table-land and a valley there; he bases his supposition on the similarity of the names. A place called Suffa he suggests may be the much searched-for Ramathaim Zophim, both on account of its location, which is within Mount Ephraim, and close by the Beth-Horon, which was given to the Kohathite Levites, and on account of the name, which is the form into which the ancient name would naturally change there is at Suffa a sacred place called Sh'ehab ad Din, "the Hero of the Faith;" and in the neighboring country is a place which would answer to Sechu. Conder bases most of his identifications on etymological resemblances, which in many cases are confirmed by records of distances or ancient descriptions in the Bible or in early writers, and in some instances by traditions still attaching to the places; such derivations are, for instance, the following: El Farriyeh for Affarea, mentioned by Hieronymus; Arabûneh for Arbol, said in the Onomasticon to be nine miles from Megiddo; El Ghannám for Anem, a city of Issachar, two miles south of Jenin; for Kedesh, a town of Issachar, an ancient site near Megiddo, called Tell Abu Kadis; Allar for Ana, a town of Manasseh; Ain el Jemain, "the Fountain of Two Armies," near Gilboa, for the Well Harod, where Gideon divided his men; Ahanarath, within the borders of Napthali, is found in the modern En-Narah; in the plain of Beisan is a place called Gilgal, a ford whɔse name signifies "the Ford opened by God," and a place bearing the name of Rahab. The great map of Palestine will be published for the Palestine Exploration Fund, by Stanford, in twenty-six sheets, on the scale of the drawings, that is, one mile to the inch. A smaller map, scale three miles to the inch, will be engraved upon copper, while the larger size will be lithographed. The notes of Lieutenant Conder will be digested and published in time.

Dr. Selah Merrill and party, who visited the Jordan Valley and the eastern shore of the Dead Sea, upon the instructions of the committee of the American Palestine Exploration Society in Beyrout, spent eighty days in the excursion, exposed to constant storms and severe heat, returning May 5, 1876. They examined in a thorough manner the botany and geology of the regions explored, as well as the zoology and archæological remains. They collected two hundred ornithological specimens, and discovered two new groups of sulphur springs and a beautiful natural bridge in a wady north of the Yabis. North of the Nimrin they came upon a singular row of large pits. They viewed attentively the mounds existing at the northeast corner of the Dead Sea, which it is sought to connect with portions of the thirteenth chapter of Joshua and the thirty-second chapter of Numbers

A series of ninety-nine photographs of ancient Greco-Roman and Byzantine buildings in Syria have been issued by the American Palestine Exploration Society.

ASIA. Another expedition to the Yenisei and Nova Zembla, under Nordenskiöld, left Tromso in the steamer Ymer, on the 25th of July, and, after careful observations and marine investigations, returned to Hammerfest on the 18th of September. The Swedish expeditions of 1875 and 1876 have shown that, contrary to expectation, the Kara Sea is much fuller of animal life than the other arctic waters. The marine fauna appears to be nearly uniform along all coasts of both continents surrounding the pole. Nearly five hundred lower types have been found in the Kara Sea. The last Swedish expeditions have also increased the catalogue of Nova Zemblan insects to one hundred species, only seven having been known before, and have added considerably to the knowledge of the vertebrates in those regions. On the Yenisei Nordenskiöld found some fragments of mammoth-hides, and many interesting semi-fossil shells. A large low island was found unexpectedly at the mouth of the river. Dr. Theel, who conducted a land-expedition, failed to meet the steamer in order to sail home. MM. Chekanoosky and Vengloosky, in a route survey along the river Lena from Yakutsk to Ayakit, and across the tundra to Olonek, made careful geological notes and collected 1,500 fossils, 700 entomological specimens, many of them from the lower tundra, and also a large number of botanical specimens.

A Russian expedition for the examination of the estuary of the Obi departed in May in a small sailing-vessel. The plan was to observe the natural history and make surveys of the mouth of the river, and then, after going as far as 14° north, return and meet the German exploring party and cooperate with them in the exploration of the upper river.

An expedition under Captain Wiggins has been engaged in exploring the estuary of the Lena and the route between there and Archangel, with a view of opening up trade communication with that portion of Siberia.

