Irrigation in Central Asia.- Captain A. C. Yate, our Hon. Corr. Member, has sent us the following communication :-"The chief essential condition of prosperity in Central Asia is water—that is, irrigation; for rain cannot be "made to order." General Annenkoff knows this well. Probably no one has contributed more to progress in Central Asia than Annenkoff. He makes railways, promotes commerce, starts wine-factories and horse-breeding on his own account, builds schools and churches, etc. However, as to irrigation, the Galodnaya Steppe, from Jizak to the Sir-daria is sure to be irrigated ere long from the Sir-daria, and a canal from the Oxus near Kilif, to Bokhara via Karshi is also proposed. The irrigation-works, however, at Bairam Ali and Merv are the ones to which special attention is devoted. It is curious now to take up Burnaby's Ride to Khiva and read (preface, p. vii): "Merve . . . is richer than any of the most fertile corn-growing countries in European Russia." We know that Merv neither is, nor is ever likely to be, a very rich or populous place. The soil may be magnificent, but more water is wanted. After the wants of the Sarak and Teke Turkomans on the Murghab are supplied, there is not enough left even for the Imperial Domain at Bairam Ali. However, from what Sir Colin Scott Moncrieff says on this point, there is reason to believe that the irrigation of the Bairam Ali domain will be satisfactorily accomplished. The Maruchak Band should be in working order by this time, and, if so, cultivation will be re-established between Yulatun and Panjdeh. The Zarafshan and the Tchirtchik amply supply Samarkand and Tashkent. Much, no doubt, can be done to improve the irrigation of the oases extending from Askhabad to Sarakhs, but scarcely until the mountains that border Khorasan on the north become Russian."

AFRICA.

Great Britain and Italy in East Africa.-The Protocols between the British and Italian Governments for the demarcation of their respective spheres of influence in Eastern Africa, which were signed at Rome on March 24th and April 15th, were presented to Parliament on 6th May. The Protocol of March 24th is as follows:"The Undersigned,—

The Marquis of Dufferin and Ava, Ambassador of Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India; and the Marquis de Rudini, President of the Council and Minister for Foreign Affairs of His Majesty the King of Italy;

After careful examination of the respective interests of the two countries in Eastern Africa, have agreed as follows :—

I. The line of demarcation in Eastern Africa between the spheres of influence respectively reserved to Great Britain and Italy shall follow from the sea the midchannel (Thalweg) of the river Juba up to latitude 6° north, Kismayu with its territory on the right bank of the river thus remaining to England. The line shall then follow the 6th parallel of north latitude up to the meridian 35° east of Greenwich, which it will follow up to the Blue Nile.

II. If future explorations should hereafter show occasion, the line following the 6th parallel of north latitude and the 35th degree of longitude east of Greenwich, may, by common agreement, be amended in its details in accordance with the hydrographic and orographic conditions of the country.

III. In the station of Kismayu and its territory there shall be equality of treatment between the subjects and protected persons of the two countries, in all that

relates to their persons, their goods, or to the exercise of any kind of commerce and industry.

Done at Rome, in duplicate, the 24th March 1891.

(L. S.)
(L. S.)

DUFFERIN AND AVA.
RUDINI."

The following is the Protocol of April 15th, 1891 :

Being desirous of completing, towards the north as far as the Red Sea, the demarcation of the respective spheres of influence of England and Italy, which the two Parties have already agreed on by the Protocol of the 24th of March last, from the mouth of the Juba in the Indian Ocean to the intersection of 35° east longitude, Greenwich, with the Blue Nile, the Undersigned :

The Marquis of Dufferin and Ava, Ambassador of Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India; the Marquis de Rudini, President of the Council and Minister for Foreign Affairs of his Majesty the King of Italy;

Have agreed as follows:

I. The sphere of influence reserved to Italy is bounded, on the north and on the west, by a line drawn from Rás Kasar on the Red Sea to the point of intersection of the seventeenth parallel, north, with the thirty-seventh meridian, east, Greenwich. The line, having followed that meridian to 16° 30′ north latitude, is drawn from that point in a straight line to Sabderat, leaving that village to the east. From that village the line is drawn southward to a point on the Gash 20 English miles above Kassala, and rejoins the Atbara at the point indicated as being a ford on the map of Werner Munzinger "Originalkarte von Nord Abessinien und den Ländern am Mareb, Barca, und Anseba, 1864" (Gotha, Justus Perthes), and situated at 14° 52′ north latitude. The line then ascends the Atbara to the confluence of the Kor Kakamot (Hahamot), whence it follows a westerly direction till it meets the Kor Lemsen, which it descends to its confluence with the Rahad. Finally, the line, having followed the Rahad for the short distance between the confluence of Kor Lemsen and the intersection of 35° east longitude, Greenwich, identifies itself in a southerly direction with that meridian, until it meets the Blue Nile, saving ulterior amendment of details, according to the hydrographic and orographic conditions of the country.

