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was equally evident that less prominence was given to some of the views which had conferred a distinct character upon the body." The number of marriages in accordance with the usages of the Society had been above the average. The reports made at the school conference showed that the 12 public schools of the meeting had been attended by 620 boys, and 425 girls, making a total of 1,045 pupils. The expenditure at Ackworth, the largest school, had been £2,890, or £9 198. 10d. per scholar. The London Tract Association reported that it had sold 64,645 tracts, and 48,757 leaflets, and distributed gratuitously 22,235 tracts, and 18,105 leaflets, making a total of 8,111,005 tracts and leaflets distributed since the formation of the Society. Reports from branch societies were also presented. A proposition from the quarterly meeting at Durham, that the yearly meeting should impress upon the various meetings the necessity of instructing their members in the principles of the Society, with a document which accompanied it, setting forth certain doctrines and views, excited discussion. The necessity for instructing the members of the Society was fully admitted, but the issuing of anything which might be construed into a "Confession of Faith " was strongly opposed. It was decided simply to draw up a minute, recommending to the meetings the general instruction of their members. A discussion also took place on the subject of "General Meetings," which partake of the character of revival meetings, and of the practice of singing at such meetings, but no conclusions were reached. The fact is mentioned that a young man rose during one of the meetings and sang a hymn as a solo, and that no notice was taken of the irregularity. Epistles were read from Friends in Syria, New Zealand, Victoria, and Tasmania. A statement was made of the work in Madagascar by a Friend who had labored in that island for 10 years. The sum of £5,000 had been spent during the year in foreign missions, of which £4,000 had been devoted to Madagascar. In Bulgaria, 4,769 houses had been built by Friends, besides a number of school-houses, and 9,300 persons had had seeds supplied to them. A special meeting was held on temperance.

The 9th biennial First-day School Conference of Friends (Orthodox) in America met at Indianapolis, Ind., November 13th. Delegates were present from 10 of the 12 yearly meetings of the United States and Canada, besides a considerable number of visitors from distant States. Charles F. Coffin, of Indiana, was chosen president, but declined to serve, and

Dr. James E. Rhoades, of Philadelphia, was chosen in his stead. The statistical reports of the First-day schools of the Society were incomplete; but it appeared that when the last official returns were received, the number of scholars was 32,844, with an average attendance of 19,768, and that the schools were conducted by 2,895 officers and teachers. More than one-half of the scholars were children of members of the Society. The schools are officially recognized as a department of Church work by all the yearly meetings, except that of Philadelphia, where they are conducted independently of the Society. The report of the treasurer showed that his receipts had been $335.08, and his expenditures $330.25. The First-day school work had been rapidly developed in England during the last 30 years. When the first Conference was held at Birmingham, in 1847, only 12 schools were reported, with an aggregate attendance of 2,000 scholars; now the number of scholars was 19,000, an increase of 2,000 having been made during the year. The English schools partook more of the nature of mission-schools than of Sunday-schools operating within the Church, and gave attention to young men and women, rather than to children.

An Educational Convention of the Orthodox Friends of America was held at Baltimore, Md., December 21st and 22d. The principal educational institutions of the Society, and all the yearly meetings of the continent, were represented, either by delegates or by letter. Francis S. King, of Maryland, presided. The object of the meeting was to discuss the means of giving greater unity of purpose and concentration to the educational efforts of the Society, and the method of avoiding the excessive diffusion of energies which was in danger of taking place under the independent action of the yearly meetings. The Convention had also in view the provision to be made for the education of the children of the new members who were being rapidly added to the Society in the South and West. A standing committee was appointed, to consider the subject of education, as affecting the Society of Friends, to whom was also referred the question of establishing a permanent Board of Education, and appointing a permanent general secretary. The committee was empowered to call another conference during next year. A committee was also appointed to prepare an address embodying the conclusions of the conference. The subject of establishing a college for young women, of the grade of Hanerford College, was favorably considered.