Drs. Finsch and Brehm, with Count Waldburg-Zeil, all three men of known merit in geographical and scientific research, have been commissioned by the German Arctic Society of Bremen to study the geography and natural history of the plains of the Obi and Yenisei in Northern Siberia. They reached Omsk, after a trying journey, in April, and proceeded to Semipalatinsk, and thence direct to Sergiopol, by way of the little-known Tabagatai range. When last heard from they had reached Tobolsk on their return-journey, having reached the sea of Kara with considerable difficulty. They had collected valuable and numerous ethnological and zoological examples.

According to M. Kuhn, who had an opportunity of studying the khanate of Khokan during the Russian campaign, the khanate occupies a deep depression, inclosed by mountains on three sides and only open toward the west. The climate is very pleasant; water is plenty, and the land exceedingly fertile; it is indeed

a continuous garden, with mountain-streams and dikes intersecting it in all directions. The stationary tribes inhabit the lower slopes of the mountains, the valleys, and plains, cut through by canals south of the Syrdaria. The population consists of the descendants of Turk tribes, which came from Turkistan, Samarcand, and Bokhara. The nomadic tribes dwell to the northward. Grain, cotton, silk, salt, naphtha, and various other products, are obtained. The trade with Russia is carried on with caravans ria Tashkend; there is also a trade with Kashgar and Bokhara.

The Russian expedition under Sosnovski, through Mongolia into the interior of China for the exploration of better trade-routes, found between Chankow and Saissan good wheeling roads, plenty of water, and a great saving in distance over the route by way of Kiachta for the tea-trade with the province of Se-tshuan. If a railroad as far as Tjumen, connecting with steam-transport on the river Irtish, should be established, an important commercial route would be opened up between China and Russia. The expedition made interesting astronomical, topographical, and orographical observations, and collected specimens of all the principal products and commercial commodities of the country, as well as of its flora and fauna. Sosnovski crossed the Thian-shan north of Khami, where the altitude was 8,930 feet. The elevation of Khami, south of the pass, is 3,150 feet; and Barkul, north of it, is 6,700 feet above the level of the sea. Sosnovski contradicts the common impression that the Chinese are a stationary and non-progressive people, and pays a high tribute to their agricultural and industrial abilities. Their system of fertilization and irrigation is as scientific as that of any country. In some branches of industry, for example, the finer porcelain manufactures, there has been a decline in late years, attributable to the political agitations which have convulsed the land: in 1860, the Taipings destroyed the most important porcelain-factories in China, those of Tsian-se. The fine fleeces of the Thibet goat have also nearly disappeared from the market, because in the last great rebellion in the district of Nin-siafoo the breed was almost entirely destroyed, the animals having been used for food; and the people, too, who worked up the fleeces into beautiful fabrics, perished in great numbers. The commerce of China is established, according to Sosnovski, on a very intelligent and promising basis. M. Nitikin, a Russian merchant, recently made a journey from Uscha, in Khokan, to Djetischar. He says that the Terek Pass route is only passable for a month or two in winter, when the mountain-streams are frozen over. The pundit Nain Sing made a journey through Thibet in the disguise of a Lama pilgrim. The country traversed by the bold explorator, who was formerly an assistant of Schlagintweit and of Colonel Montgomery, was entirely new to geography,

and most interesting. His route lay from Western Thibet along the series of lakes which extend for 800 miles across the plateau at an elevation of 13,700 to 15,000 feet, the last of which, Lake Pangong, was visited by some of the officers in Forsyth's expedition. The pundit reports that this latter lake is brackish at the eastern and fresh at the western extremity. The boundless grassy plains and verdant hillsides are the pastures of numberless herds of wild asses, antelopes, and the huge variety of sheep called Ovis Ammon. The easternmost lake of the series, the great Tengri Nor, was visited once before by the traveler. North of this he discovered several unknown lakes of great extent, which receive the drainage of the northern range of the Himalayas, which divides the plateau from the valley of Brahmapootra. He determined astronomically the position of these mountains, as well as of many other points along his course. He visited the gold-mines in the north, whose annual production does not exceed, he says, £40,000; yet judging from the great numbers of golden statues in the temples, and other objects of gold in the country, and the amount of gold-dust carried down by the rivers, it is probable that the total production of the country is much greater. On his return he tarried a couple of days at Lassa, and followed the Brahmapootra River down for some distance beyond any point before explored, leaving it with a breadth of 500 yards and depth of 20 feet, and a slow current. On his way to Assam, being detained for several months at Tawang, he surveyed the route by this way from Assam to Thibet. The fruits of this journey include a route-survey of 1,200 miles, with 276 latitude and 497 altitude data, through a region entirely new. This journey has also established the position of the northern chain of the Himalayas, and discovered a new and more easterly route to Southern Asia than any formerly known, besides revealing the existence of a great and remarkable lacustrine and river systein.

