GEOGRAPHIC PROGRESS — KELTIE. 507 



excluding Alaska, 1,300,000,000 acres of the total 1,900,000,000 acres 

 have been appropriated and reserved. These figures may afford 

 some idea of the activity of the United States during the half cen- 

 tury in exploring its enormous territory and taking stock of its 

 resources. 



As to South America, it was in 1860 that Bates returned, after 

 11 years' sojourn in the Amazon Basin, mainly as a naturalist, but 

 with abundant fresh information on the geography of that enor- 

 mous river basin. Since that time a host of explorers — British, 

 French, German, American, Swedish — have penetrated into the re- 

 cesses of the continent, exploring its multitude of rivers, climbing 

 and mapping the great Andean Eange, investigating the interesting 

 antiquities of the continent, studying its natives of many types, 

 and reporting upon its resources. The Argentine and Chile, the 

 two most advanced of South American States, have surveyed and 

 mapped, at least provisionally, their extensive territories, while 

 boundary commissions have added much to our knowledge. The 

 result is that the map of South America is very different from 

 what it was half a century ago. Still, it must be said that more 

 remains to be done in the way of pioneer exploration in South 

 America than in any other continent except the Antarctic. At least 

 1,000,000 square miles are practically unexplored, while a large area 

 of the remainder is imperfectly known. In the northern basin of 

 the Amazon very much still remains to be done. A vast extent of 

 the great forest area of Brazil has never been penetrated. Maj. 

 Fawcett in a recent exploration in the Bolivia-Brazil border came 

 across a forest tribe that thought themselves the only people in the 

 world except a hairy tribe some miles away. In Venezuela, Colom- 

 bia, Ecuador, and even in Peru and Bolivia great areas are all but 

 unknown; even the interior of the Guianas has never been ade- 

 quately explored; and very much remains to be done before the 

 magnificent chain of the Andes can be regarded as sufficiently 

 mapped. South America has been attracting increased attention 

 in recent years, and it is to be hoped that in the near futui-e serious 

 attempts will be made to complete our knowledge of a continent 

 teeming with features and races of interest, and the abundant re- 

 sources of which are capable of vast development. 



If now we turn to Australia we shall find that as much heroism, 

 endurance, and self-denial have been displayed in the exploration of 

 the interior of that great southern continent as there has been in the 

 case of Africa. Half a century ago we knew little more than the rim 

 of the continent. Men could only wonder what lay in the unlaiown 

 interior; was it picturesque mountains, flowing rivers, great lakes, 

 luxuriant forest and pasture lands, or was it only a southern Sahara ? 

 During the last half century the Australians have made the most 



