only with a loin-cloth, and wearing a long narrow comb in their immense bushes of hair.

With great difficulty the explorers obtained porters, and set out to cross to the southern coast of the island, 12 or 13 miles distant. Crossing the bed of the Maumeri river eleven times, the party ascended over ground covered by dry Alangalang, low bushes and numerous Lontar palms to the village of Kotti, situated on the saddle at an elevation of 836 feet. It is shaded by a quantity of fine Kanari trees, a favourite haunt of noisy cockatoos. The houses are large and wellbuilt, but, as in most of the hill villages, the scarcity of water is sorely felt. After a rest at this village, the party continued on its way through forest interspersed with coco palm plantations and maize fields, then across the rocky gorge through which the Batik Vayer finds its way to the south coast, and from a ridge 840 feet high obtained a beautiful view of the broad bay of Paga. In the afternoon they arrived at Sikka, and were hospitably received by the missionary and the Raja. Sikka lies on a flat promontory, having a low ridge running east and west along its base. From the shore a coral reef runs far out into the sea. A borer sunk in a hole near the church struck into stratified tuff at a depth of 23 feet, and below that into seasand containing abundant remains of marine organisms identical with those now existing in the neighbouring waters. The coast to the west is formed by ridges radiating from the mountain Ilingneva, and is composed of pumice tuff covered with andesite conglomerate. Having procured a prauw, Professors Wichmann and Weber rowed along the coast to Endeh. The peninsula of Endeh terminates in the volcano Gunong Iya, which continually vomits forth smoke and vapour. The village of Endeh, situated on the western side of the peninsula, consists of thirty enclosures. The inhabitants, originally Makassarese and Buginese, have intermarried with native tribes, and have retained the bad characteristics of both races. The village is remarkably dirty; for pigs, which act as scavengers in Papuan villages, are not kept by the Endinese Mohammedans. Agriculture, confined almost entirely to the cultivation of maize, is carried on by slaves, while female slaves are employed in the weaving of cotton. The village has a certain degree of importance as the largest commercial centre in Flores, but the trade is in the hands of only a few individuals, and is of no great value. European goods are imported from Singapore, and rice from the island of Bali. While Professor Weber paid a visit to Braai, Professor Wichmann ascended G. Puï, a volcano on the eastern side of the peninsula, separated from G. Iya by the ridge G. Ruja. It rises to a height of 1330 feet, and its crater, 250 yards in diameter, is used as garden ground. Pineapples, bananas, and a few miserable Lontar palms grow round the edge, and beans and manioc are planted in the hollow. The most westerly points on the southern coast visited by the travellers were the mouth of the Nanga Bakeh, at the foot of the G. Keo, and the village of Bombang at the foot of G. Voropau, 3300 feet high. The natives were dressed in blue loin-cloths and sleeveless jackets, and were armed with all kinds of weapons. They trade a little in maize, raw cotton, and dirty yellow beads called Muti-tanah, which are highly prized in Timor and the adjacent islands. From Bombang the explorers retraced their steps to Sikka and Maumeri, where Professor Weber took ship for Makassar, while Professor Wichmann, in a prauw lent him by the missionary at Maumeri, skirted the northern coast eastwards, passing through the channel, about 1 miles wide, which separates the Great and Little Bastard Islands. He landed in the Bay of Hadding, which is sheltered on the north-west by a peninsula, while to the east rise several mountains, culminating in the summit of Ilimandiri, 5180 feet high. The strand is covered with coco palms and a considerable number of areca palms. After crossing the narrow zone of forest, Professor Wichmann

ascended a valley between G. Delang and G. Ilipadung, where shrubs of Alangalang grew among boulders of andesite, and, after three-quarters of an hour's march reached the watershed at an elevation of 740 feet. The southern slope, towards the bay of Okka, is open, even country, where maize and rice fields flourish. At Okka a despatch-boat was waiting to carry Professor Wichmann to Posto, at the narrowest point of the Flores Strait, here only 1 miles broad. Numerous villages lie on the strip of ground between the slopes of Ilimandiri and the sea, which is so small that most of the native gardens lie in Adonara on the other side of the strait. On this island and the adjacent Solor stand several volcanoes, some extinct and others still in a state of activity. After spending some days in the exploration of these islands, Dr. Wichmann returned to the despatchboat, and sailed for Timor, passing through the Lobetobi Strait between Flores and Solor. The peninsula on the Flores side is entirely occupied by Lobetobi, the largest mountain-mass on the island. Its chief cone, Lakilaki, rises to a height of 7420 feet.

