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Timoffski, the pioneer of Russian explorers in China, and author of a work on Mongolia (1820-'21; editor, Klaproth), which has been translated into English, died this year, at the age of eighty-five.

Three other eminent Russian geographers, all distinguished members of the Caucasus branch of the Imperial Geographical Society, have passed away during the year. These were, General Alexander Petrovitch Kartseff, president from 1861-'69, and his colleague Dimitry Elaitch Kovalensky, secretary, who actively forwarded the surveys and explorations of the Caucasus; and Baron Uslar, author of "Four Months in the Khirgiz Steppe," who devoted himself to the ethnology and languages of the peoples of the Caucasus, and collected materials for a great work on these subjects, which unfortunately was never completed.

Dr. Reinhold Buchholz, the well-known arctic and African traveler, died April 17th, at Greifswald, in Germany, after a short illness. He had but recently returned from a three years' journey in Africa, and was engaged in classifying the large scientific collections he had brought back, which he designed for the Museum of the University of Greifswald, which had just invited him to accept a chair of Zoology specially created on his account.

Dr. Richard King, who accompanied Admiral Sir George Back in his arctic expedition of 1833-35, died on the 4th of February. He was the founder of the British Ethnological Society, and a working member of the Statistical Society; he was also the author of "Franklin Expedition from First to Last," "Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Arctic Ocean," "History of the Esquimaux," and works on medical and other subjects, and also edited for some time the Statistical Journal and the Ethnological Journal.

SOCIETIES.-A Danish Geographical Society, with the King of Denmark as protector, and the crown-prince as acting president, held its first public meeting in the palace at Copenhagen, on the 22d of December of this year.

An international conference upon the means of exploring equatorial Africa was held in Brussels, in September, under the presidency of the King of the Belgians. The different nations were requested to form local organizations for this purpose. A German national committee was constituted in December under the presidency of the Prince of Reuss, and arrangements for a permanent association are in preparation. It is to be under the patronage of the crown-prince, and will be called the German Society for African Exploration. It is the intention to follow up vigorously, systematically, and persistently, the German explora

tions in Central Africa.

A geographical publication society similar to the Hackluyt has been formed in Portugal, under the style of Commissão Central da Geographia de Lisboa. A geographical society has been formed also at Madrid, which will

confine its attention chiefly to the geography of the Peninsula and the Spanish maritime possessions.

The Appalachian Mountain Club, of Boston, are planning a systematic series of explorations of the mountains of the Atlantic coast. They have also started a new magazine, published in Boston, under the name Appalachia, which will contain contributions on botanical, zoological, and physical geography, hydrography, and geology, as well as upon the special objects of the club.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-Abstract of the Reports of the Surveys and other Geographical Operations in India for 1873-74. Published by the Geographical Department of the Indian Office. Editor, Clements R. Markham. (London, 1876.)

Anderson, John, M. D.: Mandalay to Momien; a Narrative of Two Expeditions to Western China, of 1868 and 1875, under Colonel Edward B. Sladen and Colonel Horace Brown. (London, Macmillan, 1876.) Baedeker, K.: Palestine and Syria. Handbook for Travelers. (Leipsic, 1876.)

Bancroft, Hubert Howe: The Native Races of the Pacific States of North America. (New York, D. Appleton & Co., and London, Longmans, 1876.) This important work, of which the first volumes appeared last year, is now completed in five volumes. It conaboriginal peoples of North America, laboriously and critically collected and summarized.

tains about all that is known of the semi-civilized

Barkley, Henry C., C. E.: Between the Danube and the Black Sea, or Two Years in Bulgaria. (London, Murray, 1876.)

Beveredge, H.: The District of the Bákarganj. (London, Trubner, 1876.) This is an historical and geographical account of the district commonly spelled Backergunge, which was overwhelmed in the recent cyclone; written by a resident magistrate. Popular Description of the Characteristics, Manners, Brown, Robert: The Races of Mankind; being a and Customs, of the Principal Varieties of the Human Family. (London, Cassell, Petter & Galpin, 1876.)

Burnaby, Frederick: A Ride to Khiva; Travels and Adventures in Central Asia. (London, Cassell, 1876.)

