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of Guanica Bay and Mayaguez, and a small scale survey of that portion of the main mountain range visible from the south coast. The difficulties of the work may be imagined when it is stated that for several hours each day, for nearly three months and a half, it was necessary for the topographer and his aids to work in water almost waist deep.

THE CENSUS OF INDIA.

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HE third general census of India will be taken on the night of March Ist. Ten years ago the population of India was about 287,000,000, but this census will probably show not more than 300,000,000, as the ravages of famine and cholera during the past decade have been great. In other words, the increase of population in India during 1891-1901 is estimated at about the same as the increase in the United States during the same period, though the latter had less than one-fourth as large a population as the former. The immensity of the task involved in counting the people of India, one-fifth the population of the world, may be grasped by comparison with the immense work of taking a census of the United States. Nearly a million men and boys will be employed as enumerators, clerks, etc. The well-known suspicion and reluctance of the Indian people to answer the questions of the census taker are gradually wearing away, and the Indian Government confidently hopes for good results from the census of 1901.

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months ago, the waters had so receded that the post was fourteen miles distant from the lake. The slave-trade in the vicinity of Lake Kivu is dead. Domestic slavery, however, Captain Hecq states, still continues, but will soon disappear.

A REPUBLIC IN MAN

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CHURIA.

FLOURISHING little republic in Manchuria, it is asserted, has been discovered by the Russians. It lies along the upper reaches of the Sungari River, below Kirin, which is on the line of railway from Onon to Port Arthur. The Government, according to report, is properly organized with a President, Courts of Justice, Trade Guilds, tax collectors, and other officers of a State. It supports a small army, which last summer joined the Chinese forces to oppose the Russian advance, and fought with much valor. Probably the Republic was founded seventy years ago. It now numbers about 100,000 and, oddly enough, has always been favored by the Imperial Gov

ernment.

ORGANIZATION OF FRENCH CONGO.

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Y a recent decree of the French Government a new administrative province has been formed in North Central Africa, entitled "Territoire Militaire des pays et protectorats du Tchad." It includes the basins of the Kemo, a tributary of the Ubangi, and of the Shari, and also Wadai, Bagirmi, and Kanem, which by the Anglo-French agreement of 1899 were included in the French sphere of influence. The object of this organization is to enable France to cease sending military expeditions to this region. All the soldiers henceforth of this province will be natives, officered, of course, by Frenchmen.

THE FORESTS OF THE

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PHILIPPINES.

HE Philippine Bureau of Forestry has submitted its first report on the forest wealth of the Philippine Islands.

The Bureau was organized by order of the Military Governor, April 14, 1900, to ascertain the condition of the forests and the regulations adopted by the Spaniards for their preservation.

It is estimated that from one-fourth to one-half the area of the Philippine Islands, or from twenty to forty million acres, are public forest lands. In the islands of Mindoro and Paragua at least 5,000,000 acres of virgin forests are owned by the State.

The island of Mindanao with an area of 20,000,000 acres, is almost entirely covered with timber. Even in the province of Cagayan, Luzon, there are more than two million acres of forests. In some of the southern islands magnificent tracts are standing with from 10,000 to 20,000 cubic feet an acre of splendid timber. The trees tower to a height of one hundred and fifty feet, often shooting up sixty feet without a single branch and of a diameter of four feet.

Captain Ahern, Director of the Bureau, believes that there are as many as five hundred species of trees in the archipelago. No pure forest of any one species exists. Rarely do more than three or four trees of one variety grow together. Many varieties of valuable gum, rubber, and gutta-percha trees are found; also seventeen dyewoods and the ylang ylang from whose blossoms so many perfumes are made.

It is stated the regulations adopted by the Spanish for the preservation of the forests of the Philippines were in line with the most advanced forestry legislation of Europe. But these rules were not enforced. The men licensed to cut, hewed indiscriminately; with the result that the most valuable rubber, gutta-percha, and ylang ylang trees were used for firewood.

The old regulations have been revised by Captain Ahern. Lumbermen are now licensed to cut only certain species.

