GEOGRAPHIC MISCELLANEA 527 



Writing in the Pall Mall Magazine, Arminius Vambery concurs in the 

 general expectation of a large increase in the population of Siberia within 

 the next hundred years as a result of the facilities that will be offered by 

 the Russian government for the exploitation of its enormous wealth in 

 timber, minerals, and arable land. M. Vambery, however, does not look 

 for so large an increase — sixty or eighty millions — as is predicted by 

 many Russian writers. While admitting the migratory propensities of 

 the Russian peasant, he calls attention to the fact that even in the most 

 fertile districts of southwestern European Russia the density of popula- 

 tion is far below that of other European countries. 



Among the many interesting facts brought out by the U. S. Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey parties operating in Alaska are several relating to tidal 

 phenomena. Observations in the Copper River delta by Assistant Ritter 

 show that the tidal curve as registered on the gauge is of a peculiar type, 

 for while the upper portion remains normal the lower part is very nearly 

 a straight line. A possible explanation of the phenomena may be that 

 a great ledge prevents the water from falling below a certain level. The 

 tidal work in western Alaska by Assistant Pratt shows a rapid transition 

 from an almost strictly diurnal tide at St Michaels to a well-marked semi- 

 diurnal type at the Kiisilvak entrance to the Yukon. 



Commercial Africa in 1899 is the title of a recent report issued by O. P. 

 Austin, Chief of the Bureau of Statistics of the Treasury Department. 

 The report is a summary of the physical and ethnical features of the 

 railroads and mining interests, etc., of different sections of British Africa, 

 German Africa, Italian Africa, Abyssinia, the Boer Republics, and of 

 every state of the continent. An excellent chart of Africa (14 by 18 

 inches) accompanies the report. There are also diagrams showing the 

 languages as well as the religions of the different sections of the continent. 

 The report is an exceedingly valuable and interesting one and should be 

 in the hands of every one interested in the commercial progress of Africa. 



At a meeting of the Board of Managers of the National Geographic 

 Society, November 1, 1899, the following resolutions were passed : 



Resolved, That the Board of Managers of the National Geographic So- 

 ciety, having learned with profound regret of the death of the Hon. 

 Charles P. Daly, LL.D., president of the American Geographical Society, 

 place on record its high appreciation of the distinguished services to geo- 

 graphic science rendered by Judge Daly during his long and honorable 

 career, and tender to the officers and members of the American Geo- 

 graphical Society its respectful sympathy with them in their loss. 



Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions, signed by the President and 

 the Secretary, be transmitted to the American Geographical Society. 



One of the most interesting features of railroad travel in the mountain 

 regions of the Far West has hitherto been the steep grades by which the 

 various lines have, with one or two notable exceptions, been made to 

 reach the high elevations at which they have been carried over the dif- 

 ferent ranges. These, however, are rapidly being done away with, in 

 some cases by the construction of tunnels, in others by the building of 

 new lines over passes of lower altitude. The famous Veta Pass line of 

 the Denver and Rio Grande, with a maximum grade of 4.7 per cent, or 