Compiègne, Marquis de L'Afrique Equatoriale: Okanda-Bangouens-Osyéba. (Paris, Plon, 1875.) The second volume of the Marquis de Compiègne's descriptions of travels.

dom and Islamieh. (London, Tinsley, 1876.)

Creagh, James: Over the Borders of Christen

Curlez, E. A.: Nebraska; its Advantages, Resources, and Drawbacks.

David, Abbé Armand: Journal de mon troisième Voyage d'Exploration dans l'Empire Chinois. (Paris, Hachette, 1875.)

Die Mongolei und das Land der Tanguten. OberstLieutenant Przewalsky's Reisen, 1870-73.

Dunraven, Earl of: The Great Divide. Travels in the Upper Yellowstone in the Summer of 1874. (London, Chatto & Windus, 1876.)

Dyer, Commander Hugh, R. N.: The West Coast of Africa, as seen from the Deck of a Man-of-War. (London, Griffin, 1876.)

Eastern Persia: an Account of the Journeys of the Persian Boundary Commission, 1870, 1871, 1872. Vol. I. The Geography, By Majors St. John, Lovett, and Euan Smith, and an Introduction by MajorGeneral F. J. Goldsmid. Vol. II. The Zoology and Geology. By W. T. Blandford. (London, Macmillan, 1876.)

Evans, Arthur J.: Through Bosnia and the Herzegovina on Foot during the Insurrection. (London, Longmans, 1876.)

Forsyth, William, Q. C.: The Slavonic Provinces south of the Danube. (London, Murray, 1876.)

Franzos, K. E.: Aus Halb-Asien; Culturbilder aus Galizien, der Bokowina, Süd-Russland und Rumänien. (Leipsic, Duncker & Humblot, 1876.) Gill, Rev. William Wyatt: Life in the Southern Isles; or, Scenes and Incidents in the South Pacific and New Guinea. (London, Religious Tract Society, 1876.)

Journal of Commodore Goodenough, R. N. Edited, with a Memoir, by his Widow. (London, Henry S. King & Co., 1876.)

Gordon, Lieutenant-Colonel T. E., lately attached to the Special Mission to Kashgar: The Roof of the World; being a Narrative of a Journey over the High Plateau of Thibet to the Russian Frontier and the Oxus Sources on Pamir. (Edinburgh, Edmonston & Douglas, 1876.)

Leared, Arthur, M. D.: Morocco and the Mocrs; being an Account of Travels, with a General Description of the Country and its People. (London, Low, 1876.)

The Dutch in the Arctic Seas. By Samuel Richard Van Campen. (London, Trübner, 1876.)

The Queen of the Colonies; or, Queensland as I knew it. (London, Low, 1876.)

Thielmann, Baron Max von: Journey in the Caucasus, Persia, and Turkey. Translated by Charles Heneage. (London, Murray, 1876.)

Thomson, Gaston: L'Herzégovine. (Paris, 1876.) Wood, Major Herbert: The Shores of the Aral. (London, Smith, Elder & Co., 1876.)

Long, Colonel C. Chaillé : Naked Truths of Naked People: an Account of Expeditions to the Lake Vic-ing the contour of the territory, which has

toria Nyanza and the Makraka Niam-Niam, west of Bahr-el-Abiad (White Nile). (London, Low,

1876.)

Grant-Duff, M. E.: Notes of an Indian Journey. (London, Macmillan, 1876.) Grove, F. C. The Frosty Caucasus. (London,

Longmans, 1875.)

MacGahan, J. A.: Under the Northern Lights. (London, Low, 1876.)

Margary, Augustus Raymond, the Journey of, from Shanghai to Bhamo and back to Manwyne. Editor, Sir Rutherford Alcock. (London, Macmillan, 1876.) Meinicke, Prof. Dr. Carl: Die Inseln des Stillen Oceans.

(Michell, Thomas:) Handbook for Travelers in Russia, Poland, and Finland; including the Crimea, Caucasus, Siberia, and Central Asia. Third edition, revised. (London, Murray, 1876.)

Mohr, E.: To the Victorian Falls of the Zambesi. Translated by W. D'Anvers. (London, Low, 1876.) Montiero, Joachim John: Angola and the River Congo. (London, Macmillan, 1876.)

