THIBET.
Mr. Rockhill, who made himself so well-known by his first expedition to Thibet, is at present engaged in a second journey, in the hope of this time reaching the capital Lhassa.
The Duke of Orleans and his companion have already published the results of their journey undertaken shortly after Mr. Rockhill's first.
CHINA.
THE GAME OF WEI-CHI.--At a meeting in Shanghai of the Chinese Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, M. Volpicelli read a paper on "The Game of Wei-Chi," the greatest game of the Chinese, especially with the literary class and ranked by them superior to chess. Like chess, this game is of a general military and mathematical character, but is on a much more extensive scale, the board containing 361 places and employing nearly 200 men on a side. All of the men, however, have the same value and powers.
The object is to command as many places on the board as possible--this may be done by enclosing empty spaces or by surrounding the enemy's men. Very close calculation is always essential in order that a loss in one region may be met by gains in another, thus employing skillful strategy when the contestants are evenly matched. The game has come down from great antiquity, being first mentioned in Chinese writings about B.C. 625. It was in all probability introduced by the Babylonian astronomers who were at that time the instructors of all the East.--Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1892, p. 421.
CENTRAL ASIA.
EXPEDITION OF M. DUTREUIL DE RHINS.--The Académie des Inscriptions sent M. Dutreuil de Rhins some time since on an archæological expedition to Further Asia. Beside the income of the Gamier fund previously accorded to him for the purpose, it has accorded him a grant of 30,000 francs. The last news from him was a report.--Chron. des Arts, 1892, No. 22.
THE ORKHON INSCRIPTIONS.--We quote from the Times the following report of two papers read before the Oriental Congress, in the section of China and the Far East:
"A paper was contributed by Mr. E. Delmar Morgan on 'The Results of the Russian Archæological Researches in the Basin of the Orkhon in Mongolia.' Mr. Morgan drew attention to a splendid atlas of plates presented to the Congress by Dr. Radlof, of St. Petersburg, containing photographs and facsimiles of inscriptions copied by the members of the archæological expedition sent by the Imperial Academy of Sciences to investigate the ruins on the Orkhon. These ruins comprise (1) the remains of an ancient Uighur town west of the Orkhon, (2) the ruins of a Mongol palace to the east of that river, and a large granite monument shattered into pieces. Excavations were also made of the burial places of the Khans of the Tukiu or Turks inhabiting this part of Asia previously to the Uighurs, who drove them out. The earliest inscription dates from 732 A.D.., and refers to a brother of the Khan of the Tukiu mentioned in Chinese history. Additional interest attaches to these inscriptions owing to the fact that some of the characters are identical with those discovered on the Yenissei. The expedition to which the paper referred visited the monastery of Erdenitsu, and found there a number of stones with inscriptions in Mongol, Tibetan, and Persian, brought from the ruins of a town not far off. These ruins have been identified with Karakoram, the capital city of the first Khans of the dynasty of Jenghiz Khan.