AUSTRALASIA.-Signor d'Albertis has made a trip during the past season in the little steamer Neva, placed at his disposition by the colonial government of New South Wales, and an association of subscribers, up the Fly River, into the very centre of New Guinea. He took a plan of the river mile by mile, and made notes of the soil and natural conditions along its banks. He found four species of the bird-of-paradise, one of which (the Paradisea apoda) it was supposed could not exist in that climate; also a new genus of Ptilotis, a new species of Gracula, a curious new water-serpent, and several birds not reported in the fauna of New Guinea. He made also a large botanical collection, and obtained from the natives many curious fabrics and utensils, including a large number of stone implements, paddles, martial and festal ornaments, painted and carved skulls, fancifully-worked arrow-heads of bone fastened to the shafts with a singular cement, dresses

woven of human hair, and others of grass, plain and colored. Messrs. d'Albertis, Hargrave, and party, returned safely from their expedition, having ascended the river 350 miles beyond the farthest point reached last year. The natives were hostilely disposed, and generally refused to hold any communication with the explorers. Another expedition from Port Moresby to China Straits, made by Rev. Mr. Lawes, revealed the existence of a regular lake-village in a lagoon at Cape Rodney, which leads up to a considerable river. At Hood's Bay they ascended a broad river, where, near the coast, they came upon a large and cleanlykept village, regularly laid out in streets and squares. The natives kept flower-gardens, and were seen at work hewing out large, shapely canoes with stone hatchets. At another point a canoe, paddled by a crew of twenty-one women, came alongside their vessel. Rev. Mr. McFarlane has, in pursuit of his missionary labors, made an interesting voyage to China Straits, and gained much valuable information regarding the island and its inhabitants. Signor Gessi made a second steamboat-voyage up the Fly River later in the season, and added many objects to his collections. Octavius Stone, who has recently explored portions of New Guinea, says that the length of the island is 1,400 miles, while the width varies from 450 to only 20 miles. The shore from Baxter River to beyond the Papuan Gulf, which is low and swampy for 100 miles inland, is thinly populated by the Dinde Papuans, a savage tribe, who live by the chase, and are subject to constant attacks from the neighboring islanders. The only large animals found here are the kangaroo and the wild-boar. The natives are inclined to cannibalism, and use poisoned arrows, saturated in the putrid carcass of an enemy. The eastern part of the island is inhabited by a branch of the Malay race, of totally different habits and nature from the Papuans. They are cultivators of the soil, each one having his own plantation; are strongly opposed to polygamy and cannibalism, and allow their women to share in public affairs. Signor Odoardo Beccari has been exploring the coast in the vicinity of Humboldt Bay. He thinks he can trace the continuation of the volcanic belt of the Moluccas through New Guinea. At the head of a beautiful inlet, one day's sail from Humboldt Bay, he visited a fine conical mountain, which he called Mount Cyclops, the rocks of whose base were, to all appearance, of volcanic origin. At Batanta and upon Amsterdam Island volcanic rocks have also been noticed, and the natives report that there are active volcanoes inward from Humboldt Bay. Dr. Beccari has spent four years traveling in and about this island. He defines the empire that the Sultan of Tidore (Moluccas) possesses in New Zealand, which embraces the lands of the four kings of Waighen, Salvatti, Waigamma, and Misol. These rulers pay to the Sultan an annual tribute in slaves,

