248 



GEOGRAPHIC MISCELLANEA 



been laid l)et\veen Celni and Leyte. Tlie Ri^nul Corps is inakin» the connec- 

 tions bycaV)le as sliort as possible, as the freqnent eartbqnakes j^lay liavoc with 

 submarine lines. 



The grip of the bubonic plague on every continent has tightened. In San 

 Francisco .six deaths from the disease have occurred and the board of health 

 has ofticially proclaimed its existence in the city. Effective quarantine of 

 Chinatown and inocnlation will proljably prevent a further invas^ion of the 

 United States. In India the ditiiculty of dealing with the disease has been 

 greatly increased by a protest of the IMohammedan population in Bombay 



MELBOufiNa <^ 



lllf; KXIKM OK IIIK KI l-.iiMi IM.Ai.l Y. 



Bv courtesy of the Xtv: Ym-k Ihvabl 



against the precautionary measures being taken by the Indian Government. 

 At Manila, Phili])])ine Islands; Osaka. Japan; Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, 

 Australia, and Auckland, New Zealand, numy fatal cases have occurred. At 

 each of the.se cities infected rats were found on the wharves. On the southeast 

 coa.st of Africa, in ^Mauritius, at Suakin, on the Red Sea, at Cairo, at I'ort Said, 

 at the northern end of the Suez Ciinal, and at Rio dc Janeiro, Brazil, the <lis- 

 ease is also planted. 



From St Petersburg to Vladivostok l>y way of the Arctic Ocean is the i)lan 

 of itinerary of an exploring party that early in June leaves the former city on 

 the steamer Aurora. Six scientists and twelve sailors, allexperienced in Arctic 

 travel and led by Baron Toll, make up the party. Their special object is the 

 careful exi)loration of the Arctic regions north of Siberia. After a brief stop at 

 Tromsi't, Norwaj", and at the new Russian port of Catherine Harbor, on the 

 Lapland coast, they will proceed to the Taimur Peninsula, west of the Yenisei 

 River, and there establish their winter head<|uarters. The neighboring terri- 

 tory is to be explored during the winter of HtOO-'Ol. On the breaking up of 

 the ice, about August, 1901, they plan to push on to Sannikoff Land, discov- 

 ered by Baron Toll in 1886 and as yet unexplored, and later farther northward 

 to Bennettand De Long Islands, following the routes of the Jenniirlle in bSSi and 

 of the Friiin. The winter of H»0l-'02 will be <levoted to determining whether 

 this group of islands extends to the Pole. When the water route reopens in 

 I'JO'J they will resume their voyage to Bering Strait and reach Vladivostok in 

 the fall of the same vear. 



