The meteorological observations of the year give an average little different from that of twenty-three years.

The late Dr. George M. Dawson, director of the Geological Survey of Canada, died on March 2nd at the age of fifty-one. He was a son of the late Sir John William Dawson, who was well known for his researches in geology and natural history, and was born in Nova Scotia in 1849. Having been educated at M'Gill University, he came to London in his twenty-first year, and studied for three years at the Royal School of Mines with great distinction. Returning to Canada, he was appointed to a lectureship in Morrin College, Quebec, and at the same time, undertook extensive mining surveys in his native island. In 1873 he was appointed botanist and geologist to the North American Boundary Commission, which was charged with the determination of the boundary from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains. He was occupied in this work for two years, during which he wrote a monograph, illustrated by maps and drawings, of the geology of the country and its resources; preparing, at the same time, papers on the lignite

tertiary formation, the superficial deposits of the great interior plains of America, the fresh-water sponges of Canada, the fluctuations of the American lakes, and the locust visitation. Dr. Dawson joined the Geological Survey of Canada in 1875, and became assistant director in 1883, and director in 1895. He was one of the British Commissioners in connection with the Behring Sea arbitration, and spent the summer of 1892 in the region of the Behring Sea in order to study the conditions of seal life. For these services he received the thanks of the GovernorGeneral in Council, and the C.M.G. Queen's University conferred on him the degree of LL.D. in 1890, and M'Gill University recognised his labours in a similar way in the following year. The London Geological Society awarded him the Bigsby gold medal in 1891, and he received the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1897. Dr. Dawson was also a Fellow of the Royal Society, President of the Royal Society of Canada, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a corresponding member of the London Zoological Society.

Trade and Industry in Greenland. The Board of Trade Journal (January 3, 1901) gives an outline of the working of the Royal Danish Greenland Company, which has an absolute monopoly of the trade of the colonies. These extend on the west coast of Greenland from about 60° to 72° N.; from the south northward, their names are: Julianehaab, Frederikshaab, Godthaab, Sukkertoppen, Holstenborg, Egedesminde, Kristianshaab, Jakobshaven, Ritenbenk, Godhavn, Umanak, and Uppernivik; on the east coast there is a mission and trading-station at Angmagsalik, established in 1894 for the benefit of the heathen population, which numbers about 400. The trade was transferred in 1750 to a private company; but this was so unsuccessful that in 1774 the government had to take it over, and has monopolised it ever since. Two inspectors were appointed, whose business it was to protect the natives from unscrupulous merchants, and to further the whale-fishing and other industries in every way. Since the year 1830 the trade has yielded an annual surplus. The whole of the west coast, between 60° and 73° N., is closed to all shipping except by special permission of the Danish Government; and foreign travellers are forbidden to enter any part of Greenland. A fixed price is set by the administration for all buying and selling; and the inspectors are instructed to see that the natives do not dispose of more than they can spare from domestic use. The native is unable to purchase spirits, even in the smallest quantities, from the administration.

The trade, which is carried on exclusively by means of the nine small vessels owned by the company, having a total tonnage of only 2000 net, consists of miscellaneous manufactured articles and provisions imported to Greenland, and of seal-oil, seal-skins, bear and fox skins, and eider-down exported. The colony produces about 10,000 casks of seal-oil annually; this always commands a good price, because it cannot be adulterated. The seal-skins number about 30,000, and the bear-skins about 100 every year.

The Census of Cuba, undertaken by the War Department of the United States in October and November 1899, is the subject of a voluminous report published in Washington, 1900. The chief observations of geographical interest are the subject of an article by M. L. Gallois (Annales de Géographie, January 1901), from which the following notes have been taken. The census was carried out by Cubans under the direction of Lieut.-Col. Stanger and Mr. V. H. Olmstedt; and the publication of statistics was directed by Messrs. Henry Gannett and Walter F. Wilcox. The population of Cuba and of the dependent Isle of Pines was returned as 1,572,797; at the time of the previous census (1887) the number was 1,631,687. There was

therefore a decrease of 58,890, or 3'6 per cent.; but, since it is to be supposed that the population had increased at its normal rate until the outbreak of hostilities, it is estimated that the number at the beginning of the war was 1,800,000, and that the true decrease was not less than 200,000, or 11 per cent. The decrease was not shown equally by all the provinces: the two most easterly provinces, of Santiago de Cuba and Puerto Principe, show, on the contrary, an increase; but the four others, Santa Clara, Matanzas, Havana, and Pinar del Rio, have everywhere lost population, except in certain districts where reconcentrados had been established, and in others where refuge could be taken from the war, as in the most remote portions of Pinar del Rio or the great swamp of Zapata. A notable result of the war is the small proportion of children below five years of age; there are 100,000 fewer infants than there would have been under normal conditions. The war may be followed year by year and province by province in the extraordinary diminution of the birth-rate.