birds-of-paradise, and other articles. The Dutch Government is about to suppress the slave-traffic, and divest the Sultan of his sovereignty in the island. The Russian Miclucho Maclay visited the coast of Astrolabe Bay in Northeast New Guinea, which bears his name, for the purpose of protecting the natives from the encroachments of Europeans, as well as prosecuting his scientific investigations. The Dutch naval ship Surabaya has made two voyages, one along the northwestern coast and one along the southern coast, for the purpose of defining the limits of the Dutch claim on the island, which extends to the meridian 141 east longitude. A French expedition, conducted by MM. Raffray and Maindrow, visited the western shores this season. Mr. Lawes describes two separate races, speaking distinct languages, dwelling in the country about Port Moresby. These are the Koitapu and Motu tribes; while farther inland another language, allied, however, to the Koitapu tongue, is spoken by the Koiali tribe. At Hood's Point still another distinct language is spoken. Several other different languages are spoken by the mountain-tribes all along. A cluster of villages, called Manukolo, is said to be inhabited by a race differing totally from all the rest. Three other languages are spoken by tribes in Redscar Bay, the Naali, Kapati, and Maivi; and beyond them, before coming to Aird River, at least three more languages are used; and then in the interior are the Yalao, Ikolu, Palavai, Ereta, and Papaka tribes, each speaking its own peculiar tongue. All these races are the light-colored, flowing-haired type. No knowledge of any metal, and no arts, except the rudest and most elementary, exist here. Only the Motu tribe make pottery. The women carry all burdens in netted bags, suspended from the top of the head. Houses are built, both on the coast and in the interior, at an elevation of six to ten feet, and sometimes in the clefts of high trees. The people smoke tobacco generally. Excursions into the interior took the explorers through an open forest of gum-trees, pandanus, and palms, for fifteen or twenty miles, and beyond that thick scrub as far as the mountains. Many beautiful birds were seen in the forests.

Ernest Giles made another trip across the Australian Continent this season, starting April 10th, from a point 27° 7' south latitude, 116° 45' east longitude, and taking a northeast by east course, by way of Mount Gould, to latitude 24° north; then traveling the Ashburton to its source, and determining the old watershed, which he describes as a rangy country, striking the desert in longitude 120° 20′. He then crossed an open spinifex desert to the coast, suffering much from drought, and hindered by his camels being continually sick from a poison plant, until he discovered the plant, which is not allied to any of the poisonous plants of Western Australia.

AFRICA. Of the German West African Ex

pedition, Dr. Pogge and Herr Eduard Mohr are engaged in exploring the Angola coast, while Dr. Lenz has been obliged to abandon his expedition up the Ogowe, and return to Europe, exhausted by fatigue and sickness; not, however, without having concluded an arrangement with the inhabitants of the Osheba lands, who have hitherto denied passage through their country. Dr. Pogge visited Quizemena, the great camp of the Muata Yamvo, remaining from December 9, 1875, to April 17th of this year. He was not allowed to make an excursion to the north, but he took a month's journey toward the southeast as far as Inshibaraka, which is only six days' distance from the capital, and three days' from the Lubilash. Constant rains rendered traveling difficult. Dr. Pogge obtained a great deal of information concerning the country between the Kassai and the Quango, and collected numerous specimens of botany and natural history, and some skulls of Cassanda men.

G. A. Haggenmacher's journey into the Somali country, in Eastern Africa, was the first one made into this region, except Burton's excursion in Harar in 1854. He departed with a convoy of natives and fifteen camels, and reached a point 150 miles inland, and, though attacked and plundered by the jealous and pugnacious native tribes, he gathered a curious store of information concerning the geography, ethnography, manners, and pursuits, of the country and the peoples visited.

Drs. Schweinfurth and Güssfeldt made a trip from the Nile to the Red Sea, visiting the Coptic monasteries of St. Anthony and St. Paul. Some twenty geodetical positions were determined, and many unlooked - for plants were found in the desert.

Dr. Ascherson, in a visit to Wah-el-Barieh, or Little Oasis, made a complete sketch-survey of the route, and was able, from his friendly reception by the inhabitants, to observe their daily habits. He reports a custom, not practised in other parts of the valley of the Nile, of striking fire by rubbing together pieces of the date-palm leaf.