Narratives of the Mission of George Boyle to Tibet, and of the Journey of Thomas Manning to Lhasa. Edited by Clements R. Markham. (London, Trübner, 1876.) Orton, Prof. James: The Andes and the Amazon. (New York, Harpers, 1876.) This is a revised edition of the work published before under the same title, containing an account, before unpublished, of a second journey made in 1873.

Palgrave, W. G.: Dutch Guiana. (London, Macmillan, 1876.) Prejevalsky, Lieutenant-Colonel N., of the Russian Staff Corps: Mongolia, the Tangut Country, and the Solitudes of Northern Thibet: a Narrative of Three Years' Travel in Eastern High Asia. Translated from the Russian by E. Delmar Morgan, and annotated by Colonel Yale. (London, Low, 1876.)

Recent Polar Voyages. (London, Nelson, 1876.) Schuyler, Eugene: Turkistan: Notes of a Journey in Russian Turkistan, Khokand, Bukhara, and Kuldja. (London, Low, 1876.)

Sketches of Australian Life and Scenery. (Lon

don, Low, 1876.)

(Socin, Prof. Dr. Albrecht :) Palästina und Syria: Handbuch für Reisende. (Leipsic, Baedeker, 1876.) Published also in English.

Soleillet, Paul: Avenir de la France en Afrique. (Paris, 1876.)

South Australia: its History, Resources, and Productions. Edited by Wm. Harcus. (London, Low,

1876.)

Telfer, Commander J. Buchan, R. N.: The Crimea and Transcaucasia; being the Narrative of a Jour ney in the Kouban, in Gouria, Armenia, Georgia, Ossety, Imeritia, Swannety, and Mingrelia, and in the Tauric Range. (London, Henry S. King, 1876.)

CARTOGRAPHY.-The new edition of Stieler's "Hand-Atlas," commenced in 1871, was completed with the appearance of the thirtieth part in November, 1875. This work is the product of the united labors of the best cartographers of Germany, and is published by the famous establishment at Gotha. The engraving is as fine as it could be, and an effect shownever before been attempted in the same degree of minuteness, is admirably produced. Each geographer has worked in his own especial field-Berghaus, for instance, contributing the charts of physical geography, Petermann delineating the results of the latest explorations, in which department he has no rival for judgment and information, Vogel reducing the largest and fullest maps, such as the great Government maps of France, Spain, and Switzerland, with marvelous accuracy and detail. The "Hand-Atlas" embodies the results of all the late surveys in all parts of the world-the American survey of the Territories and the British survey of India, for example, and also trustworthy travelers' charts and notes in South Australia, Central Africa, or any of the newly-visited regions.

HYDROGRAPHY.-The Norwegian hydrographical expedition, under Captain Wille, spent several months this year in interesting explorations south of Iceland and about the coasts of Norway, although they were much disturbed in the study of deep-sea phenomena by the incessant storms. The vessel in which the expedition sailed was the steamer Voringen, of 400 tons' burden. The expedition was equipped for a three years' cruise, and provided with all the apparatus used in the most thorough deep-sea investigations. The scientific staff consisted of Prof. Sars, Dr. Danielsen, and M. Fride, for biology; M. Svendsen, for chemistry; and Prof. Mohn, for physics, sea-temperature, meteorology, and magnetism. The region of the ocean to be explored is that Islands, Iceland, East Greenland, Jan Mayen, lying between Norway, the Shetland and Faroe and Spitzbergen. A careful study of the surface-currents, obstructions, and best routes of navigation, is a part of their task. The expedition started from Bergen June 1st, and commenced sounding and dredging in the Sognefiord. The depth was 600 fathoms, with a bottom - temperature of 47.7° Fahr. The fauna was a mixture of Atlantic and arctic forms, and many interesting specimens were raised. After taking magnetical observations of the island of Husö, they sailed along the

