282 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 
“mation, relative to the explorations which are going on in the 
‘““ Colony :— 
“ “We are continuing the explorations, in which the Geographi- 
‘eal Society has taken so much interest. Lieutenant Prup’HoMME 
“left last Monday for Sambor on the ‘Upper Mekong.’ He 
‘is to take observations for the line of a tramway protected from 
“inundation, and, at the same time, to determine the height of the 
“ «banks of the river above and below the rapids. 
“*Tieutenant Gautier is en route for Tracona, on the frontier of 
‘“¢¢ Baik Ihuan, in the neighbourhood of Tanbinh. He wil! remain 
‘in these almost unknown regions so long as his health permits 
“him to do so, and will permanently establish himself. 
‘““<*Mons. Pavie has finished placing the telegraphic posts be- 
‘“ «tween Prom-Penh and Battambang. The wires are fixed on the 
“ “Cambogian side. We are only waiting for the Siamese to open 
“ ‘this nnportant line of electric communication. 
‘Mons. AyMontER and Captain Sorry remain at Angkor; by 
‘“ «the last news, their health left nothing to desire.” 
“Tt is fitting here,” adds the general Secretary, “to thank Mons. 
“te Myre pe Viters who is always so ready to help the Society.” 
Matay TRANSLITERATION. 
A Member of the Straits Asiatic Society, who was also one of 
the Government Spelling Committee (1878), has furnished the 
following Memorandum relative to the Paper on Transliteration, 
which appeared in the last Journal :— 
It may be RSME to define the exact difference between the 
‘spelling system” adopted by the Government Committee (1878) 
and published in Journal No. I., and that recommended in the 
paper now published. Both systems adopt the same course 
in giving the vowel sounds their Italian value, and, generally 
speaking, in regard to diphthongs and consonants. Nor in regard 
to separating the consonaats in agglutinative particles and doubling 
the consonants in Arabic words having the ftashdid, are the 
two systems in any way opposed. The difference between them 
is almost entirely limited to two points: one as to the principle of 
proceeding when sound and spelling differ; and one as to the mode 