G

GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. The year has been an unsuccessful one for explorers. Several of the numerous expeditions which have ventured into the unknown parts of Africa have succumbed to the triple dangers of those fatal regions. The fate of the German expedition to the west coast of Africa, and the mishaps which have befallen the Marquis Antinori's enterprise, are new illustrations of the rule that the nearly invariable record of expeditions sent out for definite purposes, and equipped by wealthy associations, is one of disappointment and disaster. The only brilliant discovery to chronicle is the identification by Stanley of the Congo with the Lualaba; this was first theoretically affirmed five years ago. The barbaric countries which Antinori and Largeau are endeavoring to penetrate will probably remain closed to intercourse, by the ferocity and fanaticism of their inhabitants, long after a highroad of commerce shall have been opened through the lands of the cannibal savages who harassed Stanley's march and hourly menaced his life. The knowledge of the great natural resources of inner Africa will, no doubt, cause in time the replacement of the inhuman slave system by a rational method of commercial intercourse. The aggressions and subjugations effected by Russia in Central Asia, in the name of civilization, have benefited science, in opening up to investigation regions of high interest to the ethnologist and to the physical geographer. There is reason to expect that Weyprecht's notion of Arctic stations for simultaneous observations will be realized, not through official organization, but through the solidarity which is customary among scientific investigators. The first results of this method of research will probably be collected by Lieutenant Weyprecht himself, and the Howgate Polar Colony. The Norwegian deep-sea sounding expedition continued its hydrographical researches during the summer of 1877 in the same vessel, the Voringen, under Captain Wille, with Pro- Lieutenant Weyprecht and Count Wilczek fessor Mohn as naturalist. They sailed from intend undertaking an Arctic expedition, and Tromso on the 14th of July, and first took three contemplate an absence of about twelve months. cross-sections of soundings off Fuglö, latitude They will establish their station for observa71, with a greatest depth at the northeast limit tions in one of the northern havens of Nova of a submarine bay, which abuts on the steep Zembla. They recommend establishing half a bank outside Vesteraalen and Loffoden. They dozen other stations for comparative observanext sailed to Jan Mayen. The transition from tions at points around the North Pole, not the Gulf Stream to the Polar current was difficult of approach, between latitude 71° and found to be exceedingly abrupt. In the chart of 80° N., as on Spitzbergen; on one of the new Jan Mayen, following the surveys of Zorgdrager Siberian islands near the mouth of the Lena, and Scoresby, the only inaccuracy of impor- at Maguire's wintering station near Point Barof longitude too far to the east. The height the west coast of Greenland, with a subsidiary tance is that the island is placed by half a degree row; at Upernavik in West Greenland; and on

returned to Bergen on August 23d. The pro-
gramme for 1878 is to examine the region be-
tween North Cape, Jan Mayen, and to the north
of Spitzbergen, with, perhaps, a trip eastward
toward Nova Zembla, in order to determine
the isothermal line of 0° at the bottom, which
is taken to be the limit of the codfish.
The curious phenomenon which has been ob-
served, that the minimum of temperature is found
at a certain depth below the surface, while the
water at the bottom is again warmer-as, for
instance, in the outer part of the West Fiord,
where the surface temperature is 45.7°, in 60
fathoms depth 38.8°, and in 140 fathoms, 10
fathoms from the bottom, 41°-is ascribed to
the action of the winter cold upon the water;
the water is chilled at the surface in winter
and sinks, this action ceasing when warm
weather comes, and the surface waters are
warmed and rendered lighter. This phenom-
enon is observable all along the coast, and
can be detected with Negretti and Zambra's
deep-sea thermometer. The deepest sounding
was in 1,710 fathoms off Vesteraalen, latitude
70°, longitude 6° 15′ E. At this depth ani-
mal life is scarce. A specimen of the Umbel-
lularia has been taken. The boundary line
between a bottom temperature above and one
below 32° lies, between latitude 65° and the
Arctic Circle, as far west as 5° 30' E.; beyond
the Arctic Circle there is a curvature toward
the coast; farther north it is only 5 to 10
geographical miles off the coast of the islands
of Loffoden and Vesteraalen. Here the north-
ern edge of the bank is very steep, and falls
rapidly toward the deep part of the Arctic
Ocean. Out at sea the isothermal plane of 32°
is found at very different depths in different
latitudes: in the channel between Faroe and
Shetland, in 300 fathoms; between Iceland and
Norway, 400 fathoms; between Jan Mayen
and Norway, 580 fathoms, rising again to the

of the Beerenberg

westward. Near the coast the level of 32° is

considerably higher.

was found to be 5,836 station in Norwegian Finmark. It would be

feet. They sounded in 1,032 fathoms, seven also of the highest importance to establish stamiles northwest of the island. The expedition tions, or at least one, near the South Pole for

simultaneous observations. Synchronous observations on the Arctic and Antarctic borders would help much to clear up the subject of terrestrial magnetism and the theory of the aurora borealis; important meteorological facts might also be gathered. The other sciences might not be advanced by simultaneous observations, though much valuable research in geography, natural history, and physical science would be conducted at each of the stations.

