﻿434 Canadian Retorcl of Science. 



traveller, Dr. Sven Hedin. It is now one of the most 

 forbidding deserts to be found anywhere, but it deserves 

 careful examination, as there are evidences of its once 

 having been inhabited, and that at no very remote period. 

 It is almost surrounded by the Tarim, and on its eastern 

 edge lies Lob-nor, the remarkable changes in which have 

 been the subject of recent investigation. As readers 

 of Dr. Hansen's Voyage of the " Fram" will remember, the 

 Siberian coast is most imperfectly mapped. Of course it 

 is a difficult task, but it is one to which the Russian 

 government ought to be equal. China has on paper the 

 appearance of being fairly well mapped ; but as a matter 

 of fact our knowledge of its mountain rau<]^es and of 

 its great river courses is to a large extent extremely 

 vague. All this awaits careful survey. In north-eastern 

 Manchuria and in many parts of Mongolia there are still 

 blanks to be filled up and mountain and river systems to 

 be surveyed. In the Malay peninsula and in the great 

 array of islands in the east and south-east of Asia — 

 Sumatra, Borneo, the Philippines — much work still 

 remains to be done. Thus for the coming century there 

 will be abundance of work for explorers in Asia and 

 plenty of material to occupy the attention of our geo- 

 graphical societies. 



DARKEST AFRICA. 



Coming to the map of Africa, we find the most 

 marvellous transformation during the last sixty years, and 

 mainly during the last forty years, dating from Living- 

 stone's memorable journey across the continent. Though 

 the north of Africa was the home of one of the oldest 

 civilizations, and though on the shores of the Mediter- 

 ranean Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks and Romans 

 were at work for centuries, it has only been within 

 tlie memory of many of us that the centre of the 

 continent, from the Sahara to the confines of Cape 

 Colony, has ceased to be an unexplored blank. This 