II. The Italian Government shall be at liberty, in case of being obliged to do so by the necessities of the military situation, to occupy Kassala and the adjoining country as far as the Atbara. Such occupation shall in no case extend to the north nor to the north-east of the following line :

From the right bank of the Atbara, in front of Gos Rejeb, the line is drawn in an easterly direction to the intersection of the thirty-sixth meridian, east, Greenwich; thence, turning to the south-east, it passes 3 miles to the south of the points marked Filik and Metkinab on the above-mentioned map of Werner Munzinger, and joins the line mentioned in Article I. 25 English miles north of Sabderat, measured along the said line.

It is nevertheless agreed between the two Governments that any temporary military occupation of the additional territory specified in this Article shall not abrogate the rights of the Egyptian Government over the said territory, but that these rights shall only remain in suspense until the Egyptian Government shall be in a position to reoccupy the district in question up to the line indicated in Article I. of this Protocol, and there to maintain order and tranquillity.

III. The Italian Government engages not to construct on the Atbara, in view of irrigation, any work which might sensibly modify its flow into the Nile.

IV. Italy shall have, for her subjects and protected persons, as well as for their goods, free passage without duty on the road between Metemma and Kassala, touching successively El Affareh, Doka, Suk-Abu-Sin (Ghedaref), and the Atbara. Done at Rome, in duplicate, this 15th of April 1891.

AMERICA.

(L. S.) DUFFERIN AND AVA. (L. S.) RUDINI."

Geographical Results of the United States' Eleventh Census.—Mr. Henry Gannett, in charge of the Geographical work of the Eleventh Census of the United States, says (Census Bulletin, No. 23) that the areas of the States and Territories are identical with those published by the Tenth Census, excepting as they are modified by the following territorial changes :-(1) The formation of the Territory of Oklahoma; (2) the division of Dakota into North and South Dakota; and (3) the transfer of a small part of South Dakota to Nebraska. The gross area is 3,025,600 square miles, of which 2,970,000 is land-surface and 55,600 water-surface. According to the same authority (Census Bulletin, No. 33), the mean annual temperature of the United States, excluding Alaska, is 53°. The greatest density of population naturally centres on this pivot, ranging from 50° to 55°. From this, as a maximum, the density of population rapidly diminishes with the increase or decrease of temperature. The most rapid proportional increase has taken place at the two extremes, where it has trebled between 1870 and 1890, while at the same time it has increased but about 50 per cent. in the most densely settled group. The influence of rainfall (v. Census Bulletin, No. 32) is shown in the fact that the main body of the population inhabits the region in which the annual rainfall is between 30 and 50 inches, three-fourths of the inhabitants, or thereabouts, being found there. The arid regions of the West, where the rainfall is less than 20 inches-a region which comprises two-fifths of the entire area of the country-contains at present less than three per cent. of the population. The most rapid increase, however, has been where the rainfall ranges from 20 to 30 inches; that is, in the eastern portion of the great plains ranging from Texas to Dakota, where the density has increased in twenty years from 1.6 to 8.1.

Mr. Gannett further says (Census Bulletin, No. 34) that the centre of population in 1890 was in latitude 39° 11′ 36′′ and longitude 85° 32′ 53′′. It rests in Southern Indiana, at a point a little west of south of Greensburg, and twenty miles east of Columbus, Indiana. In the year 1790 the centre of population was at 39° 16.5' N. lat. and 76° 11.2′ W. long., or about 23 miles east of Baltimore. Between 1790 and 1800 it moved almost due west to a point about 18 miles west of the same city. From 1800 to 1810 it moved westerly and slightly southward to a point about 40 miles NW. by W. from Washington. From 1810 to 1820 it moved westward, and again slightly southward, to a point 16 miles north of Woodstock, Va. From 1820 to 1830 it moved still further westward and southward to a point about 19 miles SW. of Moorefield, W. Va. From 1830 to 1840 it moved still further westward, but slightly changed its direction northward, reaching a point 16 miles south of Clarksburg, W. Va. From 1840 to 1850 it moved westward and slightly southward again, reaching a point about 23 miles SE. of Parkersburg, W. Va. From 1850 to 1860 it moved westward and slightly northward, to a point 20 miles south of Chillicothe, Ohio. From 1860 to 1870 it moved westward and sharply northward, reaching a point about 48 miles E. by N. of Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1880 the centre of population had returned southward to nearly the same latitude which it had in 1860 (39° 41′). During the past decade

it moved northward into practically the same latitude it occupied in 1870. The closeness with which the centre has clung to the parallel of 39° cannot fail to be noticed. The most northern point reached was in 1790, the most southern in 1830. The extreme variation in latitude has been less than 19 minutes, while the movement in longitude has been nearly 9'5 degrees, or a total westward movement of 505 miles.

