miles wide, and on January 14 traversed Duplex pass, 20,000 feet elevation. On the 31st they finally ran across a man, a wild Tibetan, small, thin, with enormous lips, long knotted hair, clothed in sheepskin and armed with a saber and flint-lock gun, whom they called "appa" (father); he knew neither Chinese nor Mogul, but spoke Tibetan of which the travelers knew scarcely a dozen words. Other Tibetans, with flocks of sheep, soon appeared and sold them mutton, a little salt, and rancid butter, and then followed on horseback for fifteen days without losing sight of the explorers. Often they were counseled in Mogul by those in authority to turn back. In the middle of February they reached lake Nam-tso ("heaven"), or Tengri-nor, a large frozen body of water. Out of 40 camels only 15 remained, and, of 20 horses but one survived; three of the party of seven were in desperate state of health, while all were worn out and almost without provisions. They were finally obliged to stop in a mountain pass of the Nindjin-tangla, which led directly to Lassa, then not more than sixty miles distant. On February 17 the Tibetan authorities sent a large party to meet them and ask their intentions. Mistaken for Russians, it took 13 days to convince the authorities that they were French. They received presents from the authorities and obtained costumes from Lassa, but found it impossible to visit the "holy city." After 49 days of negotiation, on April 5, provided with arms, provisions and horses, and also a safe permit from the Talia lama to cross Tibet to Batang by an unknown route, they started eastward, on a course nearly {255} parallel to and north of Salouen river, reaching Sô and once again seeing houses on April 15. They arrived at Batang early in June, their route some distance west of it having joined the Imperial highway from Pekin to Lassa over which l'Abbe Huc travelled. From Tatsien-lou, where the French Tibetan mission is located, their route turned southward to Red river, which was reached, at Manhoau, on September 21, when their journey practically ended, as Hanoai was reached two days later. An excellent map of the itinerary, by Prince Henri, accompanies the article. A. W. G. * * * * * _Third Annual Report on the Statistics of Railways in the United States to the Interstate Commerce Commission, for the year ending June 30, 1890_: Washington, Government Printing Office, 1891 (advance copy, pp. 1-100).--This pamphlet, by Professor Henry C. Adams, is issued in advance of the full report, which is promised to comprise about 875 pages. It contains a summary, digest and discussion of the full report.