130 president's address — SECTION E. 



FIELDS FOR FUTURE EXPLORATIOA'. 



To all who take an interest in the history of the human mind, 

 and the development of human enterprise, geographical science 

 and geographical discovery must be deeply interesting. We can 

 but faintly picture to ourselves the feelings of Columbus when he 

 first caught a glimpse of the islands of the Western World ; of 

 Tasman, as he beheld the rugged coast of Van Diemen's Land, and 

 the lofty snow-crowned mountain peaks of New Zealand ; or of 

 Cook and Flinders when they sailed along the coast of Australia, 

 with its ever-varying scenery. What intense satisfaction and pride 

 must have rilled the heart of Governor Phillip, who first discovered 

 the beautiful valley of the Hawkesbury ; of Hume and Hovell, when, 

 during a long overland journey, they successively discovered the 

 Murray, the Ovens, and Goulburn Rivers, and the placid waters of 

 Corio Bay. How impossible it is for us to fully realise the 

 emotions of our Australasian explorers — Eyre, Light, Sturt (the 

 recollection of whom should inspire the present generation), Gregory, 

 Giles, Stuart, Lindsay, Sir Wm. Macgregor, and other heroic 

 explorers who, in their turn, have revealed the existence of important, 

 rivers, lakes, and mountains in Australia, New Zealand, and New 

 Guinea. 



The fact, humiliating to our pride as geographers, must be 

 admitted that altogether apart from the North Polar and Antarctic 

 regions, a great amount of further research has to he undertaken 

 before our geographic knowledge can be said to be complete. 

 When we embark on the vast ocean of discovery, the horizon of 

 the unknown recedes and surrounds us in whatever direction we 

 go. The more knowledge we acquire, the greater becomes the 

 sense of our ignorance. Notwithstanding the increased facility 

 for solving the geographical secrets of the globe placed within the 

 grasp of man during the present century by the steam-engine, the 

 printing press, and electricity, the civilised world knows compara- 

 tively little about the centre of Africa, the great watershed of the 

 Amazon River, in South America, where there are tracts as large as 

 the whole of France of which we know less than of almost any 

 equal area on the globe (tribes of men are living there who are yet 

 absolutely in the Stone Age, and who, even by barter or distant 

 rumor, never heard of the European race or the use of metals), the 

 great tablelands of Asia, the interior of New Guinea, a large portion 

 of the interior of Australia, or even the beautiful islands that stud the 

 Pacific Ocean. We live in an age of feverish excitement and per- 

 sistent toil, and yet years must pass ere the contradictory state- 

 ments of explorers shall have been satisfactorily explained. Much 

 patient labor must also be endured before the climate, hydrography, 

 botany, zoology, commercial resources, and capabilities of these 

 unknown regions can be thoroughly familiar to us. 



To fully elucidate the gradual changes in the aspect and physical 

 phenomena of many parts of the globe, minute and systematic 



