tive without a railroad; and the construction of a railroad in such a direction certainly seems to me visionary. Coming to practical questions, who is to pay for such a scheme? The Government of these islands? The question needs no answer. The gentlemen who are so ready to memorialize Government on the subject? If they will, it is well; but I doubt it. If in our own old Indian territory, after railways have been making for twenty years, it has been found impossible to get a single line of railway undertaken except with a guarantee (that is to say, practically, as the guarantees are, at the cost of the Government), is it likely that men who withhold their money there, will risk it in driving a railway through a scantily peopled and almost unknown region to tap a remote corner of China? Is it, then, the Indian Government that is to be at this expense? I remember how a somewhat similar system of agitation induced a former Secretary of State, in opposition to the views of the Indian Government, to sanction the guarantee of a short but costly railway on like speculative grounds-I mean from Calcutta to an uninhabited swamp upon a creek of the Delta, which it was expected would prove a great harbour of commerce; but that line is now almost a pure dead weight upon the Indian revenue. The Indian Government is already sufficiently burdened with railway guarantees, to say nothing of the immense amount of work already laid out, and still to be done, in completing its domestic railway system. When mutterings of discontent on account of increased or changing taxation are beginning to be heard so audibly in India, a wise Government will hold back for a time from measures of almost sure benefit, rather than disregard a warning so ominous. And it would be mad, under such circumstances, to engage its revenues in costly and speculative schemes for the extension of British commerce so problematical as this.

What I think we may reasonably hope for is:-first, to see Western China tranquillized, and the old channel of trade restored and stimulated by the access of British steamers to Bhamo; secondly, from gradual but inevitable political change in our own relations to the Burmese Government, I should expect to see our own influence brought into more direct operation at Bhamo, so that we shall be able to act either in the suppression of marauding, or in opening out by engineering the short road to the Chinese frontier cities, unhampered by such paltry obstacles as the intrigues of Burmese underlings, or the jealousies of Chinese traders. And I venture to think that our Government, as a general rule, need neither grudge the small cost of surveys and explorations beyond our frontier, nor hesitate to apply some degree of pressure on native governments to sanction such measures, without which these governments are apt to think us not in earnest in our proposals. If my memory does not deceive me, our Minister at Peking, in 1860, declined even to apply to the Chinese Regency for passports for an expedition which Lord Canning had sanctioned for exploration in Thibet, and in consequence a promising geographical enterprise was abandoned. The French Minister, in 1866, was less punctilious in pressing a similar demand. The expedition of the Mekong was in consequence furnished with imperial passports; and these passports, even in such a time of civil war and confusion, backed by tact and energy, secured them everywhere in China a decent, and sometimes a cordial reception, as well as free passage through those hitherto untraversed provinces.

On the Principality of Karategin. By Major-General ABRAMOF.

On Minicoy Island. By Major BASEVI.

The author, who was connected with the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, visited the island (which is situated west of Cape Comorin) with the object of comparing the intensity of gravity on an island station with that at inland stations in the same latitude. The result of Major Basevi's observations was the conclusion that the force of gravity is greater on the coast than inland, and at an ocean station like Minicoy greater than on the coast. The island is of coral formation,

covered with cocoa-palms, and contains more than 2000 inhabitants, who are of the same race as the Maldives, and of the Mohammedan religion.

