Geography and Travel. 59 
is one of a volcanic group which may be regarded as the result of 
an eruptive fissure extending southwest from the Cameroons moun- 
tains to the island of Anno Bom, or even further, and seeming to 
find in the Rumbi mountains a continuation in the heart of Africa. 
The volcanic peak’ O-Wassa or Clarence Peak, 10,030 feet in 
height, almost entirely covers the northern half of the island. West 
and northwest this mountain is cut by deeply eroded gorges ending 
in a narrow belt of flat country; to the north and northeast the 
sides slope gently to a precipitous rocky coast; on the east the pre- 
cipitous slopes end in a grassy plateau about 1,300 feet above the 
ocean, while on the southwest there is a gradual descent to the pla- 
teau of Batec, which connects O-Wassa with the southern moun- 
tain system. The crater is 575 feet deep. The southern moun- 
tains for the most part present an almost perpendicular front to the 
sea. They form two chains and are basaltic. A volcanic mass 
south of these ranges has what appear to be remains of craters. 
The principal river is the Uaya or Shark. Few of the rivers rise 
at a height of more than 2,000 feet. 
THE Cavcasus.—Though Elbruz is still the monarch of the Cau- 
causus, several peaks are now known to exceed 16,000 feet. Among 
these are Tetnuld (16,700 feet), recently ascended by Mr. Douglas 
Freshfield ; a peak climbed in 1886 by Mr. Dent and Mr. Donkin 
(16,550 feet by their estimation); Schkara and Djanga, which Mr. 
F reshfield estimates respectively at 17,200 and 16,900 feet, and the 
Koshtantau, 17,096, and Dychtau, 16,925 feet, of the Russian 
maps. Mr. Freshfield states that travel in this region of grand 
mountain scenery is now quite safe. 
ASCENT OF THE OWEN STANLEY RANGE.—Messrs. C. H. Hart- 
mann and G. Hunter have succeeded in reaching the summit of the 
Owen Stanley, the principal range of mountains in British New 
Guinea. Twenty-seven friendly natives accompanied them in the 
ascent. Some difficulty, which was peaceably overcome, was en- 
countered with a tribe which guardsthe great mountain Paramagoro, 
believed to be the abode of the spirits of the departed. It rained 
nearly all the time the party were on the mountains. The flora was 
magnificent in the extreme. It does not appear that the highest 
Summits were reached. 
