Geographical Record

American Geographical Society

Geographical RecordSource: Geographical Review, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Jan., 1943), pp. 145-159Published by: American Geographical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/210627 .

Accessed: 09/05/2014 16:23

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

American Geographical Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toGeographical Review.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 169.229.32.138 on Fri, 9 May 2014 16:23:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ags

http://www.jstor.org/stable/210627?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


GEOGRAPHICAL RECORD

NORTH AMERICA

THE STEEPROCK IRON MINE. "The outstanding development in Canadian mining in I939 was the resumption of production of iron ore in Ontario," says the Canada Year Book for I940. Operations had ceased in I923; they began again in the Michipicoten district at the northeast corner of Lake Superior. More exciting, however, are the prospects at Steeprock; for, according to Mr. W. J. Gorman of The Northern Miner (Steep Rock Iron Mine, Canadian Geogr. Journ., Vol. 25, I942, pp. 246-262), "probably nothing more strik- ing in the way of the discovery and exploration of a mineral deposit has occurred in Canadian mining history than that of the Steep Rock Iron Mine."

Although possibilities had been recognized earlier, notably in the evidence of hematite "float" on the south shore of Steeprock Lake, it was not until I937 that diamond drilling through the ice disclosed the presence of massive hematite beneath the lake; exhaustive tests have confirmed the character of the deposit, and exploitation is shortly to begin. Steeprock Lake is in the Rainy River district 4 miles north of Atikokan village on the southern line of the Canadian National Railways, I3 5 miles west of Port Arthur. The surrounding country ("Geology and Ore Deposits of the Atikokan Area," by E. S. Moore), the ore deposit ("Iron Deposits of the Steeprock Lake Area," by M. W. Bartley), and exploratory studies ("GeophysicalWork at Steeprock Lake, I938-39," by A. Brant) are described in the Forty- Eighth Annual Report of the Ontario Department of Mines (Toronto, I940). The rugged topography and varied colors of the setting make the lake one of the most beautiful in the province. Its sinuous outline follows the contour of the softer Steeprock sedimentaries ("unique among the pre-Cambrian series"), which outcrop in more resistant granites and greenstones. The lake is I5 miles long and of irregular depth-in places it is more than I50

feet deep-and holds an estimated ioo billion gallons or more of water. The Seine River en- ters the lake at the northeast corner and leaves by the west arm. As the ore deposit lies beneath the lake, it will be necessary to dam the Seine at the point of entrance, divert the river, and pump out the water. The Ontario government is providing a I25-mile-long power line, and the Dominion government will build a railroad spur to the mine from Atikokan and ore docks at Port Arthur and will grant a freight subsidy on ore shipments. The extent of these undertakings suggests the value of the deposit. It is described as remarkable in tonnage and in grade, with very low percentages of phosphorus, sulphur, and silica, the type of ore usable without preliminary treatment in open-hearth furnaces. It may be "the largest high-grade, hard hematite mine in North America, producing at the rate of several million tons annually." The significance of the Steeprock deposit is the greater because under present demands the readily available high-grade ores of the Minnesota ranges are rapidly being exhausted. According to the Minerals Yearbook for I940, the Lake Superior region produced 83 per cent of the iron ore mined in the United States in that year, 74

per cent from the Mesabi range alone. This year (I942) production will be more than go,- ooo,ooo tons, and iooooo,ooo tons are required for I943, of which II,500,000 tons should be of the special grades for open-hearth furnaces; but existing mines can supply only a fraction-about one-eighth-without treatment.

Mr. Gorman concludes his account with the "fascinating speculation" that "apart from



I46 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

almost unlimited quantities of high-grade ore for Canadian steel mills, and for export to American mills, the Steep Rock deposits combined with cheap hydro-electric power and using the nickel, cobalt and other alloy metals produced in this country, could mean the establishment of a high-grade steel industry making special alloy steels which would com- pete in the markets of the world with the long famous Swedish steels, and become the heart of an ever-growing metallurgical and fabricating industry."

THE CUYUNA RANGE. Although relatively unimportant among the iron-mining ranges of the Lake Superior district, the Cuyuna Range occupies a unique position in the industrial structure of the United States as a possible source of ferromanganese, an alloy containing 8o per cent manganese and 20 per cent iron and carbon (G. F. Brightman: Cuyuna Iron Range, Econ. Geogr., Vol. i8, I942, pp. 275-286). Although this strategic material is of vital importance in the steel industry, its domestic production has been, and still is, notably deficient.

At this mining region of some six square miles in central Minnesota, there are not only underground workings but also great open-pit mines, some of them more than half a mile long and more than two hundred feet deep. Absence of outcrops has been largely responsible for the relatively late development of this range, the last of the Lake Superior group to come into production. Many of these mines were opened up during the First World War, only to have production fall off abruptly after I9I8. Since that time operations have been intermittent, depending generally on activity in the steel industry, but they have been increasing steadily since the outbreak of the present war.