The total area of Cuba, according to the War Department's map of 1 : 500,000, is 44,000 square miles; the mean density of population is therefore low. The urban population is high in proportion to the whole; taking into account towns of not less than 8000, the census finds 507,831 in the sixteen towns included, that is, 32.3 per cent. If villages of not less than 1000 are included, the proportion becomes 47 per cent. In the United States the proportion of the urban population to the whole is 29-2; in Porto Rico, 8.7. This town population is chiefly on the coast; but it is not so to such an extent as is commonly observed in islands. The four largest towns, Havana (235,981), Santiago (43,090), Matanzas (36,374), and Cienfugos (30,038), are seaports; but the fifth, Puerto Principe, in spite of its name, is in the interior. M. Gallois remarks that if a general map of the density of population in Cuba were drawn up, using as low a unit as possible, the most striking feature would probably be the relatively high proportion of the population of the interior, especially in the west.

Like the other islands of its group, Cuba consists of ancient mountain chains, largely covered by calcareous deposits, out of which arise isolated mountain masses. This calcareous deposit is not horizontal, but has been raised to the north-east, lifting with it terraces of coral formation, analogous to the reefs which are still being formed along the coast. It is depressed in the south-west to the marshes. About 25 per cent. of the island is mountainous; 60 per cent. consists of plains and valleys; 15 per cent. is marshy.

The tropical climate affords magnificent vegetation. Formerly Cuba was entirely covered by forests of palms and pines, and rich in acajou and ebony; but now fully one-half of the surface has been disforested, and there are great expanses which have almost the appearance of savannas dotted with isolated specimens or groups of the palm Oreodoxa regia. Rain is abundant, the annual mean being 1:30 m. at Havana; the wet season lasts from May to October.

The eastern portion of the island is the least cultivated; before the war the raising of stock was the chief occupation in the province of Puerto Principe. Towards the west, cultivation increases; sugar-cane is grown in Santa Clara, Matanzas, and Havana, and tobacco in Pinar del Rio: but only 3 per cent. of the whole island is cultivated. The sugar-cane covers 47 per cent. of the cultivated area. The plant is productive for about nine years. The industry was introduced in the sixteenth century, but its great extension began only in 1853. From 1,193,091 tons of crude sugar produced in 1894, to 240,041 in 1897, is a fall in production which must be ascribed both to the war and to the general depression of the industry; the figure for 1900 was 321,092. The future of sugar in Cuba depends largely upon the American tariff, which at present hinders it greatly. Tobacco is the second crop in importance; 72 per cent. of the cultivated land of Pinar del Rio

is devoted to it, or 9'6 per cent. of the cultivation of the whole island. During the earlier part of last century Cuba produced a considerable amount of coffee, but that industry has been killed by Brazilian competition. A few years ago bananas were exported to the States; and the conditions are suitable for other tropical fruits. Iron, manganese, and copper are mined to some extent in Santiago, but the country must continue to depend on agriculture. No less than 48 per cent. of the population is occupied in agriculture; 14.9 in industry; 12.8 in commerce and transport; only 14 in professional life.

The proportion of whites to coloured races is 679 to 321; this proportion has not changed since 1877, before which year the blacks were relatively much more numerous, as they are now in all other islands of the group and even in the southern States east of the Mississippi. The Cuban negroes own or farm only 11 per cent. of the cultivated lands. Of the whites, 86 per cent. are natives; the rest are strangers, almost exclusively Spaniards. The Chinese, who were imported by contract after the emancipation of the slaves, do not amount to 1 per cent.; there are now only 14,837, most of those who were introduced between 1853 and 1877 having died or left the country.

