Notes and Memoranda. 383 



EOTAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.— May 9. 



A NEWLY-DISCOVERED LOW PASS OVER THE ANDES IN CHILI, SOUTH 



OE Valdivia. — Sir "Woodbine Parish stated that Seiior Cox had 

 undertaken this remarkable journey with a view to discover an easj 

 route between the new Chilian settlements on the Pacific coast in 

 40° and 41° S. lat. and the river Negro, which, eighty years ago, had 

 been proved by Villarino, a Spanish explorer, to be navigable from 

 the eastern side of the Andes to the Atlantic. He equipped an 

 expedition at his own cost at Port Montt, a new German settlement, 

 now containing 15,000 inhabitants, near the island of Chiloe, and 

 proceeded in December, 1862, by way of the two lakes, Llanquilhue 

 and Todos-os-Santos, towards the almost unknown inland sea of 

 Naguel-huassi. He traversed the lakes by means of gutta-percha 

 boats, and succeeded in discovering a pass over the Cordillera at an 

 altitude of not more than 2800 feet. Arrived at the end of Lake 

 Naguel-huassi (Lake of Tigers), which lies on the eastern side of the 

 chain of the Andes, Senor Cox's party found a broad stream issuing 

 from it in the direction of the rivers which flow into the Atlantic. 

 Seven of the sixteen persons who formed the expedition embarked 

 in one of the boats and descended the river, which is called the 

 Limay, and forms one of the affluents of the Rio Negro. The voyage 

 was attended with great risks, owing to the numerous rapids. At 

 length when within five miles of the point to which Villarino had 

 attained in ascending the Rio Negro from the Atlantic, the boat was 

 upset, and the party fell into the hands of a savage tribe of Pampas 

 Indians encamped near the spot. The Cacique at length promised 

 to assist Senor Cox in reaching the Rio Negro on condition that he 

 first went to Valdivia for presents. The re-crossing of the Cordillera, 

 at a more northerly point, towards Valdivia, was accomplished with- 

 out much difficulty : but the main object of Seiior Cox's journey, 

 namely, the opening of an easy passage across the Continent has 

 been up to the present time frustrated by the hostility of the Indian 

 tribes. 



NOTES AND MEMORANDA. 



The Surface of the Sun. — Notwithstanding the statements of the Green- 

 wich astronomers, the question of the rice grains or willow leaves on the solar 

 surface is not considered to be settled. Mr. Wm, Huggins, who is an excellent 

 observer, and possesses a fine telescope, denies that the solar surface consists of an 

 interlacement of elongated particles', definite in shape, and uniform in size. Ho 

 finds the brighter portions of every imaginable shape, and greatly differing in 

 size. It certainly seems highly improbable that the monotony and uniformity of 

 willow leaves or rice grains should be preserved in the face of a body that is 

 proved by the behaviour of the spots to undergo violent changes. From the 

 Monthly Notices of the Astronomical Society (1804, No. 6), it will be seen that 

 Mr. Dawes, who is universally admitted to be one of our finest observers, affirms 

 that " the observations of Messrs. Stone and Dunkin have landed them precisely 

 where he was sixteen years ago." At that time he compared the bright particles 

 scattered almost all over the sun to excessively minute fragments of porcelain ; 

 but he doubted the appearance, and after four years more research, and the 