Exploitation has been restricted thus far mainly to the higher-grade manganese ores. However, there are also immense reserves of lower-grade ores in the Cuyuna Range, containing about io per cent manganese. Here mechanical means are not sufficient to separate silica and other undesirable elements from the manganese, and chemical treatment of the ores is necessary. The cost of producing ferromanganese by such processing is high and far from competitive with imports from abroad. Yet there are obvious advantages to increasing domestic production of this strategic metal, and the Cuyuna deposits may play an important part in the national defense program.-WILLIAM E. RUDOLPH

A NEW SOILS-ASSOCIATION MAP: JEFFERSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE. Geog- raphers, land economists, agronomists, and others who study the land and its problems will be especially interested in the newer method of presenting the distribution of soils exem- plified by the "Soil Map, Jefferson County, Tennessee," by J. W. Moon and Howard W. Higbee of the United States Department of Agriculture and members of the Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station with the cooperation of the Tennessee Valley Authority (accompanying U. S. Dept. of Agric., Bur. of Plant Industry, Soil Survey, Ser. 1935, No. 20,

I94I). Instead of the hitherto conventional soil map, on which each soil type is indicated by an individual color, the 5I soil subdivisions have been grouped into five classes and a color assigned to each class; the individual types are indicated by shades of that color. The soil types are grouped according to their relative physical suitability for agricultural uses: the first three classes are suited to crop production, the fourth to pasture, and the fifth to forest. The grouping is based on productivity, workability, and conservation; the last factor refers



GEOGRAPHICAL RECORD I47

to the maintenance and improvement of the first two plus erosion control, so important in this particular county. The productivity rating is a measure of the capacity of the soil to produce under prevailing farm practices, and it follows, therefore, that certain shifts in the present classification of soils might take place if the economy of the county were to change.

Jefferson County lies in eastern Tennessee, mainly in the Valley and Ridge physio- graphic province. The surface ranges from the ruggedness of the English Mountains in the southeast to the levelness of the terraces developed along the near-by French Broad River. The soils, largely residual, are derived from a variety of rocks-crystallines, shales, sandstones, and limestones. The county is mainly agricultural, though there is a little zinc mining and manufacturing. Most of the cropland is devoted to grain and forage production; tobacco is the only cash crop of importance. The greatest part of the farm income is derived from livestock. Such diversity of surface, soil, and land use is an ample test of the validity of the classification, and one that indicates its value.

During the summer of I94I, while doing field work in Humphreys County in connec- tion with the Southern Studies Project, I had the opportunity of testing the efficacy of this method of presenting the distributi6n of soils. A soil map on a basis similar to that of the one reviewed was available in manuscript for Humphreys County. Not only was it extremely useful in this particular piece of field work, but many community leaders were found to be using it intelligently and to good advantage. Much of the best land of the county is to be flooded by the Tennessee Valley Authority Kentucky Reservoir, and local groups were studying their own problems and laying plans on the basis of the material presented by this soil survey. All concerned are to be congratulated on the forward step in presenting soil material to a nontechnical group and to workers in allied sciences in a fashion easily grasped by them.-H. THOMPSON STRAW

In answer to a query on the origin of the type of soils map described above, Dr. Charles E. Kellogg, chief of the Division of Soil Survey of the United States Department of Agri- culture, writes as follows: The Jefferson County map was an attempt to synthesize our knowledge of the relative physical suitability of the soils for different uses to make it easier for the layman to use a soil map. We have several maps in press for areas in the Tennessee Valley that have this form of legend. All of them have been made with. the excellent cooperation of the Ten- nessee Valley Authority; Jefferson County was the first in the series. However, there is some question of the appropriateness of indicating these groups on the master soil map in color, and I doubt if we shall continue the same procedure. The scheme we have used emphasizes those soil characteristics that are of greatest importance now'with our present knowledge and techniques; a new invention would change the relative response to manage- ment, though the soils themselves would remain unchanged. I think it likely that we shall follow groupings on the basis of physiography and soil characteristics for the master soil map and include detailed productivity tables and groupings for various purposes in the report. For local use in counties special interpretative maps can be prepared. We also need a map that is generalized cartographically as well as categorically (see, for example, p. 288

of "The Soils That Support Us"). Such maps are being included in the new soil-survey reports in the Tennessee Valley area. Another point to bear in mind is that actually the farmer needs to develop an individual plan of operation in accordance with different kinds




of soil on his farm, the capital available, his skills in various phases of agriculture, trans- portation facilities, etc. It is easy to oversimplify the problem of an individual farm and its solution through reduction of soils to a smaller number of groups. When one hears farmers talking about land in terms of the colors on the map (as I once overheard in con- nection with the Jefferson County map), one realizes that the educational purpose has broken down. There is a problem of map reading as well as of map making.

GLACIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO MOUNTAIN. San Francisco Mountain is a composite volcanic cone, I2,6II feet high and rising 5500 feet above the plateau of northern Arizona. It was one of the southernmost mountains in the United States (350 20' N.) to be glaciated during the Quaternary. In an article entitled "Multiple Pleistocene Glaciation on San Francisco Mountain, Arizona," Robert P. Sharp (Jourtn. of Geol., Vol. 50, I942, Pp. 48I-503) distinguishes three separate glaciations, which he tentatively dates as Illinoian, Iowan, and laterWisconsin. The successive glaciers were 434, 4, and 24 miles long and terminated at 85oo, 86oo, and gooo feet. Since the deposition of the oldest moraines a small intermittent stream has cut a gorge 370 feet deep in relatively resistant andesite, but the morainic topography is partly preserved, and the weathering is neither deep nor thorough. Sharp has therefore referred the deposits to the Illinoian glaciation rather than to the Kansan, in spite of the fact that there is no indisputable proof of Illinoian glaciation in western North America. The dating of the intermediate drift as Iowan, the earliest stage of theWisconsin, is in accord with the prevailing view. The discussion of the age of the youngest deposits is an important contribution to the controversy over the correlation of the glacial stages in the southern Rocky Mountains with the ice sheets in the north. Sharp unhesitatingly corre- lates the moraines with the Tioga drift of the Sierra Nevada of California and believes they represent a late stage of theWisconsin, perhaps the last maximum of the western ice sheets, the Mankato.