SOUTH POLAR EXPLORA

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TION.

HE arrangements for the British and German South Polar Expeditions which sail from Europe in August, 1901, are nearly completed. It is expected that the English boat, the Discovery, will be launched in March at Dundee. She is a good strong boat, built on different lines from the Fram, for the latter was planned to resist, or rather escape, tremendous ice-pressure, while the Discovery was modelled to withstand the attacks of a boisterous sea. The German boat, building at Kiel, is smaller and lighter than the Discovery and follows somewhat the lines of the Fram.

The two ships sail from Europe together. The official statement of their plan of co-operation is as follows:

"When they reach the far South they will separate with a carefully arranged plan of work for each. The Antarctic regions have been divided into four quadrants. First, the Victoria quadrant, which extends from 90 degrees east to 180 degrees, and includes Victoria Land; second, the Ross quadrant, from 180 degrees to 90 degrees west, south of the Pacific Ocean; third, the Weddell quadrant, from 90 degrees west to o degree (Greenwich meridian), the Weddell Sea; and fourth, the Enderby quadrant, from o degree to 90 degrees east, which includes Enderby Land. Two quadrants have been assigned for exploration and research to each expedition, the British taking the Victoria and Ross, and the German the Weddell and Enderby."

Both expeditions hope to be able to spend three years in the work. Captain Drygalski, the famed explorer of Greenland, leads the German party, while Captain Scott of the British Navy, young, hardy, and level-headed, directs the English.

THE PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING THE SURVEY OF THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN FOR AN ALLAMERICAN TRANSPACIFIC CABLE TO THE PHILIPPINES AND THE ORIENT.

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HE object of such a survey is so

to develop the mountain systems of the bottom of the ocean that every large change of elevation will be disclosed and allowed for in the laying of the cable; and the problem therefore is to determine the intervals at which deepsea soundings should be taken in order that important mountain systems may not escape detection and subsequent development.

The survey consists of two main parts: first, direct lines of soundings spaced at alternate intervals of ten and two miles passing between the successive landing stations at Honolulu, Midway, Guam, and Luzon, and also between Guam and Yokohama in Japan; and secondly, of sounding stations, twenty miles apart, at the turning points of a zigzag route passing back and forth to equal distances on each side of the direct lines of soundings.

The direct lines were run in passing to the westward from California to the Orient, and they give the general contour of the bottom. The zigzag lines were run in returning to the eastward for the purpose of giving breadth and configuration to the forms indicated as a result of the depths measured along the direct lines. This distribution of soundings was adopted as a result of a theoretical investigation giving the equation to the curve which, by revolution around a vertical axis, would generate the sur

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in which represents the coefficient of crushing strength of the materials composing the crust of the earth, & the average density of these materials, and d' the density of sea-water. The shape of the formation thus described resembles the form of the Eiffel Tower, but is much flatter in proportion to its height.

From the investigation of its properties it appears that the radius which a prominent orographic feature can have at the sea-bottom may be stated to be ten miles. An interval of ten miles coupleu with an interval of two miles is the very longest that would be sufficient for general development, but these intervals are small enough to prove with certainty the existence or absence of any formation rising close to the surface of the deep sea.

Of all the possible ways in which a ten-mile interval could lie with reference to a submerged peak, that which would be most advantageous for a prompt discovery is the condition in which one end of the interval is at the bottom of the slope and the other near the apex, and that which would be least advantageous is the condition in which the interval is bisected by the position of the apex. In the latter case there would be nearly equal soundings at both ends, but the soundings at the ends of the adjacent two-mile intervals would immediately disclose the slopes.

E. W. LITTLEHALES.

THE

NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC
MAGAZINE

AN AROUND-THE-WORLD AMERICAN

EXPOSITION

BY HON. O. P. AUSTIN, CHIEF OF THE BUREAU OF STATISTICS

A

FLOATING exposition, carrying samples of our merchandise -around the world and putting our merchants in touch with those of all nations, seems to me a fitting American enterprise for the beginning of the new century. The nineteenth century has made the United States the greatest exporting nation of the world; why not begin the twentieth by showing to all the world what we have to sell and how we can sell it?

