Geographical Collections. 101 



this trade has been reduced one-half, and, in some cases, even still more 

 than this. 



The chart of Long Island Sound, we are informed, is from trigonometrical 

 surveys, by a theodolite and azimuth instrument. The base was 

 measured on Greenwich point, and the triangulation was carried on by 

 means of signals on both sides of the Sound. A line of verification on 

 Gardiner's Island shewed an accuracy in the operation sufficient for the nicest 

 practical purposes. The soundings are full, and were determined by means 

 of angles observed with the sextant, depending in no case on the compass, 

 according to the method first used by Dalrymple, and afterwards systematized 

 by Beautemps Beaupre. The chart is six feet eight inches in length, and, 

 in neatness of execution, will compare with the best foreign charts. 



We alluded above to what our government has done, or, rather, what it 

 has not done, on this subject. Why is it, that, with a commerce inferior to 

 that of no nation on the globe, with a coast extensive, stormy, abounding in 

 shoals, fringed with numberless inlets, and swept by strong and singular cur- 

 rents, — why has government done so little towards ascertaining and helping 

 -^ us to guard against these dangers ? We have public vessels enough, and 

 there are now more than a hundred officers on shore, fit, or in a state easily 

 to be fitted for this duty, and earnestly desiring release fiom the ennui of 

 doing nothing. The English have their survey-ships in almost every sea ; 

 their sounding leads have been dropped in almost every furlong of the 

 Mediterranean ; France has done much also ; even Spain has her whole 

 coast delineated on a set of most beautiful and accurate charts : on this 

 subject, what has our government done? — P. 163. 



Geographical position of Yenisseisk, in Siberia In a note communicated 



to the Academy of Sciences of Petersburg, M. Hansteen gives the position 

 of Yenisseisk, one of the most considerable towns of Siberia, situated 3519 

 miles from Moscow, and 4044 from Petersburg. Its longitude has been 

 found, by direct observation, to be 109° 50' 34" E. of Ferro, and lat. 58* 

 27' 19". Its population in 1829, was 5726. — Revue Encyc. III. 487. 



Canals in Russia Three new canals were commenced in Russia in 



1825, and are in considerable progress. One, called the Canal of the Vindavay 

 to join this river to the Niemen ; another between the Niemen and Vistula ; 

 and the third between the Volga and the Moskwa. — Revue Encyc. 



St Lawrence Survey It is not generally known that the magnetic 



variation in the river St Lawrence is very erroneously stated in our charts. 

 This circumstance, added to the great inaccuracy of the charts themselves, 

 and the severity of the climate, has been the cause of the numerous ship- 

 ! wrecks which have occurred there. That the variation is wrongly given, 

 may be easily accounted for, by having been handed down from the original 

 observations of Major Holland about sixty years ago, faithfully preserved 

 by his follower Des Barres, and as vigorously maintained by modern chart- 

 makers. Unfortunately, as Columbus first found out, magnetic variation, 

 as its name implies, is of a fickle nature, and quietly follows its own secret 

 I and mysterious laws. Since Major Holland's survey, it has undergone a 

 change of about half a point, and at Quebec is now 13^° ; at Bic 

 Island 17^°; at Cape Chat 21° ; at the Bay of Seven Islands 23^°; 

 and at the west point of Anticosti 24° westerly. The sudden and 

 rapid change in it also between Quebec and Anticosti, in a distance of 

 350 miles, is another source of mischief to our traders, who, heedless of its 

 importance, are mostly heedless of its extent. When overtaken by bad 

 weather, and they lose sight of the land, a wrong course is in consequence 

 adopted, which proves fatal to their ships. There is no chart of the river 

 St Lawrence that can be of real service to its navigation ; and in consequence 