Altitude and its attendant factors rarely produce so distinct an altitudinal zoning of the vegetation as on San Francisco Mountain, and it was here that C. Hart Merriam (Results of a Biological Survey of the San Francisco Mountain Region and Desert of the Little Col- orado, Arizona, North Amer. Fauna No. 3, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, I890) first recognized his zones of vegetation. The zoning is also remarkable for its range and includes a true alpine area above I,000 to II,300 feet. Here Sharp observed several features produced by frost action, such as protalus ramparts, stone stripes, terracettes, stone rings, and frost- heaved pavement.-ERNST ANTEVS

AGRICULTURAL CLIMATOLOGY IN SOUTH DAKOTA. The Great Plains region has been called the "last frontier of agriculture in North America." The attainment of a more climactic stage may be brought about by collaborative planning; at least, such is the hope of South Dakota, which has recently published a report on the "first unified planning county in the State"-"Climate: The Limiting Factor in Hand County Agriculture," by Delbert C. Myrick (U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Bur. of Agricultural Economics, in co6pera- tion with the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station, Washington, I94I).

Myrick's historical approach gives emphasis to the wellknown fact that in this land of marginal farming the critical factor is variability of precipitation rather than low amount




(cf. C. W. Thornthwaite: Climate and Settlement in the Great Plains, in Climate and Man, Yearbook of Agriculture 1941, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, I94I, PP. I77-I87). For the period I893 to I939 the average rainfall in Hand County, I8 inches, occurred less than half the time. In two successive years- (I926 and I927) the rainfall was I2 inches (66 per cent of normal) and 2I.9 inches (I2I per cent of normal). Stabilization of agricultural practices has been hindered by occurrences of wet and dry periods. From I902-I920 precipitation averaged I9.7 inches and crops failed in only one year; from I930-I939 it averaged I5.7 inches and crops were poor to failing in all years but one.

Precipitation is not the only factor, though a complete picture of the importance of the intraseasonal climatic phenomena to crops is not easily obtained. The author is to be com- mended for his graphic correlations of daily maximum temperatures and precipitation of the months of the growing season; his correlation of days with drought, hot days, and hot windy days; the graph of intraseasonal droughts; and the graph of intraseasonal distribution of rain according to growth periods of early and late crops. In addition, he gives some consideration to frosts, length and severity of winters, hail, dust storms, water supplies and conservation, weeds, and pests; and in general he presents a picture of the ups and downs of agriculture in Hand County since the Civil War.

The evaporation factor, which often makes the difference between farming and grazing opportunities, is neglected. "Hail damage" should be substituted for "hail" in the statement "The level, intensively farmed part of the county is more subject to hail than are the rougher portions."

In sum, this is an unusual study that ties up many factors of climate with agriculture, but one would like to see it go further and make use of statistical correlations between climatic factors at various stages of plant growth and yearly crop yields; for in the life cycles of most crops come critical stages in relation to some climatic element-the moisture requirements at the tasseling stage of corn, for instance. Results from correlation should pro- vide concrete data for recommendations on the best varieties of plants, methods of cultivation, seeding time, etc.; but perhaps these will be taken up later.-Hovrr LEMONS

AGRICULTURE IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES. The economic and social problems of the British West Indies were the subject of an investigation by a Royal Commission a few years ago (Geogr. Rev., Vol. 30, I940, pp. 672-675). On that occasion a special question- naire on agriculture was issued to all the colonies (this includes British Guiana and British Honduras as well as the islands). The results, together with other documentary material, have been given shape in "Agriculture in the West Indies" (Colonial No. 182, I942).

Except for a brief summation, the colonies are discussed individually, with most attention given to Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, British Guiana, and Barbados. The present unsatisfactory state of affairs is the outcome of a policy of production for export that has been in operation since the first colonization. The condition is contrasted with that of the Netherlands East Indies, where "for many years the basic consideration has been the production, within the countries, of the bulk of the food of the population." Sugar has always been the principal product, and, indeed, experience shows that "speaking broadly there is no alterative crop which is so well suited to the environmental conditions." It is emphasized that there is great variation in the agricultural possibilities from island to island, as a con-




sequence of the variations in soils and rainfall. Even within the larger islands there is great variation; in Trinidad, for instance, as E. M. Chenery's "Land Productivity Map of Trini- dad". shows (I939, scale I: 200,000; described by F. Hardy: A Provisional Classification of the Soils of Trinidad, Tropical Agriculture, Vol. I7, I940, pp. I53-I58). Soil erosion likewise is variable (see, for instance, F. Hardy: Soil Erosion in Trinidad and Tobago, ibid, Vol. i9,

I942, pp. 29-35).

The production of food crops is mainly in the hands of the peasantry, but cultivation is generally inefficient and yields are low; in fact, the deterioration of land and loss of fertility is one of the obstacles to the extension of small holdings. Imports of food are heavy; they are largest in Trinidad and smallest in the Windward Islands, though this is an index to low purchasing power rather than to self-sufficiency.

SOUTH AMERICA

THE VENEZUELAN SECTION OF THE SIMON BOLIVAR HIGHWAY. The Venezuelan section of the Simon Bolivar Highway which connects Caracas and Quito, with extensions at each end to the coast, is described by Raymond E. Crist in the November, I942, number of the Bulletin of the Pan American Union (pp. 60i-609). It well illustrates the function of the highway in linking complementary regions within its traverse. Caracas, at 3000 feet in the Venezuelan Coast Ranges, is not readily accessible by nature. The At- lantic slope, if short, is steep-a difficult 37 kilometers of road connects with the port of La Guaira-and deep valleys and steep slopes separate the capital from the interior. In the Lake Valencia Basin the road traverses a fertile cotton and sugar-producing region that has been described in some detail by Dr. Crist and Carlos E. Chardon in the July, I94I, number of the Geographical Review. From the town of Valencia the road recrosses the mountains. Just before Puerto Cabello is reached, it turns west to the Yaracuy Valley and on to Bar- quisimeto. Along the road vegetation and products vary with altitude and exposure. Barquisimeto is hot and dry; its vegetation, cactus and spiny shrubs; its chief product, goats. The town, however, has always been a road center with roads converging thereon from the llanos, and it will gain in importance when the new highway to the Andes via Quibor and Trujillo is completed. Valera, at I770 feet, is a thriving Andean "gateway" town; it is also the junction- of the motor road to Maracaibo: Timotes, at 65oo feet, is a stopover. It has a population of about 3000 and is doing a flourishing business raising vegetables for Maracaibo. Climate makes possible a rich variety of produce, as Dr. Crist describes in detail in the article "Timotes, Venezuela" (Bull. Pan Amer. Union, Vol. 76,

