GHOGRAPHIC MISCELLANEA 



A'^BKofimnK (,•< 111 tai II ing every dei-isioii of the U. S. Board on Geogiai)liii' Names 

 JH now in press and will soon be ready for distribution. Tlie Board, wliieb lias 

 recently been enlarged, consists of Heniy Gannett, cliairinan ; Marcus Baker, 

 secretary; Andrew H. Allen, Otis T. Mason, H. G- Ogden, A. B. Johnson, 

 Harry King, Major James L. Lusk, A. Von Haake, H. T. Brian, and John Hyde. 



TiiK Meteorological Chart of tlie Great Lakes, which was last year issued monthly 

 during the season of navigation ])y tiie U. S. Weather Fureau as an experiment, 

 will hereafter be a permanent feature of the Weather Bureau work. Thecl'art 

 proved so serviceable in 1899 that it is now indisi)ensable to vessels sailing 

 between the Lake ports. It is editeil by Prof. A. J. Henry and Mr Norman B. 

 Conger, of Detroit, Mich. 



FoK tlie first time in its history the actual sea-levels, mileage, latitudes and 

 longitudes of the Mississi])pi River are being determined. The work is in the 

 hands of the Mississippi River Commission, the board of army and civilian 

 engineers charged with the duty of improving tliisvast watercourse. As years 

 of experiment and more or less defined eflfort at improvement have not re- 

 sulted ill permanent good all along, the commission has wisely decided to 

 survey the entire system and triangulate every foot of its course. 



Tun telegraph line begun five years ago to connect Victoria Nyanza with the 

 east coast of Africa has been completed. One of the practical uses of the line 

 will be to give warning to Lower Egypt of the state of the water on the Upper 

 Nile, information that will in some cases be worth millions of dollars to the 

 people of Lower Egyjit, who depend on the river for their irrigation water. 

 The railroad which is being built along tiie same route is now in operation to 

 Kiu, about 270 miles inland. To complete the remaining 400 miles will require 

 three years. 



The havoc that can be wrought by the hurricanes which periodically devas- 

 tate the Greater, and esiiecially the Lesser, Antilles will soon be reduced to a 

 niiniiiiuni, owing to the effective work of the U. S. Weather Bureau. Grad- 

 ually meteorological stations are being established at all points on the Gulf of 

 Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and in the West Indies from which advance warn- 

 ings can be cabled. The most recent of these stations is that at Turks Island, 

 at the extreme southeastern end of the Bahamas, where Dr H. C. F"raiikeii(ield 

 is now engaged in putting in the necessary appanitus. 



TiiK concession by the Chinese Gov(!iniiient allowing steamers of the river 

 tyi)e to navigate the inlaiul waters of the empire has proved worthless in fact. 

 A dispatch to the London 'J'iiins from Shanghai states that tlie Shanghai cus- 

 toms Taotai have refused to permit a British vessel to trade between liiatcity 

 and the Chusan Islands, only a few score miles distant fnim the mainlaml. This 

 is only (jiie of many similar refusals, with the result that nearly all the steam- 

 ers that were specially i)iiilt and sent to (Miina for coastwise and interior traile 

 either remain tied to tiieir docks or have been sent back to I'',iigland by their 

 British owners. 



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