The centre of the area of the United States, excluding Alaska, is in Northern Kansas, in about lat. 39° 55′ and long. 98° 50′. The centre of population lies, therefore, about three-fourths of a degree south, and more than 17 degrees east, of the centre of the area.-Bull. of the American Geogr. Soc., 31st March 1891.

United States: Statistics of Indians.-The Department of the Interior (Census Office) publishes a report, under date 19th January 1891, containing statistics of Indians residing within the jurisdiction of the United States (except Alaska), and a statement showing Indians taxed or taxable and not taxed. Although, in the final volume of the Census reports, full and complete Indian statistics may be expected, some of the facts contained in the preliminary bulletin are worth recording. The total Indian population of the United States, exclusive of Alaska, but including 32,567 counted in the general census, being the taxed or taxable Indians, numbers 249,273. The following table gives the division of the Indians in detail :-

Indians on reservations or at schools, under control of the Indian Office (not taxed or taxable),

Indians incidentally under the Indian Office, and self-supporting:
The Five Civilised Tribes, Indians and coloured:

133,382

Cherokee Indians, 25,357

Coloured, 4,242

Total, 29,599

Six Nations, Saint Regis, and other Indians of New York,

5,304

Eastern Cherokees of North Carolina,

2,885

Indians taxed or taxable, and self-sustaining citizens, counted in the

general census (98 per cent. not on reservations)

32,567

Indians under control of the War Department, prisoners of war (Apaches

at Mount Vernon barracks),

384

Indians in state or territorial prisons,

184

Total,.

249,273

The number of Reservation Indians engaged in agriculture for a livelihood is

smaller than that of those who obtain a living through root-digging, hunting, fishing, or horse-trading. The Navajos are entirely self-sustaining as sheep and horse raisers. The increase in the number of ration Indians, says the Report, can only be prevented by the Reservation Indian becoming more of an agriculturist or a herder of his own cattle or horses.

French Guiana.-M. H. Coudreau has explored the seven chief affluents of the Oyapock River. His surveys of new country extend over 430 miles, besides which he has surveyed 235 miles along the Oyapock. The country he traversed is very swampy and of dreary aspect. Ruined Indian settlements are found everywhere, and measles and dysentery work such havoc among the natives, that, before another generation has passed away, the south-eastern region will probably be bereft of its inhabitants. M. Coudreau intends to follow up the river to its source, cross the southern part of the Tumuc-Humac Mountains, and visit the Indians dwelling by the sources of the Tapahoni.-Verhand. der Gessell. für Erdkunde zu Berlin, Bd. xviii., No. 1.

AUSTRALASIA.

New Guinea.-According to the Melbourne Age of 24th February last, the expedition of a number of members of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, which started for Port Moresby on the 14th November 1890, to explore in New Guinea, reached Mount Yule on 24th February last. The party consisted of Sir W. Macgregor, the Administrator of British Guinea; Mr. George Belford, leader; Mr. Nettle, a practical miner; Mr. Harry Nine, Mr. Peter, Lifu Said and Anthony (Malays), and eleven Papuans. On Saturday, 25th February, Mr. A. C. Macdonald, Hon. Sec. of the Society at Melbourne, received a telegram which read as follows:

"Expedition reached top of Mount Yule. Weather very unfavourable. I am sending you specimens of rocks and plants; the collections are small, botanical : the best report will follow. Party returned all well."

The expedition is subsidised by the Victorian Branch of the Society to the extent of £300.

The Southern Alps of New Zealand.—This chain has always been supposed to form an impregnable barrier between the east and west coasts of the Middle Island, extending from the head of the Rakaia River to the Haast River. Mr. Brodrick, however, while engaged in the survey of Canterbury, discovered two routes by which the range may be crossed--the Sealy Pass, at the head of the Great Godley Glacier, and a saddle between the Huxley and Landsborough Rivers. He commences his narrative, in an appendix to the Report of the Survey Department for the Year 1889-90, at the Tekapo Lake, a sheet of water lying at an altitude of 2321 feet above sea-level in country entirely destitute of trees, except where a few willows grow round the homesteads of the run-holders. Its waters are of a slaty colour, owing to the fine silt washed into it by the Godley River. From the head of the lake a fairly good road leads to the Lilybank station, but beyond this the only route is along the bed of the river. About 29 miles from the lake the face of the Godley Glacier, which is situated at an elevation of 3407 feet, is reached. After marching 7 miles more over the glacier, the latter part of the way through deep snow, Mr. Brodrick arrived at the top of the Sealy Pass, 5800 feet high, and descended the western side till he had left the snow and all the difficulties of the route between the pass and the Waratoa River behind. The pass is named after a surveyor, Mr. E. P. Sealey, who visited it in 1891.