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The National Geographic Magazine 



millions in 1903 ; and those of Gal- 

 veston, from 36 millions in 1893 to 144 

 millions in 1903. Baltimore shows an 

 increase in exports from 75 millions to 

 84 millions ; Boston, from 83 millions 

 to 86 millions ; Philadelphia, from 43 

 millions to 73 millions ; Newport News, 

 from 10 millions to 20 millions ; Sa- 

 vannah, from 23 millions to 58 millions ; 

 San Francisco, from 29 millions to 32 

 millions ; and Puget Sound, from 5 mil- 

 lions to 27 millions of dollars. Charles- 

 ton, S. C, shows a decrease from 11 

 millions to 3.5 millions, and Norfolk 

 from 1 1 millions to 9 millions. The 

 proportion of imports entering these 

 ports differs little from earlier years. 



Frederick A. Walpole, the botanical art- 

 ist of the Department of Agriculture, 

 and a member of the National Geo- 

 graphic Society, died May 11, 1904, of 

 typhoid fever, at Cottage Hospital, 

 Santa Barbara, Cal. He was consid- 

 ered the best plant artist in the United 

 States, his drawings having been used 

 to illustrate various reports published 

 by the Department of Agriculture and 

 the Smithsonian Institution, as well as 

 the narrative of the Harriman Alaska 

 Expedition. The greater part of his 

 drawings remain unpublished, includ- 

 ing a remarkable series of colored paint- 

 ings of the native poisonous plants of' 

 the . United States now on exhibition 

 by the Department of Agriculure at 

 St Louis. Mr Walpole's death is re- 

 garded as an irreparable loss to botan- 

 ical science. Mr Walpole was born in 

 Essex county, New York, in 1861. 



A New Pacific Coal Field* — The impor- 

 tance to the whole Pacific coast of an ex- 

 tensive deposit of good Alaskan coal that 

 is accessible to the ocean can not be 

 overestimated. Such a coal field, ac- 

 cording to the report of Dr G. C. Mar- 

 tin, of the U. S. Geological Survey, is 

 situated from 12 to 25 miles inland from 

 Controller Bay, Alaska. It is in the 

 valley of the Bering River, a good-sized 



stream which flows into Controller Bay 

 east of Copper. River. This coal area, 

 as at present recognized, covers an area 

 of 80 miles, the largest seam being 20 

 feet thick, and was surveyed by Dr Mar- 

 tin in 1903. The coal is hard bitumi- 

 nous. 



A new meteorological observatory is to 



be established at Tortosa, on the eastern 

 coast of the Spanish Peninsula, some 

 119 miles from Valencia. This new ob- 

 servatory, which is to be built by the 

 Jesuits, will be known as the ' ' Ob- 

 servatorio de Fisica Cosmica del Ebro ' ' 

 (Physical and Cosmical Observatory 

 of the Ebro). The buildings will be 

 erected in the form of a cross, compris- 

 ing four main rooms, separated from 

 each other, and several partly subter- 

 ranean apartments reserved for the in- 

 stallation of instruments of exception- 

 ally delicate construction. 



The management and direction of the 

 installation is to be entrusted to Father 

 Cirera, a man who stands remarkably 

 high among experts in the cosmical, me- 

 teorological, and astronomical sciences. 

 He has spent the past four years in care- 

 fully studying the most noted observa- 

 tories of Europe, after having estab- 

 lished and directed for six years the 

 magnetic department of the well-known 

 observatory at Manila, which has ren- 

 dered and continues to render such in- 

 valuable services to the navigators of all 

 nations. H. A. Johnson, 



U. S. Consul, Valencia. 



A Map of St Louis. — One of the most 

 appropriate exhibits to be made by the 

 U. S. Geological Survey at the Louisiana 

 Purchase Exposition this summer will 

 be a topographic map of the city of St 

 Louis and its environs. Copies of this 

 map, which is mainly a result of sur- 

 veys made by Mr Charles E. Cooke, 

 topographer, will be distributed gratui- 

 tously to Exposition visitors as a me- 

 mento of the Survey's work. 