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32.4° Fahr. in 400 fathoms, 31.8° in 500 fathoms, and 29.8° at the bottom. Thermometrical observations, at a station west of 10° 15' west, showed a bottom-temperature of 46.2° Fahr. A visit to the Westman Islands, off the south coast of Iceland, revealed there an ancient crater, and another, more recent, 770 feet above the sea, formed of loose stones, with a base of lava. These islands are entirely volcanic. Off the south coast of Iceland there is a strong flow to the eastward, and between Cape Skagi and Reikiavik the force of the current is terrific. The storiny weather allowed the opportunity to take interesting meteorological observations, but interfered with all others. A stop was made aReikiavik. After several days spent in magt netic base observations, they sailed, taking the course south from Iceland, and then northeast off the coasts of Norway. The difference between the warm Atlantic water at the bottom and the icy arctic waters east of Iceland was very marked. On the course to Namsen Fiord, a depth was found of 1,800 fathoms in latitude 64° 5', midway between Iceland and Norway. The temperature at the bottom was always under 32° in these waters. The nearer they approached the Norwegian coast, the warmer was the surface-water. The fauna of the deep sea here was not rich, but was very evenly distributed. The bottom was mud, filled with tiny round shells. The weather was too rough to study the captured specimens alive. Several stations were well explored on this line. From Namsos they took a course due west, and sounded for 100 nautical miles before reaching the depth of 300 fathoms. The line of the ice-cold water only commences beyond this point; it is the extent of these banks which explains the mild climate of Northern Norway. Off Romsdal the line between the cold and warm water approaches nearer the coast. Soon the depth began to increase up to 400 fathoms final depth, and 30° bottom-temperature. The fauna had been in the lesser depth mostly Atlantic, but was here entirely arctic.

ARCTIC EXPLORATION.-The English Polar Expedition, in the naval steamers Alert and Discovery, Captain Nares commanding, returned safely, sailing into Queenstown harbor on the 30th of October, after a voyage of seventeen months. Although the results of the expedition fell far short of the expectations of the more sanguine geographical students, and cannot be said to have solved in any satisfactory way the question of the open Polar Sea, yet they have furnished important information upon the natural conditions of the arctic regions. The explorers have convinced themselves and the majority of geographers that the inner arctic basin is filled with perennial ice; still, many believe that the ice blockade which filled the entrance to the Polar Sea was only an exceptional phenomenon, trusting in the more auspicious promises of the Amer

ican expedition. The Alert and Discovery reached Cape Sabine, where they were first impeded by the ice, on the 30th of July, 1875. From this point, latitude 79° north, their progress was a ceaseless struggle. It took twenty days to ply through the ice which covered Kane Basin. In Kennedy Channel, which was only partly frozen over, a swifter advance was possible. The vessels left Bessel's Bay, on the coast of Greenland, latitude 81° north, on the 24th of August, and reached the northern shore of Lady Franklin Bay, which is on the west side of Robeson Channel, where, between Bellot Island and Grant Land, latitude 81° 44′ north, the Discovery lay in for the winter. The Alert proceeded on her lonely northward course, taking Lieutenant Rawson and seven men from the Discovery's crew, on the 26th. Along the western coast of Robeson Channel she had to bore her way through a thick crust of ice, until a strong south wind opened a passage from one to three miles broad. She had passed around Cape Union, having therefore entered the basin of the central Polar Sea, when an impenetrable ice-pack forbade further navigation. Captain Nares then let the anchor be cast on the 3d of September, in latitude 82° 27' north. A belt of high icebergs prevented the ice from packing closer around the vessel, and made their winter-quarters secure. Upon the shore hard by they constructed a comfortable building out of chests and barrels, and sent out several sledge-parties before winter to supply depots with provisions for the benefit of the expedition-parties which were to start on their explorations in the spring. One of these expeditions, under Commander Markham, with Lieutenants Parr and May and twenty-one men, lasted from September 25th to October 15th. They ascended to latitude 82° 41' north, or 3' higher than the point reached by Parry in 1827. On the 11th of November the sun went down, to rise again only after a polar night of 142 days on the 29th of February of this year. During this time the officers and men amused themselves as best they could with theatrical and scientific entertainments; and, meanwhile, the observations were prosecuted in a systematic manner. When the spring came, the excursions commenced with a fruitless attempt by Lieutenants Egerton and Rawson to establish communication with the Discovery. They started out March 12th, the thermometer standing at 40° C., but had to return unsatisfied in the severest cold, not turning about soon enough, however, to save the life of their dog-driver, the veteran Nils Christian Peterson, who was prostrated by the frost, and died soon after they rejoined their comrades. On the 3d of April, in the harshest weather, three expeditions started out simultaneously to explore the northern regions. One of these, under Markham and Parr, composed of fifteen of the strongest and toughest men in the crew, took the course due north, with provisions for

