Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1874-01-08
6o0GraphjcaD.

OF Towering Arctic plants, has several
which he procured from DR.. Bessel,
who found them in latitude 81 n,
the most northern point from which
any have rs yet been obtained.
An English company has been FORM
Ell tor the purpose of colonizing the
uninhabited regions of the Gran Chaco
in tho Argentine Republic. An expo.
dition has already been despatched by
the company for the purpose of ohoos-
ing lands for settlement.
"HARDw1oKE's SCIENCE GOSSIP" saws
that 1t is worthy of note that, accord
ing to recent traveller, extremes of
animal life meet together on the river
Amoor at the present day; thus "ths
reindeer and Bengal tiger, the wild
boar, the badger, the polar hare and
glntton, all range the same latitude. Z"
This shows that FOSSIL remains Of diff
ferent types may we'll coexist in the
same strata, or he found in the same
cave, without necessity for assuming
any change of climate or any material
difference of era.
PROFESSOR LIE CoNTE, at q recent
meeting of the California Academy of
Sciences, stated that the great overflow
of lava in the West proceeded from the
Cascade Mountains in Oregon, which
wera of themselves one vast mass of
lava. From this point the lava over
flowed a great portion of Oregon,
Washington Territory, all of northern
California, and vast sections of Nevada,
Montana and Idaho. The lava flood
covered an area of at least two hun
dred thousand square miles, ~ far as
explored, and it would probably be
found to extend over surface of three
hundred thousand square miles, and a
limit northward had never been deter
mined. The depth of the lava crust
varied from upwards of three thousand
feet in the Cascade and Blue Noun
tain region: to one andsstwo hundred
feet and less 1T remote points <onthe
outer edge of the overflow. Wherethe
tremendous gorge of the Columbia
river cut through the lava bed, it had q
depth of three Thousand five hundred
feet. The eruption was comparatively
recent, belonging to the latter part Of
the miocene period, extending perhaps
into the post'tertiary.
TH1Polaris expedition has 80 excited
the initiative faculty of the geograph-
zeal Englishman, that he desires to
Ego and do likewise" Deputations
from the Royal Society, the British
Association, the Geographical Society,
and the Dundee Chamber of Commerce,
propose to wait upon the government,
and to expound to it the desirability OF
it's undertaking North Polar Expedi-
ton in 1874. The excitement has been
caused by the report of Captain Mark
ham, who had been spending the sum.
mer in Baffn's Bay. Nature testifies
to the great value Of his report in the
following manner:
He had the rescued crew of the
Polaris on board for several months,
and learned from DR.. Bessels and Mr..
Chester all the particulars of their ex-
traordinarily successful voyage. No.
thing escaped him and on his return he
sub lifted q most full and valuable re-
port. Thus the fact that a ship can
pass up Smith Sound to so 16' N.
without check of any description-un-
known before-is now established, as
we'll as the constant movement and
drift of the ice in the strait leading to
the unknown region"
Both the societies and the navil
officers seem to imagine that all the
hard work has been done by the Polaris,
and that it is now time for the enter
prising Englishmen to step in and carry
off the glory of being the first to reach
the pole.
AMONG the papers presented to Par
lament, relating to the South Sea Is-
landers, is a report by Captain G. 81.
Simpson of her Majesty's ship Blanche,
giving an account of his visit last year
to the Soloman's and ether groups OF
islands in the Pacific Ocean. While ct
Isabel Island. Captain Simpson, with
q party of officers, went q short dis
lance inland to visit one of the tree
villages peculiar, he believes, to this
island. He found the village built on
the summit Of q rocky mountain rising
almost perpendicularly to a height Of
eight hundred feet. The party ascend
ed by a native path from the interior,
and found the extreme summit mass
Of enormous rocks standing up like a
castle, among which grow the gigantic
trees, in the branches of which
the houses of the natives are built.
The stems of these trees
lie perfectly straight and smooth,
without a branch, to q height varying
from fifty feet to one hundred aud fifty
feet. In the one Captain Simpson as
cended the house was just eighty feet
from the ground; one close to it was
about one hundred and twenty feet.
The only means of approach to
these houses is by ladder made of
a creeper, suspended from post With
in the house, and which, of course, can
be hauled up at will. The houses are
most ingeniously built, and are very
firm and strong. Each house will con-
tain from ten to twelve natives; and
an ample store of stones is kept, which
they throw, both with sings and with
the hand, with great force and preci-
sion. At the foot of each of these
trees is another hut, in which the fam
lily usually reside, the tree-house be-
ing only resorted to at night, and
during times of expected danger. In
fact, however, they are never safe from
surprise, Notwithstanding all their pre-
cautions, as the great object in life
among the people is to get each others
heads.
Unruly Rivers In China.
The rivers of China frequently over.
flow their banks and change their
courses, thus causing immense destruc-
ton to property and creating much in
convenience to trade centres estab-
lished on their banks. The Yellow
river has deviated from its course
IL