Dr. Wichmann's article contains a bibliography of the island and a table of geographical positions, and is accompanied by a map and several illustrations.

COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY.

The Nijni Novgorod Fair.-The French Consul-General at Moscow states that the value of the goods brought to this fair in 1890 was 181,256,000 roubles (about £17,370,000). In 1889 the value was greater by about £558,800. The sales amounted to about £16,696,000, and were also less than in the preceding year. The presence of Afghan merchants at the fair last year shows that Russian commerce is extending in the East.-Chamber of Commerce Journal, April 10th.

Iron and Coal in South Russia.-Captain Talbot, British Consul at Taganrog, has lately issued a report upon the iron and coal industries of South Russia, from which the following particulars are taken. The Donetz basin yields an annually increasing amount of iron, and three new blast furnaces have just been added to the already extensive works in that district, and rolling mills have also been built to meet the larger demands upon the companies engaged in working the ore. New works are being pushed on at Krivoi Rog and at Constantinovka, where no manufactories previously existed. This activity Captain Turner attributes to the protective duties lately imposed on foreign iron, causing the trade of St. Petersburg, which was formerly entirely supplied with iron from abroad, to look out for markets and mines within the Russian borders. The high railway and transport rates have had a depressing influence on the new industry, but a Government inquiry, now proceeding, is expected to remedy this unfavourable aspect of the trade. So popular has the iron become in South Russia that the supplies from the Urals have now almost ceased to come into that part of the country. The coal exported from the Donetz basin has fallen off in quantity to the extent of 137,535 tons, but the consumption is believed to keep steady. This coal is now largely shipped from Mariupol to the Black Sea ports. Here, also, the influence of the protective duties has been felt, the fall in the imports of English coal into Russia being estimated at 100,000 tons in the year.

Novorossisk. This town, which ten years ago contained only 2000 inhabitants, has made enormous strides, owing in great measure to the naphtha springs near Stanitza Ilskaia, about 50 miles up the country. It has now a population of 10,000, and in 1890 exported goods to the value of more than two and a half millions sterling. Coal and metals are to be found in the neighbouring mountains. The branch from the Rostov-Vladikavkaz railway was completed in 1888, and the 21

VOL. VII.

harbour of Novorossisk is to be improved.-Chamber of Commerce Journal, April 10th.

The Karun River.-Mohammerah, which was till recently an unimportant town, has now become a thriving port, at which the steamers of the British India Company and the Bombay and Persian Gulf Company call regularly. Steamers run up the river to Ahwaz, and from Ahwaz to Shuster, and a telegraph line has been laid from Dizful to Ahwaz. There are still some difficulties to overcome. The landingstage at Mohammerah is too far from low-water mark to be of much service, the work of the Customs Department is not yet fully organised, and the telegraph communication with Teheran is seldom perfect; but it is expected that these hindrances to trade will be easily removed. Corn is shipped to Europe, and much greater quantities could be grown in the Karun district than at present. Oil-seed, flax, and roses are also cultivated, rose-water being manufactured on the island of Khedr. The principal industries at Mohammerah are dyeing, tanning, and working in silver. The Times, May 20th.

Mexican Railways.-It was only in 1864 that the Government decreed the construction of the first railway in Mexico, that running from Vera Cruz to the capital. At the end of 1889 the lines in working order had a total length of 5056 miles, and the lines projected a length of 7446. When these are completed, Mexico will possess one mile of railway for every square mile of surface and for every 525 inhabitants. Unfortunately all the lines, except that from Vera Cruz to Mexico, are badly constructed, and several of the most important are of narrow gauge. Scarcity of coal and wood make the working expenses very heavy.-Bull. de la Soc. Roy. Belge de Géog., No. 2, 1891.