On the Ruined Cities of Central America. By Captain L. BRINE, R.N. The author stated that it was not until the year 1750 (more than 200 years after the Spanish conquest) that the existence of ruined cities and temples lying hidden in the jungles and forests of Central America was revealed to the knowledge of the Spanish Government. A small party of Spaniards, travelling in the State of Chiapas, happened to diverge from the usual track leading from the southern limit of the Gulf of Mexico to the Mexican Cordilleras, and accidentally discovered in the dense forest remains of stone buildings-palaces and templeswith other evidences of a past and forgotten civilization of a very high order. These ruins were those of Palenque. Some years subsequently to this discovery, the King of Spain ordered an official survey to be made, and this survey was made in 1787 under the direction of Captain del Rio. Later official surveys were also made in 1806 and 1807; but these, with the usual secrecy of the Spanish conquerors, were not generally made public, and thus it happened that only as recently as the year 1822, at the revolution of Mexico, did the existence of these ruins first become known in Europe. Since then other hidden cities or temples had been discovered--Copan, in the State of Honduras; Ocosingo, on the frontiers of Guatemala; and several in Yucatan, of which Uxmal and Chichen-Itza are the most famous. It was very remarkable that all these ruins, evidently the work of one particular and highly civilized race of Indians, should only be found in a very limited area. None exist in South America, and none in that part of the continent commonly distinguished as North America; they all lie within the Tropics, between the 14th and 22nd parallels of north latitude, and were chiefly adjacent to the Mexican and Honduras Gulfs, or in the plains on the west of the Cordilleras of Central America. On the eastern or Pacific slopes and plateaux, within the same parallels, are also remains of ancient fortifications and sacrificial altars, but these are of a less elaborate type, and are allied to the Aztecan structures of Mexico. The author gave an account of a journey made by him across the continent in the spring of last year, from the Pacific, through Guatemala, to the Atlantic; he examined in detail the mixed populations and conditions of the countries between the Cordilleras and the Pacific, the central plateaux, with their aboriginal Indian races and ruins, the region (almost entirely unknown) inhabited by those unbaptized Indians called the Candones, near which lie the ruins of Ocosingo and Palenque; he concluded the journey by traversing Yucatan, visiting the strange ruins with which the country abounds, and emerging on the northern coast of the Peninsula at Sisal.

The Interior of Greenland. By Dr. ROBERT BROWN.

After reviewing the old ideas of the nature of the interior, Dr. Brown spoke at length of the views which his own studies and those of others had led him to. Various more or less successful attempts had been made to penetrate into the interior, viz. by Dalager, Kielssen, Rink, Hayes, Rae, Nordenskjold and Berggren, various Danish officers and Eskimo on hunting trips, &c., and one in which, with his companions MM. E. Whymper, A. P. Tegner, C. E. Olsen, J. Fleischer, and an Eskimo, he had shared in. The result of all these expeditions showed that the interior is one huge mer de glace, of which the outlets and overflow are the comparatively small glaciers on the coast, though in reality, compared with the glaciersystem of the Alps, they are of gigantic size. The outskirting land is to all intents and purposes merely a circlet of islands of greater or less extent. There are in all probability no mountains in the interior, only a high plateau from which the unbroken ice is shed on either side to the east and west, the greatest slope being towards the west. This "inland ice" was increasing, as necessarily it must, and would most likely eventually overlie the country as it once had in former periods of the earth's history. IIe considered that Greenland might be crossed

from side to side with dog or other sledges, provided the party started under experienced guidance, and sufficiently early in the year before the snow was melted off the ice. Whether they could return without assistance on the other side was, however, a matter of doubt. No fjords now stretched across within the explored limits of West Greenland. If they did, it was north of Smith's Sound, where perhaps Greenland ended in an archipelago of broken islands. Little doubt existed but that in former times one or more fjords stretched across the country, but these are now permanently closed by the spread of the "inland ice."

Cagayan Sulu Island. By Captain CHIMмO, R.N.

On the Second German Arctic Expedition.

By Dr. COPELAND, Astronomer to the Expedition.

At

It stated that the two expeditions sent by the German nation in the year 1868 and 1869 to endeavour to add to the geographical and general scientific knowledge of the Arctic regions were equipped entirely by private contributions, and the honour of starting and forwarding the whole scheme belonged to the eminent geographer Dr. Petermann, of Gotha. The object and aim of the second expedition was the scientific examination and discovery of the Arctic central region contained within the 75th parallel of north latitude, taking the coast of East Greenland as a basis. The aim involved two problems:-(1) The solution of the so-called polar question; (2) the discovery, survey, and examination of East Greenland, and those countries, islands, and seas connected with it, and extending in a northerly direction towards Behring's Straits, a measurement of a meridional are in East Greenland, excursions on the glaciers of the interior of continental Greenland, &c. The two vessels engaged in the expedition were the 'Germania,' 145 tons, Captain Koldeway, and seventeen men, and the 'Hansa,' 100 tons larger, Captain Hegemann, with a crew of twelve. The expedition sailed from Bremerhaven on the 15th of June, 1869, and after a tedious voyage of five weeks up to the parallel of 75°, the vessels were separated in a dense fog. The 'Germania' reached Sabine Island on the 5th of August, and four days were spent in surveying the neighbouring country, observing an eclipse of the sun on the 7th, determining the magnetic constants, &c. On the 10th they proceeded northwards, but their progress came to a dead stop on the 13th, in latitude 75° 31', or 23′ further north than had been reached by Clavering and Sabine forty-six years before. this point the land-ice lay quite fast, and extended fully ten miles in a N.E. direction from the nearest land, since called Cape Börgen; while against its outer edge the enormous fields of pack-ice were so heavily pressed as to render all progress impossible. Towards the N. and N.E. no water was visible; this was just as Captain Clavering and Sir Edward Sabine found matters twenty-three miles further to the south, and within a day of forty-six years before, and it was also their lot to encounter the same obstacles in latitude 75° 29′ in the following summer. Captain Koldeway determined on returning to the Pendulum Islands, and there to await in safety a change in the state of the ice. The remainder of the month of August and the beginning of September was spent in obtaining geological, botanical, and ethnological specimens, and in making various observations. A sledge excursion, under Koldeway and Payer, into a fiord to the N.N.W. of the Pendulum group, from the 13th to the 22nd of September, resulted in a confirmation of a previous supposition of the existence of a large island on that part of the coast, and showed how much might be attempted in the exploration of the interior of Greenland at this season of the year. A second sledge excursion at the end of October and beginning of November was made by Payer and himself round the north of Clavering Island, thereby proving its insularity, which had been suspected by Clavering in 1823. On the 5th of November the sun disappeared for the winter, but still they accomplished about 180 nautical miles in nine days, including the penetration into a new fiord, whose termination they succeeded in reaching. From the 12th of October to the beginning of May, while frozen in, observations were