Mr. E. Young has navigated Lake Nyassa in a steam-launch, starting from the mission-station of Livingstonia, coasting along the eastern side, which was only seen from a long distance by Livingstone. He made the singular discovery that the lake extends at least 100 miles more to the northward than Livingstone supposed, and surveyed it to latitude 9° 20' south, that is, within a short distance of the southern extremity of Lake Tanganyika, which is 2° or 3 to the westward. He speaks of a river called Rovuma, flowing from the northern end of the lake, but the existence of such a second outlet would demand strong confirmation.

One of the most important exploratory exploits of the year has been the circumnavigation of Lake Albert N'yanza by Signor Gessi, of Colonel Gordon's staff. The lake is found to have the length of about 140 miles, and the

width of 50 miles. Its shores are covered with a thick growth of trees. Its southern extremity is very shallow, containing a forest of the am batch-plant, which only flourishes in a couple of feet of water. The results confirm Speke's account of the size of the lake. Storms of considerable turbulence stir the waters of the lake in certain seasons. Colonel Gordon suspects that a chain of lakes connects it with Tanganyika; this is not impossible, as a break in the mountains is seen in the direction of the latter lake. From Signor Gessi's sketch-map of the branch of the Nile flowing out of the Albert Lake, it appears that a branch stream forks out not far from the outlet, and flows toward the Jaie, which runs parallel to the Nile for several hundred miles, rejoining it at the point where the Giraffe River commences. Colonel Gordon expects that this arm will prove more navigable than the White Nile; however, it must descend from the same elevation, and probably contains rapids not less formidable than the Fola Cataract, and, besides, it was crossed by Petherick in 1862, and found to be not more than waist-deep.

Signor Gessi made the voyage in two iron life-boats, rigged as cutters, and manned with eighteen sailors and twelve soldiers. He left Dufli March 7th, arriving at the outlet of the lake on the 18th. The distance is 164 miles, and for the whole distance the river is broad, deep, and entirely navigable. The country is rich, producing millet, sesame, honey, tobacco, beans, bananas, and cattle, in abundance. The natives clothe themselves in antelope and goat skins. Starting out on the lake toward Magungo on the 20th of March, they were beaten back by a heavy wind after sailing about two-thirds of the way across, and escaped with great difficulty being driven ashore where a party of natives of the disbanded army of Kaba Rega were waiting to attack them. In the night the storm was so high that one of the boats dragged its anchor, and was driven on shore, and filled with water and sand; the greater part of their provisions and the instruments were thus destroyed. Landing and constructing a barricade, and setting up two howitzers, they waited for the storm to go down. Repairing the boat, they succeeded in reaching Magungo on the 30th of March, but, owing to the hostility of the natives, were not able to land, proceeding up the Victoria Nile and waiting until reenforcements came from Aufina. On the 12th of April they set out, passing some sandy isles six or seven miles from shore, which were full of natives, who took refuge there from the troops. The shores were low and sandy; the interior was covered with timber and luxuriant vegetation. They passed three cataracts at the mouth of a large river called the Tisa, which never runs dry; it is probably the Kaiigiri, described by Baker. They stopped in a snug harbor named by Gessi Port Schubra, which probably is the Vacovia of Sir Samuel Baker. Detained here by a storm for a day or two,

they sailed fifty miles to a river, which they ascended seven miles, where they were stopped by the matted growth of papyri and other water-plants, and saw beyond a magnificent waterfall; the natives informed them that this came from the waters which accumulate in the mountains, forming a river during the wet season, but drying up in the dry season. They informed Signor Gessi, also, that he had already reached the end of the lake, that there was no river or cataract beyond, and that the water where the ambatch grew was only knee-deep. The country here is called Quando, and the natives are suspected of cannibalism. They crossed the lake here along the edge of the ambatch-field, a distance of forty miles from east to west. A view from the mast-head disclosed a wide expanse grown over with ambatch, beyond which a valley covered with low vegetation reaches to the foot of the mountains. On the other side of the lake they were unable to communicate with the inhabitants of a village, who fled, arousing the whole country, and sought the next day to lead them treacherously into an ambuscade. Coming to another large village, Gessi succeeded, with some difficulty, in holding a conversation with an old man, who informed him, as the natives on the opposite shore already had, that he could not penetrate the forest of ambatch, and that there was no river or waterfall beyond; that there were three waterfalls farther up the lake, which dry up in the dry season, and that the waters of the lake never rise or fall. The mountains descend directly to the lake beyond Vacovia on both sides, and are here devoid of large timber. On the return-voyage they were beaten forty miles out of their course by a violent storm. The whole voyage occupied nine days. The greatest width of the lake is reported by Signor Gessi as 60 miles, and its length 141 miles.