W. Lord Watts, an Englishman, took a sledging journey, in 1876, across the Vatna Jökull, the vast glacial tract in Iceland, 3,000 square miles in extent, by a course nearly coinciding with the meridian 17° 20' W. longitude. It is a plateau, all the valleys being filled with ice. There is every indication that this vast glacier is constantly rising; and the view that it is encroaching on the outer country, both to the north and south, is confirmed by Mr. Watts. There is every reason to believe that the interior of Greenland is also one vast, impenetrable glacier, which is growing in the same manner.

Although the desired government donation, for the equipment of a polar colony after Captain Howgate's plan, was not granted by Congress, nevertheless the pioneer expedition, fitted out by the private subscriptions of Captain Howgate and others, set sail on the 16th of August in the stanch schooner Florence, of 53 tons burden, 64 feet long, with 19 feet beam, and drawing 7 feet of water. The proposition brought before the last session of the 44th Congress was for an appropriation of $50,000 to provide for one or more expeditions to the polar regions, and to establish a temporary colony at some point near the shore of Lady Franklin Straits. The present expedition, in the whaling vessel Florence, intends to push up to Cumberland Island, or some point beyond, and there to go into winter-quarters, after making up a cargo of whalebone and oil. The promoter of the scheme, Captain H. W. Howgate, of the United States Signal Service, started with the expedition. The ship's officers are: Captain George E. Tyson, master; William Sisson, first mate; Dennison Burroughs, second mate; Eleazor Cone, steward; the crew consists of six men. Orray Taft Sherman and Ludwig Kumlien accompany the expedition, the first as photographer and meteorologist, the latter as naturalist. The Signal Service Bureau have furnished instruments for meteorological observations. The wintering station is to be known as the Howgate Polar Colony. They are provided with food to last for a year. The plan is to establish a series of stations, with abundant supplies and within communicationdistance from each other, extending northward, each nearer one serving as a base from which the advance is to be made to the one next beyond, or, if necessary, as a goal of retreat. The colonists, while becoming acclimated and experienced in Arctic life, shall, at the same time, be making the meteorological, zoological,

and geological researches, which are really the chief benefits to be gained from Arctic exploration. Captain Tyson is an old whaler, and was a member of the ill-starred Polaris expedition. These pioneer colonists are to engage the services of some dozen Esquimaux families, to provide a supply of native clothing and of the best dogs for sledges. As the ice breaks in the summer, the Florence is to run over to Disco and transfer the explorers and the stores to the vessel, which, it is expected, will be there in June to meet them, and which shall convey them to Lady Franklin Straits. The prophylactic on which Captain Tyson relies is plenty of fresh blood. The combined raft and sledge, invented by Commodore Ammen, is expected to do good service in explorations; balloons will probably be tried for reconnoitring purposes.

Thomas A. Barry, a whaler, reports that while wintering in Hudson's Bay in 1876-77, he fell in with a party of Esquimaux, who told a story of a company of white men coming

[graphic][merged small]

among them many years ago, while they were settled at Cape Inglefield, who afterward perished of cold and famine. They showed some relics of the lost voyagers, among which were spoons marked with the crest of Sir John Franklin. They offered to conduct the whalers to the spot where these last survivors of the Erebus and Terror were buried, with their books and papers, beneath mounds of stones, on Cape Inglefield. Mr. Barry is expected to start, in the spring of 1878, in charge of an expedition for the recovery of the records of the Franklin expedition, upon the information thus unexpectedly obtained.

Selah Merrill, of the American Palestine Exploring Expedition, speaks with admiration

of the fertility of the country east of the Jordan. The Gilead hills are well wooded, and occasionally covered with dense and ancient forests. The wadis Yâbis and Ajlun are in a fine state of cultivation, and rich in orchards of walnut, olive, and fruit of all kinds. Wadi Ajlun, the larger valley, contains four flourishing villages, and is sprinkled in every direction with flour-mills. He saw, also, a great number of deserted mills, many of which were abandoned on account of the depredations of the Arabs. The wide plateau stretching eastward from the Lake of Tiberias to the Lejah, and southward to Gerash, is a natural wheat-field. The country south of Bozrah and east of Gerash is full of ruined towns; into this fertile but dangerous neighborhood numerous settlers have recently migrated. The deserted plains in this region could produce vast quantities of the finest wheat. Along the course of the Zerka are the remains of an elaborate system of irrigation; this valley is under cultivation to a considerable extent. The whole east valley of the Jordan is capable of irrigation from the river: somewhat over half of the valley, which contains as much as 180 square miles of rich arable land, is now reached by irrigating canals; though portions of it are uncultivated, and covered by a luxuriant growth of thistles and weeds. The plains of Cole-Syria, along the Leontes, and those in the valley of the Orontes, could also, without great difficulty, be transformed from deserts into gardens. Some of the tribes in the upper Jordan valley till their own land, but the more aristocratic Bedouins employ fellahîn laborers for all work. Large numbers of Christians go from Es Salt to the Zerka every year to cultivate the land on shares, receiving each a pair of shoes and the seed, while they furnish their labor and all the cattle, tools, and men, and their maintenance; the share received is only one-quarter of the produce. The labors of the American Palestine Exploring Expedition were discontinued at the close of the season of 1877, and its members have left the field.

