928 General Notes. [ November, 
these winds are almost ceaselessly blowing against the opposing 
sides of the Great Andes and depositing their moisture in the 
form of fine snow or hail. In the frequency with which it will 
be remarked that our ascents were made from the west, there 1s 
an illustration of our frequent inability to see anything through 
the clouds which enveloped the other sides. In force the winds 
were not remarkable.” 
GrocrapuicaL News.—At a recent meeting of the Paris Geo- 
graphical Society a letter from M. Rabot, now travelling in Nor- 
way, was read, which stated that the last two winters, “though 
very rigorous, have not had any great influence on the opening or 
closing of the passages because the summers have been remark- 
ably warm. This year, on the other hand, navigation will be 
stopped very early, as the summer is reported to be a very cold 
one in the extreme north. M. Broek, formerly a minister of the 
Norwegian Government, thought there was confirmation of his 
expectations in the fact that vast numbers of birds, driven out by 
the rigor of the climate, are now alighting on the shores of Nor- 
way. They are arriving in such a state of starvation that they 
swallow the bait whilst the fishermen are casting their lines. 
Three English gentlemen, Messrs. Delmar Morgan, Peek 
and Coles, have undertaken an exploration of the east-central and 
south-east portions of Iceland this summer. They take with 
them a valuable set of scientific instruments loaned by the Royal 
Geographical Society. The Willem Barents of the Dutch 
North Polar Expedition, has not been able to reach Spitzbergen 
this year. She found the ice extended in a compact mass from 
68° 30’ N. lat. and 6° W. long. to 73° 30’ N. lat. and 14 E. 
long., some twelve geographical miles north of Vardo. There 
was ice also thirty miles south of Bear Island. The steamer 
Oscar Dickson was frozen in at the mouth of the Yenisei baie 
ast win- 
made last year by Commander Boulton, R.N., of th 
portion of Hudson’s Straits and the exact position 0 
lands and islands ascertained. During August ice formed : 
night. Between Koksoak River, the extreme point reached, an 
Cape Chudleigh and thence also to Nachvak Bay [N- lat. 59), 
Eskimo are the sole inhabitants. The last number of the Bul- 
letin of the Berlin Geographical Society contains a paper 0” a 
Climate of the Glacial Period, by Dr. Woeikoff. For the forma 
tion of glaciers a certain amount of moisture in the ate 
_ as well as a low temperature is necessary. In the Woznesensky 
_ gold mine, at a height of 920 meters, the mean temperature 1S ee 