I942, pp. 30I-3Io). After we leave Timotes the road ascends rapidly into a wheat and potato zone and on to the bleak paramo; thus a number of altitudinal life zones are passed through in a few hours of travel time. The highest point reached is the Mucuchies Pass at I3,382 feet. From here descent is made through another wheat district to Merida. Merida is a beautifully situated town midway between tierra frz'a and tierra caliente at an altitude of about 5400 feet. Its history since the founding in I558 is recounted by Dr. Crist in the August, I942, number of Scientific Monthly (pp. II4-I3 I). The site is ideal for interregional exchange, and the town has benefited greatly by the highway development. Another pro- posed link is to Barinas on the western edge of the llanos.

Farther along, in the rain-shadow desert of the Chama Valley, the landscape is barren



GEOGRAPHICAL RECORD I5I

save for the plots of irrigated sugar cane until the gorge of the Chama is reached, where winds, forced through the narrow gap, bring moisture to the woods and pastures of Tovar, a thriving regional capital. Shortly the road climbs once more by hairpin turns to the La Negra Pass and down to La Grita, which also grows vegetables for the Maracaibo market. Beyond the easy pass of El Zumbador, we come to Tairiba, a small place with an interesting Monday market, and arrive at San Cristobal, capital of the border state of Taichira. San Cristobal is a town of I2,000 to I5,000 population on an alluvial terrace of the Torbes River, flowing to the Orinoco Basin. It is a natural gateway to the western llanos, to which a road is now under construction, and a cattle and coffee market. San Cristobal is at kilometer III5 on the Simon Bolivar Highway; the international bridge at the border is at kilometer II70 (for distances see L. L. Sell: Pan-American Dictionary & Travel Guide, 2nd, rev. edit., I94I).

THE PLANT GEOGRAPHY OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. Although the plant geography of South America has been discussed in print many times within the last century, only rarely has an attempt been made to synthesize a broad, interregional picture on a sufficiently ample scale to enable it to retain considerable local detail. A recent monograph on the Argentine Republic byJoaquin Frenguelli (Rasgos principales de fitogeografia argentina; extract from Rev. Museo de La Plata, N.S., Seccion botainica, Vol. 3, I94I, pp. 65-I8I)

fulfills these conditions admirably. The author's procedure with each phytogeographic region is to discuss first the matter

of areal limits as given by previous writers and determined by his own observations in the field, then briefly to present the climatologic characteristics of the region, and from there to pass to a discussion of the plant association itself Soil types are only lightly treated, with one or two outstanding exceptions; for example, the Pampa. The monograph is illustrated with magnificent photographs, i i6 of them, which add immeasurably to its value. A com- pendious bibliography (I42 items, in 7 languages) completes the work.

Mr. Frenguelli's findings regarding distribution are summarized in a map (I: I0,-

ooo,ooo) of vegetation types, which includes the following nine major groupings: selvas (dense forests; 5 subtypes); bosques (open woods; 2 subtypes); montes (scrub forests; 3 areas); estepas arbustivas (bush steppes; 3 subtypes); estepas herba6ceas (herbaceous steppes; 2 subtypes); mixtas (transition forms; 2 subtypes); parques (park landscapes; 3 areas); enclaves (refers only to a small lens of savana northwest of Mar del Plata on the Pampean steppe); and engranajes (gallery forest along rivers). The nomenclature of the subtypes suffers somewhat in being partly based on geographic rather than phytographic criteria. Thus the three kinds of low- latitude selva-considered sufficiently distinctive to be given different areal symbols-are called selva subtropical misionera, selva subtropical chaquenia, and selva subtropical serrana. The first two are named after the territories of Misiones and Chaco and give no inkling as to differences between the plant associations. The third name evidently refers merely to the mountain (piedmont?) location of the type and is likewise without real diagnostic value. A nomenclature based on differing habit or on dominant flora might have been preferable. On the other hand, in the case of monte the three areas-all sufficiently alike in vegetation to be shown by the same symbol on the map-are properly differentiated by regional designa- tions.




In isolated cases Mr. Frenguelli's approach to plant geography is at variance with the accepted practice in this country. For example, his statement (p. 76) that a true desert in all parts of the world is absolutely lacking in vegetation represents a point of view that has been rejected by most geographers. This concept (could it be ascribed to patriotism?) evidently motivates his calling the vegetation forms of the BW parts of Argentina estepa arbustiva, which may be translated as "bush steppe" or "scrub steppe." The photographs of this vegetation type-for example, Plates 24, 30, 32, 33, 4I, and 42-would pass for undeniable cases of desert vegetation in this country.