The British survey of Palestine was continued during the year, under the direction of Lieutenant Kitchener. The war did not interfere with their operations, although they were kept under constant military surveillance by the jealous Turkish Government. They commenced at Haifa, completing the chart of the Acca plain, and filling in the line of levels between the Mediterranean and the Sea of Galilee as far east as Mejdel. From Haifa they changed their base to Tiberias, Safed, Meiron, and Taiyibeh, successively. The levels determined extended over 357 miles. The depression of the Sea of Galilee is found to be 682.544 feet below the Mediterranean, which is 40 or 50 feet lower than has been supposed. The plane of the Dead Sea is over 600 feet lower, being 1,292 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. This fall of 600 feet is nearly even throughout the length of the Jordan, which has, however, two

rapids. The deepest depression of the Jordan valley is some 1,300 feet below the plane of the Mediterranean.

The popular topographical names are carefully recorded, and studied with the view of detecting their etymological descent from the Biblical names; and where a modern name resembles a name mentioned in the Scriptures, while the location and description of the site also correspond, the identity is considered established, the double induction furnishing a strong and clinching proof. The modern names are noted by an Arab secretary, from the lips of the peasants and guides, and up to the beginning of this year 6,000 were collected and translated. In all, 150 identifications are proposed by Lieutenant Conder for Biblical sites not previously identified. The relics of Egyptian, Samaritan, early Christian, Talmudic, and Crusader's geographical names also are thought to have been, or have been, detected; for instance, Koloniyeh for Colonia, Burjmus for Pergamos, Kustul for Castellum, Sinjil for St. Gilles, Bardawil for Baldwin, Dastrey for district. In Philistia there is found a Hatteh, and, in the centre of the country, also the Kefr Hatteh, which may have their names from the Hittites, whose dominion once stretched to the borders of Egypt. The Avim, who dwelt in walled towns, may have left their name to Beit Arma, on the borders of Philistia, where the ruins of great flint walls are still seen.

Colonel Macgregor and Captain Lockwood, in a journey across Khuzistan and Baluchistan to India, made the following interesting discoveries. They passed within 40 miles of an active, snow-capped volcano, lying south of Sistan. It is the Kuh Taftan, mentioned from hearsay by Major Lovett, which is situated in the unexplored Sarhad Mountains, north of Bampur and extending to the Afghan boundary. Their report confirms the existence of a great mountain range running westward of Lake Sistan, and observed three lesser ranges parallel with the southern bend of the Helmund. The strange fact was noticed that the three rivers, the Mashkid, Lura, and Budur, become lost in depressions in the desert, called hamuns, and do not unite with one another, nor have any connection with the great Sistan swamp.

The Russian Governor-General of Turkistan dispatched a military force, in the summer of 1876, into the mountains south of Khokand, for the purpose of bringing into subjection the troublesome Kara Kirghiz. This expedition was accompanied by a scientific corps, which had an opportunity of surveying and studying the plateau of the Alai, which extends along the course of the Kizyl-Su, affluent of the Amu-Daria, and which is the principal resort of the Kara Kirghiz. Colonel Kostenko collected the geographical notes, and Messrs. Bonsdorf and Oshonin were intrusted with the astronomical and barometrical labor and with the natural history department respectively. Their route was along the Gulsha River, on

