166 ' REAR-ADMIRAL F. W. BEECHEY'S ADDRESS. [May 26, 1856. 



almost unknown before, and several lakes and rivers have been dis- 

 covered and named by bim. 



Captain Marcy has explored the head waters of tbe Brazos and 

 Big Witcbita Eivers, in Texas, a region never before trodden by 

 white men ; and a survey of the United States and Mexican boundary 

 was also commenced by Major Emory. 



Lieutenant Couch, of the United States' Army, has made a scien- 

 tific journey into Mexico, at his own expense, leave of absence 

 having been granted to him, at the instigation of the Smithsonian 

 Institute. He went to Matamoros and Monterey, examining the 

 adjacent sierras; thence he proceeded to Parras, the plains of 

 Mapimi, and the Caves of Durango. Among other motives for this 

 journey, was the acquirement of a large collection of manuscripts, 

 maps, and natural objects, made by Luis Berlandier, a Swiss, and a 

 member of the Academy of Geneva, who had resided in Mexico, 

 and devoted himself to Mexican research from 1826 to 1851, when 

 he died. This collection was found very valuable, and purchased 

 from the widow. A catalogue is appended to the Smithsonian Eeport. 



Among various works which have appeared, and which throw 

 light upon, the geography and ethnography of America, I notice a 

 * Memoire sur les Anciennes Populations Mexicaines,' by M. Lude- 

 wig ; a treatise on the Hydrography of the Ohio, by Charles Ellet ; 

 a notice and map of the projected canal between the Pacific an<jl 

 Atlantic through Nicaragua, by M. Dupuy. Mr. J. H. Coffin has 

 written upon the distribution of winds in the northern hemisphere ; 

 and great light has been cast on the comparative philology of the 

 American languages by the labours of the Eev. R. S. Eiggs, and 

 his acquirement of the Dakota language. Mr. Julius Froebel has 

 furnished a work on the Physical Geography of North America ; 

 and I notice an excursion to the ruins of Abo, Quarra, and Gran 

 Quivira in New Mexico, by Major J. H. Carleton, u.s.A. 



Central America. — In Central America, Mr. E. G. Squier, formerly 

 Charge d' Affaires of the United States to the republics of the 

 Isthmus, has pursued his indefatigable researches so far, as to 

 cause a survey to be made of the country lying between Puerto 

 Caballos in the Bay of Honduras, and the Gulf of Fonseca on the 

 Pacific. • The results of this investigation have been stated in a 

 Eeport, advocating the construction of the Honduras Interoceanic 

 Eailway ; and also in a volume by Mr. Squier, entitled ' Notes 

 on Central America, particularly the States of Honduras and San 

 Salvador, their Geography, Topography, Climate, Productions, Po- 



