1886. ] Geography and Travels. 365 
GENERAL NOTES. 
GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.! 
America.— The Goajira Peninsula—F¥. A. A. Simons contrib- 
utes to the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society an 
account of the Goajira peninsula, to the west of the Gulf of Mara- 
caybo, in the United States of Colombia. This large peninsula 
appears to be tenanted only by less than 25,000 Indians, who are 
divided into several castes, and have some peculiar laws. Every 
‘ Indian belongs to the tribe of his mother, and, if he injures him- 
self in any way, he has to pay blood-money to his mother’s rela- 
tions for shedding the blood of his family, and tear-money to his 
father’s relatives for the sorrow he has caused them. The south- 
ern part of the peninsula is a level, grassy plain; the northern, a 
country of volcanic hills, with three ranges, the highest about 
2800 feet high. There are no perennial rivers on the peninsula, 
So that in summer—the greater half of the year—the only water 
is from wells and a few water-holes, natural or artificial. The 
weapons of the Goajiras are the bow and arrow, as well as the 
flint-lock and the rifle. Poisoned arrows are used to some ex- 
tent. The poison is putrefied animal matter, and the arrow-head 
the barbed weapon of a sting-ray, so attached to the shaft that it 
t will remain buried in the wound it has made. 
American News—Lieutenant H. F., Allen and Sergeants Rob- 
€rtson and Ficket crossed last year from the head-waters of the 
Atnah to those of the Sarranah, descended this river to the 
Yukon and the latter to the sea. The Corwin brought these 
travelers to San Francisco, and also took up Messrs. Garland and 
fatty, two Englishmen who had crossed from the Mackenzie to 
=the Yukon and descended the latter. 
‘ Asta.— Col, Prejevalsky’s Fourney.—A letter from Col. Preje- 
7? valsky relates to his journey from Lob-nor to Khotan. The few 
People of Lob-nor are the last remnant of the natives of Lob, a 
: TE ane was destroyed at the end of the fourteenth century. 
bushes and herbs, all thickly covered with loess dust. The only 
ngar, and then along the southern foot of the Tian-Shan. 
? : a 
a This department is edited by W. N. LOCKINGTON, Philadelphia. 
