Measurement of a Peak in the Karakorum range. 365 



to a distance of about 300 miles; and the Rev. Mr. Irwin and compan- 

 ions have penetrated up the west river, in the same province, to a some- 

 what faiglier point than that reached by the expedition under Captain 

 McCleverty in the sprini? of 1859, for a description of which we are in- 

 debted to our associate Lieutenant Brine. The opening oi Formosa to 

 foreiQjn trade gives promise also of our shortly obtaining further informa- 

 tion from that island, which is interesting not only from its commercial 

 productions, but also from the presence of aboriginal tribes in its centre 

 and eastern coast, of which little is as yet known. 



It is satisfactory to hear from all these travellers that no serious obsta- 

 cles were placed in their way either by the Chinese authorities or the 

 people ; and that, while inconvenienced at times by the not unnatural cu- 

 riosity of the latter, when anxious to gaze on foreigners for the first time, 

 tuey received from them, in most cases, friendly welcome and assistance. 

 Our treaty-right to enter the country having thus obtained an eflectual 

 recognition, it will be seen that China is now thrown open to the re- 

 searches of the traveller, subject, however, to the difficulties aiising out 

 *;f the deplorable disorders which are at present rite in so many of its 

 provinces. Different parties of rebels or robbers, all acting indepe'ndently 

 of each other, were met by Colonel Sard's party in Sze-chuen, by Mr. 

 Monison in Shantung, by Mr. Baker in Chehkeang, and by Mr. Irwin in 

 Ewangtung; while Dr. Dickson's party, on the other hand, travelled 

 from Canton to Hankow— or from the south to the centre of China— 

 ^vithout falling in with any of these destructive hordes ; and Messrs. Rich- 

 ^■I'ds and Slossin traversed the provinces of Shan-se and Pe-chih-le under 

 similar favorable circumstances. 



Measurement of a Peak in the Karakorum raxge, 

 SECOND IN height TO MouNT EVEREST. — The Journal of the 

 Asiatic Society of Bengal (xxix, p. 20), contains a statement re- 

 specting the survey of Kashmir, by Capt. Montgomerie of the 

 Topographical Survey of India, After referring to the fact that 

 * " peak Nanga Parbut, having a height of 26,629 feet, had been 



I height 



havii ^ ___ ^ ^____ 



---the writer,°Maj. Thuillier, Dep. Surveyor General, 

 Jhe measurement of a new snowy peak, termed for the present 

 ^ 2, on the Karakorum range, which is probably the second 

 Wghest known mountain in the world. He writes as follows : 



" The party under Captain Montgomerie is now engaged in 



Thibet. The country is exceedingly difl&cult and the strength 



^"^ " " party much diminished. In the progress of the survey 



' tage has been taken of the opportunity to extend accurate 



■ aphical knowledge by fixing numerous peaks in the Kara- 



; ;i \and Mustag ranges. One of those already determined on 



Karakorum range, along which runs the boundary between 



'-^■iakh and Yarkund, one hundred and fifty -eight miles N.E. of 



Jirinagar, is 28,278 feet high (provisionally settled only, being 



liable to a small correction when the levelling operations from 



