ROME. Società Geografica Italiana, Bollettino. Shoa and the Neighboring Countries-Studies in Topographical and Hydraulic Geology-The Island of Nias (W. Coast of Sumatra). VIENNA.-Kais. Königl. Geographischen Gesellschaft Mittheilungen. On the Columbus Literature-The Western Por- Deutsche Rundschau für Geographie und Statistik. The North-Western Boundary of India-Meteorology of Brazil-A Vacation-Trip in New Zealand-Dakota-The Portuguese in East Africa-Jerusalem-The Geographical Distribution of the living Representatives of the Family Cervus. WASHINGTON.-National Geographic Magazine. Irrigation in California-Round About Asheville A trip to Panamá and Darien-Across Nicaragua with Transit and Machete (R. E. Peary, Civil Engineer, U. S. N.). WASHINGTON LETTER. WASHINGTON, DECEMBER 10, 1889. Commander Henry F. Picking has been designated to succeed Lieut. G. L. Dyer as Chief of the Hydrographic Office of the Bureau of Navigation. Under Lieutenant Dyer and his immediate predecessor, Commander Bartlett, the methods and results of the Hydrographic Office have been made available and practically useful to the public. In addition to the branch offices at New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans and San Francisco, new branches have been established at Portland, Oregon, Norfolk, Va., and Savannah, Ga. Other offices will be located as soon as the condition of appropriations will admit. During the past year sixty-six new charts have been published. The general localities covered are in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, West Indies, Gulf of Mexico, South America, California, and islands in the Pacific and East Indies. In addition, the publication of the great circle sailing gnomonic charts of the North and South Pacific and Indian oceans completes the set of these charts for the great oceans. The charts of the North and South Pacific and Indian oceans will be found particularly useful; that of the North Pacific, for the ocean travel between the United States and the China Sea; those of the Indian and South Pacific in the New Zealand and Australian trade. All who use these charts in connection with. a knowledge of the prevailing winds and currents of the ocean gain daily advantage in the great sea-routes. There are now eight hundred different Hydrographic Office charts, and nearly thirty thousand copies were issued during the past year. Especial attention is being given by the Office to the subject of marine meteorology. Within the last few years this science has made vast progress, and although ocean storms differ in certain marked ways from those on land, yet it is only a difference of degree. This Division under the charge of Mr. Everett Hayden is now thoroughly systematized, and it is expected that the present permanent force of marine meteorologists will be able gradually to develop Pilot Charts of all the oceans, similar to that now issued monthly for the North Atlantic. Probably no strictly nautical publication has ever had a greater success than this chart. The issue of March, 1888, and the supplements for February and August of the same year were exceptionally popular. The March chart contained diagrams and directions for the use of oil in calming heavy seas, taken from Captain Karlowa's prize essay on the subject. It was distributed amongst all classes of sea-going people, and was the means of saving many lives and much property during the very stormy months of March and April and the early part of May. The use of oil for the purpose of smoothing dangerous seas is becoming universal, but it is believed that much may still be learned as to the most suitable kind of oil and the best methods and appliances for using it for this purpose. The February supplement gave a very complete account of the remarkable cruise of the famous derelict schooner W. L. White, which was abandoned off the capes of the Delaware dur ing the March "blizzard," and crossed the Atlantic in an erratic track in ten months and ten days. She was reported forty-five times, and for six months remained off the Grand Banks, directly in the track of transatlantic steamers. The August supplement was devoted principally to the history of the raft which broke away from the steamship Miranda in December, 1887, and became such a great menace to navigation. It experienced a series of severe Northwest gales which broke it up and drove the scattered portions across the Gulf Stream. The drift of the logs was indicated graphically and discussed in the accompanying text. It afforded an interesting illustration of the direction and force of the prevailing winds and currents in the North Atlantic. Lieut. J. A. Norris gives in detail in the Annual Report of the Hydrographer for 1889 an account of the expedition which left New York for Vera Cruz in November, 1888, for the telegraphic determination of longitudes in Mexico and Central America. The results of this valuable work are about ready for publication. The same party is preparing for further labor in the West Indies and on the Spanish Main. A similar expedition in 1883 determined the position of Vera Cruz in latitude and longitude; and another in 1884 fixed the position of La Libertad in Salvador. In the preparation of the new charts for Sunda Strait, Singapore and Rhio Straits, and the passages from Java into the China Sea, the Hydrographic Office has adopted a new system for the spelling of Malay names, which it is proposed to follow in future publications relating to regions for which Malay has principally supplied the nomenclature. The new system is based on the Dutch orthography of Malay, as found in the latest publications of the Hydrographic Office at Batavia. The latest Batavian spelling of a Malay name is transcribed in accordance with the following rules: oe, the vowels oe are changed to u simply; as Batu for Batoe, Sumur for Soemoer, etc. y is substituted for j when this letter is not preceded by d or t; as, Payung for Pajoeng, Tamuyang for Tamoejang, etc. jis substituted for dj; as, Jati for Djati, Panjang for Pandjang, etc. ch is substituted for tj; as, Kechil, for Ketjil, In regard to merely descriptive names, as tanjong (cape or point), pulo (island), gunong (mountain), gusong (shoal), etc., the practice is in favor of translating them, except in cases where, for reasons of euphony or long usage, the Malayan appellation may be retained. Also, names which have long been written in a form that has become familiar to American eyes will not be changed, although the spelling may not be in accordance with the adopted system, as Anjer, Singapore, Banka, and a few others. Older Batavian charts are not relied on for correct spelling, as they show many differences from the more recent Batavian charts. |