made as to the temperature and pressure of the atmosphere, the direction and velocity of the wind, the amount of cloud, and the height of the tide from hour to hour. In making these and other observations the scientific members of the expedition were zealously assisted by the two mates, Messrs. Sengstacke and Tramnitz, and the talented seaman Peter Ellinger, whose subsequent death at the early age of 24 has robbed nautical science of one of its most promising supporters. January 1870 was the coldest month, with a mean of 119 Fahr. below zero; and towards the end of February the thermometer reached its lowest, -40°.5; but samples of pure mercury did not show any sign of freezing. The mean of the whole year was remarkably low, being only +11°3 Fahrenheit. Magnetical and astronomical observations were made from time to time. The magnetical constants of their winter quarters in lat. 74° 32′ 16′′ N., and 18° 49′ W. long. were:declination, 45° 8' 8"; inclination, 79° 48'; and horizontal force 0.956 Gauss's scale. The northern lights were not in general particularly brilliant, but were extremely frequent, and the convergence of the streamers was found to coincide with the direction of the freely suspended magnetic needle. The spectroscopic examination of the auroral light fixed the place of the green line at 1245 of Kirchhoff's scale. The main direction which the labours of the expedition took during the spring was the prosecution of a sledge journey to the north under the leadership of the Captain, who was accompanied by Payer and six seamen. An advance was made of 150 miles in a straight line from his winter quarters, and added at least one whole degree to our maps of the coast of East Greenland. A week afterwards Payer conducted another party towards the fiords to the north-west of the Pendulum Islands, and they succeeded in bringing back a magnificent collection of fossils and minerals. At the same time Dr. Börgen and himself were engaged in the measurement of an arc of the meridian, commenced in the beginning of March, by measuring a base of rather more than 709 metres in length on Sabine Island. On the 14th of May, Dr. Copeland and his companions started on their geodetical tour towards the north, intending to select and signalize their stations as they advanced northwards. All the angles at sixteen out of seventeen selected stations were measured, and the latitude of the north end, as deduced from eighty-two circummeridian altitudes of the sun, was 75° 11′ 30" 12, with a probable error of 0"-78; that of the south end, 74° 32′ 15"-86, probable error 0'58. The highest station was 1008 4 metres above the level of the sea. They took advantage of the opportunity thus afforded for comparing altitudes determined with the barometers with those deduced from purely trigonometrical operations. The whole of the barometrical heights were slightly in excess of the trigonometrical ones. Their geodetical labours were very much restricted and embarrassed by the setting in of the thaw as early as the 3rd of June. The ship was freed from her winter prison on the 11th of July, but they did not sail till the 22nd. So far as examined, the botanical and zoological collections had yielded no absolutely new varieties, but had taught much about the distribution of plants and animals. Perhaps the most important discovery in that department was that of the musk ox, which animal was found plentifully up to the 77th parallel. With regard to natives, although the whole coast from the 76th parallel to the innermost recesses of Emperor Francis-Joseph's Fiord, in lat. 73 deg., abounded in vestiges of the aboriginal inhabitants, and although Clavering fell in with a party of twelve on the south side of the island which was now known by his name, this expedition never even met with recent traces of their presence. However, they succeeded in finding eleven skulls, and many interesting weapons and utensils. Being again stopped by the ice in 75° 29', it was decided in full conclave to try their fortunes in some of the fiords supposed to exist towards the south. They accordingly proceeded southwards along the coast until they rounded Hudson's Hold-with-Hope, and proceeded to explore the interior of the supposed Mackenzie Inlet. A single day, however, served to show

