heard of by a caravan of merchants as having passed the spot of his supposed death and as making onwards inland. At the instigation of the Royal Geographical Society, an expedition is to be assisted by the Government, and the men who undertake this work will accomplish something, whether they discover any traces of the former traveller or not. They take with them a steel boat in portable pieces, which will be launched on these mighty lakes, and which will assist in the solution of some of the problems connected with them. The loss of Dr. Livingstone, if he prove to be dead, is undoubtedly a great one, and much to be regretted; at the same time a fictitious excitement has been caused by the publication of unsifted scraps of information which only serve to add conjecture to. conjecture. * As to other parts of Africa, M. de Sainl in the centre, and Professor Freilli in the north, are making attempts to penetrate the interior. The detention of the captives in Abyssinia still continues, and Dr. Beke has published a second edition of his work on that country, with remarks on the late proceedings. Naturally he condemns the diplomacy which has brought such deplorable results, and which was opposed to his advice. An account of Madagascart by a missionary gives a fairly full description of the people, who seem to be advancing towards civilization at a tolerably rapid rate. The Russian Government has been giving full employment to its topographical corps in surveying and mapping out their newlyacquired territories in Manchuria and the neighbouring states, so that the whole of the southern border of the empire is now delineated on a scale suited for practical purposes. Whilst Russia is thus advancing upon China from the north, the Government of India is having surveys of much of the country between Burmah and the Celestial Empire, whilst an endeavour is being made to bring the provinces formerly in dependence on China, but now independent, into commercial relations with northern India. Viscount Pollington has traversed some portion of Central Asia, and has written a book, which however does not contribute much to our previous knowledge. Dr. I. I. Hayes, the Patron's Medalist of the Royal Geographical Society this year, has written an excellent book on his late expedition among the Esquimaux. His opinion, as well as that of M. Gustave Lambert, backs that held already by many German and English geographers, and advocated in former numbers of this journal, that there is open sea towards the North Pole. The lastnamed gentleman advocates the attempt by Behring's Straits, and * British Captives in Abyssinia,' by Chas. T. Beke, Ph.D. Longmans. urges his own countrymen to carry off the glory of the discovery from other contending nations. A Peruvian expedition has been exploring the south-western tributaries of the Amazons with some success. Several of these rivers have been found navigable; but the tribes amidst which they flow are cannibal and bellicose. The explorers arrived within 400 miles of the Pacific coast, and it is hoped that it will be possible, by means of a railway, to open up traffic between the two oceans. The fish of this mighty stream and its tributaries have been subjected to the researches of Professor Agassiz. He finds in the main stream as many as 2,000 different species, several of which are highly useful. Of these, nearly 200 kinds-more than the whole Mississippi can produce-were to be obtained within a few yards of one another. According to an American paper, an attempt has been made which however was not entirely successful, even if we trust the high-flown language of the traveller who narrates it—to ascend Orizaba, the highest mountain in Mexico, close to one of the last places of retreat of the unfortunate emperor. Very accurate numbers are avoided by the writer, but he professes to have advanced to a greater height than 16,000 feet, when the party was stopped by the general fatigue, and by the fall and injury of their leader. Farther north the great lakes are affording a problem not easy of solution. The huge stream of the St. Lawrence flows from them, but they are fed by only a few insignificant streams. Whence comes all this body of water? Is it from subterranean sources? and if so, where can so vast a drainage be collected? Mr. E. Whymper, of the Alpine Club, is going to Greenland to try whether his experience in Switzerland will enable him to make some ascents of mountains which will give more scientific results than those commonly undertaken by members of the club. In Europe but little has taken place of geographical interest, except that the volcanic system of the Mediterranean has been for some little time in a state of considerable activity, giving indications of changes in the earth's surface. A good account of the Sclavonic provinces of Turkey is given by Messrs. G. Muir Mackenzie and A. P. Irby* in a heavy but useful book. In anticipation of the medals of our own Society being given to foreigners, the Geographical Society of Paris has presented Sir Samuel Baker with its gold medal for the current year. The Academy of Sciences has elected M. d'Abbadie to the chair of Geography after a close contest. A sum of 4,000 francs has been laid aside by Mme. Guévineau, sister of the traveller Lalande, to be presented to the traveller who shall have been most instrumental in improving human food. *The Turks, Greeks, and Slavons.' Bell & Daldy. We would call attention to the following works on Geography lately published:-Géographie de Strabon,' traduction nouvelle par Amédée Tardieu. Duarte Barbosa's 'Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar in 16th Century, translated by the Hon. H. E. J. Stanley. A kind of geographical novel, called 'Wild Life among the Pacific Islanders,' by E. H. Lamont. The three following German works,-"The Prussian Expedition to Eastern Asia, from Official Sources,' a good account of Japan, &c.; L. Hacker's 'American Sketches;' Dr. H. A. Pagenstecher's 'Sketches of the Balearic Islands;' Shepherd's North-west Peninsula of Iceland;' and 'L'Année Géographique' of V. de Saint-Martin. The second edition of Kiepert's New Hand-Atlas of all Parts of the World,' in forty-five sheets, is worthy of mention, on account of its accuracy, clearness, fullness, and cheapness. PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. At several meetings of the Society since our last report the probable fate of Dr. Livingstone was discussed, a subject which our readers will find fully treated elsewhere. The first paper we have to notice is one by Admiral A. Boutakov, of the Russian navy, who has since received the Founder's Medal for the discoveries therein described. The gallant traveller surveyed the Delta of the