The Mineral Riches of New Caledonia. The Chamber of Commerce Journal, April 10th, gives an account of the mining industry in New Caledonia. On 1st January 1890 there existed 115 nickel mines, occupying an area of 27,473 square miles, 22 of which produced, in 1889, 19,741 tons of ore, containing seven to ten per cent. of pure nickel. Chrome iron is also extracted, the most important deposits being found in the vicinity of the rivers N'Go and Pirogues, from which 2254 tons of ore were exported in 1889. The proportion of sesquioxide of chrome contained in the ore was, on the average, 50 per cent. Gold was formerly worked and copper, whilst valuable deposits of the latter are known to exist. Argentiferous lead has been worked, yielding 30 per cent. of lead and one to two pounds of silver per ton of ore. Iron ore is the most abundant of all, but it is doubtful whether it can be profitably worked. Many other minerals, such as mercury, tin, platinum, manganese, etc., also exist, but have not been worked up to the present. A recent geological map shows an area of nearly two million acres of mining lands at present unexplored.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Another Russian Scientific Expedition, under Captain Bartchefsky, has left Samarkand for the Pamir and Kafiristan.- Le Mouvement Géogr., May 31st.

Dr. Schweinfurth has returned from Abyssinia, bringing with him a valuable botanical collection.

M. Venukoff has announced to the Paris Geog. Soc. (Compte Rendu, No. 12, 1891) that another expedition for the Investigation of the Black Sea has set out under the same leaders, MM. Spindler, Andrussof, and Wrangell.

The Population of Ceylon, as shown by the late census, is 3,008,239. The

increase in the last ten years is 244,225, or 8.8 per cent.-The Colonies and India, July 4th.

The exports of Petroleum and petroleum products from the United States amounted in 1890 to 689,029,966 gallons, of the value of $51,656,677. In 1889 the quantity was 675,938,540 gallons, and the value $52,793,241.—The Times, July 1st.

M. Ch. Faure, late secretary of the Geographical Society of Geneva, has sent us an Exposé sommaire des Voyages et Travaux géographiques des Suisses dans le cours du xixe siècle, compiled for the Congrés international des Sciences géographiques held at Paris in 1889.

Dr. Hans Schinz has been charged by the German Government to conduct an expedition from Cameroons to Baghirmi, with the hope of recovering the ground lost by the defeat of Dr. Zintgraff, a third of whose men were killed in a battle with the Barfut, in January last.-Revue Française, June 15th.

In June last the water of the Mersey was admitted into the section of the Manchester Ship Canal which extends from Ellesmere Port to Eastham. This section is about four miles long by 170 feet wide and 26 feet deep.-The Times, June 20th.

As a consequence of the opening of the Song-ca, or Red River of Tong-king, Yunnan tin has almost vanished from the port of Pakhoi, and the British Consul at that port declares that, before long, the whole import and export trade of Western Kwang-si and Yunnan will follow the new route.-The Times, May 21st, 1891.

The Tsar of Russia has given his decision on the Franco-Dutch Frontier Question in Guiana (vide S. G. M., vol. iv. p. 664). The river Aua, or Lawa, is declared to be the boundary between the Dutch and French possessions. The effect of this decision will be to hand over the Hinterland of about one-fourth of the littoral of French Guiana to the Netherlands.-Revue Française, June 15th.

M. V. T. Mashkoff started with an Expedition for Abyssinia at the beginning of April. Travelling by way of Port Said, Aden, and Obock, the expedition will commence its overland journey at Ras Jebuti. Three years, it is stated, will be spent in the investigation of the religions, history, ethnography, fauna, and flora of the country.-Boll. della Soc. Geog. Italiana, vol. iv. fasc. v.

On page 162 of this volume it was stated that Boundary Cape, New Guinea, was so named by Sir Peter Scratchley. Mr. H. O. Forbes writes to say that he gave the name to the cape, and, in support of his statement, refers to a memorandum of his own in a Report on British New Guinea, compiled by Mr. G. Seymour, Sir Peter Scratchley's private secretary. This report will be found among the Victorian Parliamentary Papers for 1886. Mr. Forbes thinks it probable also that the first and deepest of the indentations to the south of the cape, named by him Annabel Harbour, is identical with Sir W. Macgregor's Douglas Harbour.

