840 General Notes. [October, 



with maps and tables. There are papers on the aurora, the 

 health of the expedition, the color sense of the Chukchis, on the 

 botanical collections, meteorological observations, the Inverte- 

 brata of the Arctic Seas, etc. 



Nature states that the French Government is making prepara- 

 tions to send out an Antarctic Expedition to Cape Horn. The 

 expedition will be fitted out for a period of eighteen months, and 

 2,500,000 francs have been voted for it. 



Recent explorations in the Argentine portion of the Terra del 

 Fuego show an abundant occurrence of gold. 



Deep Sea Explorations. — The president of the English 

 Geologists Association in his recent address before that Society, 

 has given a valuable account of deep sea explorations from Capt. 

 Dayman's survey of the North Atlantic sea bed in 1857, to the 

 expedition of the Challenger. 



The French Commission will continue their deep sea explora- 

 tions on board the Travailleur during this season. The investi- 

 gations will include the ocean bed along the coast of Spain, Por- 

 tugal and Morocco. 



Ascent of Mount Cook.— The Rev. W.'S. Green and his two 

 Swiss guides, succeeded in ascending Mount Cook, the highest 

 known Australasian peak, on the 2d of March last, after two un- 

 successful attempts. Great danger was incurred from continual 

 avalanches, and the summit was' not reached until 6.20 P.M. As 

 the clouds obscured the view and the hour was so late only ten 

 minutes were spent on the summit and no observations appear to 

 have been taken so that the actual height of Mount Cook is still 

 unknown. It is given in the government map as 12,349 feet. In 

 the account given in the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical 

 Society it is said : " The scenery about the upper part of the Tas- 

 man Glacier and its branches, is described as supremely grand, 

 equaling and even excelling the most famous scenery in the Eu- 

 ropean Alps. The peaks rise higher above the level of the snow 

 fields, and these are more extensive, and under the brighter and 

 clearer atmosphere of New Zealand, present a more dazzling 

 beauty. The spurs of Mount Cook, below the snow line, were 

 covered with plants which reminded the travelers of the Alpine 

 vegetation of Switzerland. Among these was a Gnaphalium 

 closely resembling G. leontopodium, the well-known ' Edelweiss.'" 



Afghanistan.— During the recent occupation of Afghanistan 

 by the English, an area of 39,500 square miles has been surveyed 

 in more or less detail, in various parts, and a further area of 

 about 7000 square miles has been explored by native agency. An 

 important result of these surveys is to show that the position ot 

 Kabul, Ghazni and Kandahar, as indicated previously on the 

 maps, are correct in latitude but erroneous in longitude by ten to 

 fourteen miles, and that they all require to be shifted to the east, 



