46 On the Schlaginticeits' [No. 1, 



Observations on the Astronomical points determined by the brothers 



Schlagintweit in Central Asia.* — By Captain Golubief. 

 From the Journal of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. Part 4th, 1861. 

 [Received 11th January, 1866.] 

 During the current year, the first volume of the Narrative of the 

 Scientific Expedition of the brothers Schlagintweit to India and High- 

 Asia, extending over a period of four years, from 1854 to 1858, has 

 made its appearance. This remarkable production is all the more 

 valuable, inasmuch as it will not only embrace the results of the ex- 

 plorations of the brothers Schlagintweit, but likewise those of many 

 learned travellers who were their predecessors in this field of inquiry. 

 The first volume contains a collected series of astronomical and mag- 

 netic determinations. The number of the points for which geographi- 

 cal co-ordinates are given is 112, but the degree of their exactness 

 differs considerably. Many of the points for which co-ordinates are 

 given were obtained from Indian triangulations ; but many others were 

 determined from march-routes alone. The determinations which are 

 less exact, belong naturally to the northern portion of the journey, to 

 Tibet and Turkestan. The corrections which it would be necessary 

 to make in the existing maps, in consequence of the Schlagintweit s' 

 determinations, would be very considerable, particularly in longitudes. 

 Thus, for instance, Le, in Ladak, is alleged to lie 44' more to the West 

 than was originally supposed, and altogether the whole of western 

 Tibet would have to be removed about 20' to the westward. The 

 changes in the latitudes are less extensive, the highest do not exceed 

 10', as in the case of Balti. The Karakoram pass, the highest point 

 attained by Europeans who had preceded the Schlagintweits, lies more 

 northwards by 11', and the same distance farther to the West than 

 marked on any previous map. 



* This paper was read at a general meeting of both sections of the Russian 

 Geographical Society. The president of the section of physical geography, M. 

 Semenof, who had only just returned from abroad, took occasion to express his 

 own doubts as to the coiTectness of some of the determinations and conclusions 

 of the brothers Schlagintweit. He communicated to the members present that 

 these results, which bear evident traces of haste, are regarded with equal doubt 

 by the learned in Germany. The extensive range of the labours, the multipli- 

 city of the collections and observations which devolved on the celebrated tra- 

 vellers, produced the confusion and irregularity apparent in their observations 

 and collections. 