*Note added August 14, 1871.-A letter received from Capt. Koldeway, just after the reading of this paper, enables me to give the following particulars which have been deduced from the tidal observations. At Sabine Island the mean range of the tide was 3-13 ft., range of spring-tides 4:21 ft., that of neap-tides being only 186 ft. The tidal wave advanced from the south towards the north at the rate of about 50 to 60 miles an hour.

1871.

12

that no such inlet existed, and thus that what had been called Bennet Island, was only a hilly promontory. Payer and himself afterwards resolved to ascend Cape Franklin, and from its summit saw about sixteen new islands, and upwards of 170 icebergs of from 100 to 200 feet in height. Towards the S. W., at a distance of 60 nautical miles, lay a chain of mountains of 6000 or 7000 feet high-most probably the Werner Mountains of Scoresby. About eleven o'clock they started for the western or higher end of Cape Franklin, whose height they assumed to be 4000 or 4500 feet. There they found that the bay or fiord bent round towards the N.W., sending branches in a westerly direction, while to the north it seemed to expand into magnificent proportions. It was resolved to take the ship round into the hitherto unvisited waters. On the north shore of the entrance, the green slopes which formed the foreground of the rugged heights of Cape Franklin were dotted with the small, burrow-like, forsaken winter dwellings of the inhabitants, whom some strange mutation of the climate had driven away, and afforded pasture to numerous herds of reindeer. From this point they steamed about 90 miles into the interior of Greenland; and had not the defective state of their boiler and the positive character of their instructions prevented them from risking a detention during a second winter, they might have easily advanced much further. From the summit of a peak (Mount Payer) 7200 feet in height, situated in 26° 18′ west long., a view was obtained of a mountain-chain lying about one third of the breadth of Greenland from the east coast, the loftiest peak of which must have been nearly 13,000 feet in height. No traces of a complete glaciation of the interior were visible. The usual magnetical, astronomical, zoological, and botanical excursions were here made. On the 17th of August, the expedition left the coast, and arrived at Bremerhaven on the 11th of September, 1870. During the whole voyage they determined the density of the sea-water, which was found to increase with the depth, especially amongst the ice. In regard to the 'Hansa,' from which they had been parted, notwithstanding the heroic efforts of her captain to reach the coast, she was nipped in the ice, and went down on the 23rd of October, 1869, leaving her crew to make an almost miraculous voyage of 800 miles on a constantly decreasing ice-floe, exposed to all the rigours of an Arctic winter. They were fortunately able, after at length leaving the ice-raft in their boats, to reach Friedrichsthal with the most incredible exertions.

On the Limpopo Expedition. By Captain F. ELTON.

The lower course of the Limpopo was explored a few years ago by Mr. St. Vincent Erskine, the son of the Colonial Secretary of Natal; and Capt. Elton's object was to trace its higher waters, in order to see whether a more convenient route and water communication could be opened up from the settlement on the Tati river to the sea-coast, a distance of nearly 1000 miles. The difficulties, both natural and artificial, with which Capt. Elton had to contend were often very great; but the physical obstacles to his journey, and the hostility or cupidity of the natives, were successfully overcome; and he accomplished a voyage of considerably over 900 miles. He has also shown, as he believes, the practicability of the route he has opened up, and it is scarcely too much to expect that by so doing he has rendered essential service to commerce and civilization.

On a Self-replenishing Artificial Horizon.

Invented and described by CHRISTOPHER GEORGE, R.N., F.R.A.S.

This instrument consists of a pair of circular disk-like reservoirs about 2 in. in diameter and in. in depth, made of iron, at the same casting: one contains the mercury, and the other is the trough for observing.

The disks are connected at their circumferences by a narrow neck, in which is drilled a hole to allow the mercury to pass from one reservoir to the other; the communication between the two reservoirs is opened or closed by a stopcock, on the cone principle, so that the mercury can be passed from one disk to the other without removing the glass cover or the risk of losing any of the mercury. There are two screw stoppers attached to the mercurial reservoir for admitting air into