nothing to be desired, either from the point of view of salubrity or agreeability, while the fertility of the soil is such as to yield two crops of wheat or three of rice in a single year. Palm oil and india-rubber are to be had in abundance, the ivory furnished is said to be of the best quality, and the forests contain inexhaustible supplies of valuable timber. The stations were not only able to subsist on their own resources, but also to supply the wants of passing caravans, and it is to be hoped the resources of the Association may soon admit of their re-occupation.

Baltic Canal.-The Times of December 15 gives a summary of the official Exposé des Motifs attached to the Bill presented to the Reichstag for the projected ship canal between the North Sea and the Baltic. Military and naval exigencies are set forth as the primary motive of its construction, necessitating an elaborate system of fortification which will much increase its cost. The principal commercial advantage to be derived from it is the shortening of the voyage from the German ports to the Baltic by 237 miles, thus enabling their shipping to compete on more advantageous terms with that of Scotland and the North of England, relatively better placed as regards the present circuitous route. Thus, while the average time saved by the canal to a steamer from a German port or from London would be 22 hours, the passage from Hull would be shortened by but 15, from Newcastle by 61, and from Leith by 3 hours, the rate of steaming being taken at 8-25 nautical miles an hour. A considerable saving would also be effected to shipowners in pilot and other fees, as well as in insurance, the dangers of the Skaw route being estimated to cause an annual loss of 200 ships. The track of the canal, which will be 53 miles long, will leave the Elbe estuary near Brunsbüttel, to follow the Sudensee and Gieselau valleys to Wittenbergen on the Eider; thence, adopting the course of that stream, and subsequently of the Eider canal to Holtenau, in the Bay of Keil, its Baltic terminus. Its surface breadth of 60 mètres, with a floor width of 26, and a depth of 8.5 mètres, will enable it to accommodate the largest vessels of the German Navy, and a period of 13 hours is reckoned for the passage. The cost is estimated at 156 million marks, including 8 millions for fortifications, while an annual expenditure of close upon 2 million marks will be required for its maintenance. Toll dues will be levied at the rate of about 75 pfennigs (9d.) on every registered ton, and this charge will include pilotage, lighting (by electricity), and tug fees for sailing vessels.

Exploration of the Persian Border.-At the evening meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, December 14, Colonel C. E. Stewart detailed his experiences in exploring the desert country on the Perso-Afghan border, from 1882 to 1885. The utter desolation of these lands is, in part at least, due to the Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century, previous to which considerable cities existed in countries that are now uninhabited. Thus, at a

small village called Zuzan, near Khaf, where Colonel Stewart had his headquarters, he found the ruins of an ancient city, covering a large area of ground, and with remains of fortifications distinctly traceable. An old villager pointed out the spot called the Red Garden, where legend says Chinghiz Khan had the whole population massacred in cold blood, and where all vegetation has since refused to grow. According to the English traveller, not Chingiz, but his son Tulai Khan, was the author of the destruction of Zuzan, perpetrated in A.D. 1220-21. The remains of seventy kanots, or covered irrigation channels, can be discerned in the neighbourhood, and it was their dependence on this artificial supply of water that rendered the ruin of these countries by the Mongols so final and

irretrievable.

Mir Alam Khan, the Ameer of Khaian, is the ruler of this portion of the border, Birjend being its principal town. Opium is produced here in large quantities, both for export and for home consumption, hundreds of people being said to die annually from its excessive use. The Lut desert, which separates the Ameer's territory from the Persian provinces to the south, is believed by Colonel Stewart to be one of the hottest parts of the earth's surface, and has been only crossed once by Europeans (the Russian mission of Khanikof, in 1861) since the days of Marco Polo. After undergoing terrible sufferings from heat and thirst, the English explorer and his party were forced to return to Birjend, brackish water being only found in scanty supplies at long intervals, and an antelope with two kids, the only living things encountered in the eighty miles of desert traversed.