seventy days. Leaving the coast at Cape Joseph Henry, latitude 82° 40' north, they struck out across the ice-pack, in hopes of reaching the northern shore, which the Polaris people reported that they sighted in 1871. The way led through a labyrinth of icebergs, and across broad plains of snow; the best part of every day was spent in making a path for the sledges with axes and picks, so that with ten or twelve hours of labor they could only make one or two miles a day. This severe toil soon exhausted the strength of the men, and, to add to their difficulties, the scurvy broke out among them unexpectedly, and to their great consternation. Nevertheless, they continued to penetrate onward, while the thermometer was standing at 45° C. often, until finally, at the distance of 600 miles from the ship, in latitude 83° 20' 26", there being no sign of land yet visible, Commander Markham gave the word to turn about, and they retraced their weary road terribly oppressed by the frost. The second party, under Lieutenant Aldrich, explored the northern shore of Grant Land, passing around Cape Columbia, latitude 83° 7' north, and surveying 120 miles of unexplored coast-line. The third sledge-party, commanded by Lieutenant Beaumont, crossed Robeson Channel, and explored the northern shore of Greenland for seventy miles. The officers left in charge of the depots explored the surrounding regions, keeping up communication with the sledge-parties. Three men died of scurvy. On September 9th, the vessel being clear of ice, Sir G. Nares pulled up anchor and sailed southward again, rejoining the Discovery on the 20th. The return-passage of the vessels was much less impeded by ice than their upward course, and they soon regained the Danish settlement.

Sir George Nares is firm in the belief that it is impossible to navigate the Atlantic entrance higher than he has done, and that the pole is surrounded by a palæocrystic or everfrozen sea, at least on this side. At a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society he gave his views substantially as follows: We may consider the polar basin as a locked-up bay continuing out of the North Atlantic channel, with two streams of water pouring into it-a warm current between Spitzbergen and Norway, and icy-cold currents from both sides of Greenland. On the side where the warm water flows in is found little ice and an early season. Near the outlets from Behring Straits, eastward to Banks Land, and thence to Ireland's Eye, is found the heaviest ice; but, as light ice has been observed along the coast of the Parry Islands, it must be inferred that protecting land exists to the northward. He does not express any decided opinion as to whether an open sea extends up to or across the pole, although he inclines to the belief that a broad opening north of Cape Columbia extends as far as the pole. In winter the polar basin seems to be filled with compact masses of ice,

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and crushing against each other all the summer, begin to be closed up by the young ice, which forms during the winter to the thickness of about seven feet, cementing the moving mountains together into a stationary pack. Sir George Nares calculates that only an insignificant portion of the polar ice can escape through the outlet channels, while the great masses of ice locked in may have an age of centuries. Dr. Petermann, in commenting on the expedition, thinks that Nares has established the impossibility of navigating the Smith Sound approach beyond controversy, but believes that an open sea surrounds the pole, which can be entered by the Franz Josef Land route, or, better still, by the East Greenland route. Throughout the summer the coast of East Greenland is almost free from ice, and even in winter there is a strong outward flow. The immense masses' of ice which escape through the broad opening between East Greenland and Spitzbergen, and by the other channel, must leave, he thinks, an open space behind. Many others, among them Dr. Hayes, of the Polaris Expedition, are still confident that the inner Arctic Sea can be entered in favorable seasons through Smith Sound.

PALESTINE.-Lieutenant Conder thinks he has found the site of Emmaus in a place called Khamasa, a name which might be a corruption of the Hebrew Hammath: it is an ancient place, containing remains of Jewish rock-sepulchres. The natives attach a certain sanctity to the place; it is also situated at the right distance from Jerusalem; there are here the ruins of an ancient Christian church, and an old Roman road runs through the place. He locates Gomorrah at a spot near Hin Feshkah, called 'Amriyeh, not far from Kumran, De Saulcy's conjectured site; the name belongs both to a

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