46 On the Schlagintweits’ [No. 1, 
Observations on the Astronomical points determined by the brothers 
Schlagintweit in Central Asia.*—By Captain GouvuBier. 
From the Journal of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. Part 4th, 1861, 
[Received 11th January, 1866. | 
During the current year, the first volume of the Narrative of the 
Scientific Expedition of the brothers Schlagintweit to India and High- 
Asia, extending over a period of four years, from 1854 to 1858, has 
made its appearance. This remarkable production is all the more 
valuable, inasmuch as it will not only embrace the results of the ex- 
plorations of the brothers Schlagintweit, but likewise those of many 
learned travellers who were their predecessors in this field of inquiry. 
The first volume contains a collected series of astronomical and mag- 
netic determinations. The number of the points for which geographi- 
eal co-ordinates are given is 112, but the degree of their exactness 
differs considerably. Many of the points for which co-ordinates are 
given were obtained from Indian triangulations ; but many others were 
determined from march-routes alone. The determinations which are 
less exact, belong naturally to the northern portion of the journey, to 
Tibet and Turkestan. The corrections which it would be necessary 
to make in the existing maps, in consequence of the Schlagintweits’ 
determinations, would be very considerable, particularly in longitudes. 
Thus, for instance, Lé, in Ladak, is alleged to lie 44’ more to the West 
than was originally supposed, and altogether the whole of western 
Tibet would have to be removed about 20’ to the westward. The 
changes in the latitudes are less extensive, the highest do not exceed 
10’, as in the case of Balti. The Karakoram pass, the highest point 
attained by Europeans who had preceded the Schlagintweits, lies more 
northwards by 11’, and the same distance farther to the West than 
marked on any previous map. 
* This paper was read at a general meeting of both sections of the Russian 
Geographical Society. The president of the section of physical geography, M. 
Seménof, who had only just returned from abroad, took occasion to express his 
own doubts as to the correctness of some of the determinations and conclusions 
of the brothers Schlagintweit. He communicated to the members present that 
these results, which bear evident traces of haste, are regarded with equal doubt 
by the learned in Germany. The extensive range of the labours, the multipli- 
eity of the collections and observations which devolved on the celebrated tra- 
vellers, produced the confusion and irregularity apparent in their observations 
and collections, 