Visit to Herat.--Colonel Stewart was subsequently attached to the Afghan Boundary Commission, and was one of the three officers who visited Herat in May 1885, no Englishman having previously entered it since Sir Lewis Pelly's sojourn there in 1860. The latest visitor confirms all that previous travellers have said as to the luxuriant fertility of the valley of Herat, the whole of which for a length of 120 miles, and a width of 12 or 14, he describes as cultivated like a garden. The thickly planted villages show the density of population, while that of the town has dwindled from its ancient figure of 100,000 to about 12,000, exclusive of the numbers of the garrison. Colonel Stewart concluded by urging the prolongation of the Quetta Railway to Herat via Kandahar, the difficulties in the way of which he declared to be not physical but moral, consisting in the prejudices of the English and Afghan peoples. An eventual junction with the Russian line from the Caspian to Samarkand, whose completion is expected within three years, would establish a great circuit of communication between Europe and Asia.

Petroleum in India.-The suspicion that petroleum existed in the neighbourhood of the Bolan Pass has been confirmed by the Canadian experts called in by the Indian Government to test the matter. Their report is most encouraging, as it declares the supply sufficient not only to furnish fuel for the frontier railways, but also to serve for illuminating purposes throughout Northern India. As it seldom occurs in

isolated beds, it is likely to be found in other places in the same district, a fact which may revolutionize the whole condition of the North-Western frontier. For as the Russian advance in Central Asia has been incalculably facilitated by the vast development of the petroleum trade on the Caspian, so the creation of a great industry in this vulnerable point of the Indian Empire will be of material assistance in helping forward communications over the Afghan border. Already the engines on the Pishin railway are being adapted to burn it as fuel, and the Indus flotilla will probably follow this example. The economy effected may be judged from the fact that on the Caspian shore petroleum dregs, the form used for fuel, are sold for 2s. 6d. a ton, while weight for weight its value as a combustible is double that of coal.

The Transcaspian Railway.-The Times of February 18 publishes a translation of an official memorandum by General Annenkoff, director of the Russian railway intended to connect the Caspian with the Amu Darya, in which he speaks as follows of its condition and prospects:

From Kizil Arvat the line takes an east-south-east direction, crosses the oasis of Aschel, and passes under the walls of Geok Tepé. The principal station on this part of the line is Askabad, which is 217 kilomètres (135 miles) from Kizil Arvat. Further on it turns round the point made by the Shah's possessions in this quarter, and then passes into the Attock, a country where we found many villages formerly abandoned, but which had been re-occupied since the Russian annexation. The most considerable of these is Kahka. Still further on rises Douchak, whence start the routes for Sarakhs, Meshed and Herat. From Kizil Arvat to Douchak the distance is 391 kilomètres (249 miles). For the whole of the journey drinkable water is to be found in sufficient quantities. From Douchak the line bends east-north-east, and stretches into the desert towards Merv. Here streams are wanting, but two large rivers, the Tejend (lower Heri Rud) and the Murghab are found. From Douchak to the Tejend is 51 kilomètres (31 miles). The Tejend is an interesting river, still little known for part of its course. In summer, through the melting of the snow, its water is abundant. In winter it is almost dry; but on digging up the bed of the dried-up stream water is generally found at the distance of a few feet.

New Merv. From the Tejend to the Murghab is 125 kilomètres (78 miles); from the Murghab to the first wells bordering Merv is 100 kilomètres (62 miles). Throughout this region the most frightful aridity would have prevailed if an irrigation canal had not been constructed to convey water from the Murghab to within about thirty-seven miles of the Tejend. Merv is a rapidly-growing town. Formerly it was only a vast enceinte, intended as a place of refuge for the people of the oasis, and capable at need of standing a siege. Since Merv became Russian houses have sprung up as if by enchantment. Plots of land are assigned to whoever wishes to take

them, on the one condition that he immediately sets about erecting a building. Very shortly it will be a fine town with large streets and wide pavements, and avenues planted with trees. The Murghab carries in summer a great volume of water. Its current, which is about 300 mètres to the second in summer, falls to about seventyfive in winter. The area of cultivation was greater before the destruction of the Sultan Bend dyke in 1874. Steps have been taken towards the construction of a new dyke, and the Russian Government has assigned for this purpose the sum of 600,000

roubles.