Oxus, in the Sea of Aral, and was the first to launch a boat in that littleknown lake. If we are ever justified in arguing from silence, this lake did not exist in so-called historic times, that is to say, during the period in which we have authentic works on geography, &c., written in Europe. No description of this sea occurs in European writers, nor did Asia furnish writers who could give details sufficiently explicit. In the way of positive testimony in the other direction, the Oxus and Jaxartes are said by Arabian geographers from the 13th to the 15th century to empty themselves into the Caspian, though previously the sea of Aral existed much as it does now. The several mouths of the Oxus all appear to be extremely shallow, and to afford but small advantages to a commerce that would at all times be liable to be interrupted by hostile tribes. A map of Chinese Tartary, founded on the Russian surveys and on the map of caravan routes made by Colonel Walker, of the Indian Trigonometrical Survey, was exhibited by Captain Sherard Osborn, who also added a description of the country as far as it is at present known. It divides itself into three principal divisionsManchuria, Mongolia, and Ili, or Eastern Turkestan. The former of these belongs in part to the Russians, who in all probability will get the whole before very long, when they will be better able, by means of the various river valleys, to communicate with the set tlements on the coast and with the eastern seas, from which they are now cut off by a range of mountains. Mongolia is at present the home of Mussulman cut-throats who overrun the neighbouring provinces, unchecked by the supineness of the Chinese Government. The third portion, Ili, is divided by a range of mountains. This district, interesting from the many ancient cities to be found within its borders, approaches that region of Central Africa which promises most to the enterprising traveller. In these regions the advancing powers of Russia and England will some day meet, and it remains to be seen whether, advancing gradually as the countries throw themselves into our hands, we may meet as friendly allies, warring alike and in common against Oriental tyranny and iniquity, or whether with the grasping spirit engendered by too great a devotion to commerce we coerce unwilling tribes and with unsettled borders encounter a warlike nation ready to wrest our ill-gotten gains from our hands. Other papers that have been read lately have been:-"A Trip to the Sources of the Sutlej," by Captain H. U. Smith and Mr. J. S. Harrison, M.A.; "On Part of Mesopotamia contained between Sherial-el-Beytha, on the Tigris, ten miles N.W. of Baghdad, to the large mound Tel-Ibrahim, nearly in the centre of Mesopotamia, nineteen miles N.N.E. of Hillah," by Lieutenant J. B. Bewsher; "On the Discovery of the Sources of the Lycus, the site of Nicopolis and other places in Kurdistan," by Mr. Consul Taylor; "A Description of Diarbekr," by Mr. R. J. Garden. The anniversary meeting of the Society took place on the 27th of May. The report of the year describes the increase in the number of Fellows, and consequently of funds, the large additions to the library, both in the way of books and of maps, and the mode in which various sums had been expended in the advancement of geographical science. The Founder's Medal was bestowed on Admiral Alexis Boutakov, of the Russian Imperial navy, whose researches on the Sea of Aral are epitomized above, and the Victoria or Patron's Medal was given to Dr. I. I. Hayes for his researches in Arctic regions, where he reached a point farther north than any of his predecessors on land. In a simple, unpretending manner these researches are chronicled in his work on the Open Polar Sea.' The President's Address was chiefly occupied with what has taken up so greatly the time of the Society during the present session, viz. the discussion of the probabilities in favour of the life or death of Dr. Livingstone, as reported by the man Moosa. 8. GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY, (Including the Proceedings of the Geological Society.) AN account of a most important work, entitled Thesaurus Siluricus,' was read by its author, Dr. Bigsby, before the Royal Society, on February 21st, and has since been published in the Society's "Proceedings.' This 'Thesaurus' is a catalogue of all the fossils which have been described from Silurian deposits in all parts of the world, and gives the range of each species in space and time. In the summary of results now made public are many facts and conclusions which are important, and some which are curious; but all are interesting. We thus find that there are 3,145 known American Silurian species and 4,325 European; but only 179 are common to the two regions. The Primordial Zone is the first formation in which anything like a fauna has been discovered, and in this deposit we suddenly become conscious of the creation of more than 900 species, belonging to a majority of the classes of the Invertebrata. Species are treated of by the author under two aspects, namely, (1) as being typical of one horizon; and (2) as "recurrent," or occurring in more than one. He finds that 12 per cent. of the whole number of species occur in more than one horizon, and that "the same species may be typical of one horizon in one country and recurrent in another." "All these recurrents are, of course, within the limits of the Silurian epoch, and Dr. Bigsby treats of them as intra-epochal. Those species which pass into the Devonian period are termed extra-epochal, and he has been able to identify 42 which come under this head; and only one of these (Chonetes sarcinulata) is known to have survived in Carboniferous times. It is worth notice, also, that these extra-epochal recurrent species were of migratory habits,-" few being found in two epochs in the same country, but in different countries." We are glad to learn that the Royal Society has granted 1007. towards defraying the cost of publishing this work, and we look forward to its appearance with some impatience. It is only by such laborious endeavours as this that we can hope to discover the laws which have regulated the appearance and extinction of species during geological time. A very remarkable paper "On the Miocene Flora of North Greenland," by Professor Oswald Heer (translated by Mr. R. H. Scott) has been published in the Journal of the Royal Dublin Society. The collection of fossil plants described in the paper was brought from the Arctic regions by Captain Philip H. Colomb, R.N., and Sir Leopold M'Clintock, R.N., and contains 63 recognizable species. It is therefore quite trustworthy as to locality, and sufficiently * Proc. Roy. Soc., No. 90, 1867, p. 372. VOL. IV. 2 E |