526 GEOGRAPHIC MISCELLANEA 



The Coast Pilot party of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey is now en- 

 gage 1 on a revision of the Atlantic Coast Pilot, part IV, Point Judith to 

 New York. The field work, which included all of Long Island sound, was 

 executed in August of this year. It is hoped to have the published vol- 

 ume ready for distribution within two months. There was also prepared 

 and published during the past month a supplement to the last edition of 

 part II, which was published in 1893, 



For the excellent map of the scene of the military operations in South 

 Africa, which accompanies the current number, The National Geo- 

 graphic Magazine is indebted to Major W. A. Simpson, U. S. A., Chief 

 of the Military Information Division of the War Department. The map 

 shows in detail the military roads, mountain passes, and other features 

 necessary to a clear understanding of the country in which the present 

 military operations are taking place. It is the only map of its kind on 

 such a scale that has been published in this country, and its official 

 character is a guarantee of its correctness. 



Thk attention of the people of Great Britain has on various occasions 

 been called to the fact that the exhaustion of those wonderful beds of 

 coal which have constituted so important a factor in the industrial su- 

 premacy of that country is not so remote an event as to justify the com- 

 placency with which it is commonly regarded. Such warnings, however, 

 have usually excited nothing but ridicule. It will be interesting, there- 

 fore, to note the effect upon the public mind of a recently published re- 

 port from one of the official inspectors of mines, in which it is stated that 

 within fifty years, which is but a short time in the life of a nation, scarcity 

 will begin to be felt. 



The Russian canal which is now being built from the Baltic to the 

 Black sea, with the expectation of being completed within four years, 

 will be 1 ,080 miles long. Its width of 217 feet at the top and 1 17 feet at 

 the bottom and its depth of 28i feet will permit the largest warship to 

 pass through. Six days will be necessary for a vessel's passage, steaming 

 at the rate of six knots day and night. The whole course is to be lighted 

 by electricity. The total cost is estimated at $116,796,000. The gigantic 

 extent of the work can be partially comprehended when it is remem- 

 bered that the Suez canal is 92 miles long, while the proposed Nica- 

 ragua course is 169.4 miles from ocean to ocean and would require 44 

 hours for its transit. 



The U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey steamer Pathfinder, Capt. F. 

 Walley Perkins commanding, which left Norfolk June 17 for San Fran- 

 cisco via the Straits of Magellan, arrived there September 1 7. The voyage 

 was made under favorable conditions, the time (three months between 

 the terminal points) being remarkably short. Stops for several days 

 were made at Santa Lucia (June 25), Pernambuco (July 6), Rio Janeiro 

 (July 19), Montevideo (July 27), Valparaiso (August 20), Callao (August 

 26), and San Diego (September 14). After a short stay at San Francisco 

 the vessel will probably go to Hawaii to engage in hydrographic work. 

 The harbor of Hilo will probably be taken up first, and afterwards an 

 examination will be made of a region between Honolulu and Moanalua. 



