GEOGRAPHY. 363 



course of the observations and not to any real difference in the mean 

 sea level. 



The English, always alive to the importance of establishing new trade 

 routes, have eagerly sought to open a road by which Western China 

 would be open to receive British manufactures from ludia by way of 

 Assam. With this end in view, and assisted largely by money contrib- 

 uted by English merchants, Mr. A. R. Colquhoun, of the English consular 

 service, has just performed a journey from Canton, through Southern 

 China and Bumah, to Bhamo on the Irrawady, and thence to Eangoon, 

 Being provided with passports from the Chinese Government and ac- 

 companied by a Chinese interpreter, Mr. Colquhoun j)roceeded, in Feb- 

 ruary, 1882, up the Canton or Si-Kiang River as far as Pe-se, the limit 

 of navigation. It was found that the river is navigable for about 400 

 miles above Canton for steamboats drawing 4 feet, but none are allowed 

 there. The travelers -were obliged to adopt complete Chinese costume 

 to escape notice and insult, as a great deal of hatred was shown toward 

 the Fan-qui or western devils. 



From Pe-se the Yunnan plateau was ascended and crossed, but on 

 reaching Ssumao, where Mr. Colquhoun intended to turn southward 

 toward Moulmen, his progress was effectually barred in that direction 

 by the hostility of the Chinese mandarins, and he was obliged to take a 

 northward course over the mountains to Ta-li and thence to Bhamo, a 

 route which he pronounces entirely unfit for trade caravans from the 

 natural obstacles. After discussing the various x)roposed routes for 

 trading with Southwestern China, Mr. Colquhoun pronounces in favor 

 of a railway extending from British Burmah and already partially con- 

 structed. 



AFRICA. 



Although explorations have been carried on with much success, on a 

 small scale, so that the unknown regions are constantly being dimin- 

 ished, there have been no very striking discoveries on the continent of 

 Africa. The principal journey to chronicle is that of the Italians, Lieu- 

 tenant Massari and Dr. Matteucci, from Suakin, on the Red Sea, by way 

 of Khartum, across Kordofan and Darfur, thence, by a southwesterly 

 course, to Egga on the river Niger; then descending this river in one 

 of the West African Company's steamers they reached home, after a 

 journey of sixteen months. Although English and German travellers 

 had previously traversed this region, these two travellers have added 

 to the knowledge of it, and have fixed the latitude and longitude of 

 many towns. 



Mr. H. M. Stanley, whose name is so noted in African explorations, 

 has succeeded in making a practicable route between the Lower Congo 

 and Stanley Pool, at the head of a long series of falls and rapids on 

 the Congo River, and has also been engaged in exploring the Congo 

 above Stanley Pool. 



