386 General Notes. [ May, 
direction for 232 miles to the oasis of Sha-chau—about E. long. 
94°, lat. 39°'—reaching there on the 2oth of June. He states 
that the desert attains at one point an elevation of 5000 feet, but 
that the Sha-chau oasis, which he describes as very fertile, is only 
3500 feet above the sea. Southwards there runs a range covered 
with perpetual snow, and evidently to be identified with the Altyn- 
tagh of his former journey to Lob-Nor. It is here joined by 
the Nian-Shan of Koko-Nor. This portion of Mongolia being 
very little known, it is likely our knowledge of it will be much 
increased. The latest news of this intrepid traveler comes by way 
of Pekin, and reports him as having reached the southern part of 
the province of Tsaidam on the northern frontier of Tibet. The 
route from there to Lhassa is known, partly through Prejeval- 
sky’s own researches in 1872, and partly from Huc and Gabet’s 
journey. 
Count Széchényi having, as stated in the NATURALIST for No- 
vember, 1879, been obliged to abandon his attempt to cross the 
Kum Tagh to the Lob-Nor, made a journey southwards from 
Su-chow-fu, visiting the high range forming the northern bound- 
ary of the plains of Tsaidam. Then returning to Su-chow-fu he 
proceeded south-easterly to Si-ning-fu through a mountainous 
region constituting the basin of the river Tatung, a tributary to 
the Yellow river. These mountains attain the limits of perpetual 
snow and are called Nan Shan. Si-ning-fu is situated at the foot 
of lofty snow-clad mountains (14,500 feet), in a well cultivated 
country, and is the principal depot of the rhubarb trade between 
China and Russia. He next endeavored to reach Lhassa by the 
direct route over the high plateau of Tibet, the road followed by 
Pére Huc, but could not advance further than the Odantala 
plain where the Yellow river rises. The party left Si-ning-fu on 
August 12, 1879, and reached Cheng-tu-fu, the capital of Szech- 
uen, at the beginning of October. This route is quite unknown, 
and passes over the water-sheds of the two great rivers, the Yellow 
and the Yang-tse-kiang. Széchényi’s arrival on the 24th of October 
at Ta-chién-lu has been reported at Pekin. Notwithstanding the 
efforts of the Chinese to dissuade him from continuing his jour- 
ney into Tibet and the reported hostility of the natives of that 
country, he, when last heard from, was continuing his journey to 
Batang and Lhassa. 
The immense coal fields of China are slowly being developed. 
On the upper Yang-tse-kiang a coal field has been found extend- 
ing over seventy-five square miles. In one bed lying only a 
hundred feet from the surface at least 1,200,000 tons of anthra- 
cite have been exposed. 
The Academy states, on the authority of the British Consul at 
1 The best map on which to trace this portion of Prejevalsky’s route we have found 
to be Tafel 1, Petermann’s Mittheilungen, 1876, showing his previous journey 1" 
187c-73 —EDITOR. 