Although historical in the sense that it discusses previous efforts to delineate phytogeographic maps of Argentina, the monograph is not generally genetic in its approach. Few attempts are made to discuss vegetation successions and climaxes, and the result is in the main a static description of the present plant cover. The one outstanding exception is found in the case of the Pampa. An excellent resume is presented (pp. I36-I 39) of hypotheses advanced to explain the absence of arboreal vegetation. Schmieder's views (Oscar Schmieder: The Pampa A Natural or Culturally Induced Grass-Land? Univ. of California Publs. in Geogr., Vol. 2, No. 8, I927) that the Pampean grassland was culturally induced through the pre-Columbian burning of the trees by aborigenes are in the main refuted. The burnt-clay samples that Schmieder adduced as evidence of widespread forest removal have been found on analysis to contain only grass remnants. The author feels that the absence of trees cannot be explained except on the basis of a complex interplay of cultural, climatic, and edaphic factors. Among the last is one that has not been given enough consideration, namely the almost complete absence of lime in the upper horizons of the strongly leached loessal soils of the Pampa. The monte vegetation round about, composed mainly of Mimosaceae, has high lime requirements and seems to find an absolute barrier to a possible spread into the Pampa in the absence of available calcium carbonate. HENRY J. BRUMAN

EUROPE

CORSICA, TURBULENT ISLE. Forbidding access except by ship, the sea may shut off an island from movements of people and ideas that sweep freely over the neighboring con- tinents and thus tend to preserve on the island old populations and old ways of life. At the same time, the sea may promote direct contacts by water between the island and more dis- tant lands. This has been true of Corsica, the history of which largely records the impact of sea-borne influences on a frequently conservative, almost a static, society.

Corsica was probably first settled in Neolithic time; if Paleolithic men were there, they have left no evidence of their presence. After Neolithic man came men of the Bronze Age, and then to the shores, at least-Greeks from Phocaea, Phoenicians, Etruscans, Greeks from Sicily, Carthaginians, Romans, and, in later ages, Arab sea rovers, Pisans, Genoese, Catalans, and finally the French in I769. All these peoples have fought for control over the island; all have influenced its development to a greater or smaller extent. Important elements in Corsican society and mores, however, may still be traced back to Neolithic origins. The 66 cantons established by the Constituent Assembly in the eighteenth century represent the older pieve, a territorial subdivision believed to reflect a Neolithic organization by clans. The notorious vendetta also "has its roots in old clan laws by which vengeance is a duty,

[and] in habits of violence that have accumulated through the centuries." M. A. Albitreccia




(La Corse dans l'histoire, EIditions Archat, Lyons and Paris, I939), writing on the eve of the Second World War, reports that vendetta bandits took refuge in the Corsican maquis as late as I93I, and it would be surprising if the scourge of banditry has not reappeared again in these present times of uncertainty as it almost invariably appeared during political upheavals of the past.

M. Albitreccia's volume is a pleasant combination of history and geography. It opens with an introduction in which the landforms, climate, vegetation, mineral resources, and principal regions of Corsica are lucidly described and concludes with an "Invitation au voyage," the impressions of a sensitive traveler. Interwoven into the historical parts is much of interest in the way of "human geography," notably in chapters on Corsican society at the end of the eighteenth century and on "the work of the nineteenth century." Corsica as treated from different angles romantic, descriptive, economic, political by French writers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is the subject of a chapter that con- stitutes a contribution to the history of geographic ideas in the broadest meaning of the term if not in the more restricted scientific sense.

The charm of this volume-and, we venture to add, its geographic value, also in this broadest sense-is much enhanced by M. Antoni's fine illustrations. These reveal the somber, rugged grandeur of Corsica's scenery, the blending of its architectural structures with the contours of its landscape, the rich harmonies in the browns and oranges of its soils and buildings, the dark greens of its Mediterranean vegetation, and the blues of its sky and sea; and, not least, they reveal the lines of strength and toil inscribed in the figures and features of its old men and women.

AFRICA

TRIBAL MARKETS OF SPANISH MOROCCO. A commentary on the social geography of Spanish Morocco is to be found in the marketing habits of its people. The country, with an area of I3,I25 square miles, has a population of about 900,ooo, and it is predominantly rural 83 per cent (E. Coidan and Jean Desparmet: La zone espagnole du Maroc en I937,

L'Afrique Franfaise: Renseignements Coloniaux, Vol. 48, I938, pp. 232-240, 268-27I, and 288-289). Tetuan (so,ooo), the capital, and Alcazar (3I,000) are not on the seaboard, but the other considerable towns are ports: Laraiche (30,000), on the Atlantic coast, and Ceuta (45,000) and Melilla (60,000), on the Mediterranean (these two, however, are administered as part of Spain itself). In passing it may be of interest at this time to recall the chapter on the ports of Spanish Morocco byJ. Rouch, "Le Maroc maritime" (Rev. de Geogr. Marocaine, Vol. i6, I932, pp. 273-432). The towns are mainly Spanish in character and have large Spanish populations. Rural or tribal Morocco is quite otherwise. The population is unevenly distributed, but in some parts the density is high as much as 225 to the square mile south of Melilla and the land and its resources are varied. Yet practically all business is trans- acted at weekly markets in a fashion reminiscent of the Middle Ages. These markets are described by Walter Fogg in "Villages, Tribal Markets, and Towns: Some Considerations Concerning Urban Development in the Spanish and International Zones of Morocco" (Sociological Rev., Vol. 32, I940, pp. 85-I07) and other recent papers. An earlier study of the similar institution of French Morocco has been noted in this journal (Vol. 23, I933, p. 327). Spanish Morocco has more than a hundred of these tribal markets. They are held on




sites where good water is available and usually near a tribal shrine. "A large variety of goods, ranging from live animals to grain, and from Oriental spices to North African medi- cines and charms, changes hands there, and, in addition, services such as those of the foot- wear-repairers, barber-bleeders, shoeing-smiths, and blacksmiths are in active demand." Commodities and intensity of business vary with the season. Mr. Fogg instances the market at Sidi l-Yemani, a few miles northeast of Laraiche. Attendance in winter is small; the busi- est time is in July after the early summer threshing, as may be graphically seen from a diagram of seasonal change (Seasonal Change at a Moroccan Tribal Market, Geography, Vol. 25, I940, pp. I35-I39)-

But the market far transcends the simple economic function. "Local administration is carried on . . . and legal work . . . There are opportunities for social intercourse . . . News items concerning the larger world are gathered through gossip or from the market- criers. Commands of the authorities are heard there and discussed at length. Religious zeal is rekindled through contact with the living saints present, and by visiting the shrine."

