OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE COR WIN'S CRUISE. 479 



fore, make the land to the east, it is by no means certain that it would be at 

 either of the places named. In the event of the ship becoming hopelessly em- 

 bayed, after drifting to the northeast after the first winter, and it became neces- 

 sary to abandon her, they would doubtless make for the nearest land, which 

 might be the continent between Cape Bathurst and Point Barrow, at Bank's Land, 

 Melville Island, or Prince Patrick's Land. If on the continent they could com- 

 municate with the Signal Service party at Point Barrow, under the command of 

 Lieut. Ray. If the distance were too great for them to travel, they could send 

 word by the natives, who are constantly passing back and forth along the coast, 

 hunting, trading or fishing. If they landed at either of the other places named, 

 while they would be able to kill sufficient game to subsist, they would be unable 

 to get away until a vessel was sent to their relief. The distance to the Hudson 

 Bay trading post, or to any place occupied by white men, would be too great for 

 men to travel equipped, as they would necessarily be if compelled to abandon 

 their vessel and travel a great distance over the ice. If, therefore, no tidings of 

 them are received through any of the search parties of the present year, Capt. 

 Hooper suggests that a vessel be sent to Melville Island as early next year as the 

 ice will permit, carrying three sledge parties, one for Bank's Land, one for the 

 west coast of Melville Island and a third for Prince Patrick's Land. Whatever is 

 to be done for their relief must be done promptly. If still alive, they are now 

 entering upon their third winter of hardship in the Arctic regions ; and if they 

 have been compelled to abandon their vessel and are waiting for a vessel to be 

 sent to their relief, unnecessary delay may, and in all probability will, prove 

 fatal. 



Capt. Hooper regretfully gives up all hope of the missing whalers Mount 

 Wallaston and Vigilant. — Washington (D. C.) Post. 



In a recent note W. T. Blanford described the distribution of land in the 

 Indian Peninsula and the intervention of a vast plain traversed by the Indus, 

 Ganges and Bramaputra. This plain has been generally considered to have been 

 the basin of a great sea, but in the opinion of the author the evidence advanced 

 does not appear to contain a single fact in favor of the sea having at any geologi- 

 cal period occupied the Gangetic or eastern portion of the plain. The tract is 

 evidently a depression area, filled up to above the level of the sea through a long 

 period of time. 



