374 GEOGRAPHIC NOTES 



to the day of gnnpowder and artillen'. It is laid out in total defiance of the 

 rules of military encrineerinjr, and yet the walls are po solid and inaccessible, 

 and the urates so well arrani^ed and defended, that it would pn/.zle a modern 

 army with a first-class siege train to get throngli it if any effort whatever were 

 made for its defense. 



The simple problem of cutting the stone, making the brick, and trans|i(irting 

 them to the wall must have been a sore puzzle to those who had it in hand, and 

 it is almost impossible to conceive the means by which the water used in mak- 

 ing tlie mortar could be carried to the mountain tops across such a rough and 

 arid countrv. It is, of course, known that the movement whicli crystallized 

 itself in that way was a national, if not a popular, one, and tliat it was carried 

 through by contingents of men from the various provinces, tlie men being pai<l 

 and 8ul)sisted by the provinces to which they belonged till they had finished 

 the task assigned them. 



GEOGRAPHIC NOTES 



FiiANCE has of late become soinewliat alarmed at the invasion of Tunis by 

 thousands of Italian farmers and peasants, which if continued will endanger her 

 commercial and political supremacy in central north Africa. It is estimated 

 that in the last two and a half years no less than 10,000 peasants from Sicilv 

 and southern Italy have entered tlie country. They have for the most part 

 ac(juired and settled upon land along the main routes to and not more than loO 

 miles distant from the capital, Tunis. The French in Tunis, including soldiers 

 and their dependents, do not exceed 30,000. 



XoteH nn China, a brochure issued by the Adjutant General's Office of the War 

 Department, is a condensed compilation of many facts of interest about the 

 Chinese EmjMre. The Chinese Army, the permanent military organization, 

 the provincial militia and irregular forces, the forts and arsenals, and the 

 Chinese Navy are well described. A brief description of 20 cities that for stra- 

 tegic and political reasons are most prominent is also appended. A valuable 

 feature of the book is a map, on a scale of two and a quarter miles to the inch, 

 of the Peiho from Taku to Pekin. Persons desiring copies of the report should 

 apply to the Military luformation Division of tl;e War Department. 



Dij Nansen is at present with Dr Johan Hjort in the MichaeJ Sars cruising in 

 the Arctic Ocean. The object of the trip is to study the habits and migrations 

 of the cod and to take hydrographic observations in a portion of the Arctic- 

 Ocean between Spitzbergen and Iceland that has never been mapped. Although 

 Dr Nansen ha? no oJticial position in the expedition, it is understood that he 

 will conduct the hydrographic researches. The Michael ,SV/r.s— named after Dr 

 Nansen's father-in-law, a professor of " fishology "— was built and esjiecially 

 equipped for the .Arctic Ocean by the Norwegian government. The exi)edition 

 sailed some weeks since from the southern part of Norway in a northwesterly 

 direction. Between the Shetland Islands and Iceland Dr Hjort hopes to locate 

 new cod banks and to discover the spawning place of the.se fish. Then the 



