630 General Notes. {July, 
proved by well-characterized fossils. Radiolarian slates, probably 
older than the Carboniferous limestone, occur in almost every part 
of the archipelago. The Japanese island chain is one of the finest 
examples of a mountain range of unilateral structure. 
Asiatic News.—The Russian Trans-Caspian railway was by the 
end of last year opened as far as Ghiaurs. From this spot to 
Merv the necessary earthworks were completed. From thence to 
Chardjui, 118 miles from Merv, the route will be across desert. It 
is proposed to prevent the access of moving sand by plantations 
along the line. An ethnographical map of Asia, six and al 
feet by four and a half feet, showing the localities of 136 divisions 
of peoples and languages, in twenty-six tints of color and shading, 
has been made by Herr Vincent von Haardt, of Vienna.— 
recent issue of China Review contains an article, by Mr. C. Tay- 
lor, upon the aborigines of Formosa. Mr. Taylor has resided 
formation obtained from stragglers domiciled among the Paiwans. 
The report of Mr. G. Schumacher, published by the Com- 
mittee of the Palestine Exploration Fund, is full of interesting 
details upon the Jaulan and Hauran regions. The river Yarmut 
whose course marks the southern limit of the Jaulan basaltic 
region, receives from the north several tributaries, which are here 
for the first time correctly mapped. The Rukhad, one of these, 
rises at the foot of Mt. Hermon (Jebel-esh-Sheikh). Its tribe 
the Wady Seisun, falls 517 feet in 420 yards by a succession © 
cataracts. These rivers have their sources in springs, and there are 
clear indications of the existence of large reservoirs of under- 
ground water in the basaltic and calcareous formations. 
Asiatic ĪSLANDS AND AUSTRALIA, ETC.—Barren and Narcoudam, 
two volcanic islands belonging to the Andaman archipelago, ai 
lying east of the main islands, have been surveyed by Capt. Ho 
. day, of the Indian Survey. Barren island is circular, about ae 
miles across, and its principal features are a main crater, with ax 
of one and a half miles and one mile, and an inner cone 
half a mile across at its base and rising 1015 feet above the nr 
The inner cone bears upon its summit a small crater from whicli 
steam and smoke issue. The volcano is known to have bee? 