After remaining virtually unchanged for "at least 2,000 years," the tribal markets are now beginning to show effects of Spanish occupation. Market sites are tending to be per- manently occupied. "Many have become important military centres . . ., and in nearly every case the market, or a place in its immediate vicinity, has been made the local headquarters of the administrative functions of the Spanish Interventor (District Commissioner) and of the Spanish district medical service. In some cases, too, a Hispano-Arab school has been established at the market. . . Further, the markets have been enclosed by fences or walls, as a means of ensuring the collection of the important new series of taxes which yield about I 5-20 per cent. of the total revenue of the Spanish Zone." The changes in organization at Sidi ]-Yemani are described by Mr. Fogg in "The Organization of a Moroccan Tribal Market" (Amer. Anthropologist, Vol. 44 [N.S.], I942, pp. 47-6I). The interventor has become the final authority, and the powers of some of the local functionaries for example, the old "master of the market" have declined. The humble "news-crier," however, has acquired new responsibilities. He is now fined if "people who were present did not come to know the official news as cried by him. Moreover, he cries a new series of news-items of considerable importance: for example, once every year the instruction is cried that every trbesman of the area which is administered in relation to this market must, by a certain date, go to Azila to have his photograph taken by an official photographer and pay him for an identity-card." Shades of the wild Rifi!

THE FORESTS OF FRENCH NORTH AFRICA. The Algerian government has recently published an important study of the forests of French North Africa or Barbary (Berberie) as a whole, with particular emphasis on Algeria. This work, by P. de Peyerimhoff, is ac- companied by a map of Algeria and Tunisia, I: I,500,000, showing in color the distribution of fourteen forest associations classified according to the dominant species (Carte forestiere de l'Algerie et de la Tunisie, Gouvernement General de 1'Algerie, Service Carto- graphique, Service des Forets, Algiers, I94I; this map also appears in Augustin Bernard and R. de Flotte de Roqueraire: Atlas d'Algerie et de Tunisie, I933, fasc. I3).

In the varied forest flora of Barbary, North European, Asiatic, and tropical elements are found along with species characteristic of the Madeiras, Canaries, and Azores and




species endemic to the western Mediterranean area. Peyerimhoff explains the origins of this flora as influenced by post-Cretaceous climatic and geologic changes. He accepts and

expounds hypotheses of Koppen and Wegener which ascribe world changes in climate in the Tertiary and Pleistocene periods to movements of the poles. However this may be, Barbary was directly linked to Asia in the Tertiary by land masses which then occupied much of the present western Mediterranean basin and Aegean region and have since largely disappeared. This accounts for the fact that certain forest species today found in Barbary but not in Europe also occur in the Himalaya, the Caucasus, Turkestan, and even China. After the old Tyrrhenian and Aegean lands had foundered, two land bridges persisted, connecting Barbary with Europe until the early Pleistocene, one by way of Spain, the other by way of Sicily and Italy. These bridges may have facilitated the initial invasion of Barbary by European and "Euro-Siberian" species when the southward movements of a colder, wetter climate accompanying the advance of the Pleistocene ice sheets brought with them corresponding southward migrations of plants and animals. Relicts of these invasions are today found in the higher mountains of Barbary in growths of fir, cedar, maple, yew, etc. that seem strangely out of place in Africa.

Some 7,632,ooo hectares in French Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia are forested (ii per cent excluding Saharan areas), as compared with I0,394,000 in France and II,028,ooo

in New England. The forests do not form extensive continuous tracts but are scattered in many isolated patches, mainly along the mountains. Human activities, particularly through fire and overgrazing, have woefully diminished the original extent of the forests, probably by more than half in Algeria. Barbary has had a turbulent history, marked for more than 2000 years by recurrent wars, invasions, and internal strife. "The East-West invasion route is lined with denuded mountains and the Roman ruins are surrounded by almost completely barren areas which bear witness to all that the pax romana destroyed in order to establish its own comfort." Nor have peasants and shepherds in modern times been respecters of the woodlands, and the destruction has been all the more complete and lasting because the dry climate and soil erosion render reforestation hopeless in many places.

Peyerimhoff describes the forests of Algeria as "poor" in the productive sense, and doubtless the same is true of French Morocco and Tunisia. He compares the state-owned forests of Algeria with those of "metropolitan" France. The former comprise 75 per cent of the total forest area of the country, the latter only I 5 per cent. In Algeria, however, only about 8oo,ooo hectares, or one-third of the state forest lands, are now being developed. The remainder fall into two categories: (i) forest lands (32.7 per cent) classified as unex- ploitable because they either have "been ruined," have an unsuitable type of growth ("sont . . .de vegetation difficile"), or "are indispensable for the protection of the soil or as a defense against aridity," and (2) forest lands that are at present virtually inaccessible (34.2

per cent). The gross annual return (for I936-I938) on the 8oo,ooo hectares of Algerian state forest actually under exploitation came to 3I francs per hectare (70 frs. for the cork- oak forests), as compared with 200 francs for the state forests of France. Cork is the dominant forest product. It accounts for about three-quarters of the total revenues from the state forests; wood accounts for only about I4 per cent. Peyerimhoff asserts that "l'Algerie forestiere est et doit rester un pays de subericulture (cork culture) et accessoirement seule- ment un pays de sylviculture proprement dit" and advocates improvements in methods of cultivating the cork-oak tree and in harvesting its yield.




