December 25, 1885.] 



SCIENCE. 



555 



River and the town of Khotan, was expected, and 

 has probably arrived before this, via Aksii and 

 Karakol, at Sertiirechinsk, the authorities of which 

 district liad received a call for forty camels to 

 carry the collections made by the party. 



Return of Lieutenant Allen.— Lieutenant Allen, 

 of the Copper River expedition to Alaska, has 

 arrived in Washington, where he will prepare his 

 report. 



Cameroons district, West Africa. — Rogozinski 

 writes of the Cameroons district, West Africa, 

 and especially of the elevated region or hill dis- 

 trict, which has a relatively good climate when 

 compared with that of the lowlands adjacent. 

 The diurnal variation of temperature is rather 

 large. At Likumbe, 2,500 feet above the sea, the 

 morning temperature was 65° F.; at noon, 88°. 5 ; 

 and at evening, about 73°. 0. At the coast, for the 

 same hours, it was 79°. 0, 84°. 0, and 80°. 0, respec- 

 tively. Often on the mountains during the night 

 the cold was quite sensible, the thermometer fall- 

 ing to 60°, and rising at mid-day to 87° or 88°. 

 The pirincipal languages of the hill country are 

 the Bakwu'i or Bakwille, Bamboko, Isubu, and a 

 jargon spoken at the coast. This is the most 

 northern outpost of the Bantu family on the west. 

 The chalects are all nearly related to the Dwalla, 

 spoken on the Cameroons River. The villages are 

 not composed of associated huts, as might be sup- 

 posed. Generally the cabins are scattered through 

 the chaparral, not more than two together. A 

 certain number form a clan or group, with a chief 

 and several elders as the government. The men 

 are hunters, and gather palm-oil and rubber : all 

 else is left to the women and children. They do 

 not give their confidence easily, but when once 

 given it is easy to guide them. Their game does 

 not include the elephant, common in that vicinity, 

 and rarely the leopard. The women gather plan- 

 tains, ignamas, nuts, jDalm-oil, etc., which con- 

 stitute their chief sources of subsistence. The 

 httle plantations are managed by the women and 

 children. The soil is extremely fertile and pro- 

 ductive. The real richness of this land is for agri- 

 culture. The houses are built of canes, and covered 

 with mats. The domestic animals, including pigs, 

 sheep, goats, and fowls, have free access, so that 

 they are far from clean. Snakes, iguanas, and the 

 small meagre dog of the country, are eaten. 

 Slavery does not exist, but polygamy is allowed. 

 The people are quiet, except for vendettas, which 

 are the source of many small conflicts and most of 

 their ills. 



Trade-routes between Bolivia and the Argen- 

 tine Republic. — The observations of Thouar in 

 the region of La Gran Chaco have been renewed. 

 The traveller has especially in view the establish- 



ments of trade-routes between Bolivia and the 

 Argentine Confederation, — an object of much im- 

 portance to both countries, and to commerce in 

 general. The emperor of Brazil is also very much 

 interested in any thing tending to improve com- 

 munication between the interior countries. Thouar 

 accepted an escort of twenty-five men with equip- 

 ment, and left Buenos Ay res, July 31, accompa- 

 nied by Lieut. Felix Guerber and Pilot WiKrid 

 Gillibert. They were about to enter the north 

 Chaco, to trace its unknown portion and com^jlete 

 the charts, when last heard from. Just as they 

 started, Thouar was informed that a party, under 

 Ernest Haugge, engineer, of German bhiih, and 

 a Bolivian escort, engaged in studying the route 

 between the Sucre and the upper Paraguay rivers, 

 had disappeared in the Chaco, having been carried 

 off by the indomitable Tobas. 



Colonization in the Argentine Republic. — 

 Colonization in the Argentine Republic seems more 

 flourishing than in other parts of South America. 

 Some five to twenty colonies have been estabhshed 

 in the Santa Fe district, occupying about 95 square 

 leagues, which a few years ago were given over to 

 the Indians. To-day they are cultivated by 1,359 

 f amihes. A railway leaves Santa Fe, and traverses 

 this region ; another is projected from Rosario. 

 The soil is of great fertility, and but httle more 

 than energy and good will are needed to acquu-e 

 here, if not a fortune, at least ease and comfort. 

 The district of Santa Fe has received 88 colonies 

 during the last 30 years, and now has over 110,000 

 inhabitants. 



An island lost, and another found. — The rock 

 known as the Monk (Munken, Monaco, etc.), six 

 kilometres southward from Sudero, Faroe Islands, 

 has succumbed to the elements. This rock, some 

 seventy feet high, and from certain points of view 

 sufficiently resembling a cowled figure, was de- 

 scribed by the earliest writers on the Faroes, and 

 has served as an important landmark for naviga- 

 tors for hundreds of years. A dangerous reef, 

 nearly covered at high water, alone remains to 

 mark its former position. In contrast to above is 

 the important communication recently received 

 by the Merchants' exchange of San Francisco 

 from our consul at Apia, Samoa, announcing the 

 upheaval of a new island in the track of vessels 

 from California. This island was estimated by 

 the officers of the steamer Janet Nicol as two 

 hundred and fifty feet high, and two miles long 

 north by west and south by east. The steamer 

 approached to about a mile and a half from the 

 crater, bearing west by compass. No bottom was 

 found here at one hundred fathoms, but reefs ex- 

 tend from the extremities of the island, about a 

 mile and a half in either dii'ection. The locaHtv 