Dr. Emil Holub, a German physician, has made interesting journeys into the interior of South Africa. He started in March, 1875, from Dutoitspan, and, after examining the geological character of the salt-basins between Christiana and Mamusa, he passed up the river Limpopo, and then across by way of Shosheng, northward to the Zambesi, intending to explore that stream to its source. He describes the valley of the Marico, one of the sources of the Limpopo, as the richest portion of the Transvaal Republic, containing lands of the greatest fertility, an extraordinary abundance of animals, and mineral resources of the highest value. He observed that the salt-pans or lagoons which are connected with the Suga outlet of Lake Ngami, when at certain seasons they are filled by the rising of the Suga, find an outlet by the Shasha tributary of the Limpopo, thus showing that Lake Ngami and its tributaries far to the west belong to the drainage system of the Limpopo.

M. V. Largeau made an important and dan gerous expedition into the desert of Sahara from Biskra, in Algiers, over a before untrav

eled route, through the oasis of Tuggurt, to Ghadames, and back to El-Wad, his returnroute being about the same as that taken by Duveyrier in 1860.

An important Italian exploring expedition" to Eastern Equatorial Africa, sent for the purpose of exploring the country between Shoa and Lake N'yanza, and of deciding the question of the identity of the Godjeb and Juba Rivers, started at the beginning of the year, and have now entered upon their investigations under favorable auspices. The King of Shoa, in an embassage to Italy, in 1872, invited Italian explorers to use his capital as a base of operations, and it was in consequence of this proposal that this expedition was dispatched. The party is headed by the Marchese Antonari, the well-known African traveler, accompanied by Captain Sebastiano Martini and the engineer Chiarini. When last heard from, the travelers had reached Shoa with good fortune, where they were hospitably received.

An important journey into the Nyassa country of Eastern Africa has been accomplished by Bishop Steere. The object of the expedition was to establish a permanent mission at Mataka's capital in the Wahiao country, east of Lake Nyassa. The party, consisting of the bishop, the Rev. C. A. James, and Messrs. Bellville and Beardall, accompanied by Chuma and Susi, Livingstone's attendants, leading twenty Zanzibar porters, set out from Zanzibar toward the end of August, 1875, and landed at Lindy Bay, between Kilwa and the mouth of the Rovuma River. They were delayed until November by the opposition of the coast tribes, and suffered from malaria; at length, successfully passing through the coast settlements, which only extended some twelve miles inland from Lindy Bay, they passed through thick forests and discovered Lake Lutamba, a small lakelet, inclosed by wooded hills, and passed thence for nine days through the settlements of the Wa-Mwera, villages finely situ ated along the foot of a range of hills; and then, traversing an uninhabited forest and a barren. hilly region, they came to the town of the chief Makochero of the Makao tribe on the Rovuma River. Livingstone visited this chief in 1866, when he was settled at a point beyond the river. These people are subject to attacks from the Gwangwaras and Mavitis. They passed thence beyond the Luatize to their des tination, Mataka's village of Mwembe, through a country of more irregular aspect, rising into long ranges of round-topped hills, varied with sharp, rocky ridges; the trees, too, were of different character from those of the Mwera country. Mwembe, estimated by Livingstone at 1,000 houses, lies near a conspicuous mountain called Saninga; the elevation of the town, from Bishop Steere's barometrical readings, is considerably higher than Livingstone's estimate, 2.700 feet. After remaining here a fortnight, Bishop Steere returned by a diferent route. The country traversed was in great