468 SIR RODERICK I. MURCHISON'S ADDRESS. [May 25, 1857. 



made known, is the exploration of tlie Eiver Salado, a tributary of 

 the Parana, with the evidence adduced of its being navigable in the 

 greater part of its course through the upper provinces of the Argen- 

 tine Confederation. This has been since verified to a considerable 

 extent by the passage down the river of a boat from Matara,* in the 

 province of Cordova, to Santa Fe, on the Parana, under the per- 

 sonal guidance of Don Antonio Taboada, a brother of the Governor. 



M. Amedee Jaques, a French gentleman, who joined Lieut. 

 Page in his journey into the interior, to explore the course of this 

 river, has published in the ' Eevue de Paris ' {last March) a highly 

 gi'aphic account of the personal adventures of the party, and of a 

 bloody conflict they had with the wild Indians in the Chaco. 



Coast of Patagonia. — Mr. Bragg, an English engineer employed at 

 Buenos Ayres, has discovered and surveyed a good port and road- 

 stead near the old settlement of the Jesuits, in the vicinity of Cape 

 Corrientes, to the south of Buenos Ayres, which had hitherto escaped 

 notice, but which is likely to be of some importance as a place of 

 export for the produce of the adjoining districts. The details 

 respecting it have been forwarded to the Hydrographer of the 

 Admiralty. 



Orinoco. — At the commentjement of the present year, a proposition 

 was laid before the Society by Admiral Sir Charles Elliot, late 

 Governor of Trinidad, for the resumption of Humboldt's scientific 

 investigations on the Orinoco and its affluents. 



The prospective estimate formed by the illustrious philosopher of 

 the advantages to be anticipated from the junction of the Tuamini, 

 a branch of the Orinoco, with the Rio Negro, which falls into the 

 Amazon, together with his more earnest advocacy of the importance 

 of the navigation of the Meta, unquestionably place this suggestion 

 in a very favourable light. The region drained by the vast water- 

 system of the Orinoco is described by Humboldt as " enrichi des 

 productions les plus variees ;" and though we may no longer look 

 for the fabled El Dorado of the adventurous Raleigh, the hope may 

 yet be indulged that, by exploratory enterprise and the judicious 

 application of steam navigation, a real El Dorado may yet be 

 founded in this fertile portion of the western world. Nor can I 

 here refrain from an allusion to the valuable edition by our dis- 



* Sir Woodbine Parish, in the first edition of his work on those countries 

 eighteen years ago, mentioned that the Salado was known to be navigable as high 

 as that place (Matard), and that if it were used, there would be an enormous 

 saving of land carriage in the conveyance of goods from Buenos Ayres to Santiago 

 in the interior. 



