels of the U. S. coast survey are now 

 located as follows : the Bache left Key West May 

 24, and arrived at New York last Tuesday, where 

 she will tit out for work in Vineyard Sound ; the 

 Gedney left New York May 80 for work on the 

 coast of Maine ; the Olympia is now at work on 

 the coast of Washington Territory ; the Endeavor 

 is now on the Louisiana coast, but wiU close its 

 work this week and proceed to New York. Mr. 



F. W. Perkins, who has been on the steamer 

 Hitchcock on the coast of Louisiana, has dismissed 

 his party, and will be in Washington until June 

 15 ; Mr. J. H. Turner has been ordered to Salt 

 Lake City, and will continue the work on the 

 triangulation of the 39th parallel ; Captain Bou- 

 telle has gone to St. Paul, Minn., to organize a 

 party under the direction of Professor Hoag of the 

 University of Minnesota, for making a triangula- 

 tion survey of the state The work will begin be- 

 tween St. Paul and Fort Snelling, 



— The American fisheries society began its an- 

 nual session in Washington last Tuesday. There 

 was a large attendance of the members. The fol- 

 lowing are the officers of the society : president, 

 Dr. W. M. Hudson, Hartford, Conn.; vice-presi- 

 dent, W. L. May, Fremont, Neb.; treasurer, E. 



G. Blackford, Brooklyn, N.Y. ; recording secre- 

 tary, Fred Mather, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. ; 

 corresponding secretary, W. A. Butler, jun., De- 

 troit, Mich. Prof. W. O. Atwater of the Wesley- 

 an university presented a paper on " The chemi- 

 cal changes produced in oysters in floating, and 

 their effect upon their nutritive value." Mr. K. 

 Ito, superintendent of the fisheries of northern 

 Japan, spoke upon the methods of fishing in 

 Jajjan as coinpared with American methods. 



— The fifteenth annual session of the American 

 society of mechanical engineers began in Wash- 

 ington on Tuesday, May 31, over seven hundred 



