Jan. 23, I860.] PROPOSED RAILWAY ROUTE ACROSS THE ANDES. 4^ 



the trade wind, which would carry her across to Australasia. On the other 

 hand, by running a little to the south from Australia or New Zealand, a ship 

 would get into the south-westerly winds, which would carry her right across 

 to Chile ; so that a ship without steam might make the voyage either way in 

 five or six weeks, without having to guard against intervening land, or peculiar 

 danger of any kind, beyond that of an oceanic passage without a hurricane. 

 The question was now in the state at which it well became the Geographical 

 Society to investigate it, and ascertain whether the data put before them were 

 correct, before the project passed into the hands of capitalists who might be 

 disposed to invest large sums of money upon perhaps insufiBcient information, 

 and be led astray by the plausible assertions of persons themselves mistaken. 

 It seemed to be the honourable duty of the Geographical Society to collect 

 information respecting such great questions, and lay it before the public, in 

 order that those who had capital to employ might embark in the undertaking 

 with more security. 



Captain Sulivan, e.n., f.r.g.s., observed, that vessels of 14 feet draught of 

 water could go up the La Plata to Eosario during the greater part of the year, 

 and those of 12 feet at all times. He had taken vessels of 16^ feet much beyond 

 Eosario, when the river was high. Another advantage was, that the effect of the 

 wind in raising the water of the La Plata sometimes reached as high as Eosario ; 

 so that vessels would not be delayed for any length of time by a low river, 

 as they are higher up the Parana. Any one who had been in that country and 

 seen the troops of waggons drawn by oxen coming to Buenos Ay res from the 

 upper provinces must be aware of the large traffic that a railway would open 

 up with the interior. There was only one thing that Mr. Wheelwright had, 

 perhaps, understatc-d and that was the length of the voyage from England to 

 Eosario. Instead of twenty-five days, as that gentleman stated, he thought 

 thirty days at least should be allowed. 



Mr. W.BoLLAERT, F.R.G.S., wished to direct attention to the circumstance that 

 the pass in the Cordillera would seldom be closed up at an elevation of 16,000 

 feet, because there was so little moisture in the atmosphere. He had been as 

 high as between 17,000 and 18,000 feet on the Andes to the north of Copiapo, 

 and there was very little or no snow to be seen. The trade winds deposited 

 nearly all their moisture before they reached that region, which was probably 

 the principal cause of the desert country west of the Andes. 



Mr. W. J. Hamilton, f.r.g.s., had listened with great interest to the 

 paper, but he confessed he thought it ought rather to have been laid before the 

 Institution of Civil Engineers or the Statistical Society. Although many of 

 the observations in the paper bore upon the physical geography of the country, 

 yet its principal object appeared to be directed to the feasibility of carrying 

 railway communication across the Andes. The impression left upon his mind 

 was, that however practicable it might be to construct a railway across the 

 pampas and plains of South America on the eastern side of the Andes, the 

 enormous elevation of 16,000 feet would render it perfectly impracticable to 

 carry the line over the mountains. The average estimate of gradients men- 

 tioned in Mr. Wheelwright's paper was 200 feet per mile, which would give 

 about 1 in 30 as the ruling gradient of the line. He believed that was a 

 gradient which at present must be considered almost impracticable for loco- 

 motive engines. On the western coast of India there was a line of railway 

 now constructing, with a gradient of 1 in 37, and it was considered a triumph 

 of engineering skill. He believed 1 in 40 was the steepest gradient which had 

 yet been overcome in Europe. 



Admiral FitzEoy said the gradient of 1 in 30 referred to was an isolated 

 instance, for a short distance only. It was the steepest gradient on the line. 

 Steeper gradients than 1 in 30 had been overcome in Norway and America by 

 engines with ten wheels — four driving-wheels and six others. They had sur- 



