14 NOTES BY THE EDITOR 



A fourth expedition under the direction of the United States Government, 

 commanded by Capt. Page, has sailed to explore the long-sealed and exclu- 

 ded countries lying on the tributaries of the river La Plata, South Americaa. 

 By a decree of the Argentine Government, there has recently been opened 

 to the access of all nations, a vast territory of boundless resource, prover- 

 bial for its treasures of vegetable and mineral wealth, extending, like the 

 Mississippi from south to north, and reaching through twenty-four parallels 

 of latitude, with every climate between the temperate and torrid zones, and 

 with every variety of product which may be gathered from the alluvial 

 plains of the ocean border to the height of the Andes. 



An expedition under the charge of Lt.'s Herndon and Gibbon, U. S. N., 

 charged with the exploration of the Amazon and its tributaries, has in part 

 returned. These officers were directed to cross the Cordileras in Peru and 

 Bolivia, and by a selection of the most judicious routes of travel, with a 

 small company of men, to explore the valley of the Amazon, and to de- 

 scend that river to the sea. More than a year has has been spent in the 

 active prosecution of this duty. Lieut. Herndon reached the United States 

 in July last, bringing with him a large amount of interesting and useful 

 facts, industriously collected by him in the course of his long and hazard- 

 ous journey, embracing many valuable statistics of the country, and adding 

 most important contributions to the hitherto unknown geographical charac- 

 ter of this region. He is now engaged in preparing a full report of the 

 incidents and discoveries of his travels. 



Another expedition to the Arctic Sea under the charge of Dr. Kane, in 

 search of Sir John Franklin, and for scientific exploration, is now fitting 

 out under the auspices of our countrymen, Mr. Henry Grinnell, and Mr. 

 George Peabody, of London. Their endeavor will be directed to an ex- 

 ploration of the upper coasts of Greenland, by land as well as sea, and will 

 furnish occasion for valuable scientific observation tending to the ascertain- 

 ment of the magnetic poles and the intensity and dip of the needle ; and 

 interesting also, as regards geological questions connected with the sup- 

 posed existence of an open polar sea, and other subjects of much impor- 

 tance in the natural history of our globe. 



The course adopted by the British Government in relation to the discove- 

 ries made by the last American Expedition under Lieut. De Haven, is in 

 the highest degree discreditable and dishonorable. In the Charts published 

 by the authority and under the direction of the Admiralty, the localities 

 discovered up Wellington Channel, by the Americans in Sept., 1850, are 

 for the most part ignored, or altered. The " Grinnell Land " first seen by 

 De Haven in 1850, and subsequently by Capt. Penny in 1851, has had its 

 original name, given in honor of a noble American merchant, changed to 



