642 General Notes. - [ug 
mans, Russians, Greeks, Kabards and Osets moving to and fro. 
The twelfth volume of the Memoirs contains the first part of a 
large work by the late General Uslar, on the ancient history of 
the Caucasus. 
M. Nasiloff is spending a third year in the exploration of the 
Northern Ural. He has explored the River Lala under 59° N. 
lat., where he discovered layers of sphero-siderites; also the 
banks of the Sosva and the Lozva, along which he has made large 
geological, botanical and ethnographical collections. 
The Batum province, the Santabago of antiquity, has a most 
luxuriant vegetation, but is thinly peopled. The mountains of 
the left bank of the Chorokh, between Batum and Artvin, are 
spurs of the Anti-Taurus, which terminates near the Chorokh in 
the peak Kvahid, 10,390 feet high. The deep gorges are occu- 
pied by Mussulman Gurians, and each is so isolated from the 
adjoining ones that the population has its own individuality. The 
fields of Indian corn and rice are often scratched on terraces 3000 
feet above the sea, close to ruins of small old fortresses, each of 
which has its legend. 
The small people called the Svanets, numbering only 12,000, 
seem to be degenerating in every way ; goitre and cretinism are 
common. These diseases are also known in Western Daghest ot 
and in the valleys of the Andian Koyson ridge. The men and 
women affected with a peculiar hysteric disease, bark like dogs, 
and the natives consider it as the result of bewitching with T. 
“ barking grass ” (a kind of Orchis). nad 
The province of Kars consists of three parts : the basın of the 
Olti, covered with clay hills and intersected by irrigation andj 
the plateau of Kars, fifty miles long by thirty-five miles wide, ant 
5000 to 6000 feet high, and a plateau 6000 to 7000 feet | gn 
covered with good pasture land and dotted with lakes. S 
. His route 
Arrica.—Lieut. Wissmann arrived at Cairo Jan. 1. $ a 
from Loanda, by way of Nyangwe on the Lualaba, to Me si : 
led him through the unexplored southern half of the Cong? - 
basin, which was found to be most densely populated. d 
The people called Tushilange, residing between the Kasal ¢ : 
the Lubi, are very numerous, and are ruled over by ee fyo 
Kingengeand the more powerful Mukenge. Mule ‘co : 
his wives, escorted the travelers to Nyangwe. The aerial 
lake, which had been described to the travelers as 4 piso 
turned out to be only three miles long. It has pr ently ne 
outlet, and is 2230 feet above the sea. East o' om Lieu 
dwell the Basonge, a very numerous people, "i Pe 
Wissmann speaks as friendly, laborious and highly $ ai i 
dustrial art. He brought away splendid specimen 
weapons, carved ivory, inlaid wares and iron and — travel 
Leaving the fertile plains inhabited by these tribes, 
