The decrease of population in Ireland between 1871 and 1881 amounted to 4.4 per cent. as against 9.1 per cent. between 1881 and 1891; in the province of Leinster the decrease between 1871 and 1881 amounted to 4.5 per cent., between 1881 and 1891 to 6.5 per cent. ; in the province of Munster the decrease between 1871 and 1881 was 4.5 per cent., between 1881 and 1891 it was 12.2 per cent.; in the province of Ulster the decrease between 1871 and 1881 was 4.9 per cent., between 1881 and 1891 it was 7.2 per cent.; and in Connaught it was 2.9 per cent. between 1871 and 1881, and 11.9 per cent. between 1881 and 1891.

There was an increase between 1881 and 1891 in the population of two counties-viz., Dublin, which increased 24 per cent., and Antrim, 1.4 per cent.

There was a decrease in the population of all the other counties, ranging from 16.2 per cent. in Monaghan, 14:5 in Tipperary, S.R., and 13.9 per cent. in Longford, to 8.1 per cent. in Londonderry, 7.7 per cent. in Kildare, and 1.9 per cent. in Down.

Of the total population in 1891, 754 per cent. were returned as Roman Catholics; 12.8 per cent. as Protestant Episcopalians; 9.5 per cent. as Presbyterians; and 1.2 per cent. as Methodists.

TABLE showing the Population of Provincial Towns having, in 1881, a Population exceeding 10,000, with the Increase or Decrease in Population between 1881 and 1891.

The population of Dublin City, which in 1881 numbered 249,602, amounted in 1891 to 254,709, showing an increase of 5,107, or at the rate of 2 per cent.

GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

BY W. A. TAYLOR, M.A.

EUROPE.

Geodetic Measurements in Russia.-In 1857 Wilhelm Struve, founder of the Pulkova Observatory, entered into negotiations with Prussia, Belgium, and England, with a view to the measurement of an arc of a parallel of latitude stretching across the four countries. The Governments named consented, in 1863, to communicate the results of their measurements to Otto, son and successor of Wilhelm Struve, in order that he might co-ordinate them with the Russian triangulation. The measurement of the arc is not yet completed, but some particulars have been published concerning the work. The parallel chosen is that of 52° N. lat., and the angular extension of the arc is 69° 30'. The portion which lies within the bounds of Russia in Europe measures rather more than 1682 miles in length, and gives the average length of a degree of longitude as about 42.68 miles. The geodetic measurements prove beyond a doubt that the length of a degree is not always the same, that, in fact, the parallel of 52° is not a circle, but is composed of elliptical arcs. Bases of 4 to 9 versts have been measured with such care as to reduce the limit of error to the hundredth part of a millimètre, yet the lengths of a degree of longitude in different parts of the parallel show differences ranging up to 410 feet. It is expected that the measurement of the arc will be continued across Siberia to the Pacific.-Boll. della Soc. Geog. Italiana, Fasc. vi. 1891.

Russian Poland: Statistics of Population.-The Statistical Committee of Warsaw has made calculations relating to the population of Russian Poland and its distribution in the towns and villages. No census has yet been taken in this or any other province of the Russian Empire, but the registers that have been kept since the commencement of the century allow a fairly accurate estimate to be made. On 1st January 1890 the total population of Russian Poland was 8,256,562, exclusive of the army. As the area of the country is 49,157 square miles, this number gives a density of 168 per square mile. On the western side of the Vistula the density is 207 per square mile, and on the eastern only 137. Industrial activity being greater than in Russia, there is naturally a greater condensation of the population in large towns. The urban population numbers 1,464,807, or 17·7 per cent., while in Russia it is only 13 per cent. There are 107.6 women for every 100 men, and even if the army be included, estimated at 68,000, the ratio will still be 105'8 to 100. Two towns have more than 100,000 inhabitants (Warsaw, 443,426; and Lodz, 125,227), one has about 50,000, five from 20,000 to 30,000, and thirteen between 20,000 and 10,000.—Le Tour du Monde, Nouvelles Géog. p. 197.

Italian Soundings in the Ionian Sea.-In Cosmos, vol. x. No. 7, Professor Cora publishes a table of soundings taken in 1886-87 on board the Washington, under the direction of the Royal Marine. A depression was discovered on the 36th parallel of N. latitude and between the 18th and 19th meridians of E. longitude, in which soundings of 2217, 2218, and 2223 fathoms were taken. To this depression, the deepest in the Mediterranean, Professor Cora has given the name of Abisso Magnaghi, in honour of the Italian Hydrographer. The note is accompanied by a bathymetrical map.

ASIA.