WESTERN FRONTIERS OF LIBYA. In an article of this title Kenneth S. Sandford gives a condensed account of the terrain, communications, and water supply of western Libya (Geogr. Journ., Vol. 99, I942, pp. 29-40). He compares this part of the country-a convenient dividing line runs from the Gulf of Sirte about El Agheila to the northern prolongation of the Tibesti massif with the eastern half, described in an earlier article (Geogr. Journ., Vol. 96, I940, pp. 377-388). Eastern Libya is "a region of monotonous plains and plateaux, featureless, bare, windswept, burdened by the Sand Sea which sprawls across the Egyptian frontier." In general it is to be regarded as "waterless, the scanty population being concentrated in a few widely separated oases (except in northern Cyrenaica)." On the other hand, Western Libya, "although it contains vast areas which are equally waterless and uninhabited, is, by comparison, to be considered a well-watered region. It is supplied, especially along certain wadis and depressions, by thousands of wells ... Native communications and the population are concentrated along these lines (except in the better-watered parts of Tripolitania), and the country is easier to traverse on this account." This applies particularly to the interesting Fezzan oases (see the note "Fezzan and the Oasis of Ghat," Geogr. Rev., Vol. 28, I938, pp. 684-686; the oases are clearly shown on the map on p. 38I of Geographie Universelle, Vol. II, Part 2, I939).

Dr. Sandford considers communications under three categories. In the first place, mechanical transport "can operate fairly freely over most of Libya, irrespective of roads, with exceptions which would include the following: the sand-burdened areas, where mechanized movement is in fact often possible but liable to be slow and fraught with difficulty; the broken highlands of the south-west and to some extent in the volcanic up- lands of the centre, though even in the highlands the wadis are negotiable; ravined, boulder- strewn, and cut-up country, salt-pans, wet clay, sand and salt-marsh, and the like." An instance of the possibilities of free traveling over the desert surfaces is afforded by the successful raids of British and Free French in I94I. In contrast is the autopiste, a road primarily intended or maintained for automotive traffic. Upon roads of this class "Italy has spent lavishly of her engineering skill, financial, material, and labour resources." In Tripolitania these roads serve not only coast and highlands but the western frontier and the Fezzan. Then there are the ancient tracks and routes used by camel transport with which the western half of Libya is crisscrossed and which in general are usable by light mechanical transport. "In the region of the Tunisian frontier there is an interesting contrast between French and Italian road policy imposed by considerations of defence and the nature of the ground. On the Italian side, where the ground is high, a motor road runs near the edge of the Hamada el Hamra, . . . from Gadames to Nalut, thence eastward along the Jebel to the main road system radiating from Tripoli. On the French side Medenine is the most easterly main road centre, whence a southerly branch goes no farther than Foum Tatahouine and an easterly road goes through Ben Gardane to the frontier. From Foum Tatahouine there radiate southward and eastward tracks suitable for motor vehicles, all of them joining at widely separated points a frontier patrol track which runs from Ben Gardane southward along the length of the eastern frontier of Tunisia."

A sketch map of the Gabes-Nalut-Tripoli triangle shows the Tunisian-Tripolitanian defenses. On the French side the Mareth line runs north-south on the "remarkable hills" representing "the last traces of the Tripolitanian Jebel, which on the Italian side is defended from the hills of Nalut." Dr. Sandford calls attention to the description of the Mareth line




in G. L. Steer's book "A Date in the Desert" (see Geogr. Rev., Vol. 30, I940, p. 524). West- ward the sand area is "a vital factor," especially as it passes into the shotts and treacherous mud flats of southern Tunisia; the Shott Djerid, for instance. On the Italian side "the pos- session of Gadames at the junction of Hamada and Erg is obviously desirable not only for reasons of internal security but as a southern outpost to the defences of the Tripolitanian Jebel and of the frontier near Nalut."

Present attention is focused on the coastal region of Tunisia and Tripolitania, and Dr. Sandford reminds us that "considerable areas of the coastal plain have been colonized and intensively cultivated by the French in Tunisia, especially around Sousse and Sfax, where there are olive plantations of great extent, and by the Italians. The Italians have also established colonies in the coastal plain on the west side of the Gulf of Sirte and in the adjacent higher ground of the Jebel." The Italian colonization in Libya was the subject of a note in the October, I940, number of the Geographical Review (pp. 684-686).

ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES IN PORTUGUESE EAST AFRICA. The lapse of the charter of the Mozambique Company closes a chapter in the opening up of Africa-the very important part played by the great chartered companies, of which Mozambique is the last. The company had held the territories of Manica and Sofala, with capital at Beira, on a so-year lease beginning in I89I. The territories were handed over to the Portuguese government on July I9, I942. An interim allowing for adjustments ends on January i, I943,

when the decree of incorporation of the territories into the colony goes into effect. Essential points in the decree are given in the October, I942, number of the Journal of the Royal Af- rican Society (pp. 238-239). The Colony of Mozambique is divided into four provinces: South of the Save, covering the districts of Lourenqo Marques and Inhambane; Manica and Sofala, covering the districts of Beira and Tete; Mozambique, covering the district of Que- limane; Nyassa, covering the districts of Nampula and Port Amelia. The governor of the new province will retain certain prerogatives enjoyed by his predecessor in company service, because of the importance of Beira in both domestic and foreign relations; for this great port is an outlet for the Rhodesias and Nyasaland. In I937 its transit commerce was valued at ?20,000,000.