Patagonia.-Count Henry de la Vaulx, who travelled through the southern extremity of America, from the Rio Negro to the strait of Magellan, in the years 1895 to 1897, has published his topographical studies of that region in the first number of La Géographie for the current year. A circumstantial account of his experiences in Patagonia appeared recently in his volume, Voyage en Patagonie. The author estimates highly the advantages which that country offers to the colonist, and describes its natural features and resources, and the fortunes of immigrants. Extending from the right bank of the Rio Negro to the strait of Magellan, Patagonia is divided politically into two parts: Argentine Patagonia, subdivided into the three territories of Rio Negro, Chubut, and Santa-Cruz, and extending as far south as the 52nd parallel; and Chilian Patagonia, a narrow strip of land extending from 52° to 55° S., having as its capital Punta-Arenas. A few Europeans are engaged in trade, agriculture, and ranching along the coast; the interior is occupied by nomadic tribes. The country consists of a succession of high plateaux separated by well-watered valleys: the former, which are covered with stones and thin grass, have given rise to the general opinion that Patagonia is altogether sterile; but the great valleys, through which flow considerable rivers, such as the Rio Negro, the Chubut, and the Santa-Cruz, are exceedingly productive. Besides the river courses, which are traced out in detail by the author, there are many lagoons and certain large lakes.

The Argentine government is doing much to encourage the colonisation of the northern portion. Several ports have been established, notably Bahia-Blanco and Puerta Madryn, and important military forces have been concentrated at Rocca, on the Rio Negro, and in districts further west. There is a railway from Rocca to Buenos Ayres, and the most outlying parts of the country are connected by telegraph with the capital. Chili, on the other hand, is developing its territory; and the frontier dispute, in which the western Power claims the water-parting as boundary, while Argentina draws that line along the summits of the principal chain of the Andes, has led to very thorough exploration on both sides, revealing the fertility and beauty of the greater part of Patagonia.

The temperate and wholesome climate is an advantage of the first importance for the development of this region; and most of the land is suitable for cultivation; some of it, indeed, is fertile in a very high degree. The Welsh colony in Chubut offers one of many examples of striking success in agriculture; the cereals of

Patagonia are known for their high quality; and European fruits and vegetables find soil and climate very suitable. Ranching has been carried on to a large extent with fortunate results. British colonists who acquired extensive lands on the shores of the strait of Magellan and in the region between 50° and 55° S., and imported Lincolnshire sheep from the Falkland Islands, found that the breed was immediately acclimatised; the flocks doubled themselves in three years, and yielded remunerative wool.

There are gold-mines of considerable importance, and several alluvial deposits. Silver is mined by the natives, and all the country in the region of the lakes ColhuéHuapi and Munster is rich in iron ore, making the traveller's compass quite unreliable. The slopes of the Cordillera are well wooded, and several saw-mills are at work on the strait of Magellan. In the north the forest tree is a kind of pine, which is found again on the strait in the south; between these regions the roble, erroneously called an oak, but very similar to the beech, grows to a great size and yields a hard and valuable timber. Extensive salt-works occur along the Atlantic coast, and even as far as the foot of the Cordillera; the cod and the seal are abundant, yet are not fished; and there are deposits of guano sufficient for the requirements of the country for some time to come.

The Welsh colony was founded in 1865 by immigrants without capital, who received no support from the government. At present its total population is more than 2500; three villages, Rawson, Trelew, and Gaiman, connected with roads along which stand the farms of the settlers, have every appearance of comfort and industry.

ERRATUM.—In Mr. Alexander Begg's Review of the Alaskan Boundary, p. 87, 5th line, the year 1728 should read 1798.

NEW BOOKS.

Turkestan, die Wiege der indogermanischen Völker. Nach fünfzehnjährigem Aufenthalt in Turkestan dargestalt von FRANZ V. SCHWARTZ. With 179 Illustrations, one of them coloured, and a Map. Pp. 606. Herdersche Verlagshandlung, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1900.

With commendable industry Herr v. Schwartz has placed on record the notes made by him during his fifteen years' sojourn in Turkestan, supplementing them by what he has garnered from other authors during the last ten years spent at home. The work has therefore not been done in a hurry. Under a number of headings he methodically describes the manner of life and some of the manners and customs of the various nomad tribes, then of the settled population with the trades and industries they pursue. To those that know nothing of the Transcaspian region under Russian rule, this volume will furnish a large store of reliable facts. Those, however, that keep themselves abreast of the geographical and ethnological literature of Central Asia, will find here little that is new. Though some little notice is taken of native usages, the ethnologist will search in vain for any new fact relating to the customs that cluster round birth, marriage, death, seed-time, harvest, and the like. In fact, the psychological side of the natives is almost wholly neglected. This is the more astonishing as the volume is included in a "Geographical and Ethnological Library."

Though it is still a moot point where the original home of the Indo-Europeans lay, the author is quite positive that it was in Turkestan. He also maintains that the Gauls and Germans did not separate from the main stock till the use of iron was