The Khevsurs of the Caucasus.-Monsieur V. Dingelstedt has published some notes on this singular people in Le Globe, tome xxx. No. 2. The name is derived from the Georgian word Khévi, signifying a mountain gorge, and is unknown among the people to whom it is applied. They call themselves after the different localities they inhabit, not by any collective name. Their country is situated to the east of the Pass of the Cross, on both slopes of the central chain of the Caucasus, to the west and north-west of the mountain Borbalo, and has an area of about 570 square miles. Its mean altitude is over 6500 feet, and it contains peaks rising above the limit of eternal snow, which in the central part of the Caucasus is at an elevation of 10,600 feet. About 7000 persons inhabit this wild region, in a bleak climate, where the cultivable soil is of small extent and the vegetation poor. In the summer the Khevsurs feed cattle and sheep on the rich grass which springs up on the mountain slopes, but in the winter forage is difficult to obtain, and the animals and their owners often succumb to famine. The Khevsurs, in contrast to the other mountaineers of the Caucasus, are plain in appearance, of rather short stature, and with large hands and feet, though they are muscular and agile. A great variety is observable in the colour of their eyes and hair, their stature, and even in the form of their skulls, and this diversity may be ascribed to a mixture of race. Their original ancestors were probably Georgians, who, sometime before the 12th century, took refuge in the mountains. These were probably joined by men of other races, who, for various reasons, were obliged to fly from their native lands, or were attracted by the life of brigandage which the Khevsurs led up to recent times. Their Georgian ancestors had reached a fairly high standard of civilisation, but in their savage solitudes the Khevsurs have relapsed into semi-barbarism, and have now a fierce and defiant expression. They wear coats of mail, brassarts, and helmets, like cavaliers of the Middle Ages. They live in communities consisting of one or several villages, under the nominal authority of a chief called a Khevisberi. These villages are grouped around some spot supposed to be sacred to a saint, and this religious bond has taken the place of the old tribal unity. The Khevsurs have a vague belief in one God, but they never address Him in prayer, and their rites consist in sacrifices and invocations to various saints, Christian and pagan, among which Saint George is held in high repute. Most of the work falls on the women, while the men spend their time in idleness. Marriages are concluded either with Christian or pagan rites. The wife brings with her a dowry of cattle and a trousseau. The offspring of the cattle belong to the house of the husband, but the original herd is the private property of the wife, and any loss must be made good by the husband. The wife has no share in the property of her husband at his decease. It is divided among his male heirs, and, in default of these, passes to the community. So, too, the wife's property is divided among her sons, her trousseau only being left to her daughters. Monogamy is the rule, but custom permits a man to repudiate his wife when she grows old, or if she bears no children, and to take another, provided that he gives an indemnity of five or six cows to the parents of the former. In other cases divorce is easily effected, but is seldom resorted to. The dead are buried in vast caves. They are dressed in coats of mail, and sometimes musical instruments are placed in their hands. Festivals are held in their honour five times, or, in the case of poor families, twice a year, when there is a lavish display of hospitality and quarrels frequently take place.

Dutch New Guinea.-Several papers have appeared in Cosmos, giving the results of Heer F. S. A. de Clercq's cruise along the coasts of the Dutch territory. In

vol. x. No. 7, the district between the Bay of Tarfia and Humboldt Bay and M'Cluer Gulf are described. The Bay of Tarfia lies in about 140° E. long., and the country in the vicinity and also around the bays, Tanah Mera and Humboldt, as far as Cape Bonpland and the German frontier, is known as Papua Talanjang, its inhabitants being proud of their primitive condition and averse to changes. The coast of the Bay of Tarfia is flat, and only at some distance inland can a chain of mountains be perceived on the horizon. These are inhabited by the Monimbora tribe, who live on good terms with the Papua of the coast, but seem loath to intermarry with them. At the eastern extremity of the bay the land begins to rise, and the Bay of Tanah Mera is confined by hills of red chalk, 200 and 300 feet high, behind which rises the mountain Dafonto. Humboldt Bay is also enclosed by hills attaining an elevation of barely 600 feet, and to the east may be descried some lofty mountains. The natives are well built, and have well-developed muscles. They wear beards but no moustaches. The unmarried men wear no beards, and the children's heads are shaved. Adults wear a kind of crest of hair along the top of the head, and entwine flowers and feathers of birds of paradise in the hair which hangs down at the back. The women are not so ugly as those of Western New Guinea: they wear earrings of tortoise-shell, ornamented with beads, bits of shells, and mother-of-pearl. The only article of dress is an apron of bark. Their canoes are painted with black and white figures and adorned with carved heads of dogs and fishes. The paddles have oval blades and long handles. Almost all the houses are built over the water. A few brooks descend into the bay, but rivers are found only on the eastern side of the outer bay.

M'Cluer's Inlet extends a long distance inland on the western coast of New Guinea. It is not yet thoroughly explored, for ships usually visit only the inhabited part of the southern shore. The islands in it are very numerous, and the coast is for the most part rugged and precipitous. There is a good number of native settlements, many of them standing on the islands, on the side towards the mainland.

AFRICA.