Further Progress of the Railroad.-Between the town of Merv and the ruins of its former great cities, the line runs through cultivated fields and gardens. Then for a distance of 190 kilomètres (near 120 miles) it crosses a sandy desert. It is in this part that the greatest difficulties are to be encountered through want of water. It can, however, be obtained by sinking artesian wells, and the nearer we approach the Amu Darya the more clearly does the water from the wells show that there is a subterranean communication with that river. The Transcaspian Railway is strictly a military line, and General Annenkoff concludes by summing up its exact condition at present.

Traffic is open as far as Askabad, and the line is ready thence to Gaiours, while from Gaiours to Merv the works are completed, and bridges and stations in course of construction. The line from Merv towards the Amu Darya will shortly be commenced. The whole line will measure 1,065 kilomètres (665 miles) of which it may be said nearly 600 (or 375 miles) are finished, viz., from Kizil Arvat to Merv. Wind and sand are the two principal opponents of the Russian engineers, and General Annenkoff states that the only way to overcome them is by planting trees along the whole of the route.

Notes on Novels.

At the Red Glove. By KATHARINE S. MACQUOID. London : Ward & Downey. 1885.

HE "Red Glove" is the sign of a glover's shop in Berne, and

Tthe scene of the story is laid among the bourgeois life of the

quaint city by the Aar. The old crone who owns the "Red Glove" takes as her apprentice and companion a young relative, Marie Peyrolles, and the lovely orphan girl, fresh from her convent training and surroundings, acts as an unconscious marplot, ruffling the meshes of small intrigue she is transplanted into the midst of, as a fluttering butterfly does the gossamer threads of a spider's web. Madame Carouge, the glowing and beautiful widow, who, as the

wealthy proprietress of the Hôtel Beauregard, is a personage of much authority in her small sphere, had set her heart on marrying the handsome broad-shouldered clerk, Rudolph Engemann, and seemed tending prosperously to that conclusion, when lo! a chance meeting with Marie, and a glance or two at her sweet downcast face, turns the current of the young man's feelings in another direction, and upsets all calculations founded on his previous conduct. Then Madame Carouge plots with old Madame Bobineau, the girl's shrewish guardian and employer, to marry her to an elderly half-pay captain, who is only too happy to grasp at the prize offered to him. How Marie is eventually delivered from this fate, and the course of true love smoothed by favouring circumstances, will be learned by those who read the third volume to the end. The characters are sketched with graphic touches, and the setting of Bernese life and scenery gives freshness and piquancy to a very bright little comedy of manners.

T

The Rise of Silas Lapham. By WILLIAM D. HOWELLS.

Edinburgh: David Douglas. 1885.

HE advance of the American novel to a leading place in English letters, at a moment too when the vein of native fiction was showing signs of exhaustion, is one of the most striking features in contemporary literature. It is especially noteworthy as the first successful attempt at artistic utterance of the English races beyond the sea; the first articulate voice from those newly-peopled continents which promise to take so large a place in the world's future. Now, of modern American romances, this latest work of Mr. Howells seems to us to have the most solid grasp of human nature, the firmest touch in delineating and discriminating character. The author's style would be prosaic were it not for the intense realism that vivifies its details, just as his actors would be commonplace were they not dignified by his insight into the higher possibilities of even ordinary natures. His present hero, Silas Lapham, the self-made man, purse-proud, boastful, and self-confident, seems at first too hopelessly vulgar for interest, but as the inner depths of the man's nature begin to grow on us, as we learn to know his homely tenderness for his wife and daughters, his rugged rectitude in business, his bulldog tenacity of purpose, we feel that there is a massive groundwork of dignity beneath his self-assertion, and recognize a pathos even in his unavailing efforts at gentility. His wife, too, with her keener spirit and finer perceptions, devotedly attached, yet courageous enough to rebuke him when he falls below her standard of righteousness, has a vivid individuality; and married life in its most ordinary yet perhaps highest aspect of mutual helpfulness, moral as well as material, has seldom been more powerfully presented than in their relations to each other.

The romantic action of the story is concerned with the fortunes of their two daughters-the one beautiful, the other droll and clever