Exhibitions of the products of industry have proved beneficial to trade wherever undertaken, whether the ancient "fair" or the more modern "exposition." The traveling salesman with his sample cases has become a necessity of modern mercantile success; "commercial museums" exhibit to the dealers of one country the class of goods required in other lands, and the great European nations now send out commercial missions" to inquire into and report upon the trade opportunities in distant countries.

But each of these methods has its limit of influence. The fair or exposi

tion is dependent for its success upon the number of people it can attract to its doors, the traveling salesman represents but a single establishment or industry, the commercial museum conveys its information only to the seller and not to the buyer, and the commercial mission gathers information regarding the wants of distant people, but is unable to offer them samples of the goods which its own people have to meet those wants.

Why not combine the valuable features of these various aids to commerce in a single great enterprise-a "floating exposition," which shall carry samples of our merchandise to the very doors of the people whose trade we would foster, and by bringing the buyer and seller into personal contact, establish such mutual understanding of wants and conditions as to facilitate the interchange for which each is desirous?

FIELDS AWAITING AMERICAN ENTERPRISE.

The imports of Asia, Oceania, Africa, and the American countries south of the

United States amount to over two bill

ion dollars every year. Nearly all of these importations are of the very class of goods which we want to sell-foodstuffs, textiles, mineral oils, machinery, and manufactures of all kinds; yet our sales to these grand divisions in the best year of our commerce, 1900, only amounted to about $200,000,000, or 10 per cent of their purchases. The annual imports of Asia and Oceania are over a billion dollars, those of Africa over four hundred millions, and those of the countries lying south of the United States about six hundred millions.

Most of the cities through which these two billion dollars' worth of goods are first distributed lie on the seacoast, and could be readily reached by a fleet of vessels loaded with samples of American products and manufactures. It is well known that the lack of practical knowledge as to the local trade requirements, such as methods of packing, kind of goods required, length of credit, etc., is the chief obstacle to the introduction of American goods in these countries, and that until this obstacle shall have been overcome we cannot expect to obtain the share in that trade to which our location and facilities of production and manufacture entitle us.

If a floating exposition were systematically organized, loading one vessel with exhibits of foodstuffs, another with textiles, another with agricultural implements and vehicles, another with manufactures of iron and steel, another with household requirements, and another with "Yankee notions," and sent from port to port and continent to continent, it should prove highly advantageous to our commercial relations with all of the countries visited.

Every manufacturer or exporter sending an exhibit would naturally send with it a capable representative, who could discuss with the local merchant the qualities of his goods and their fitness or unfitness for local markets.

The coming of an exhibition of this character would attract at each port not only the business men of that city, but those of other commercial centers in the vicinity, and by this process the wholesale merchant of the United States would speak face to face with those of every country visited, and in these discussions would learn in a practical way the obstacles which now prevent a free interchange of commerce and the methods by which they can be overcome.

In addition to this, a corps of experts could gather samples of the goods now being sold in the countries visited, the prices obtained, the length of credit given, the banking and exchange facilities existing and required, and other facts which would prove valuable not only to those directly participating in the enterprise, but to all manufacturers and merchants of the United States, by their exhibition in commercial museums and by published reports.

THE FINANCING OF A FLOATING EXPOSITION.

The financing of an undertaking which contemplates sending a fleet of a half dozen vessels for a two years' voyage around the world appears at first sight a serious problem; but present conditions. seem to be exceptionally favorable.

The producers, manufacturers, and merchants of the United States are greatly interested in the extension of markets for American goods, and the Bureau of Statistics is daily besieged with inquiries for information bearing upon this subject. The past three years have been exceptionally successful, and yet have shown the necessity of finding an increased outlet for the surplus which the American manufacturers show themselves capable of producing, and it seems not unreasonable to believe that they would look upon a reasonable expenditure for the extension of trade as money well invested. A great world's fair has

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