1886.] Geography and Travels, 717 
M. Merk has traveled in Seistan or Sistan,a district at the 
south-west angle of the Afghanistan. He reports that the Hel- 
mand rose to an unusual height last spring and flooded the 
Hanum through a trough leading to it from the Helmand. Forts, 
tombs, villages and pleasure-houses lie in ruins along thi’ trough, 
and there are traces of the great Jui-karshasp canal. At Trakun 
was a fort in perfect preservation as though just abandoned. 
According to tradition the inhabitants left it about three genera- 
tions ago. 
Arrica.— Madagascar—aAn interesting account of the geog- 
raphy of Madagascar, which is claimed frankly as “une terre 
Frangaise,” is given by M. Georges Richard in the Revue Scien- 
tifigue of April 3d.. The little explored central mountain mass 
contains several plateaux, while between the spurs which diverge 
seaward, and often form a series of platforms, are fertile valleys, 
watered by streams, few of which are navigable. The most con- 
siderable of these are on the west side, and are the Onilahy, the 
Mangoko, the Sigiboujy and the Ikiope and Betsiboke, which 
unite and débouch in the bay of Bombetok. The mouths of the 
nvers upon the eastern coast are almost always obstructed by 
Wet season, so that they form extensive marshes—the source of 
the Madagascar fever. The climate of the interior is healthy. 
Algeria —The Revue Scientifique has recently published a series 
of articles upon the geography of Algeria, from the pen of M. A. 
LeChatelier. From these we learn that the southern frontier of 
pressions called Gassi, scooped out by the winds, but none of 
ese, except that of Mokhauza or Ir’har’har, traverse the entire 
width of the Erg. The tribes under French rule do not in the 
Sandy desert, while the tribes of the southern Sahara do not reach 
~ -to its southern border. The western part of the southern border 
se Pied by tribes which recognize the suzerainty of the Sultan of 
1 
Western Erg are vast plains traversed by the oued M. ` 
Chatelier advocates its independence under French 
sast of Algeria advance beyond the northern borders of this 
| Stest, and the barrier is less complete. Between the eastern and- 2 ; 
The oasis of Tuat has not been annexed by France, and M. Ce. 