We have received from our Hon. Corr. Member, M. Venukoff, the first volume of a Bibliography of Asia, compiled by M. Méjoff, and published by the General Staff of the Russian Army. The 5197 books and articles catalogued are, most of them, in Russian, but a few in other languages, bearing on Russian relations with the Asiatic governments, are incorporated. The subjects of these works are various, including religion, history, geography and ethnology, language and literature, etc. The second volume will deal with Finnish, Tatar, Mongolian, and other literary productions of the Russian Empire. At the same time has been issued the first volume of a Bibliography of Siberia, publications dealing with this territory not being included in the work of M. Méjoff.

i

NEW BOOKS.

Life of Sir John Franklin; and the North-West Passage. By Captain ALBERT HASTINGS MARKHAM, R.N., A.D.C. "Explorers' Series." London: George Philip and Son. 1891. Pp. 324. Maps and Illustrations. Price 4s. 6d. The main object of this valuable series is admirably fulfilled in the volume before us to associate with some era in geographical discovery the name of its most prominent pioneer. Sir John Franklin has always enjoyed the credit of being the actual discoverer of the North-West Passage, towards which he devoted the best years of his life. His overland journeys in Arctic America contributed largely to the discovery of the North-West Passage; but, on his last journey, in command of the Erebus and Terror, he died on the threshold of his goal. It was no less due to the relief expeditions sent out in search of the ill-fated Franklin Expedition, and especially to the Investigator, under Captain M'Clure, that this long-vexed problem was satisfactorily solved.

The Life of Sir John Franklin, towards the construction of which the materials are both scanty and scattered, is sketched with a sympathetic and masterly hand by Captain Markham-himself an Arctic voyager of merit. The incidents in the exploration of the North-West Passage and of the Arctic Regions in general are interwoven in the thread of the narrative, and, though necessarily eclectic, are treated with judgment and skill. Franklin's adventurous career is given in considerable detail. We find him entering the navy at an early age and fighting his country's battles at Copenhagen and Trafalgar. He accompanied Flinders on the ill-fated but by no means unsuccessful voyage of discovery to Australia, on the occasion of which his own scientific predilections received definite shape and were trained in a good school. As Captain Buchan's lieutenant he commanded the Trent on his first voyage to the Arctic Regions and the first of this century despatched in search of the North-West Passage. Then followed his two overland journeys, in the first of which he traversed over five thousand miles by land and sea, and in the second discovered and accurately delineated "over a thousand miles of the north coast of the American Continent, hitherto absolutely unknown," besides contributing other scientific results of importance. On his return home he was duly honoured. His subsequent experiences in the Mediterranean, where he commanded the Rainbow during the disturbances on the coast of Greece, and as Governor of Van Diemen's Land for six and a-half years, were in striking contrast to his Arctic life. Finally, Franklin's last journey, from which he and his companions never returned, is dealt with in considerable detail.

We have practically nothing to say by way of criticism. Here and there-e.g., in the references to the Greely expedition-we might feel disposed to carp at a few expressions of judgment, but in the difficult task of appreciating the relative merit of explorers some latitude must be allowed an author. Dr. Rae, for instance, has called public attention to what he regards as an oversight in Captain Markham's narrative, and has requested us to remedy it. On page 199 the author does undoubtedly overlook Dr. Rae's claims to the prior exploration of Wollaston Land, which he ascribes to Dease and Simpson; but Dr. Rae, who has been well treated otherwise, might have been satisfied with the reference-if, perhaps, he has seen it-on page 244: "Dr. Rae was also employed in exploring the neighbourhood of the Coppermine River and the shores of Wollaston and Victoria Land." Captain Markham could not be expected to deal comprehensively with such a vast subject as that of Arctic exploration, but his bona fides cannot be impugned, and his extreme modesty may be discerned from the fact that he does not even allude to