1889.] Geography and Travel. 805 
Tallone, were opened on February i. Yet Corsica has an area of 8747 
square kilometres, and has been a part of France since 1769. Lack of 
means of communication has always hindered the development of this 
island ; it has been difficult for the peasants to bring their produce into 
the towns. The topography of Corsica is peculiar. There are two 
systems of mountains: one, of granitic summits, rising to 2800 metres, 
and crossing the island transversely; the other, of stratified rocks, run- 
ning north and south along the eastern coast. The streams which 
enter the sea on the western side, run at right angles to the coast, 
between high walls ; those which flow eastward are among the moun- 
tains just mentioned, yet some unite to form the Golo and the 
Tavignano, the most important rivers of the island. Thus the basins 
are all independent, and hitherto there has been no force with power 
enough to link together the populations of the eastern and western 
coasts. The interior is a labyrinth of mountains. One climbs from 
village to village by scale, or ladder-like footpaths. 
Eight national routes were planned, to surround the island and cross 
it diagonally; but only 403 kilometres of these roads are actually in 
good state. These roads were long ago found insufficient, and 440 
kilometres were projected in 1878. The writer, M. Daniel Bellet, then 
describes the principal features along the two completed railways, and 
concludes by pointing out some of the advantages to commerce that 
will accrue from them. — Revue de Geographie, June and July, j88g. 
Progress in Russian Geology.— A new sheet of the geological 
map of Russia covers the southern Urals. Contrary to current opinion, 
the great chain consists in its southern parts of a number of parallel 
chains, all running from southwest to northeast. The main water- 
parting is built up of granites, syenites and gneisses, considerably worn 
by denuding forces. Towards the east it has a steep slope, and its base 
disappears beneath the Tertiary, while toward the west it is overlaid by 
Devonian, Permian and Carboniferous, folded into parallel chains, 
rising more than 3300 feet above the sea. Farther west, the country is 
a plateau, built up of the nearly horizontal strata of a formation inter- 
mediate between the Permian and Carboniferous of Western Europe. 
Above this there are Triassic deposits. 
M. Tchernysheff shows that the bituminous gray and dolomitic lime- 
stones of the Ural, once thought to be Silurian, and as a rule poor in 
fossils, are in truth lower Devonian. The same series of limestones, 
quartzites and shales, also arrayed in ridges running southwest to north- 
east, occurs in Siberia and Turkestan. 
