1 882.] Geography and Travels. 761 



Captain Burton and Commander Cameron have returned from 

 the Gold Coast to England with large and valuable collections in 

 all branches of natural history. Com. Cameron has also made 

 extensive surveys. 



Dr. Gumbel, director of the Bavarian Geological Survey, after 

 an examination of specimens of ore from the Gold Coast, doubts 

 whether there exists any country in the world which holds out so 

 fair a hope of a continuous supply of gold as do the inland dis- 

 tricts of the Gold Coast. 



A correspondent of the London Daily News writes that the 

 Italian travelers, Captain Bianchi and Signor Licata, are about to 

 undertake an extensive journey in Africa. From the Bay of 

 Biafra, in Guinea, they will traverse the hitherto unexplored high 

 levels of the Cameroon Mountains in the direction of the Labi 

 Lakes, and study the country in which rise the Congo, Niger, 

 Gazelle Rivers, and Lake Tsad, to find the key of the hydro- 

 graphic system of tropical Africa. From the lakes they will de- 

 scend to Lake Luta, which was partly explored by Signor Gessi. 

 They will then traverse the Uganda territory, going north-east 

 towards the Gallas country, already known to Capt. Bianchi, and 

 return to Italy via Abyssinia and the Red Sea, having thus 

 crossed Africa from west to east. They believe it will take four 

 years to complete this immense journey, which will have princi- 

 pally a scientific aim. 



The Circumpolar Stations. - The steamer Pola, Captain 

 M filler, left Pola on April 2d last with the staff and equipment of 

 the Austrian Meteorological Expedition, consisting of fourteen 

 persons. She expected to arrive at Jan Mayen early in May, and 

 after leaving the party, with all the stores, will return home. The 

 Austrians are to remain until August, 1883. Stores are supplied 

 for two years, and three boats are provided for the escape of the 

 expedition should the relief vessel not reach Jan Mayen next 



The German Committee held a meeting at Berlin on April 1 3th, 

 and they are reported to have decided to erect one observing sta- 

 tion in the northern arctic zone at Cumberland Sound, Davis 

 Strait, and a second on one of the islands of South Georgia, 54 

 30' S. lat, 41 30' 15" W. long., and some 1100 miles east of 

 Cape Horn. The former expedition will be commanded by Dr. 

 Giese and the latter by Dr. Schrader, of the Hamburg Observa- 

 tory, and each will consist, besides, of six additional observers 

 and three or four workmen. Both parties will leave Europe 

 early in June. Dr. Schrader proceeding by mail steamer to 

 Monte Video, and thence by a German man-of-war to their des- 

 tination, but no definite arrangements have yet been made for the 

 conveyance of Dr. Giese's expedition to Cumberland Sound. 



The Swedes expect to open a station on Spitzbergen during 

 the summer. It will probably be established at Mussel Bay, on 