ASIA

PROGRESS IN SIKANG PROVINCE. In I936 Sikang, part of Outer Tibet, was formally elevated to the status of a regular province of China. Later, several districts of southwestern Szechwan were transferred to Sikang, giving the new province an area of some 37I,000

square miles and a population of a million and a half (C. Y. W. Meng: Sikang-China's "Baby Province," China.Journ., Vol. 35, I94I, pp. 32-4I). Of these added districts, Ning, bordering on Yunnan, is especially rich. "Rice, maize, sweet potatoes, bean, sugar-cane, cotton, flax, peanuts, tobacco and sesame seed are abundantly produced in summer while rye, barley, peas and rape are the popular winter crops." Mineral resources include iron ore, copper, and zinc in quantity, and gold and salt. The province as a whole shows a great diversity of resources, from the upland pastures of the lofty plateau to semitropical products of the deep gorges. Isolation has retarded development in the past. Now industrialization is beginning. Yaan, for instance, is said to have a tanning factory, a paper mill, and a woolen




mill. Exploitation of all resources is being encouraged. The province has a weather bureau, with headquarters at Kangting, where there is also an agricultural experiment station. Tienchuan has a forestry station; Taining, in the west, has an animal-husbandry station; and there is a silk-improvement station at Lichow. A 245-mile highway, a road-building triumph comparable with the Burma Road, now connects Chengtu and Kangting.

WORLD AS A WHOLE AND LARGER PARTS

A NEW MAP OF EUROPE AND THE MIDDLE EAST. "Europe and the Middle East" is the title of a new map (I94I) on the scale of i: II,000,000 made for the British Council by the Royal Geographical Society (British Council Map No. 1). Mr. A. R. Hinks and his associates are to be congratulated on a production so originally conceived and well executed. The map is the first of a series of three; No. 2 will cover the Far East, No. 3 North America to Britain. The maps are so drawn that they can be mounted as a unit. It is intended to publish an Arabic edition of Map No. i.Within the frame lines the map measures 36 by 23 inches. It is printed by photogravure in six colors. Relief is shown by brown contours at 50, I00, 200, 5oo, and iooo meters and thereafter at each iooo meters above sea level, by buff layer coloring at the same intervals up to the limit of permanent snow, and by gray oblique hill shading. Water is in blue, principal railroads in solid red, principal roads and desert routes in dotted red lines. International boundaries are shown by dotted lines in black as they were before I93 8.

The use of the photogravure process in printing a map of this size is indeed a bold experiment, and on the whole an eminently successful one. The first impression obtained is of a map of great beauty and depth. This is undoubtedly due to the use, made possible by photogravure, of a single buff color plate for the reproduction of the twelve necessary hypsometrical tints and of the delicately executed hill-shading plate in lavender gray. It is of special interest to note that the layer tints are used on this map not as a means of readily identifying zones of the same general elevation but as an accessory to the effect of relief. In consequence, rather than attempt to obtain the maximum contrast between successive layers, a conscious effort has been made to obtain very small differences of tint and so avoid the steplike effect of the more conventional layer-tint map. No one can question the artistic

effect, but for the practical purpose of map reading contrast is often more desirable. This is especially the case when a superimposed flat tint or areal symbol is used to distinguish between kinds of areas. For instance, on the map under consideration a pinkish overlay signifies desert areas. Here the effectiveness of the layer tinting so far as relative relief is con-

cerned is almost lost. This would perhaps not have been the case if bold contrast had been used in the layer tints and a light neutral tint for the overprinting.

The photogravure process involves the use of a ruled screen not only for the tint plates but also for the line plates, with the result that lines on the map often appear irregular or broken. In general, however, the effect is not as deleterious as might be expected except that in certain areas, especially when the detail is covered by hill shading, the roads, boundaries, and contour lines are hard to follow.

For the first time on a map of this size and importance use has been made of the Royal Geographical Society's quill-pen method of lettering, which has been used now for some

time on the maps printed in the Geographical Journal. It is remarkable, considering the




smallness of some of the letters and the fact that no reduction of the original drawings was made in the reproduction by photogravure, that legibility on the map is of so high an order of excellence.

A word should be said about the projection, Murdoch's third conical projection, which, although invented in the middle of the eighteenth century, has probably never been used before. The projection is not orthomorphic (conformal), but the meridians are at least per- pendicular to the parallels, which for rapid compilation is essential. Its chief property is that within a selected zone of latitude the total area is correct and that the scale values are equal along the limiting parallels. In the present case the zone of latitude selected is 630 to ISW N. The scale values on these parallels are I.063 and on the central parallel of 390, 0.97I. The parallels of true length are approximately at 550 and 270.

GEOGRAPHICAL NEWS

INTER-AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY. Foundation of an Inter-American Society of Anthropology and Geography is announced. The objectives of the Society are: (i) the interchange of information and views among scientists interested in the cultures of the Americas; (2) the formulation of research problems and the development of scientific methods and objectives in anthropology, geography, and related social-science research in the Americas; (3) the promotion of inter-American cooperation in these fields; (4) the encouragement of publication.

The Inter-American Society will publish a quarterly review, the first number to appear early in I943. The review will contain summaries of recent work in areas or countries of the Western Hemisphere, discussions of research problems, abstracts of outstanding recent works, and notes of news of personal and institutional activities. Publication will be primarily in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, but contributions in other languages may be accepted.

The Temporary Organizing Committee consists of Wendell C. Bennett, Yale Uni- versity, George Vaillant, University of Pennsylvania Museums, Preston James, University of Michigan, Julian Steward, Smithsonian Institution, Carl 0. Sauer, University of Cali- fornia, S. W. Boggs, U. S. Department of State, and Ralph L. Beals, now at the Smith- sonian Institution, on leave from the University of California.

The Committee invites the membership of interested individuals, societies, and insti- tutions. Information on membership may be obtained from Ralph L. Beals. Contributions to the review may be sent to the same address.



Date post:	08-Jan-2017
Category:	Documents
Upload:	dotuyen
View:	215 times
Download:	1 times

Geographical Record

Documents