high mountain ledges, then across the KizylKurt mountains, and through the Archat defile to the pass over the Archat mountains (10,300 feet), which leads to the Alai steppe. On the other side the road was crossed by the Kizyl-Su River (two-thirds of a mile in width). The plain was covered with feather-grass and a grass called kipetz, which is excellent fodder. They crossed the trans-Alai range by the KizylYart pass (11,700 feet). They visited the Kara-Kul lake, 43 miles distant from the foot of the mountains; it consists of two bodies of water connected by a narrow channel, and has a length of 22 versts and a width transversely through the connecting strait of 17 versts; it contains many islands and promontories; the water is cool, with a bitter taste. There is no outlet; rain seldom falls, yet there is a singular rise in the water about once a week. Colonel Kostenko set out from this lake for the RiangKul lake in the Sari-Kul district toward Kashgar, journeying by the Ala-Baital defile, and along the Uzbel-Su to the Uzbel pass (12,500 feet), from which, to the eastward, a range of towering mountains closes the view, whose summits appeared to be 25,000 or 26,000 feet high; this is, undoubtedly, the range seen by Hayward and mentioned by Yule. It lay about 53 miles beyond the Uzbel pass and 40 miles nearer than Kashgar. Humboldt also affirmed the existence of a meridional range, which he called the Bolor mountains, east of the Pamir, but later travelers have denied its existence. He was not able to reach the Sari-Kul on account of the failure of his provisions. The Pamir is limited on the north by the trans-Alai mountains, which have the appearance of a grand, white-crested wall. The land beyond, which is very elevated, rises toward a central point, and is crossed in all directions by mountain ranges, some snow-capped and some not, and none of them rising much above the adjacent plains and valleys, which are very narrow, and run in all directions. The whole region is barren, with only small patches of succulent grass along the edges of the mountain streams. The ground in the Pamir is covered in spots with a glistening coat of magnesium. Traces of many wild animals were observed, but the arkhara (Ovis Poli), which, a few years ago, was very plentiful, seems to have become extinct, though the ground was everywhere covered with the huge horns of these animals. The tracks observed were those of horses, goats, wolves, and deer. Eagles, kites, and red. beaked crows were among the birds met with. The Pamir is frequented by pastoral nomads. The climate is excessively severe and the atmosphere oppressively rare, even in summer; in this season the days are exceedingly hot, but the nights frosty. Exploring the Tuz-Altyn Daria, the curious phenomenon was observed that its head-stream splits and forms the source also of another river flowing in an opposite direction. This other stream is called the Tero-Agar, and flows into the Muk-Su, a con

siderable river. The mountains by which this stream passes are covered with snow over twothirds of their height. Whether the Kyzil-Su or the Muk-Su is the more considerable of the two confluents which form the Surkhab, he was unable to determine.

Captain Kurapatkin left Osch (Ferghanah) on the last of July, 1876, intending to cross to Kashgar by the Terek-Davan (12,000 feet), but was attacked and wounded by the Kara Kirghiz near Gulcha, and was obliged to return to Osch. Starting again on the 19th of October, he passed the Terek-Davan, and, arriving in Kashgar, he was arrested, but was again set at liberty after three days. He followed the course of the Kashgar-Daria as far as Aksu. The country is cultivated within 70 kilometres of Kashgar. In the large villages of Faizabad, Hanarik, and Artush, an excellent cloth, called matta, is manufactured, which is exported to the amount of 1,000,000 rubles yearly. The Kashgar-Daria is bordered on both sides by forests of a kind of poplar (Populus diversifolia), 13 or 14 feet high, and growing thick together. Tamarisks are also plentiful. The soil is everywhere impregnated with salt. passed through a rocky and sandy desert to arrive at Kurla, a town of considerable importance, which is not down on any of the maps, although Karashar, an insignificant village, is marked on all the maps. Kashgar was formerly called Altishar, or the land of six towns, and now, since the taking of Kurla, bears the name of Djitishar, or the land of seven towns, which are Kashgar, Yarkand, Khoten, Aksu, Utsh-Turfan, Kutsha, and Kurla. The country is fertile, but exhausted by the recent wars. The people are a mixed race of Utgurs, Turks, Arabs, and Chinese, grafted on an Eranian stock. The Eranian type is noticeable at Khoten, Yarkand, and Kashgar, but is completely lost in Aksu, Kutsha, and Kurla; in Sari-Kul are found, among the Galchas, many blondes with blue eyes.

He

Colonel Prjevalsky has visited Lob- Nor, passing through the valley of the Tekes, and crossing the Tian-Shan to Kurla, by a defile nearly opposite the town. He was kept under arrest here for 11 days. The country is full of the poplars seen by Kurapatkin, and mentioned above, on each side of the Tarim. He met with a village of icthyophagists, of Kalmuk origin, who called themselves Lob-Nortsi, south of Lake Lob. The lake he describes as an immense marsh, covered and surrounded with reeds, with spots of open water here and there in the middle. The desert has the same character around the lake as along the valley. He killed a tiger near the lake, and hunted the wild camel. About 120 miles south of LobNor was a range which is called the AltynTag; it rises to a height of over 10,000 Russian feet, and seems to be formed by the outlying spurs of an important central chain which was not visible. The camels were killed in this region; they were of about the same height

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