The Sahara.—The Bul. de la Soc. de Géographie Comm. de Paris, tome xii. No. 2, contains two articles on the desert to the south of Tunis, and on the inhabited region lying between the French Territory and the Niger. M. Jean Dybowski, who is now with M. Crampel on the way to Lake Tsad, writes on the oasis of the Sahara. He affirms that the Sahara is, when irrigated, fertile in almost all parts, that the oases are not of natural origin, but have been made by the Arabs by means of irrigation from subterranean supplies of water, and that it would be possible to convert the greater part of the country into green pastures. He admits that a few tracts exist where the sub-soil is perfectly dry, and where, therefore, no cultivation is possible. M. Dybowsky notices that, as the French authority becomes more firmly established, the oases are neglected by the Arabs, and commerce declines. Biskra was formerly a busy commercial centre, but since the French occupation its commerce has declined, and the same fate has befallen, successively, Tuggurt and Wargla. The caravans avoid the oases under French rule, and turn aside to Morocco and Tripoli, partly because the Arabs prefer to trade with their co-religionists, but chiefly, no doubt, because the slave-trade is suppressed in the French territory. The decline in cultivation M. Dybowsky also attributes to the abolition of slavery, for the oases are full of swamps, which produce malarial fever. As soon, then, as this disease appears, the Arabs pack up and go to more healthy spots, leaving their negro slaves, who are not subject to attacks of fever, to attend to the palm-trees, which require to be watered all through the year. M. Dybowski

believes that colonies of free negroes might be established with the best results. El Goléa he considers to be a site peculiarly favourable for agricultural industry. Water is abundant, and proofs of former fertility are found in numerous vestiges of human habitations and remains of a fauna now extinct. M. Camille Sabatier gives some account of the inhabitants of Tuat, Ahnet, and Aderar, to accompany a map showing the density of population in the north-west of Africa. Both writers advocate the annexation of Tuat by the French. It lies to the south of their territory, and on the direct route to the French Sudan. Nine-tenths of the inhabitants of its 349 oases are Ksurians, who are sorely oppressed by the nomad tribes and look to the French for deliverance. The total population of Tuat is about 400,000. A short distance to the south commences the country of Ahnet, divided into three districts, Massin, Tegulgulet, and Inzize, and peopled by six to eight thousand nomads. It is only important as a stage on the way to the Sudan, well provided with water and forage and easy to fortify. One hundred and twenty-five miles from Ahnet lies Aderar, on a vast steppe overlooked by peaks, some of which attain a height of 5000 feet. The region of the gum-tree, which begins at Ahnet, here gives place to close vegetation, extensive pasturages, and forests peopled by large game. Up in the mountains lives the confederation of the Awélimmid, which, though only 40,000 to 50,000 strong, maintains a supremacy over the surrounding tribes, numbering 600,000 to a million. The rich pastures of this district feed innumerable troops of camels, humped cattle, sheep, and fine horses. The country is healthy and the climate salubrious, and in the hands of the French would form a sanatorium as well as a citadel. Thus, across Tuat, Ahnet, and Aderar lies a route through fertile country connecting Algeria with the Niger, but many years must elapse before it can be opened to European enterprise.

The Oil Rivers.-The Times, July 31st, 1891, in announcing the appointment of Major Claude M. MacDonald as Commissioner and Consul-General of the Oil Rivers, gives some account of the territory under his jurisdiction. His task is a rather difficult one, and will require great tact. The ground is not fresh, ready for the establishment of an administration, for the Rivers have been occupied for a century by English traders, who form a powerful organisation, and will probably be averse to the transfer of all administrative power into other hands. If the enactments of the recent Brussels Conference be ratified, the importation of spirits, now the staple currency of this part of Africa, must be suppressed, and in this work there will, no doubt, be great difficulties. The system under which the native chiefs exact money from the traders will be abolished, and the chiefs will be compensated by subsidies paid from the revenue. The new duties will be assimilated, as far as possible, to those levied in Lagos and Cameroons. Besides superintending the administration and judicial proceedings, it will be the duty of the Consul-General and the ViceConsuls to develop the trade and industry of the country, experimenting with new crops, etc. The length of the coast-line of the Oil Rivers Territory is 350 miles, indentations being omitted. The country is low and unhealthy near the coast, where the European factories are situated, but at no great distance inland mountains rise to a height of 3000 to 5000 feet. The limits towards the sphere of the Royal Niger Company, as well as on the Cameroons side, are not yet definitely fixed. The boundary on the German side has been provisionally laid down as running from the Rio del Rey to the Ethiope Falls on the Cross River, but the Rio del Rey is only a creek with numerous branches, which are as yet unexplored, and the precise course of the boundary will be the subject of fresh negotiations. Most of the British merchants trading on the Oil Rivers, including many well-known firms in Liverpool and Glasgow, have formed themselves into a corporation, styled the