UNEXPLORED PARTS OF THE OLD WORLD. 687 



cerning which the determinations are still very inexact. Consequently, 

 our maps of China are filled with chains of hypothetical mountains, 

 which certain famous savants would like to impose upon us as the last 

 word of modern science. Unfortunately for them, Nature has the bad 

 habit of not agreeing with systems that are too learned, even when 

 they are framed by disciples of the most eminent geographers. An- 

 thropological interest is attached to the heterogeneous populations of 

 the western provinces of this vast country, and we may possibly find 

 among them the missing links of the chain that may connect the yel- 

 low race with the white race. To make such researches successful, 

 one must of course be an accomplished scholar in Oriental linguistics 

 and philosophy, but the possible results of such investigations are so 

 attractive that I am disposed to believe in their hear realization. Simi- 

 lar anthropological and linguistic researches may be undertaken in the 

 southwestern provinces of China, which are filled with aborigines not 

 of Chinese origin ; and hence we may go to Indo-China, the richest 

 part of Asia, of which only the French and the English colonies, the 

 coast regions, and the largest valleys are known, and where the origin 

 of immense rivers is still to be traced. 



Japan and the archipelagoes of the Pacific are others among the 

 richest countries, and have attracted much attention from travelers ; 

 but what has been learned about them should only sharpen the desire 

 to learn the more which is still unknown ; and these islands, with their 

 varied populations, afford most profitable studies in language and an- 

 thropology. 



British India is the best explored part of Asia, and is even better 

 known than some parts of Europe. It does not come within our cate- 

 gory ; but the adjoining countries of Afghanistan and Beloochistan 

 still await a scientific exploration of their most important parts. Our 

 geographical knowledge of the Southern parts of Turkistan is also 

 wanting in many points concerning which it would be desirable to 

 know more. The Oasis of Merv, which is so often mentioned in the 

 journals, has never been visited by a scientific traveler. The funda- 

 mental question of Turkoman geography is identified with the dis- 

 covery of the ancient beds of the Oxus and its affluents. Many im- 

 portant advances have been already made in this direction, but much 

 of the desert stretching between the present Amoo-Darya and the 

 mountains of Khorassan still remains to be explored ; and on its com- 

 petent exploration depends much that is important to the improvement 

 of the country. 



Great progress has been made in the last twenty-five years in the 

 exploration of Khorassan, and Stebnitzky's late map of Persia is quite 

 full in relation to that province. Western Persia has been nearly as 

 well mapped, but much is yet to be done concerning the southern part 

 and the interior of the country. The greater part of the interior, how- 

 ever, has been known, from the most remote antiquity, to be a desert. 



